We are excited to welcome Julia Rhodes Davis as inaugural Director of Partnerships for the Partnership on AI (PAI). Julia joins us from DataKind, where she most recently served as Managing Director of Capital and Growth. Prior to that, Julia was a partner at Citizen Engagement Laboratory, an incubator and accelerator for tech-fueled social impact startups. Her primary expertise is bringing together diverse coalitions of interests to promote responsible technology.

“Artificial Intelligence is the frontier of our society, and we need a multitude of perspectives and experiences to help shape this technology and ensure that what we create has prosocial implications. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to build out the organization’s membership and develop programming that supports a variety of partners to rigorously engage with the promises and challenges of AI,” said Rhodes Davis.

At DataKind, Julia oversaw organizational growth and built an ecosystem of corporations (including Microsoft, Google, and Mastercard); foundations (including the Gates Foundation and the Omidyar Network); and 18,000 technologists and social sector experts to accelerate solutions to challenges such as climate and energy, global health, education, and democratic freedom. Julia launched DataKind’s first issue-based portfolio, which generated actionable insights and effective responses for project partners focusing on protecting and promoting democratic freedom. Highlights included addressing hate crime prevention, in concert with the Southern Poverty Law Center, and improving service provision for immigrant communities, in collaboration with Immigrant Action Network, among others.

At the Partnership, Julia will be responsible for continuing to build a diverse and collaborative community and to develop programs focused on building capacity to allow relevant constituencies to meaningfully engage in important conversations about AI and its impacts. Julia will work to understand the priorities of existing Partners; to expand the Partnership’s reach into underserved groups and communities not currently part of the Partnership; and to build relationships with foundations, industry, civil society, non-profits, and other groups that can help to amplify the Partnership’s impact.

Julia holds a BA with honors from Columbia University and lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, Max, and their rescue pup, Arlot, where they co-own Oakland Yard, a wine shop and tasting bar that builds your palate while building community.