payal arora(she/her)
professor and founder at inclusive ai lab
about
i grew up in bangalore, india, and spent two decades travelling between worlds: policymakers and entrepreneurs, ngos and creatives, technologists and communities from brazil to nigeria. as a digital anthropologist, i listen to how people use technology, often in ways that challenge what the tech industry assumes they need. today, as a professor at utrecht university and founder of the inclusive ai lab, i dedicate my time to making one idea impossible to ignore: inclusive ai is not a niche agenda. it is common sense. ai must reflect the diversity of people who use it and create humane futures.
what or who inspired you to pursue your chosen career?
i founded the inclusive ai lab because i see a growing pessimism bias around ai: as societies become more polarised, we hunker down, look inward, and let fear increasingly shape how ai is designed and governed. the lab exists to challenge that narrowing of imagination. rather than treating the global south as a site of problems to be solved, we look to the majority world as a source of ideas, experimentation, and techno-optimism. we study how people there are using ai in inventive, pragmatic, and sometimes unexpected ways and what these practices can teach us about building different, more inclusive futures with ai.don’t get so judgmental about people not being “activist” enough or not doing it in your style of activism. allow people their own space, and time and ways of making an impact. we don’t need carbon copies of each other, diversity is not just about who you include at the table, but how you recognize and value different ways of making a difference.