AI · Child Safety · technology Governance
Dr. Rebecca Portnoff
Dr. Rebecca Portnoff is an internationally recognized expert at the intersection of artificial intelligence, child safety, and technology governance. A Princeton B.S.E. and UC Berkeley Ph.D. graduate, she was the founding Head of Data Science & AI at Thorn, where she built some of the world’s first solutions for disrupting and preventing online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Today, she builds the safety-by-design frameworks and technical standards shaping global digital child safety.
Current Focus
“How do we design technology so that abuse is prevented in the first place?”
I spent the last decade building technology and ecosystem responses to online child sexual exploitation, and establishing the foundation for designing generative AI in a way that prevents its misuse for facilitating child sexual exploitation and abuse. My next chapter doubles down on moving child safety further upstream: developing the research, technical resources, standards, and policy efforts needed to prevent abuse through the design of technology itself.
From Open Problems to Enforceable Standards
Mapping harms and open problems
I identify emerging harms at the intersection of children and technology—and define the technical research needed to prevent them.
Establishing what works—and at scale
I evaluate existing safeguards, develop new prevention strategies, and build the evidence base that new interventions can work reliably at the scale of real technology systems.
Turning evidence into enforceable standards
I translate technical findings into specific, measurable requirements that companies can implement and policymakers can use to drive accountability.
Putting the Work Into Practice
This approach has shaped industry commitments, technical guidance, formal standards, and public governance frameworks.
Driving industry adoption
Conceived, established, and led Thorn’s Generative AI Safety-by-Design initiative. Built the multi-stakeholder initiative and secured public commitments from more than ten leading AI companies.
Informing public governance
Translated child-safety research into guidance and standards through the UK AI Security Institute, IEEE, and NIST.
Advancing the Public Conversation
Clarity, empathy, and inspiration. Through keynotes, expert briefings, and media engagement, I unpack complex questions about AI, child safety, and technology governance into tangible action.