PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Paige Benton

Paige Benton is a South African political philosopher who studies how AI and social media threaten liberal democracy. Her philosophy PhD, begun in 2018 and completed at the University of Pretoria in 2023, was the first in political philosophy funded by the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR) node of the CSIR. In 2023 she argued in the SACAIR proceedings that AI literacy belongs among John Rawls's primary goods, and in 2024 she and Michael W. Schmidt published "The Harm of Social Media to Public Reason" in Topoi. She is a post-doctoral research fellow at the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science at the University of Johannesburg and a Technology & Human Rights Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Carr-Ryan Center for 2026–27.

Timeline

  1. 2018–2019

    Starting a CAIR philosophy PhD

    In 2018, she begins a PhD in philosophy titled 'Interfaces between Knowledge Representation and Reasoning and Political Philosophy: The Symbiotic Relationship Between Morality and Justice', as an IBS scholarship student in the CAIR research group. In 2019, she gives the talk 'AI and the Social Good' at the 4th CAIR/UP Symposium.

  2. 2023

    A doctorate from Pretoria

    She completes her PhD in Philosophy at the University of Pretoria in 2023 with a thesis reconceptualizing the relationship between the right and the good in Rawlsian political liberalism. Hers is the first PhD in political philosophy funded by the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR) node of the CSIR.

  3. 2023

    AI literacy as a primary good

    At SACAIR 2023, the 4th Southern African Conference for Artificial Intelligence Research, held in Muldersdrift, South Africa, in December 2023, she contributes the paper "AI Literacy: A Primary Good" to the proceedings Springer publishes in its Communications in Computer and Information Science series. The paper argues that AI literacy should be added to the list of primary goods developed by John Rawls.

  4. 2023–2024

    A Topoi paper with Schmidt

    In September 2023, Michael W. Schmidt presents "The Harm of Social Media to Public Reason", written with her, at the ECPR General Conference at Charles University. Topoi publishes the paper in 2024 (volume 43, issue 5); drawing on John Rawls's political liberalism, it explains why social media platforms that amplify echo chambers and epistemic bubbles likely violate the democratic norms tied to public reason.

  5. 2025–2026

    Co-PI on a democracy grant

    In August 2025, she organizes the Digital Decolonisation and Digital Justice Conference, a T20 side event for the first G20 in Africa. She is also Co-PI, with Veli Mitova, on the Global Excellence and Stature grant "Safeguarding Democracy in the Age of AI" (2025–2026), which funds a workshop series at ACEPS.

  6. 2026–2027

    A Carr-Ryan Center fellowship

    She joins the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at Harvard Kennedy School as a Technology & Human Rights Fellow for 2026–27, announced in August 2026. A South African political philosopher, she studies political epistemology, the politics of AI, and digital justice, and her fellowship project argues that digital justice requires digital reparations.

  7. As of October 2026

    Postdoctoral fellow in Johannesburg

    She is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science (ACEPS) at the University of Johannesburg. Her current research examines how AI and digitally personalized information environments threaten the epistemic foundations of liberal democracy.

Career

  1. NowUniversity of JohannesburgPost-Doctoral Research Fellow
  2. 2026–2027Harvard Kennedy SchoolTechnology & Human Rights Fellow

Education

  1. 2023University of PretoriaPhD

From the biography.

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Johannesburg. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Harvard University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Harvard University. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  4. Companies supply the most prior-work hires at 7 of the 9 frontier AI labsIncludes Harvard University. Our estimates of the organizations where 550 people worked directly before joining 9 frontier AI labs across 620 career transitions, comparing the main feeder organizations per lab.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Paige Benton yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Paige Benton | CAIR cair.org.za. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Paige Benton | Harvard Kennedy School hks.harvard.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. AI Literacy: A Primary Good - University of Johannesburg pure.uj.ac.za. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. The Harm of Social Media to Public Reason - University of Johannesburg pure.uj.ac.za. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. The Harm of Social Media to Public Reason - ECPR ecpr.eu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Announcing the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights 2026-27 Fellows | Harvard Kennedy School hks.harvard.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.