From left, Claire Leibowicz, Bhuva Shakti, Lucy Vasserman, Naomi Lorrain
This Saturday, April 29, following the 2:00 PM matinee performance of SMART, the brilliant new family drama by Mary Elizabeth Hamilton, everyone is encouraged to stay for a talkback discussion about the issues the play addresses. SMART dramatizes questions about how and why we let technology into our homes, and the unexpected changes tech can bring. The talkback will explore the risks and rewards of using smart devices in the home, the privacy issues we should be concerned about, how AI is changing how we live, the gap between how we think technology works and how it actually works, and the future of voice-activated AI. The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions and join the discussion.
Playwright/actor Naomi Lorrain will moderate the discussion with the Head of AI and Media Integrity at the Partnership on AI Claire Leibowicz, Chief Ethics & Culture Officer at Women in AI Bhuva Shakti, and Google/Jigsaw Engineering and Product Manager Lucy Vasserman.
SMART is the 2023 mainstage production of the EST/Sloan Project, EST’s partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to develop new plays “exploring the world of science and technology.”
About the Panelists
Claire Leibowicz
Claire Leibowicz is the Head of the AI and Media Integrity Program at the Partnership on AI, where she has worked since the organization’s inception. Under Claire’s leadership, the AI and Media Integrity team creates best practices for the development and deployment of AI technologies that impact digital media and online information, in collaboration with over 100 partners from across civil society, academia, industry, and media. Aside from generative AI, the program focuses on responsible recommender systems, misinformation interventions, and the sustainability of local news. Claire's insights have appeared in publications such as Axios, the Associated Press, MIT Tech Review, WIRED, and The Hill, and she has advised companies, governments, and nonprofit organizations on AI governance, generative AI, and digital media
Bhuva Shakti
Bhuva Shakti (She/Her) is the Chief Ethics & Culture Officer and global management board member at Women in AI, a non-profit community of leaders in artificial intelligence and data science. With an MBA from Columbia University in New York and as a Senior Director at Capgemini, she has managed diverse multinational teams and launched several technology products in the investment banking, capital markets risk and regulatory compliance industry. As the financial inclusion advisor at Wallet Max, Bhuva is committed to positive planet impact, sustainable business transformation and green revenue strategies. Bhuva is an early-stage investor in social innovation startups with a vision to accelerate economic freedom and reduce inequalities.
Lucy Vasserman
Lucy Vasserman leads Engineering and Product at Jigsaw, a unit within Google focused on technology to make people safer. Jigsaw's focus areas include misinformation & hate, violent extremism, and censorship & cybersecurity. In these areas, Jigsaw’s technology offerings include Perspective API, machine learning to recognize toxicity in online comments, Outline, VPN technology to enable anyone to access the free and open internet, and a range of experimental tools and research. Prior to joining Jigsaw, Lucy worked on machine learning research and engineering for other Google products including Speech Recognition and Google Shopping.
About the Moderator
Naomi Lorrain (Photo: Stan Demidoff)
Naomi Lorrain is a Harlem-based playwright/actor. She is a 2022-2023 member of the Page 73 writers group, Interstate 73. She was a writer for the 2022 Disney Television Discovers: Talent Showcase. Her one-act comedy, THERESA, was selected for the 2022 Black Motherhood & Parenting Festival. She is an AUDELCO Awards nominee and a NY Innovative Theatre Awards nominee for Best Lead Actress for Behind the Sheet and Entangled, respectively. Theater: La Race (Page 73/WP), Mark it Down, Song for a Future Generation (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Behind the Sheet (Ensemble Studio Theatre), What To Send Up When It Goes Down (The Movement Theatre Company). TV: "Orange is the New Black" (Netflix), "Elementary" (CBS), "The Good Fight" (CBS All Access), "Madam Secretary'' (CBS).
SMART began previews on March 30 and runs through April 30 at EST. You can purchase tickets here.
