Labor & Tech Expert Amanda Ballantyne ’02 To Discuss AI and the Future of Work
AI at Smith: The Art of Inquiry
Published October 5, 2026
With rapid advances in artificial intelligence sparking urgent global debates about human labor, technology access, and ethics, Smith College welcomes alum Amanda Ballantyne ’02 as the fall semester speaker in the Presidential Colloquium Series.
Ballantyne—a leading labor and technology policy expert—will explore the critical intersection of work and artificial intelligence, offering insights drawn from two decades at the forefront of tech policy, community organizing, and economic justice.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in government from Smith College in 2002, Ballantyne went on to receive a law degree from the University of Washington School of Law. She has since emerged as a pivotal voice shaping national policy on worker protection and emergent technology. Notably, she served as the founding executive director of the AFL-CIO Technology Institute—the labor movement’s first dedicated technology policy center—and was an inaugural member of the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee, where she advised the White House on AI workforce strategies and testified before Congress on the future of work.
Currently, Ballantyne is a senior fellow for Workers and Tech at New America, and visiting scholar at the MIT Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work.
This event is part of a campus series examining how AI is reshaping fundamental aspects of society, economy, and human agency.
Event Details & Attendance Information
- Tuesday, October 20, 2026, from 5 to 6 p.m.
- Campus Center Carroll Room (208)
- Free and open to the public.
- In-person event only (this event will not be livestreamed).
- Attendees are invited to submit questions for consideration ahead of the event.
- To request a sign language interpreter or additional accommodations, please email the Accessibility Resource Center.
