Prof. N. Helberger

Natali Helberger is Distinguished University Professor of Law and Digital Technology, with a special focus on AI at the University of Amsterdam, and affiliated with the Institute for Information Law (IViR). Helberger is member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW).
In her research, she investigates how digitization, algorithms and AI are transforming the media and its implications for public values, diversity in the media landscape and the media’s democratic role. Awarded an ERC grant to pursue these questions, she is currently leading a team of data scientists, journalism, communication and legal scholars to study the individual, societal and legal implications of algorithmic news recommendations. Earlier, she has received a NWO Talent grant for her research into exposure diversity.

Natali is the founder and leader (together with Professor Claes de Vreese, ASCoR) of an interdisciplinary research programme “Information, Communication in the DataSociety (ICDS)” that receives structural UvA Research Priority Area funding. ICDS brings together researchers from communications science, law, philosophy and ethics, economy, political science and computer science to study the societal impact of data analytics, AI and machine learnings, and implications for fundamental rights, law and policy. The project that has been nominated for the prestigious Huibregtsen Award as a project that combines academic ground-breaking research with societal relevance. Helberger is also one of the founders and leaders of the AI, Media & Democracy Lab. The Lab collaborates with media partners, societal partners and the municipality of Amsterdam and focuses on how AI and digital technology are transforming media and democracy. Since 2019, she is also leading (together with Prof. Tobias Blanke, Prof. Sonja Smets and Prof. Claes de Vreese) the UvA Research Priority Area Human(e) AI.

She is one of the leaders of the Citizen & Democracy track of the VSNU Digital Society Initiative, and member of the VSNU Kennistafel AI. Within the NLAIC (Dutch AI coalition), Helberger is founding member of the Culture Working Group, and member of the Societal Acceptance and Inclusion Working Group. She was part of the team that wrote the Dutch NWO AI Research Agenda. She is also member of the Steering Committee of the Swiss national research programme on Digital Transformation.

Knowledge transfer and valorisation play an important role in her work. For her research, Helberger works together with leading media companies, NGOs, consumer organisations, and has advised, among others, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, OECD, UNESCO and national governments and regulatory authorities. Former member of the EU High Level Expert Group Connect and the Council of Europe Committee of experts on Human Rights Dimensions of automated data processing and different forms of artificial intelligence, former Chair of the Council of Europe’s Expert Committee Freedom of Expression and Digital Technologies and current Chair of the Expert Committee Increasing Resilience of Media. Natali has been listed as one of the “100 brilliant women in AI ethics to follow ”.