PANELISTS
 

Janel Thamkul (Deputy General Counsel, Anthropic)

Janel Thamkul drives legal strategy on AI as Deputy General Counsel at Anthropic. She has built and currently oversees the legal teams counseling AI development, commercial deals, product deployment, regulatory/litigation, privacy, and more. She handles a wide range of issues across the company, from handling the company's employment matters, advising on government engagements, overseeing the defense of high stakes litigation to launching consumer and B2B products across the world. Prior to Anthropic, Ms. Thamkul was at Google where she led Google’s Research product counsel team and advised Google’s AI governance and ethics team. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from UCLA, an Associate's Degree in Fashion Design from FIDM, and a J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley - School of Law.

Senator Scott Wiener (California State Senator)

Senator Scott Wiener is a California State Senator representing the eleventh district which includes all of San Francisco, Broadmoor, Colma, Daly City and parts of South San Francisco. First elected in 2016 and reelected in 2020, Wiener has focused on issues such as housing, transportation, LGBTQ+ rights, climate change, and AI governance. Most recently, Senator Wiener spearheaded SB1047 (“Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Intelligence Models Act”), a controversial AI regulation bill that passed both houses of the California State Assembly but was vetoed by Governor Newsom on September 29, 2024. Prior to his Senate role, Wiener served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and as a Deputy City Attorney. He received a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.

Mr. Gerard de Graaf (Senior Envoy for Digital to the U.S. and Head of the EU Office in San Francisco)

Currently the Senior Digital Envoy to the U.S. and head of the EU Office in downtown San Francisco, Gerard de Graaf has worked for the European Commission for more than 30 years. Prior to leading the San Francisco EU Office, Mr. de Graaf was Director of the European Commission’s Directorate-General “Communications Networks, Content & Technology” (DG CONNECT). There, he was responsible for the Digital Services and Digital Markets Act among other important digital policy issues. Mr. de Graaf has held many other high-ranking positions within the European Commissions including co-chairing two of the Trade and Technology (TTC) Council Working Groups and serving as Trade Counsellor on behalf of the European Commission’s Delegation to the United States. Mr. de Graaf is from the Netherlands. He studied Economic Geography and Regional Planning at the Free University in Amsterdam and European Economics and Law at the Catholic University Leuven (Belgium).

Professor Nathaniel Persily (James B. McClatchy Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, Co-Director of the Cyber Policy Center)

Professor Nathaniel Persily is the Founding Co-Director of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center and its Program on Democracy and the Internet, as well as the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project.  Professor Persily’s scholarship and legal practice address issues such as voting rights, political parties, campaign finance, redistricting, and election administration. He has served as a special master or court-appointed expert to craft congressional or legislative districting plans for many states. His current work, for which he has been honored as a Guggenheim Fellow, Andrew Carnegie Fellow, and a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, examines the impact of social media and artificial intelligence on political communication, campaigns, and elections.  His most recent book is a coedited volume with Joshua Tucker, Social Media and Democracy: The State of the Field and Prospects for Reform (Cambridge Press, 2020). He received a B.A. and M.A. in political science from Yale; a J.D. from Stanford, and a Ph.D. in political science from U.C. Berkeley.

Florence G’sell (Visiting Professor, Stanford Cyber Policy Center and Director of the Program on Governance of Emerging Technologies)

Florence G’sell is a visiting professor of private law at the Cyber Policy Center, where she leads the Program on Governance of Emerging Technologies. She also holds the Digital, Governance, and Sovereignty Chair at Sciences Po (France) and is a professor of private law at the University of Lorraine (currently on leave). Professor G’sell began her academic career focusing on tort law, judicial systems, and comparative law. In recent years, her work has concentrated on digital law, particularly in the regulation of online platforms, the legal challenges posed by emerging technologies such as blockchain and the metaverse, and the concept of digital sovereignty. Her research spans digital policies in both the EU and the U.S. She has edited and authored several notable works, including, most recently, “Regulating Under Uncertainty: Governance Options for Generative AI.” Her other recent publications include “AI Judges,” “The Digital Services Act: a General Assessment,” and a Council of Europe report entitled “The Impact of Blockchains for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law.” Professor G’sell graduated from Sciences Po, is admitted to the Paris Bar, and holds a PhD in private law from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Jacob Ward (Technology Journalist, Writer and Television Correspondent)

Mr. Ward is an established technology correspondent and writer. He was most recently NBC News Technology Correspondent from 2018 – 2023, where he reported for the TODAY Show, Nightly News, MSNBC, and NBCNews.com. From 2018 to 2019, Mr. Ward was a fellow with Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and its partner institution, the Berggruen Institution. During that time Mr. Ward wrote, The Loop: How Technology is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back (Hachette; 2022), which looks at the effects of artificial intelligence on human psychology. Ward is also known for hosting a four-part PBS television series on the science and implications of bias called “Hacking Your Mind,” which looked at the concealed effects of technology on the human brain. Previously, Mr. Ward was a television correspondent for Al Jazeera and editor-in-chief of Popular Science.

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