340: Critical Thinking over Code: Tess Posner, AI4ALL CEO, on Raising Responsible AI Leaders
Update: 2025-06-16
Description
Tess Posner is the CEO and founding leader of AI4ALL, a nonprofit that works to ensure the next generation of AI leaders is diverse and well-quipped to innovate. Since joining in 2017, she has focused on embedding ethics, responsibility, and real-world impact into AI education. Her work connects students from underrepresented backgrounds to hands-on projects and mentorships that prepare them to lead in tech. Beyond her role at AI4ALL, Tess is a musician whose 2023 EP Alchemy has over 600,000 streams on Spotify. She was named a 2020 Brilliant Woman in AI Ethics Hall of Fame Honoree and holds degrees from St. John’s University and Columbia University.
In this conversation, we discuss:
- Why AI literacy is becoming essential for everyone, from casual users to future developers
- The role of project-based learning in helping students see the real-world impact of AI
- What it takes to expand AI access for underrepresented communities
- How AI can either reinforce bias or drive real change, depending on who’s leading its development
- Why schools should stop penalizing AI use and instead teach students to use it with curiosity and responsibility
- Tess’s views on balancing optimism and caution in the development of AI tools
Resources:
- Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter
- Connect with Tess on LinkedIn or learn more about AI4ALL
- AI fun fact article
- On How To Build and Activate a Powerful Network
- Past episodes mentioned in this conversation:
- [With Tess in 2020] - About what leaders do in a crisis
- [With Tess in 2019] - About how to mitigate AI bias and hiring best practices
- [With Chris Caren, Turnitin CEO] - On Using AI to Prevent Students from Cheating
- [With Marcus "Bellringer" Bell] - On Creating North America’s First AI Artist
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