In this talk, Sylvester Johnson will examine the implications for AI when communities deliberately focus on social justice and equity to harness technology as a means to advance public interest and economic inclusion.

Sylvester A. Johnson is Professor and Chair in the Department of Black Studies at Northwestern University. He held the 2024 Kluge Chair in Technology and Society at the Library of Congress’s Kluge Center. He teaches courses on AI, culture, race, religion, and the societal impact of emerging technology. Dr. Johnson formerly served as Associate Vice Provost for Public Interest Technology at Virginia Tech, where he was the founding director of the Center for Humanities. He is also co-founder of an AI ethics public benefit company. Dr. Johnson is currently writing a book on human identity in an age of intelligent machines and human-machine symbiosis. His work has been supported by grants from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Henry Luce Foundation.

Sponsored by the Foglio Endowed Chair of Spirituality, Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts & Humanities (IAH), College of Arts & Letters, Department of African American and African Studies, Department of Religious Studies.