Technology-focused human rights advocate Sam Gregory will deliver the spring 2025 Gruber Distinguished Lecture on Global Justice.
This 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.
Sam Gregory is a human rights advocate and technologist fighting deepfakes and deceptive AI and deploying the power of video and technology to defend human rights and protect truth and evidence. As Executive Director of WITNESS, recipient of the 2024 Peabody Global Impact Award, he leads a global team empowering millions to use video and technology for human rights. He launched the groundbreaking "Prepare, Don't Panic" initiative, tackling deepfakes and generative AI through policy and standards influence, public debate, and the first-ever Deepfakes Rapid Response Force. Sam has testified before the US Congress and Senate on AI and media transparency, delivered a TED Talk on combating malicious AI, and has over 25 years of global experience innovating at the intersection of video, technology, and human rights.
Sam's expertise is regularly featured in major media outlets, and he taught the first course at Harvard on participatory media and human rights. Sam has served on the ICC Technology Advisory Board, co-chaired key initiatives and working groups for the Partnership on AI and the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, and completed his PhD at the University of Westminster focused on participatory media, human rights activism, AI, and trust.
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).
Please email the Gruber Program to register, registration is required for all non-YLS community members.
Sponsoring Organization(s)
The Gruber Program for Global Justice and Women's Rights