Consultant, Author and Speaker 2026 100 Top Women in AI today
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about me
Phaedra Boinodiris is global lead of IBM Consulting's Responsible AI Practice. Her work helps organizations do the right AI and do AI right.
She authored AI for the Rest of Us(nominated #1 book to read in 2024 by Constellation Research), co-founded the Future World Alliance, and in 2025 was appointed by the Governor of North Carolina to his AI leadership council. Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, 2030 Responsible AI Leader of the Year, UN Woman of Influence in STEM and Inclusivity, and named to the Top 100 Women Shaping AI Today.
Public Speaker/Master Class Teacher
Co-Founder of the Future World Alliance
The Future World Alliance is dedicated to curating curriculum for AI and Ethics in K-12 education along with passionate members from tech companies around the world.
A subset of my Past Speaker & Teaching Engagements
United Nations
In 2026 I was invited to present to the United Nations in Geneva at their Global Conference on AI, Security and Ethics.
Board of Directors
In 2024 I was invited to host several conversations with Board of Directors representing orgs around the world on the subject of AI governance- and how to get safely start an AI journey. These are informal conversations- no charts- over dinner.
EU Trilateral Commission- Madrid
EU Trilateral Commission- Madrid
I presented to the EU Trilateral Commission on the subject of AI Literacy and how to kickstart an Ai governance program
UAE tech Summit
UAE tech Summit
EU Trilateral Commission- Madrid
I presented to the UAE government on the subject of how to have AI better reflect the communities that it serves.
SXSW
UAE tech Summit
NATO Summits
I have presented at SXSW on several occasions to cover subjects like Education and the Metaverse
NATO Summits
UAE tech Summit
NATO Summits
I have presented several times to NATO on the subject of Responsible AI in the Military
KMWorld
I am a big fan of KMWorld and speak there annually. You can catch some of my talks replayed online.
United Nations
I presented to United Nations women subgroup on the subject of AI Safety and won an international award for my work volunteering in STEM
THINK/Interconnect
I have been Mainstage speakers at both THINK and InterConnect on the subjects of both Responsible AI and serious games.
Switchpoint
Switchpoint is one of my favorite conferences on the planet. I am a regular speaker of this conference whose focus is Humanitarian design.
I serve as an advisor for NCSU's Executive Education program and on the advisory board for NCSU's Women in tech program
featured on ...
AI ops Corner (LISTEN NOW)
Pondering AI (LISTEN NOW)
AI Interrogator (WATCH NOW)
Tech Strong (WATCH NOW)
Mixture of Experts (WATCH NOW)
School for Startups LISTEN NOW
AI Interrogator LISTEN NOW
AI Interrogator LISTEN NOWThe Disrupted Workforce LISTEN NOW
MALCOLM GLADWELL'S SMART TALKS PODCAST : Building Trustworthy AI: A Holistic Approach-- LISTEN NOW
National Public Radio (State of Things): LISTEN NOW
AI, Trust, & Organizational
Culture: LISTEN NOW
Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time. -- Ruth Bader Ginsberg
BLOGS AND articles
Why risk should determine your AI architecture
Who Is Responsible for Responsible AI? (Wall Street Journal)
Technology only takes you so far. After that, it’s up to humans. LINK
How IBM is shaping AI governance in education with Smarter Balanced
The California-based Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is a member-led public organization that provides assessment systems to educators working in K-12 and higher education. The organization, which was founded in 2010, partners with state education agencies to develop innovative, standards-aligned test assessment systems. Smarter Balanced supports educators with tools, lessons and resources including formative, interim and summative assessments, which help educators to identify learning opportunities and strengthen student learning.
Smarter Balanced is committed to evolution and innovation in an ever-changing educational landscape. Through a collaboration with IBM Consulting®, it aims to explore a principled approach for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in educational assessments. The collaboration was announced in early 2024 and is ongoing. . LINK
How IBM is shaping AI governance in education with Smarter Balanced
The California-based Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is a member-led public organization that provides assessment systems to educators working in K-12 and higher education. The organization, which was founded in 2010, partners with state education agencies to develop innovative, standards-aligned test assessment systems. Smarter Balanced supports educators with tools, lessons and resources including formative, interim and summative assessments, which help educators to identify learning opportunities and strengthen student learning.
