PeopleofSuperintelligence

Public voice

Alex Hanna

Alex Hanna is a sociologist whose work examines how AI data practices affect inequality and labor. Her degrees span computer science, mathematics and sociology, and her early research used social-media data to study protest movements. At Google, she served as a senior research scientist on the Ethical AI team and appeared on the Women in AI Ethics 2021 list. A NeurIPS paper she coauthored on dataset reuse won a 2021 Datasets & Benchmarks Best Paper Award. She leads research at DAIR, received the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s Forward Award, coauthored The AI Con with Emily Bender, and co-runs Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, a livestream and podcast.

Now at
DAIR Institute
Works
43
Citations
2,294
h-index
18

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 14 October 2026.

Photo of Alex Hanna

Timeline

  1. July 2016

    From disciplines to protests

    Her degrees include a BS in computer science and mathematics and a BA in sociology from Purdue, plus an MS and PhD in sociology from UW–Madison. She joined the University of Toronto Mississauga as an assistant professor in July 2016 and used computer-aided data collection to study social movements, including the Arab Spring.

  2. December 2020

    Studying ethical AI

    At Google, she was a senior research scientist on the Ethical Artificial Intelligence team. The Women in AI Ethics project named her to its 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics list for 2021.

  3. 2021

    Tracing dataset reuse

    With Bernard Koch, Emily Denton and Jacob G. Foster, she coauthored “Reduced, Reused and Recycled: The Life of a Dataset in Machine Learning Research.” The NeurIPS 2021 Datasets & Benchmarks track gave the paper a Best Paper Award. It found that dataset use concentrated on fewer datasets and on a small group of elite institutions.

  4. May 2023

    AI and labor at DAIR

    By 2023, she was DAIR’s Director of Research and a Wisconsin Alumni Association Forward Award recipient. Her work there examined AI’s effects on labor and how workers may bear the burden of tending to tools sold as labor-saving.

  5. 2025

    Writing about AI hype

    With Emily M. Bender, she coauthored The AI Con, a book about AI and the hype around it. They also run Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 as a series delivered through livestream and podcast.

  6. As of October 2026

    Leading research at DAIR

    She is Director of Research at DAIR. Her work examines how AI and machine learning affect racial, gender and class inequality through data practices and labor.

Sources and credits

Photo: Rosiestep, via Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: commons.wikimedia.org. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.

  1. Department and Campus Commencement Information | UC Berkeley Sociology Department sociology.berkeley.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. UTM prof uses technology to track rise of social protest movements | University of Toronto Mississauga utm.utoronto.ca. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. Alex Hanna (Ph.D. ’16) Named One of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics for 2021 – Department of Sociology – UW–Madison sociology.wisc.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. Announcing the NeurIPS 2021 Award Recipients – NeurIPS Blog blog.neurips.cc. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. Reduced, Reused and Recycled: The Life of a Dataset in Machine Learning Research arxiv.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. Meet 2023 Forward Award Recipient Alex Hanna MS’13, PhD’16 | Wisconsin Alumni Association uwalumni.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. THE AI CON - How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want thecon.ai. Checked 14 October 2026.