Irina Raicu is the director of the Internet Ethics program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, at Santa Clara University. Her work addresses a wide variety of topics — from online privacy to social media’s impact on society, from the digital divide to the ethics of encryption, and the many ethical issues associated with artificial intelligence. Recently, she led the effort of organizing a daylong public conference titled “AI and the Environment: Sustaining the Common Good,” which brought together academics from a variety of disciplines — including engineering, economics, environmental justice, business, law, philosophy, and more.
Raicu was a member of the Partnership on AI's first working group on Fair, Transparent, and Accountable AI, and remains active in that organization’s efforts. She has authored and co-authored a variety of resources published by the Markkula Center, including the compendium “Ethics in Technology Practice,” and, together with other center staff, she has worked with multiple companies in the process of developing their responsible tech/responsible AI policies and processes. Her writing has appeared in publications including The Atlantic, USA Today, Forbes, MarketWatch, Slate, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Recode.
As a teenager, Raicu came to the U.S. with her family as a refugee; her background informs her interest in the Internet as a tool whose use has profound ethical implications worldwide. She holds a J.D. degree from Santa Clara University’s School of Law, as well as a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a master's degree from San José State University.