About

AI for the People launched by leading the advocacy for the introduction of the Algorithmic Accountability Act to the US House of Representatives; its language around integrating impact assessments into the product design process was integrated into section 207 c (i) of HR.8152, the American Data Privacy Act of 2022, find it here.

In 2020 AI for the people began expanding their work to UN systems through their membership of the UN Digital Impact Alliances’ 3C UN Round table on AI. In that same year  Nkonde became a member of Tik Tok Content Moderation Advisory Council.

Nkonde’s work is not without controversy. In 2021 a far right group launched an online harassment campaign that led to a peer review article she wrote  retracting. Eventually the person held responsible for giving into online trolls was fired from their post, but this group were able to use the retraction to attack her credibility. Luckily this was viewed through the context of the Amnesty International Report that found Black women are 84 percent more likely to be attacked online than white women. Therefore the  AI Ethics and policy communities supported her through this and her work continued to grow.

In 2022 Nkonde testified to the House Energy and Commerce Committee in support of the Algorithmic Accountability Act, watch the video here from 51:08, and started to develop partnerships across the HBCU system as a way of diversifying the field of AI Ethics.

In 2023 Nkonde AI for the People were invited to start providing input to  the UN Business and Technology Project.

Research Interests

AI, Ethics, Critical Approaches

Positions at the OII

• Visiting Policy Fellow, October 2023 -