Michael Bennett, Ph.D.

Special Advisor to the Chancellor on Artificial Intelligence, University of Illinois

Dr. Michael Bennett is an educator, philosopher of technology, legal scholar and practicing attorney. He has held several leadership roles in organizations focused on AI, most recently as the Director of Education Programs, AI Law and Policy at the Institute for Experiential AI. He has also served as the Director of Immersive Education at Discovery Partners (University of Illinois-Chicago);  faculty member at Northeastern University School of Law; Assistant Director for Innovation Policy in the School for the Future of Innovation In Society, Research Professor in the Center for Science and Imagination at Arizona State University; and Research Professor in the Risk Innovation Lab at the University of Michigan. Bennett served as Commissioner of Arts and Culture for the City of Tempe, Arizona, as well as a member of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Bioethics and the Law and a board member of Leonardo, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology. He consults widely with governments, innovators in artistic and technoscientific domains, limited-resource academic and artist-operated institutions, and politically active celebrities. Bennett holds a BS in applied physics from Florida A&M, a law degree from Harvard, and a PhD in science and technology studies from Rensselaer.