Professor Deirdre K. Mulligan has been tapped to join the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) as Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer for Policy.
Mulligan, who is on leave from UC Berkeley, will help the Office of the U.S. Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in its efforts to ensure that U.S. policy is informed by tech and data expertise, and will also act as a principal advisor to the National AI Initiative Office, which coordinates key activities and strategic planning on AI across the U.S. government.
“I’m excited to bring the insights I’ve garnered through my interdisciplinary research and my decades of experience working on internet policy issues to assist the Biden Administration in advancing the privacy and equity priorities set out in the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,” Mulligan stated.
Mulligan hopes to draw on her research exploring how regulatory choices shape privacy and online content moderation practices, the challenges posed by the use of AI by government agencies, and the emerging “responsible AI” practices in the tech sector as she helps develop and implement the Administration’s agenda to ensure technical innovations support civil rights and democratic values.
“Much of my work has focused on identifying regulatory approaches that lead organizations to protect privacy and other values through policy and technical design,” Mulligan explained. “Protecting the values we care about in our increasingly automated society requires interdisciplinary approaches.”
Mulligan looks forward to returning to Berkeley with new ideas to inform her research and teaching.
Update: In June of 2023, Mulligan stepped into the role of Principal Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer after predeccessor Alexander Macgillivray stepped down.
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Two UC Berkeley Law professors have also started tech-related White House appointments. Clinical Professor Catherine Crump is a senior policy advisor for criminal justice for the White House Domestic Policy Council, and Assistant Professor Rebecca Wexler is a senior policy advisor for science and justice at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
