For us to build the most effective technology, we need to learn from our past and build our future with more comprehensive data sets with cultural intelligence. This means AI that recognizes your story, chatbots that speak to you more authentically, and smart assistants that have inclusive data about your ancestry.
Davar Ardalan is the founder and storyteller-in-chief of IVOW AI, a B2B startup specializing in AI-driven cultural content. In 2019, Ardalan also served as deputy director of the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program in Washington, DC. Prior to this, she was a public broadcasting journalist for twenty-five years, mostly at NPR News, where she designed stories anchored in multiculturalism and steeped in historical context. In 2015, her last position at NPR was senior producer of the Identity and Culture Unit. Realizing that there is a gaping hole in AI algorithms that will define our future stories, she created IVOW, bringing together a team of journalists and technologists to create deeply inclusive stories. Ardalan, who has also served as managing editor at Hanson Robotics, has been recognized with the 2017 NASA Team Leadership award for Space Apps, a Gracie Award from the American Women in Radio and Television, and a shout-out in the popular comic strip Zippy. In May 2014, she was the recipient of a United States Ellis Island Medal of Honor for individual achievement and for promoting cultural unity.