pAYAL aRORA

Voted by The Times magazine as one of The Best Blogs in Tech
Voted Top 5 in the Technorati Top 100
Winner of the Best Prose Award for Business Books

Payal Arora is a Professor of Inclusive AI Cultures at Utrecht University, and Co-Founder of FemLab, a future of work initiative. A digital anthropologist and the award-winning author of ‘The Next Billion Users’ published by Harvard Press, Arora conducted in-depth fieldwork in factory towns, slums, townships, and favelas. Her research explores the tech patterns of communities frequently overlooked by Silicon Valley.

Payal has consulted on inclusive innovation, inclusive design, and AI ethics for a range of organisations including Adobe, IDEO, Spotify, Google, UNESCO, KPMG, GE, UNHCR, and HP. Recognised by Forbes as the "next billion champion" and "the right person to reform tech," her work has been widely covered by media outlets such as the BBC, Financial Times, The Economist, Quartz, 99% Invisible, Tech Crunch, and The Boston Globe.

Her forthcoming book, From Pessimism to Promise: Lessons from the Global South on Designing Inclusive Tech, is set to be published by MIT Press and HarperCollins India in Autumn 2024. When it comes to tech, the mainstream headlines are bleak: Algorithms control and oppress. AI will destroy democracy and our social fabric, and possibly even drive us to extinction. While legitimate concerns drive these fears, Payal believes we need to equally account for the fact that tech affords young people something incredibly valuable—a rare space for self-actualisation. Payal’s research shows that outside the West, where 90% of the world's youth reside, there is a significantly different outlook on tech: in fact, there is a contagion of optimism toward all things digital.

Timely and urgent, Payal’s new work makes a deeply compelling case that it is not naive to be optimistic about our digital future. On the contrary, it is our moral imperative to design with hope.

Educated at Harvard and Columbia University, Payal has delivered over 350 talks in 115 cities across 67 countries, sharing the stage with fellow tech leaders like Jimmy Wales and Steve Wozniak on the future of AI, the internet, and innovation. Her expertise is further demonstrated through her Fellow positions at renowned institutions such as General Electric, New York University, ZEMKI Universität Bremen, The Institute for Technology & Society in Rio, and as a Rockefeller Bellagio Resident Alumnus.

“The Next Billion Users is one of the most interesting, thought-provoking books on science & technology we can find.”
- Engadget -

“Payal is one of those rare speakers who is a great storyteller with knowledge that is backed up by comprehensive academic research”
- TechFestival Copenhagen -

Selected Press links: Tech Crunch, The Hindu, Your Story, Rising Voices