NEW YORK, June 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Project Liberty today announced that Stanford University has joined Project Liberty's institute (formerly The McCourt Institute) as a founding partner, alongside Georgetown University and Sciences Po, to collaborate on advancing a more responsible approach to digital technology worldwide.
Launched in 2021 by founder and civic entrepreneur Frank McCourt, Jr., Project Liberty is an independent, international nonprofit to advance responsible development of the internet of tomorrow, designed and governed for the common good. Stanford will initially collaborate with Project Liberty's institute, its digital governance arm (a consortium of experts in law, policy, social sciences, ethics and technology), through three complementary, interdisciplinary hubs that encompass ethics, social science, technical research and thought leadership aimed at informing emerging technologies.
"Stanford will add an important anchor for us in Silicon Valley," said McCourt. "Project Liberty and its institute aim to foster a global network of the most innovative thinkers on technology for the common good. With their openness to collaboration, focus on solutions, and shared sense of urgency, Stanford faculty will help propel our work. We couldn't be more pleased to have Stanford join us at this critical juncture."
"Stanford is thrilled to join forces with Project Liberty's institute and other leading experts to advance research in technology and governance and help shape an ethical future for our digital society," said Marc Tessier-Lavigne, president of Stanford University. "Together, we can accelerate research solutions that have the potential to create stronger, more enduring democracies worldwide."
Stanford announced that the initiative will enable new efforts in the Ethics, Society, and Technology Hub at the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society and the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, which are both in the School of Humanities and Sciences; the Cyber Policy Center, a joint center of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Stanford Law School; and the Stanford Digital Economy Lab at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.
"Tech companies have a disproportionate influence and power over our lives," said Martina Larkin, CEO of Project Liberty. "We know the damage—to our societies and democracies, and to the health and safety of individual users—that social media causes. This partnership with Stanford University will accelerate our mission to build a better web for a better world: one in which social networks, AI and responsible technology can support democracy, and build a digital society that benefits the many and not just the few."
"Right now, social networking is concentrated in a tiny number of platforms that gather vast amounts of people's data, designed using algorithms that keep us scrolling," noted Constance Bommelaer de Leusse, Executive Director of Project Liberty's institute. "The governance issues are even more complex in this era of generative AI. Working with Stanford and our other institute partners will accelerate research and the emergence of responsible technology."
The initiative will also support research efforts across several focus areas including digital governance and how digital technologies impact society and the economy. For more information, visit www.projectliberty.io.