Our Team
AI and AI POLICY RESEARCHERS
Michael Genesereth
Co-Founder
Michael Genesereth is an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University and a professor by courtesy in the Stanford Law School. He received his Sc.B. in Physics from M.I.T. and his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University. Genesereth is most known for his work on Computational Logic and applications of that work in Enterprise Management, Computational Law, and General Game Playing. He is one of the founders of Teknowledge, CommerceNet, and Mergent Systems. Genesereth is the current director of the Logic Group at Stanford and research director of CodeX, the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics.
Harry Surden
Co-Founder
Harry Surden is a Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School. He joined the faculty in 2008. His scholarship focuses upon legal informatics, artificial intelligence and law, legal automation, and issues concerning self-driving/autonomous vehicles. He also studies intellectual property law with a substantive focus on patents and copyright, and information privacy law. Prior to joining CU, Professor Surden was a resident fellow at the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics (CodeX) at Stanford Law School. In that capacity, Professor Surden conducted interdisciplinary research with collaborators from the Stanford School of Engineering exploring the application of computer technology towards improving the legal system. He was also a member of the Stanford Intellectual Property Litigation Clearinghouse and the director of the Computer Science and Law Initiative. Prior to law school, Professor Surden worked as a software engineer for Cisco Systems and Bloomberg L.P. He received his undergraduate degree with honors from Cornell University.
Roland Vogl
Co-Founder
Dr. Roland Vogl is a lawyer, scholar and media entrepreneur who, after nearly fifteen years of professional and academic experience, has developed a strong expertise in intellectual property and media law, innovation, and legal informatics. Currently, he is Executive Director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology. He focuses his efforts on legal informatics work carried out in the Center for Legal Informatics (CodeX), which he co-founded and leads as Executive Director. Also, he researches international technology law through the Transatlantic Technology Law Forum (TTLF), a think-tank dedicated to transatlantic tech law and policy issues. Dr. Vogl initiated and spearheaded the development of the Stanford Intellectual Property Exchange, a Stanford research initiative focused on solving content licensing inefficiencies in higher education. He is also a member of the Strategic Advisory Boards of AdviseHub, Inc, IPNexus, Inc., LegalForce, Inc., and.LiTIQ, Inc. Previously, he co-founded and served as CFOO of Vator.tv, a next-generation business social media company, leveraging community-generated content to create data services and news.
Mary-Anne Williams
Co-Founder
Professor Mary-Anne Williams is Director of Disruptive Innovation at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and listed on the Robohub's top 25 women in robotics. She has a PhD in Computer Science and a Master in Laws. Mary-Anne is a Fellow at the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and is a leading authority on AI with transdisciplinary strengths in Social Robotics, Machine Learning, Robot Ethics, IP Law and Privacy Law. She is Founder and Director of the Magic Lab at the UTS and previously Guest Professor at the University of Science and Technology China. Mary-Anne chaired the Australian Research Council's Excellence in Research for Australia Committee that undertook a national evaluation of research in Mathematics, Information and Computing Sciences in 2012. She is a non-executive director of the US-based Scientific Foundation KR Inc., was Conference Chair of the International Conference on Social Robotics in 2014, and serves on the Editorial Board for AAAI/MIT Press, the Information Systems Journal, Artificial Intelligence Journal, and the ACM Eugene L. Lawler Award Committee for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and Informatics. Mary-Anne also works with the Stanford d.school and the UTS Hatchery on experiential entrepreneurship programs and with student startup founders.
Nik Dawson
Lead Researcher
Nik is a PhD candidate researching Artificial Intelligence Policy & Safety at the University of Technology Sydney. Nik's research examines how public policy can be effectively designed, implemented, and monitored with regards to safety-critical AI.
Prior to pursuing a PhD, Nik worked in private investment, where he obtained experience across several asset classes, including early-stage tech. Nik's also worked in Social Impact Investing and has consulted for International Development organisations, working on projects like 'Rebuilding Education Systems in Syria'.
Benjamin Johnston
Lead Researcher
Ben is an accomplished AI researcher. He developed a powerful and novel framework for Commonsense Reasoning and won the 2010 Ray Kurzweil Prize for the Most Creative Idea in AI. Ben works in Social Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction with special interests in AI and Law.
Sarah Thornton
Lead Researcher
Sarah currently pursues her doctoral degree in mechanical engineering at Stanford University. She obtained her Sc.M. degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013, where her research focused on developing an adaptive shift control algorithm for automatic transmissions. She received her B.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California Berkeley in 2011. Her current research focuses on the explicit connection of human values to autonomous vehicle motion planning algorithms by combining optimal control and artificial intelligence techniques with ethical considerations.
Bryan Casey
Lead Researcher
Bryan is a CodeX Fellow and student at Stanford Law School whose research covers a broad range of issues at the intersection of law and emerging AI applications. His scholarship has appeared in Northwestern University Law Review, Stanford Law Review Online, and University of Massachusetts Law Review, and his articles have featured in media outlets including Wired Magazine, Futurism, The Journal of Robotics Law, and The Stanford Lawyer. His latest work focuses on the role of corporate profit maximization and liability minimization in the design and implementation of high-stakes decision-making algorithms within AI systems.
