Emmie Hine
Welcome to my site! I'm a Research Associate at the Yale Digital Ethics Center and a PhD candidate in Law, Science, and Technology at the University of Bologna, where I research the ethics and governance of emerging technologies in different geopolitical contexts. My dissertation focuses on the human rights impacts of XR technologies, but I also research the ethical and policy implications of AI and other technologies. I obtained a master’s degree in Social Science of the Internet as a Shirley Scholar at the University of Oxford, where my thesis compared American and Chinese AI governance policies. I've also published articles about European AI governance and Chinese and American technology policy, and also write the Ethical Reckoner newsletter.
Before I started my PhD, I was a full-stack software engineer at an enterprise data management software company in Boston. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Chinese, with a concentration in Science and Technology Studies, from Williams College. I am proficient in English and Mandarin, but my favorite language is TypeScript 🧑💻
Recent Updates
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Governing Silicon Valley and Shenzhen: Assessing a New Era of AI Governance in the US and China
In this paper, I discuss updates in the US and China's AI governance and what they mean for global cooperation.
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ER 29: On the romanticization of disconnecting
In the latest edition of the Ethical Reckoner, I muse about what the popularity of the "digital detox" says about privilege and our relationship to technology.
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Global AI governance: barriers and pathways forward
In this paper, we discuss the current state of global AI governance and argue that, instead of creating a global AI governance body, we should strengthen what we already have.
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Nature Machine Intelligence's Anniversary AI Reflections
Along with other fantastic contributors, I reflect on how China's deepfake regulations have evolved since my initial commentary about them in 2022.
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Virtual Reality, Cyberspace, and Embodiment: A Historical Debate with Contemporary Resonance
In this preprint, I explore the history of VR and cyberspace and how concepts of embodiment have evolved. Even though the tech has changed, what it means for our experiences online (read: who gets harassed) has not.
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What the AI Act Grand Challenge says about robot regulation
Based on our experience winning the AI Act Grand Challenge, the LegalAIzers and I reflect on what the new AI Act means for robot regulation.
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Things I Think About
The ethics of emerging technology, especially AI and XR.
Tech governance... especially of AI and XR.
The geopolitics of tech ethics and governance, especially regarding China, the US, and the EU.
Relatedly, digital sovereignty and how technology impacts it.
How to encode ethics into practitioners' workflows.
Making tech ethics accessible.
New coding paradigms.
Rock climbing.
Baking.
Things I've Written
Most publications are OA with embedded links.
Peer-reviewed journal articles
As sole/first/joint first author
Hine, E., Yousefi, Y., Osivand, P., Brand, D., Kugler, P., Chiara, P.G. "The AI Act Grand Challenge shows how autonomous robots will be regulated." Science Robotics, 2023.
As contributing author
Conference papers
Book Chapters
Preprints
Other Things I've Done That You Can Read About
I commented for a BBC article, "How AI turned a Ukrainian YouTuber into a Russian" (a truly wild story).
I was interviewed for a South China Morning Post video, "How deepfakes are reshaping Asia politics."
I gave a keynote on protecting fundamental rights in extended reality/the metaverse for a Foundation Metaverse EU symposium, which I recapped for Metaverse EU here.
I commented on the US AI Executive Order for New Scientist:
"Biden executive order: How the US is trying to tame AI."
I was interviewed about Chinese AI regulation for The Global Eye. I was on one of the winning teams of the
University of St. Gallen EU AI Act Grand Challenge, which I wrote about
for my newsletter here
and for Science Robotics here.
I was a guest on the skeptechs podcast talking about the Apple Vision Pro and what it means for the Apple vs Meta XR battle:
skeptechs 5.8: Apple in your eye
I commented on the EU Artificial Intelligence Act for New Scientist:
"EU's Artificial Intelligence Act will lead the world on regulating AI."