Léa Steinacker (born 1989) is a German researcher, entrepreneur,[1] keynote speaker and best-selling author whose work focuses on how technology interacts with people, organizations, and the planet. Artificial intelligence, AI ethics, feminism and social justice are key themes within her work and she frequently writes, presents, and interviews others on these topics.
Léa Steinacker | |
---|---|
![]() Léa Steinacker (2023) | |
Born | 1989 (age 34–35) West Germany (now Germany) |
Known for | Artificial Intelligence |
Academic background | |
Education | UWC Atlantic Princeton University Harvard Kennedy School University of St. Gallen |
Thesis | Code Capital: A Sociotechnical Framework to Understand the Implications of Artificially Intelligent Systems from Design to Deployment (2022) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Sociologist |
Website | www |
She has also worked as a journalist with prominent interviewees including digital activist Joy Buolamwini,[2] writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.[3]
Early life
editSteinacker grew up in Walsrode, Germany. She excelled academically, skipping the sixth grade and winning the Lower Saxony state prize for English in 2003.[4] She was active in sports, playing tennis as part of a Walsroder team competing nationally for a position in the German Jugend trainiert für Olympia (Youth Training for the Olympics) program.[5]
Education
editIn 2005, Steinacker moved to Wales to attend UWC Atlantic, and graduated with an International Baccalaureate Diploma in 2007.[6]
In 2011, Princeton University awarded her with a Bachelor of Arts with honors in International Affairs and a minor in African Studies. Her senior thesis, "An ecological approach to the risks of female sex workers in rural Kenya," was supervised by Professor of Psychology Elizabeth Levy Paluck.[7] Her attendance at Princeton was supported by the Davis United World College Scholars Program, where she was a class of 2011 scholar,[8] and her studies included a year at The American University in Cairo. For her senior thesis research in Kenya, she was partially funded by the Adel Mahmoud Global Health Scholarship.[9]
In 2015, Steinacker earned a Master of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and was a McCloy Fellow .[10] She also participated in the first White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism on the recommendation of Farah Pandith, who served previously as the first-ever special representative to Muslim communities.[11]
In 2022, she completed her PhD at the University of St. Gallen. Her doctoral thesis, "Code Capital: A Sociotechnical Framework to Understand the Implications of Artificially Intelligent Systems from Design to Deployment," was advised by Prof. Dr. Damian Borth (Artificial Intelligence) and Prof. Dr. Veronica Barassi (Digital Anthropology).[12]
Career
editDuring her time at Princeton, Steinacker interned at a Hanover radio station reporting on political news.[13]
In the early 2010s, she focused on humanitarian and social justice work with NGOs in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo[13] and provided first-person reports for the Walsroder Zeitung (Walsroder Newspaper) before being evacuated from Bukavu during the M23 rebellion.[14][15]
After her studies at Harvard, she joined the Handelsblatt Media Group as a Digital Scout for Germany's leading business magazine WirtschaftsWoche, eventually becoming the Chief Innovation Officer of WirtschaftsWoche in 2017.[16]
In 2018, WirtschaftsWoche created a professional development community focused on upskilling around technology-driven topics, called ada, with Steinacker assuming the role of "Chief Strategy Officer"[17]
In October 2020, ada Learning GmbH was founded by Steinacker, Miriam Meckel, Verena Pausder and Handelsblatt Media Group, with Steinacker assuming the role of Founder and Chief Innovation Officer. In February 2024, she became the Executive Chairwoman of ada.[1][18]
Since 2021, Steinacker is also a lecturer at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, teaching courses on technology such as "Social and Economic Impacts of Artificial Intelligence".[19]
Together with other notable supporters including German TV anchor Dunya Hayali, she is an investor in the female soccer club FC Viktoria Berlin.[1]
Her first book on artificial intelligence, "Alles überall auf einmal: Wie Künstliche Intelligenz unsere Welt verändert und was wir dabei gewinnen können" ("Everything everywhere all at once: How AI is changing our world and what we gain from it") became an instant national bestseller, with both Spiegel[20] and Manager Magazin[21] ranking it among the top.
