CAREER & IMPACT

Moving Child Safety Upstream

As the founding head of Thorn’s ML/AI function, Rebecca built the organization’s technical AI capability from the ground up, ultimately serving as Vice President of Data Science & AI. The ML/AI and algorithmic solutions developed under her leadership are used across hundreds of law enforcement agencies, hotlines, and technology companies, collectively evaluating more than 900 billion files for abuse material. Drawing on that technical and operational experience, Rebecca conceived, established, and led Thorn’s Safety-by-Design for Generative AI initiative, developing concrete principles and mitigations to prevent generative AI-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse and securing public commitments from more than ten leading AI companies, including Google, Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI.

Rebecca is internationally recognized for her combined technical and issue-area expertise at the intersection of AI governance and child sexual exploitation and abuse. Her work has contributed to standards and governance efforts across institutions including NIST, the UK AI Security Institute, IEEE, and the EU AI Office. She has been invited to provide expertise to global governments and public institutions including the White House, the UK Home Office, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, and the International Network of AI Safety Institutes. She also serves on the Internet Watch Foundation Board, the UNICRI AI for Safer Children Advisory Board, and the National Advisory Committee on the Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States.

Across this work, Rebecca has increasingly focused on moving child safety upstream: from detecting and responding to abuse after it occurs toward preventing abuse in the first place. Her work bridges technical research, real-world implementation, standards, and policy to turn child-safety objectives into concrete requirements for how technology is built and governed.

Rebecca is a frequent keynote speaker and invited expert, presenting her work at venues ranging from AWS re:Invent to the White House. Her work has been featured by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TIME, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and other leading outlets.