Dawn Nafus is an anthropologist with skills in responsible AI governance and the sustainability of ML systems. As Principal Engineer and Sociotechnical Systems Research Manager at Intel, she leads an interdisciplinary team of social scientists who inform engineering research and development, with an emphasis on machine learning.

Chairing EPIC 2018 in Honolulu, Dawn selected the theme "Evidence" to encourage thoughtful discussion on the relationship between ethnography and an emergent data science landscape. She reflects on how the existence of evidence as a construct was more certain in 2018, and in question today with the rise of tech such as chatbots that fabricate information. Dawn discusses tech company pivots since 2018 - moving away from a focus on winning over users - as well as the potential ethical conflict between sustainability issues and client desires.

This year’s EPIC conference will be held in Los Angeles from August 18-21. Learn more at 2024.epicpeople.org.