Vilas Dhar is a global expert on artificial intelligence policy and a leading voice on equity in a tech-enabled world. As President and Trustee of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, he leads a $1.5 billion philanthropic initiative dedicated to advancing AI and data-driven solutions for an equitable and sustainable future.

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Recognized as a thought leader on AI governance, ethics, and global policy, Vilas was appointed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to the UN High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, serves as the US Government Nominated Expert to the Global Partnership on AI, and is a member of the OECD AI Futures Working Group. He is a contributor to the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on AI and serves on the Advisory Council at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI).

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Vilas intervenes regularly at the Munich Security Conference, the World Economic Forum, the UN General Assembly, and the Paris AI Action Summit, bringing attention to the role of AI in shaping a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world. His LinkedIn Learning course, Ethics in the Age of Generative AI, is the most widely viewed AI ethics course in the world, with over 500,000 learners globally.

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With a background spanning human rights, engineering, and public policy, Vilas holds a J.D. from NYU School of Law, an M.P.A. from Harvard Kennedy School, and dual degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Illinois. He is currently pursuing doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.