Conversations from State of the Net: AI’s Impact on Cybersecurity and the Future of Work [S5E4]

Tech Policy Grind

This week on the Tech Policy Grind, we’re sharing two conversations from State of the Net 2024, the premier internet policy conference that took place in February in Washington, D.C, to discuss the impact of AI on cybersecurity policy and the future of work.

Foundry Fellow Sasa Jovanovic and I spoke with Heather West and Charley Snyder on the impact of AI on cybersecurity policy. We discussed the nexus between Artificial Intelligence and cybersecurity, revealing how AI’s advancements carry both protective potential and novel vulnerabilities.

We also chatted with Dr. Athina Kanioura, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at PepsiCo, about navigating the policy challenges around the deployment of AI in the workplace, while making sure that AI promotes societal values and labor equity.

DISCLAIMER: Daniela, Evan, Sasa, Athina, Heather and Charley engaged with this episode by the Internet Law & Policy Foundry voluntarily and in their personal capacity. The views and opinions expressed on this show do not reflect the organizations and institutions they are affiliated with.

Bios

Athina Kanioura is Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at PepsiCo. An accomplished innovator and transformation leader, Kanioura oversees PepsiCo’s end-to-end strategy to win both as a total company and in key markets, including our digitalization strategy. She also leads company-wide transformation—ensuring that our scale is leveraged as we focus on accelerating profitable growth and identifying areas of cost efficiency and optimization—in addition to overseeing Data Products, Platforms, and Talent. Prior to joining PepsiCo, Kanioura was the Chief Analytics Officer and Global Head of Applied Intelligence at Accenture, where she specialized in applying AI and analytics to drive business value. During her 15 years at Accenture, Kanioura grew the Applied Intelligence function from a subspecialty to a global group at the forefront of scale business transformation. Kanioura is a member of the Royal Statistical and Economics Society, where she contributes to shaping government policy around how data is used by bodies like the IMF. She also sits on the board of the Institute of Marketing Sciences and is a keen educator who has held lectureships at UMIST (UK), Imperial College London (UK), and the University of Sheffield (UK), where she also earned her PhD in Econometrics and Quantitative Economics.

Charley Snyder serves as Head of Security Policy at Google. In this role, Charley leads efforts to organize Google’s security expertise and technology to help solve the world’s pressing challenges related to safety and security online. Charley has security technology and policy experience in the public and private sectors. Before joining Google, he was a senior vice president at Goldman Sachs Group, where he was Global Head of Vulnerability Management and later led the Engineering Division’s zero-trust security strategy. Previously, Charley served in the United States government, including multiple roles in the Department of Defense. He served as Deputy Director of Strategic Cyber Defense and Capabilities in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and as a Senior Cyber Policy Advisor. Earlier in his career, Charley was a professional staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, where he led the committee’s oversight of Federal cybersecurity and intelligence issues.

Heather West is a policy and tech translator, product consultant, and long-term digital strategist guiding the intersection of emerging technologies, culture, governments, and policy. Equipped with degrees in both computer and cognitive science, Heather focuses on data governance, data security, artificial intelligence (AI), and privacy in the digital age. She is a subject matter authority who has written extensively about AI and other data driven topics for over a decade. She is also a member of the Washington Post’s The Network, “a group of high-level digital security experts” selected to weigh in on pressing cybersecurity issues.