Smarter Balanced is committed to evolution and innovation in an ever-changing educational landscape. Through a collaboration with IBM Consulting®, it aims to explore a principled approach for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in educational assessments. The collaboration was announced in early 2024 and is ongoing. . LINK
AI governance is rapidly evolving — here’s how government agencies must prepare
The global AI governance landscape is complex and rapidly evolving. Key themes and concerns are emerging, however government agencies should get ahead of the game by evaluating their agency-specific priorities and processes. Compliance with official policies through auditing tools and other measures is merely the final step. The groundwork for effectively operationalizing governance is human-centered, and includes securing funded mandates, identifying accountable leaders, developing agency-wide AI literacy and centers of excellence and incorporating insights from academia, non-profits and private industry. . LINK
The “hidden figures” of AI: Women shaping a new era of ethical innovation
The end of March marks the conclusion of Women’s History Month. And despite the increased focus on women’s issues and contributions to society throughout the month, the conversation would be incomplete without recognizing how indispensable the success of women—past and present—has been in the tech industry. In particular, women are leading the way every day toward a new era of unprecedented global innovation in the field of generative AI. . LINK
Operationalizing responsible AI principles for defense
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming society, including the very character of national security. Recognizing this, the Department of Defense (DoD) launched the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) in 2019, the predecessor to the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO), to develop AI solutions that build competitive military advantage, conditions for human-centric AI adoption, and the agility of DoD operations. However, the roadblocks to scaling, adopting, and realizing the full potential of AI in the DoD are similar to those in the private sector. LINK
The importance of diversity in AI isn’t opinion, it’s math
We all want to see our ideal human values reflected in our technologies. We expect technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to not lie to us, to not discriminate, and to be safe for us and our children to use. Yet many AI creators are currently facing backlash for the biases, inaccuracies and problematic data practices being exposed in their models. These issues require more than a technical, algorithmic or AI-based solution. In reality, a holistic, socio-technical approach is required. LINK
Delivering responsible AI in the healthcare and life sciences industry
As organizations are looking for several ways to utilize and implement Generative AI, this is a very important topic that organizations need to tackle to ensure that the outputs from Generative AI are accurate, trustworthy, explainable, and traceable as it could have significant ramifications for not properly addressing. LINK
HR and Explainable AI: A Human Being in 100,000 Dimensions
Imagine an approach to human resources whereby a human being is perceived in 100,000 dimensions. This new approach would replace the flawed traditional HR systems in place today based on consideration of limited criteria. When a human being gives us consent to use their data, HR organizations can use something called an ontology, a knowledge graph that demonstrates soft skills, hard skills and certifications — with explainable proof. With this approach, we can learn that the computer operator may have a degree in information systems or the customer service agent working two jobs really hadn’t had the time because she was doing her PhD in Physics and would be a great candidate for the quantum field. Today, HR organizations are only looking at people based on very few limited attributes. Now with ontologies, when we can see someone with 100,000 dimensions… we are not trying to find the needles in haystacks because the haystacks are full of needles! LINK
What the Field of Archaeology can teach us about Responsible AI
“Forget everything you think you know about the ancient Minoan culture,” the historian said to me at the palace gates. The story she told me on that hot, dusty day in July has since been pressing on me, like a constant drumbeat -- a reminder of why our work in Responsible AI is so unrestricted in importance by just the demands of the here and now. Let us take you on a journey so that you can understand the very direct correlation between what archaeology can teach us about our high tech field.
Mitigating the risks of Intelligent Automation: Bias, worker displacement and more
Intelligent automation offers much promise to companies to drive efficiencies but it is not the panacea. By adopting a responsible framework for the deployment of such systems, companies can ensure that they are not inadvertently causing individual, societal or indeed economic harm to their business. LINK
How Financial Services Companies Can Become Responsible Stewards of AI
Rapid advances in technology, mobile phone penetration, new players and massive investments in technology are transforming the financial services industry LINK
How the Titanic helped us think about Explainable AI
People are entitled to understand how AI arrived at a conclusion, especially when those conclusions impact decisions about their employability, their credit worthiness, or their potential. Provided explanations need to be easy to understand. LINK
10 Lessons Learned for Assessing and Mitigating Unexpected Patterns in AI Models
You procured or developed an AI model to help your organization. You have heard about the potential for unintended harm if the model output is not tested for bias, so you want to take the responsible steps of auditing the models and then mitigating for any potential harm. Excellent!
Here are some useful steps and best practices for your consideration that we are sharing based on the work we are doing with customers.
Pop Culture, AI and Ethics
Have you opened a new location, redesigned your shop, or added a new product or service? Don't keep it to yourself, let folks know.
Best Practices for Insuring AI Algorithms
Insuring AI could very well be the last brick needed to make true adoption and acceleration of AI across industries a reality. LINK
5 steps to creating a responsible AI Center of Excellence
To practice trustworthy or responsible AI (AI that is truly fair, explainable, accountable, and robust), a number of organizations are creating in-house centers of excellence. These are groups of trustworthy AI stewards from across the business that can understand, anticipate, and mitigate any potential problems. The intent is not to necessarily create subject matter experts but rather a pool of ambassadors who act as point people.
Here, I’ll walk your through a set of best practices for establishing an effective center of excellence in your own organization. Any larger company should have such a function in place.
Getting to Trustworthy AI (VentureBeat)
Artificial intelligence will be key to helping humanity travel to new frontiers and solve problems that today seem insurmountable. It enhances human expertise, makes predictions more accurate, automates decisions and processes, frees humans to focus on higher value work, and improves our overall efficiency.
But public trust in the technology is at a low point, and there is good reason for that. Over the past several years, we’ve seen multiple examples of AI that makes unfair decisions, or that doesn’t give any explanation for its decisions, or that can be hacked. LINK
Pop Culture, AI and Ethics (Forbes)
AI Education Now
The challenge of ensuring that AI is trustworthy is a socio-technological challenge that necessitates a holistic approach. This holistic approach must include a strong focus on PEOPLE and CULTURE that begins with an earnest investment in education. We are not suggesting education for only those higher ed students that self-categorize as future data scientists, machine learning scientists and coders, but education for ALL, starting in K-12.
Comic gallery (subset)
