About Dr. Rebecca Portnoff
Dr. Rebecca Sorla Portnoff has dedicated her career to defending children from sexual abuse. She is currently Vice President of Data Science & AI at Thorn, owning strategy and vision for machine learning (ML)/AI across the organization. The ML/AI and algorithmic solutions her team builds have global impact: used across hundreds of LE agencies, hotlines and technology companies. She acts as an ecosystem leader to address emerging threats against children via novel research, standard setting and cross-sector collaborations, bridging the gap between child safety experts and technologists.
Rebecca brings with her over a decade of experience in ML/AI, child safety, and trauma-informed leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Princeton University, where she also minored in vocal jazz, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UC Berkeley.
Rebecca is an MIT Tech Review 35 under 35 innovator, and Fast Company AI 20. She serves on the UNICRI AI for Safer Children Advisory Board, on the National Advisory Committee on the Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States and ROOST’s Technical Advisory Committee. Her work has been recognized and featured by outlets such as The NYTimes, the WSJ, the AP, Forbes and more.
Awards
CogX Outstanding Diversity Leader in AI – Finalist (2023)
Expert Adviser
- ROOST Technical Advisory Committee
- National Advisory Committee on the Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States
- UNICRI AI for Safer Children Advisory Board
- NaverZ (Zepeto) Trust & Safety Advisory Council
- Roundtables: The White House, Australia eSafety Commissioner, Internet Watch Foundation, European Commission
- Workshops, Forums & Listening Sessions: HSI/eSafety, Virtual Global Taskforce, Partnership on AI, NIST, NSPCC, MLCommons, Google, Tech Coalition, MIT Lincoln Lab, US AISI
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Other Projects
Safety by Design in Generative Models to Prioritize Child Safety
IEEE has approved our working group to establish Safety by Design in Generative Models to Prioritize Child Safety as an IEEE recommended practice. This work will build off of Thorn and All Tech is Human’s paper, Safety by Design for Generative AI: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse, with Michael Simpson from Thorn acting as the chair of the IEEE working group.
Dr. Rebecca Portnoff 