Mathana Stender
Tech Ethicist

Mathana Stender is a Berlin-based tech ethicist who studies the impact of AI and automation on individuals, communities and culture. Mathana’s holistic, multidisciplinary approach to the ethics of emerging technologies brings together art, anthropology, critical theory, philosophy, policy-assessment and socio-economic analysis .

 

Mathana is a prolific public speaker and applies their expertise through standards-setting working groups at the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. They are also a fellow at the Centre for Internet and Human Rights at the European University Viadrina and advises international disarmament initiatives like the Campaign to Ban Killer Robots.

 

Their past and present projects include:

  • developing of a taxonomy on the theoretical approaches to mitigating algorithmic bias

  • analyzing the impact of biometric surveillance on human agency

  • assessing the socio-political implications of the unpriced economic externalities brought about by intelligent automation (what they’ve coined ‘Automationomics’)

  • developing a taxonomy of ethical thresholds relating to algorithmic VR rendering

  • creation of municipal strategies for ‘smart city’ transparency

 

Originally from Texas, Mathana holds an MA in Global Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and BA in international relations and law from the University of Texas at Dallas.