Leadership
Malika Saada Saar
Fellow
Malika Saada Saar is a human rights lawyer, technology policy strategist, and global leader shaping how artificial intelligence is governed, deployed, and regulated to protect people and strengthen democratic institutions.
Most recently, she served as Global Head of Human Rights at YouTube, leading company-wide initiatives to embed human rights principles into the design, development, and deployment of AI systems. She spearheaded efforts on AI fairness, accountability, and safety, building global frameworks to safeguard digital rights and ensure responsible innovation for billions of users worldwide.
Prior to that, Malika was Senior Counsel on Civil and Human Rights at Google, where she designed multi-stakeholder engagement strategies, implemented supply chain safeguards, and built strategic partnerships with organizations such as UN Women and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Earlier, she founded and led Rights4Girls, a national advocacy organization that transformed U.S. legal and policy responses to child sex trafficking, the criminalization of vulnerable girls, and systemic inequities in the justice system.
Today, Malika is a Senior Fellow at Brown University's Watson School for International & Public Affairs, where she teaches and advises on the governance of AI, democracy, and the rule of law, with a focus on how emerging technologies reshape power, access, and opportunity.
She has been named one of Newsweek's 150 Women Who Shake the World, served on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS under President Barack Obama, and sits on the Boards of the Watson School and the Peabody Awards. Malika holds a B.A. from Brown University, an M.A. in Education from Stanford University, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
