FP Virtual Dialogue: Foreign Policy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Corneliu Bjola is Associate Professor in Diplomatic Studies at the University of Oxford and Head of the Oxford Digital Diplomacy Research Group. He also serves as a Faculty Fellow at the Center on Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California and as a Professorial Lecturer at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. He has published extensively on issues related to the impact of digital technology on the conduct of diplomacy with a recent focus on public diplomacy, international negotiations and methods for countering digital propaganda. His recent co-edited volume "Digital Diplomacy and International Organizations: Autonomy, Legitimacy and Contestation” (Routledge, 2020) examines the broader ramifications of digital technologies on the internal dynamics, multilateral policies and strategic engagements of international organizations. He is currently working on a new co-edited volume - “Digital International Relations” examining how digital disruption changes the technological parameters of ordering processes in world politics.

Charles Chen serves as the Director of the Artificial Intelligence & Emerging Technology Office of the IRM Bureau for the State Department. He leads a team of highly technical engineers and architects in developing leading-edge technologies and delivering innovative solutions to fulfill mission needs. He is also an adjunct professor in Cyber Intelligence for the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC. He posses over 20 years of experience in Information Technology with specializations in global infrastructure, cybersecurity, data analytics, cloud computing, LoRaWAN IoT, and blockchain distributed computing. Charles earned his Bachelor’s degree from UCLA and his Master’s degree from Northwestern University. He is a council member for the University of Washington Pacific Northwest Cybersecurity Leadership Council and possesses numerous I.T. certifications including CISSP, CISM, CEH, CCNP, and MCSE.

Robbie Gramer is a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy, covering the State Department. Before he joined FP in 2016, he managed the NATO portfolio at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, for three years. He’s a graduate of American University, where he studied international relations and European affairs.

Morgan is Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Dataminr, a leading AI business that detects the earliest signals of high-impact events from within publicly available data, generating real-time alerts for clients in more than 70 countries. In this role, Morgan is responsible for the company’s commercial partnerships as well as partnerships focused on Dataminr’s social impact contribution. Prior to her current role, Morgan ran Global Operations and lead a multi-disciplinary, cross-functional team responsible for machine learning training set development and algorithm improvement. Morgan works closely with the Engineering and AI teams to develop and lead project plans for new product features and internal implementation. She is also responsible for key expansion projects as the company continues its rapid growth trajectory. A native New Yorker, Morgan was an analyst in the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau where she worked on a broad range of terrorism related issues. Morgan advised the Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism & Intelligence, the Chief of Counterterrorism, and the Chief of Intelligence. She also regularly spoke on behalf of the NYPD at conferences, on panels, and in the media. Prior to working for the NYPD, Morgan held positions across a variety of industries, including in finance at Bank of America, in journalism at CNN, and in consulting at the Scowcroft Group, a strategic consulting firm run by former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft. While at CNN, she wrote and produced print and broadcast content for the National Security Unit. Morgan received both a B.A. in International Studies and an M.A. in Strategic Studies and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University and from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Morgan volunteers her time with the Business Council for Peace (Bpeace) and as a member of George Washington University’s Data Science Board. She is on the Board of Councilors at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank focused on international affairs. Morgan is also an Officer in the United States Navy Reserve.

Daniel Kimmage is currently the Acting Coordinator for the Global Engagement Center at the Department of State. Mr. Kimmage’s public service career includes serving in a number of State Department positions, including covering counterterrorism issues for the Office of Policy Planning and as the Principal Deputy Coordinator of the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Kimmage was an independent consultant and Senior Fellow at the Homeland Security Policy Institute. Prior to that, from 2003 to 2008, he was a regional analyst at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, where he focused on Russian and Central Asian issues. His published reports on extremist media strategies include Iraqi Insurgent Media: The War of Images and Ideas (co-author, 2007), The Al-Qaeda Media Nexus (author, 2008), and Al-Qaeda Central and the Internet (author, 2010). He has also written extensively on Russian politics, including the chapter Selective Capitalism and Kleptocracy in the collection Undermining Democracy: 21st Century Authoritarians (2009). Mr. Kimmage received his undergraduate education at the State University of New York at Binghamton, and earned an M.A. in Russian and Islamic history from Cornell University. He is fluent in Russian and Arabic.

Robert Kirkpatrick is the Director of UN Global Pulse, the UN Secretary-General's initiative on big data and artificial intelligence for development, humanitarian action, and peace. UN Global Pulse's network of innovation labs in New York, Uganda, Indonesia, and Finland allow UN System partners to experiment and mainstream applications of big data and advanced analytics. UN Global Pulse's advocacy agenda focuses on public-private data partnerships, and on AI ethics, data protection and privacy to enable the responsible use of new technologies and new data sources for the public good. Prior to joining the United Nations, Robert co-founded and led software development for two pioneering private-sector humanitarian technology teams, first at Groove Networks, and later as Lead Architect for Microsoft Humanitarian Systems. From 2007-2009 he served as CTO of the non-profit InSTEDD. Robert currently sits on InSTEDD's Board of Directors, the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Data-Driven Development, the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, and the Advisory Board of the UN World Data Forum.