Sam Gregory to Deliver Spring 2025 Gruber Distinguished Lecture on Global Justice
Technology-focused human rights advocate Sam Gregory will deliver the spring 2025 Gruber Distinguished Lecture on Global Justice.
The lecture, “Fortifying Truth: Trust and Evidence in the Face of AI and Emerging Technologies,” will take place March 24 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. in Room 127 of the Sterling Law Building.
The event is open to the Yale community. Email the Gruber Program at gruber.events@yale.edu to register.
The talk will examine how photos and videos — vital sources of human rights documentation, evidence, and storytelling — are becoming less trusted in a climate of factual skepticism and technological advances allowing deepfakes and AI-generated content. Gregory will discuss how human rights defenders meet an escalating burden of proof amid growing authoritarianism and failing human rights systems.
The lecture will be co-moderated by Binger Clinical Professor Emeritus of Human Rights Jim Silk ’89 and David Simon, assistant dean for Graduate Education, senior lecturer in Global Affairs and director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University.
Gregory is the executive director of WITNESS4, the recipient of the 2024 Peabody Global Impact Award, a global project committed to seeing video and technology used in defense and support of human rights. He previously launched the “Prepare, Don’t Panic” initiative in 2018 to prompt concerted, effective, and context-sensitive policy responses to deepfakes and deceptive AI issues worldwide. He focuses on leveraging emerging solutions like authenticity infrastructure, trustworthy audiovisual witnessing, and livestreamed/co-present storytelling to address misinformation, media manipulation, and rising authoritarianism.
Gregory has more than 25 years of global experience innovating at the intersection of video, technology, and human rights. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and Senate on AI and media transparency, delivered a TED Talk on combating malicious AI, and taught the first class at Harvard on human rights advocacy via participatory media. He has served on the Technology Advisory Board of the International Criminal Court, co-chaired the Partnership on AI’s Expert Group on AI and the Media, and recently co-chaired the Threats and Harms Taskforce within the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA).
Gregory has pioneered innovative tech services for activists, including the curation of civilian witnessing efforts through the YouTube Human Rights Channel, the WITNESS Media Lab, and the award-winning ObscuraCam and ProofMode projects with The Guardian Project. These efforts have resulted in outcomes like the introduction of a “visual anonymity and blurring” function on YouTube and the development of responsible standards for media authenticity at C2PA.
Gregory received his B.A. from the University of Oxford, his M.P.P from Harvard Kennedy School, and completed his Ph.D. at the University of Westminster focused on participatory media, human rights activism, AI, and trust.
The Gruber Distinguished Lecture in Women’s Rights and the Gruber Distinguished Lecture in Global Justice feature speakers whose exceptional achievements have served the causes of global justice and women’s rights. The lecture is a core component of the Gruber Program for Global Justice and Women's Rights5, a Yale University program administered by Yale Law School.
