Genevieve Bell
Distinguished Professor, Florence Violet McKenzie Chair Director at Autonomy, Agency & Assurance (3A) Institute.
Profile
Genevieve is the Director of the 3A Institute (3Ai), Florence Violet McKenzie Chair, and a Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University (ANU) as well as a Vice President and Senior Fellow at Intel Corporation. She is a cultural anthropologist, technologist and futurist best known for her work at the intersection of cultural practice and technology development.
Genevieve joined the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science in February 2017, after having spent the past 18 years in Silicon Valley helping guide Intel’s product development by developing the company’s social science and design research capabilities.
Genevieve established the 3A Institute (3Ai) in September 2017 at the ANU in collaboration with CSIRO’s Data61 with the mission of building a new applied science to effectively and ethically manage the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on humanity through better design and management of technology. The new applied science focuses on a set of critical questions around autonomy, agency and assurance, as well as the scope of human-computer relationships and the metrics used to measure the effects of these new technologies.In 2019, the 3Ai launched its prototype Master of Applied Cybernetics, the first graduate program which deals with the challenges of taking AI and intelligent cyber-physical systems safely to scale.
Genevieve is the inaugural appointee to the Florence Violet McKenzie Chair at the ANU, named in honour Australia’s first female electrical engineer, which promotes the inclusive use of technology in society. She also presented the highly acclaimed ABC Boyer Lectures for 2017, in which she investigated what it means to be human, and Australian, in a digital world.
In 2018, Bell was appointed Non-Executive Director of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia Board, she became a member of the Prime Minister’s National Science and Technology Council, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE). On January 22, 2020 Bell was named the first Engelbart Distinguished Fellow by SRI International. In the 2020 Australia Day Honours, Bell was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, for distinguished service to education, particularly to the social sciences and cultural anthropology. She holds 12 patents and has published over 30 journal articles.
Genevieve completed her PhD in cultural anthropology at Stanford University in 1998.