Guest Lecture: Chinasa T. Okolo

March 31, 2026

3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. CAT

A203

Global Imperatives for an Equity-Centered Approach to AI Governance

Speaker: Chinasa T. Okolo, Ph.D. - AI researcher, strategist, and policy advisor

AI development and efforts to regulate these systems are increasingly centralized in Western countries, despite the impacts of these technologies transcending borders. While debates persist on which countries will remain at the frontier of AI development, those in the global majority are charting their own AI futures with the goal of self-determination. However, major challenges include equitable participation in AI development, the concentration of compute power, and the capacity to develop robust, harmonized regulations. These concerns, along with issues of bias, disinformation, climate impacts, and economic inequality, underscore the need for comprehensive, harmonized AI and data regulation across Global Majority countries. This talk examines the Global AI divide, the sociotechnical impacts of AI, defines what an equity-centered approach to AI governance entails, and delineates priorities for expanding Global Majority participation in global AI governance.

Bio

Chinasa T. Okolo, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized researcher, strategist, and policy advisor on AI governance and safety for the Global Majority. She holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in computer science from Cornell University, and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Pomona College. Okolo is the Founder of Technecultura, a Policy Specialist at the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET), and a WBG Africa Fellow. Her research examines how African governments can effectuate robust AI and data governance, investigates the geopolitical impacts of AI, and analyzes datafication and algorithmic marginalization in Africa. She is a former Fellow at the Brookings Institution and has worked in research-based roles at Apple and Microsoft. Okolo advises numerous multilateral institutions, national governments, corporations, and nonprofits on AI, digital inclusion, and socioeconomic development.

Okolo has served as an expert contributing writer to the International AI Safety Report, a drafting member of the Nigerian National AI Strategy, a consulting expert to the African Union Continental AI Strategy, and the Editor-in-Chief of ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society. Dr. Okolo has been featured in TechCrunch and provided commentary to leading platforms such as NPR, MIT Technology Review, BBC, the New York Times, VICE, CNN, Scientific American, Fast Company, SEMAFOR, Rest of World, Voice of America, and Devex. Okolo has been recognized as one of the world’s most influential people in AI by TIME and honored in the inaugural Forbes 30 Under 30 AI list. Her research has also been widely covered in media outlets and published at top-tier venues in human-computer interaction and sociotechnical computing.

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