MozFest's signature speaker series will have a moment of reckoning with AI — exploring ancestral knowledge, responsible tech investing, global elections, education and the metaverse.
Dialogues & Debates is MozFest's speakers series — a place for fiery conversations and compelling panels.
Between March 7 and March 11, we'll broadcast deep discussions about systems thinking and bias; how AI can learn from ancestral practices and wisdom; how to address education in a mixed reality; and much more. Festival participants will hear from 26 speakers from 10 countries. You can watch the Dialogues and Debates panels on the Mozilla Festival Plaza or on Twitter, and join the conversation by asking questions using #DialoguesAndDebates.
Below, learn more about our Dialogues & Debates speakers and the schedule:
AI Reckoning | Monday, March 7 @ 1pm ET / 5pm CET
Can AI ever be the people’s tool and hold the intelligence of abolition or are these machines beholden to learning from existing systematic structures? How can we invest in communities who are ensuring that the global majority thrives, that our earth thrives? Is it time for an AI reckoning? A panel featuring:
Anasuya Sengupta, Co-Founder & Co-Director of Whose Knowledge?
Sasha Costanza-Chock, Director of Research & Design, Algorithmic Justice League
Roxann Stafford, Systems Alchemist & Architect
And moderator Chenai Chair, Special Advisor for Africa Innovation, Mozilla
Building Ancestral AI | Tuesday, March 8 @ 11:30am ET / 5:30pm CET
If we lay down the burden of a future-only presumption of what technology is and can be, are we more likely to center people and the environment and develop technologies through which we can survive and thrive? How do we develop strategies for the futures we desire and/or will likely face? A panel featuring:
Toshi Reagon, Musician, composer, curator and producer
Céline Semaan, Executive Director of Slow Factory
Amelia Winger-Bearskin, Artist and researcher
L. Franklin Gilliam, Artist, designer and Board Chair, Out in Tech
And moderator J. Bob Alotta, VP of Global Programs, Mozilla
Venture Capital, Digital Rights, and the Future of Responsible Tech Investing | Tuesday, March 8 @ 3:45pm ET / 9:45pm CET
How can technology founders, civil society and policy makers engage traditional VC investors to actively foster a responsible and intersectional tech ecosystem that disrupts for good, and seeks to build rather than break? Is it fair to say that traditional VC is fundamentally at odds with a vision of tech that is healthier for all? A panel featuring:
Michael Kleinman, Director of Technology and Human Rights for Amnesty International USA
Jon Zieger, Co-Founder and Executive DirectorCo-Founder and Executive Director of Responsible Innovation Labs
And moderator Shu Dar Yao, Senior Advisor, ESG
metaverse or Metaverse™? | Wednesday, March 9 @ 11:30pm ET / 5:30pm CET
As the internet evolves, what will it look like — and who will it benefit? Will it be a Metaverse™, owned and built by only a few and perpetuating the ills of today’s internet? Will it be a metaverse, built and governed collectively? Or, is the premise of a metaverse inherently flawed — a shiny trope that distracts us from confronting the colonial, extractive nature that pervades so many of our digital technologies? A Mozilla Plenary featuring:
Rebecca Ryakitimbo, Common Voice Fellow, Mozilla Foundation
Apryl Williams, Trustworthy AI Fellow, Mozilla Foundation
Imo Udom, SVP, Innovation Ecosystems, Mozilla Corporation
And moderator J. Bob Alotta, VP of Global Programs, Mozilla
AI Reform | Thursday, March 10 @ 11:30pm ET / 5:30pm CET
In 2022, elections are planned in Lebanon, Kenya, Brazil, Philippines, France, US and beyond. What has become of elections and democracy in the age of digital platforms? Are we entering a new era of governance that will be shaped by the way platforms drive and impact campaigns, movement building, national narratives and political discourse? Will democracy survive AI? A panel featuring:
Odanga Madung, Mozilla Fellow
Mohamad Najem, Executive Director of SMEX
Dr. Samantha Bradshaw, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Democracy
And moderator Solana Larsen, Editor of Internet Health Report, Mozilla
The Future is Intersectional Conversation: Future of Media & Technology | Thursday, March 10 @ 1pm ET / 7pm CET
Join a conversation between Cheryl Finley and Kamal Sinclair about the future of media and technology and who holds the power to shift the cultural landscape. The conversation is a continuation of The Future is Intersectional series in partnership with Spelman College.
Kamal Sinclair, Executive Director of Guild of Future Architects
Cheryl Finley, Atlanta University Center Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective, Spelman College
Education in a Mixed AI Reality | Friday, March 11 @ 10am ET / 4pm CET
Upcoming generations are growing up in a mixed reality where they develop a powerful command on internet platforms. Tik Tok is a great manifestation of the nuances of existence through short, catchy, layered video content. Gaming is another space where the rules of the real world are interwoven by those of the game. What is then the role of education in this cross-existence: how do these interactions shape young folks in their interactions and interrogations of technology? A panel featuring:
Judith Okonkwo, founder of Imisi 3D
Angela Chen, Founder Eskwelabs
Maize Longboat, Developer Relations, Unity Technologies
And moderator Crystal Lee, Responsible Computer Science Fellow, Mozilla