Sam Gregory is an award-winning technologist, advocate, and the Director of Programs, Strategy, and Innovation at WITNESS. He is an expert on smartphone witnessing, new forms of misinformation and disinformation, and innovations in preserving authenticity and evidence. Founded after the Rodney King incident, WITNESS has 30 years of experience in over 100 countries, supporting critical uses of video to secure accountability, reaching millions of people with skills and tools, engaging technology giants on the negative and positive impact of their products, and maximizing civic participation via visual and social media. At WITNESS, Gregory directs the overall programmatic vision and leads the Technology Threats and Opportunities program, which focuses on the early influence of emerging technologies that will impact the communities WITNESS serves. He also directs its Prepare, Don't Panic initiative, which builds better, globally-inclusive preparedness for malicious usages of synthetic media, including current work on deepfake and disinformation trends and responses, as well as emerging standards in authenticity infrastructure. Quoted frequently in major media worldwide, Gregory publishes on technology and human rights, has spoken at Davos and the White House, was a 2010 Rockefeller Bellagio resident on the future of video in activism, and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum from 2012-17. Additionally, he is on the Technology Advisory Board of the International Criminal Court, co-chaired the Partnership on AI’s Expert Group on AI and the Media, and taught the first graduate-level course on participatory media and human rights advocacy at the Harvard Kennedy School from 2010-18. He was a co-author on the “Content Authenticity Initiative” whitepaper and recently co-chaired the Threats and Harms Taskforce within the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity. He has also worked on impactful campaigns worldwide, particularly in Latin America and Asia, and his advocacy has contributed to real change in policy, practice, and law.
