PeopleofSuperintelligence

Public voice

Cathy O’Neil

Cathy O’Neil is a mathematician and author whose books examine how algorithmic systems affect people’s lives. She earned a mathematics PhD at Harvard, worked as a postdoc at MIT, and taught at Barnard before moving from finance into data science. She wrote Doing Data Science, Weapons of Math Destruction, and The Shame Machine, launched Columbia’s Lede Program, and founded ORCAA to audit algorithms. As of October 2026, she is CEO of ORCAA.

Now at
ORCAA
Works
22
Citations
2,925
h-index
8
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. By 2007

    Mathematics at Barnard

    She earns a mathematics PhD from Harvard, works as a postdoc in MIT’s mathematics department, and teaches at Barnard, where she publishes research in arithmetic algebraic geometry. She leaves academia in 2007.

  2. 2007–2011

    Finance into data science

    She works as a quant at D.E. Shaw and RiskMetrics. In 2011, she leaves finance to become a data scientist in New York’s start-up scene.

  3. 2012–2014

    Consulting and data journalism

    She begins independent data-science consulting in 2012. She writes Doing Data Science in 2013 and launches Columbia’s Lede Program in Data Journalism in 2014.

  4. 2016

    Founding ORCAA

    In 2016, she founds ORCAA, an algorithmic auditing consultancy that aims to set good standards and protect people from harm.

  5. 2016–2019

    Weapons of Math Destruction

    In 2016, she publishes Weapons of Math Destruction, about algorithmic models that score teachers, sort résumés, evaluate workers, set parole, and monitor health. The book reaches the National Book Award nonfiction longlist in 2016 and wins the Euler Book Prize in 2019.

  6. 2022

    The Shame Machine

    In 2022, she publishes The Shame Machine, which examines how industries and social media exploit shame for commercial purposes.

  7. April 2025

    ORCAA and Harvard’s tech lab

    In April 2025, she is CEO of ORCAA and a member of the Public Interest Tech Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School.

  8. As of October 2026

    CEO of ORCAA

    As of October 2026, she is CEO of ORCAA.

Career

  1. Since 2016ORCAAFounder, CEO
  2. From 2025Harvard Kennedy SchoolMember
  3. Until 2007Barnard College
  4. 2007–2011D. E. ShawQuant
  5. 2007–2011RiskMetricsQuant
  6. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPostdoc

Education

  1. Harvard UniversityPhD in Mathematics

From the biography.

Most-cited works

  1. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy2016 · 2,335 citations
  2. Doing Data Science: Straight Talk from the Frontline2013 · O'Reilly Media, Inc. eBooks · 284 citations
  3. Big Data in Survey Research2015 · Public Opinion Quarterly · 174 citations
  4. Doing Data Science2013 · Medical Entomology and Zoology · 43 citations
  5. Near-Term Artificial Intelligence and the Ethical Matrix2020 · 26 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  2. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.
  4. The median h-index is 54 at universities and 19 at frontier AI labsIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The median h-index is 54 at universities and 19 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, citations and moves to estimate how universities and frontier labs contribute to AI research.

Sources and credits

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  1. Cathy O'Neil - Data-Pop Alliance datapopalliance.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  2. Cathy O'Neil - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  3. ORCAA orcaarisk.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  4. OCEAN oceannetwork.net. Checked 18 October 2026.
  5. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy - National Book Foundation nationalbook.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  6. Euler Book Prize - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  7. Cathy O’Neil: ‘Big tech makes use of shame to profit from our interactions’ | Psychology | The Guardian theguardian.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  8. Cathy O’Neil - mesh meshconference.com. Checked 18 October 2026.