Guiding Techno-Social Change

Manail Anis Ahmed is an impassioned educator, curriculum innovator and convener on AI and emerging technologies. She helps classrooms and communities navigate socio-technical change with clarity, urgency and compassion.

About Manail

Manail Anis Ahmed is an impassioned educator, curriculum innovator and convener on AI and emerging technologies with extensive educational administration and management experience. She has led the establishment of organizations and institutions for learning, research and scholarship globally. She has also architected government regulation, knowledge management infrastructure, and human capital development strategy for an entirely new global city and economic zone. She is currently engaged in cross-disciplinary curricular innovation across AI and engineering, the social sciences and life sciences fields.

Manail is a lecturer at Columbia University, teaching a course titled ‘Getting AI Right for Techno-Social Change’. She is adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University teaching and developing curricula across Biotech Entrepreneurship, Bioinformatics, Drug Discovery, and Tech Transfer & Commercialization. She has been a visiting lecturer teaching precepts in Technology, AI & Engineering Ethics at Princeton University, and has served as Responsible AI mentor to graduate students through the Princeton GradFutures Program.

At the World Economic Forum, Manail is a member of the Inclusive AI workstream of the AI Governance Alliance. She has served as consultant to global governments designing large-scale country level education and workforce development programs and digital public infrastructure. She has led a global research group at the Center for AI & Digital Policy (CAIDP) in Washington D.C. She has also been a Public Voices Fellow for Equality Now, which advances the rights of women and girls globally.

In the past, Manail has been co-founder, Chief Strategy Officer and AI Governance Lead for an AI-powered home and family management startup – www.iJuno.io. She is on the boards of Women in Tech Leadership, and the edtech startup ZNotes.

Manail has a BA in Political Science from Swarthmore College, an MA in Asian Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and additional training in the political economy of development and Indian and Islamic art history. She speaks English, Urdu/Hindi, and basic Arabic. Published widely across issues of responsible AI, ethical technology, country-level AI policy, higher education and global human capital development, Manail is especially interested in ensuring the sustained participation of women and girls worldwide.

Teaching, Writing & Public Speaking

University Affiliations

Columbia University – Jan 2026-present

Getting AI Right for Techno-Social Change

Johns Hopkins University – Jan 2025-Present

Biotechnology Entrepreneurship

AI in Bioinformatics & Drug Discovery

Practicum for Master’s in Biotech Engineering

Technology Transfer & Commercialization

Princeton University – Jan 2023-Dec 2024

Engineering Ethics

Practical Ethics

Technology Ethics

Georgetown University – June 2025

AI in the GCC: Opportunities & Challenges

Villanova University – June 2026-present

Engineering Entrepreneurship

Princess Noura University – November 2025

AI for Startup Founders

University of Waterloo – July 2025

New Jersey Institute of Technology – Jan 2025-present

Responsible AI

Engineering Ethics

Prince MBS College of Business & Entrepreneurship – Oct 2015-Dec 2021

Effat University – Aug 2009-Aug 2014

Courses Taught

AI & Techno-Social Change	Entrepreneurship & Emerging Technologies
Getting AI Right for Techno-Social Change – Columbia University	Biotechnology Entrepreneurship – Johns Hopkins University
Responsible AI – New Jersey Institute of Technology	Engineering Entrepreneurship – Villanova University
Engineering Ethics – New Jersey Institute of Technology & Princeton University	Technology Transfer & Commercialization – Johns Hopkins University
Practical Ethics – Princeton University	AI for Startup Founders – Princess Noura University
Technology Ethics – Princeton University
Life Sciences & Translational Innovation	Resilience & Strategic Foresight
AI in Bioinformatics & Drug Discovery – Johns Hopkins University	Resilience Through Engineering: China and the US – Under development
Practicum for Master’s in Biotech Engineering – Johns Hopkins University	AI in the GCC: Opportunities & Challenges – Georgetown University

Writing

AI: Infrastructure, Governance, Economic Strategy

Ahmed, M. A. (2024). Governance and AI Frameworks. (White Paper/PDF). View Document

World Economic Forum. (2024). Blueprint for Intelligent Economies. Read Publication

Ahmed, M. A. (2024). Digital Transformation Strategies. (White Paper/PDF). View Document

The National News. (2024, Jan 16). The UAE’s harnessing of AI at the national level can benefit everyone. Read Article

The National News. (2023, Sept 4). The UAE has been quick to adopt AI; now it must build and export it. Read Article

Ahmed, M. A. (2024). The state of digital government in China vs. the United States. Medium. Read Post

Zhihu. (2024). AI Governance and Cultural Contexts (Selected Analyses). Reference 1 | Reference 2

Technical.ly. (2023). Founders looking for Philly tech scene now. Read Article

AI, Resilience & Technosocial Change

Ahmed, M. A. (2025). The Predictive and Preventive Potential of AI for Mental Health. Institutionalised Children Explorations and Beyond. https://doi.org/10.1177/23493003251313601

CNBC Arabia. (2023). في السعودية.. تطوير الذكاء الاصطناعي بما يعزز الرفاه البشري (In Saudi Arabia: Developing AI to Enhance Human Wellbeing). Read Article

SSIR Arabia. (2023). الذكاء الاصطناعي في التعليم (Artificial Intelligence in Education). Read Article

Ahmed, M. A. (2024). Responsible Technology: Only as responsible as us. Medium. Read Post

Ahmed, M. A. (2023). Role of Responsible AI in Low-Connectivity Environments. LinkedIn. Read Post

Ahmed, M. A. (2023). Responsible AI: One Component of Ethical Risk Assessment. LinkedIn. Read Post

Dua, T. (2023). The dark side of AI: Everyone is simultaneously extremely motivated. LinkedIn. Read Post

Dua, T. (2023). What the meteoric rise of AI means for workers. LinkedIn. Read Post

Public Speaking

My Social Media

This is where I reflect on the shifting landscape of technology and humanity – how AI is reshaping governance, education, creativity, and connection. Each essay, post and video explores questions of ethics, inclusion, and what it means to live well in an algorithmic world.

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Manail as a Responsible AI Mentor at the LEAP conference

Manail leading a panel at *Jadal*, the annual dialogue among Muslim female scholars, researchers and practitioners on issues of global importance to Muslim women

Email Me

I’m happy to hear from you. You can send me an email on manail@manailanisahmed.com.