John C. Havens
AI ETHICIST
Executive Director, IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems
New York
As Executive Director of the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, John helps define guidelines for beneficial relationships between humans and their increasingly clever machine counterparts. His mission is to educate, train, and empower people involved with developing these future technologies in order to implement Ethically Aligned Design and improve outcomes for all. John is also executive director of the Council on Extended Intelligence (CXI), an interdisciplinary cohort of experts founded by the IEEE Standards Association and the MIT Media Lab that champions responsible participant design, data agency, and metrics of economic prosperity that prioritize people and the planet over profit and productivity.
He has authored the books Hacking Happiness and Heartificial Intelligence in addition to contributing to Mashable and The Guardian. He also served as EVP of Social Media at Porter Novelli and spent a number of years as a professional actor. Whether he’s discussing ethics, researching the connections between happiness and technology, or playing the guitar, John is “seeking Eudaimonia” and is unafraid to experiment by finding joy in his own life.