AI at a Crossroads
Big & Bold Solutions to a World with AI
We are living at the birth of a technology wave as transformative as the internet or social media. Artificial intelligence will shape how we learn, work, and govern. Currently, however, decisions about its direction are made almost entirely by private tech labs behind closed doors. Meanwhile, organizations are already responding to AI's rapid impact on online safety, from synthetic content to scaled harassment.
This session explored the once-in-a-generation opportunity for the private and nonprofit sectors to collaborate with philanthropy and lead where government cannot, bringing together organizations working on governance innovation to establish guidelines for AI's integration into society. Examine practical approaches to keeping pace with evolving challenges, explore how different actors — platforms, policymakers, philanthropists, and civil society — can coordinate more effectively, and outline a vision for policy frameworks and innovative governance approaches that can guide this technology toward equitable, transparent, and beneficial outcomes.
Originally recorded November 7th, 2025
Speakers Featured
Jamie Van Leeuwen
Jamie Van Leeuwen, PhD, MA, MPH, is the Chief Development Officer at Fathom and a distinguished leader and advocate in public policy, community development, and social justice. He is the Managing Director of the Build Strong Foundation working to increase access to affordable housing in the US. He is also principal and founder of Bucephalus, a best practices community development and social impact firm. He is the Founder and former CEO of the Global Livingston Institute (GLI), a non-governmental organization in East Africa that engages students and community leaders in poverty alleviation through innovative solutions. He most recently served as the Senior Director of Youth & Community Engagement at the Emerson Collective, where he focused on cultivating and leveraging cross-sector relationships to address critical social issues in education, conservation, immigration, healthcare, and youth development.
Lucía de la Torre
Lucia de la Torre is the Director of Policy Innovation at Fathom, where she researches governance solutions that promote innovation and foster public trust in AI. She has a background in human rights advocacy at Amnesty International and journalism at the BBC and Financial Times. Lucia holds an MS in Data Journalism from Columbia University, where she researched public trust in technology and AI incident prevention. She also holds degrees in multimedia storytelling and anthropology from University College London, and is an Aspen Ideas Fellow.
Sherry Hakimi
Sherry Hakimi is the co-founder and CEO at Pirth.org, a global tech nonprofit that provides resources and support that help people stay safe, online and offline, while advancing online safety solutions globally. With resources specific to 160+ countries and in 57+ languages, Pirth.org's platform supports a wide range of users including journalists, activists, academics, political officials, public figures, women, students, and children facing online harm. Sherry led Pirth.org's trauma-informed design, which set a new standard in her industry and has been adopted by organizations like Freedom House. Sherry is also the former executive director of genEquality, a social enterprise she founded to creatively put behavioral science research into practice for gender equality. With over a decade of experience, Sherry is driven by personal experience with online violence and works towards a safer online world where everyone feels empowered to participate in public discussion.