Honors and awards
edit- 2011: Henry Richardson Labouisse Prize by Princeton University, an award of "$25,000 to each recipient to support research in developing countries by graduating seniors who intend to pursue a career devoted to problems of development and modernization." [23]
- 2013: McCloy Fellowship to study at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government by the Studienstiftung (German Academic Scholarship Foundation).[24]
- 2015: Munich Young Leader by the Munich Security Conference and Körber Stiftung.[25]
- 2016: Young Leader by Atlantik-Brücke (Atlantic Bridge).[26]
Books
edit- Meckel, M.; Steinacker, L. (2024). Alles überall auf einmal: Wie Künstliche Intelligenz unsere Welt verändert und was wir dabei gewinnen können (in German). Rowohlt E-Book. ISBN 978-3-644-02104-4. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
- Steinacker, L.; Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft (2022). Code Capital: A Sociotechnical Framework to Understand the Implications of Artificially Intelligent Systems from Design to Deployment. Nomos. ISBN 978-3-8487-8890-3. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
References
edit- ^ a b "ada Learning GmbH, Dusseldorf, Germany". www.northdata.com/. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
- ^ "Joy Buolamwini: "Algorithmen spiegeln uns wider"". www.wiwo.de. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
- ^ "We should all be feminists". ada-magazin.com. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
- ^ "Walsroderin ist Niedersachsens Beste" [Walsroderin is Lower Saxony's Best]. Walsroder Zeitung (in German). Walsrode. 2003-06-20. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
... gewann die 14-jährige Walsroderin jetzt den Landespreis in der Sprache Englisch.
[... the 14-year-old from Walsrode has now won the state prize in English studies.] - ^ "Tennis-Mädchen verpassen Einzug ins Bundesfinale knapp" [Tennis girls narrowly miss out on a place in the national final]. Walsroder Zeitung (in German). Walsrode. 2002-07-03. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
Denkbar knapp scheiterte die Tennis-Mädchenmannschaft des Gymnasiums Walsrode beim Kampf um den Einzug in das Bundesfinale beim Wettbewerb „Jugend trainiert für Olympia" in Berlin.
[The girls' tennis team from Walsrode High School narrowly missed out on a place in the national final of the "Jugend trainiert für Olympia" competition in Berlin.] - ^ "Atlantic Circle: InConversation - How to Responsibly Shape Technology's Impact on Society". www.atlanticcollege.org. Retrieved 2023-08-14.
- ^ Steinacker, Léa (5 April 2011). On some aspects of Ducks (PDF) (BA thesis). Princeton University.
- ^ "Class of 2011 | Davis UWC Scholars". www.davisuwcscholars.org. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
- ^ Patel, Ushma (19 April 2011). "Labouisse winners to pursue social justice for the underserved". Princeton University. Retrieved 2023-08-14.
- ^ "Startseiten-Alumni mit ausführlichen Texten – McCloys". mccloys.org. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
- ^ "Harvard Kennedy School Students Attend the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism". www.belfercenter.org. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
- ^ "Code capital : a sociotechnical framework to understand the implications of artificially intelligent systems from design to deployment / Léa Steinacker". nbn-resolving.org. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
- ^ a b "Léa Steinacker: Princeton in Africa". www.princetoninafrica.org. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
- ^ Steinacker, Léa (5 November 2012). "Fast wie damals auf dem Walsroder Wochenmarkt ..." [Almost like being back at Walsrode weekly market ...]. Walsroder Zeitung (in German). Walsrode/Bukavu. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
- ^ Steinacker, Léa (21 November 2012). "WZ-Auslandstagebuch: Politische Lage im Kongo droht zu eskalieren" [WZ foreign diary: The political situation in the Congo threatens to escalate]. Walsroder Zeitung (in German). Walsrode/Bukavu. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
- ^ "Léa Steinacker | Aktuelle Beiträge | WiWo". www.wiwo.de. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
- ^ Meckel, Miriam (12 October 2018). "Wir gehen mit "ada" aufs Ganze" [We're going all out with "ada"]. WirtschaftsWoche (in German). Retrieved 2023-08-13.
- ^ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-l%c3%a9a-steinacker-77948827/?original_referer=&originalSubdomain=de
- ^ "Léa Steinacker | Redner & Perspektiven - Die internationale Redneragentur" [Léa Steinacker: Redner & Perspektiven - The international speaker agency]. www.redneragentur.de. Retrieved 2023-08-18.
- ^ "SPIEGEL Bestseller Wirtschaftsbücher". Bestsellerliste.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-03-24.
- ^ magazin, manager. "Buchtipp: Bestseller-Liste aus der Wirtschaft von manager magazin". www.manager-magazin.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-03-24.
- ^ "Léa Steinacker Speaker AI, Ethics & Leadership | Women Speaker". Die Referenten Agentur. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
- ^ "Labouisse winners to pursue social justice for the underserved". www.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
- ^ "Startseiten-Alumni mit ausführlichen Texten – McCloys" [Homepage-Alumni with detailed texts – McCloys] (in German). Retrieved 2023-08-14.
- ^ "MYL Alumni". Körber-Stiftung (in German). Retrieved 2023-08-15.
- ^ "A Conversation on Racism and Police Brutality in the U.S. - Atlantik-Brücke e.V." www.atlantik-bruecke.org. Retrieved 2023-08-12.