AI & elections: Are democracies ready?

Guillermo Beltrà has been the policy director at Luminate since April 2024 and the co-chair of the European AI & Society Fund since 2023. Besides leading Luminate strategic initiatives’ policy team, Beltrà focuses on advancing a paradigm shift in rules and standards to transform Big Tech’s business models and practices to create a democratic and rights-respecting information ecosystem. Prior to that, he worked at the Open Society Foundation as head of the Technology and Society team from 2022 to 2024 and as head of the EU Digital Policy Team from 2020 to 2022. Previously, he worked as policy director at Access Now between 2018 and 2020 and held various positions within The European Consumer Organization (BEUC) between 2011 and 2018. Beltrà holds a degree in Law and Economics from University Carlos III, a degree in law from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and a master’s in international relations from the university of Kent.

Asha Allen has been the director and secretary general of the Centre for Democracy (CDT) Europe office in Brussels since 2024. In this role, she leads work on issues at the intersection of online expression, civic engagement, and technology, focusing on advocating for the preservation of fundamental rights in European Union/Regional legislation, and democratic accountability in industry content policies. She previously served as CDT’s deputy director and programme director for online expression and civic space between 2021 and 2024. Allen previously worked on projects with the United Nations, Council of Europe and OSCE. From 2018 to 2021, Allen worked as a policy and campaign officer in the field of gender-based and domestic violence, and as an independent researcher. She is also part of the Who Writes the Rules Campaign, which advocates for increased participation of women of color in EU policy making and the tech industry. Allen holds a bachelor’s degree in American studies and a master’s degree in transitional studies from the University of Kent alongside a master's degree in European studies from KU Leuven.

Maria Donde has been the international affairs director at Coimisiún na Meán, the media and online safety regulator in Ireland, since 2024. She leads the international engagement program and represents the Coimisiún on the full range of online platform and media regulatory and policy questions. Prior to her current role, she worked as the head of international content policy at the UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom. Between 2018 and 2024 she also served as a member of the board of the European platform of regulatory authorities and has worked extensively as an expert member of Council of Europe working groups. She has a bachelor’s degree in modern languages from Cambridge University and a master’s degree in literary translation.

Baybars Orsek has been the vice president of Fact-Checking at Logically since 2022. Orsek was the director of the International Fact-Checking Network and international programming at the Poynter Institute between 2019 and 2022. He founded and led Turkey's open data platform Veri Kaynagi (Data Source) in 2018. He also founded Turkey’s first fact-checking project, Dogruluk Payi (Share of Truth), which aims to contribute to making voters more politically informed by checking the accuracy of the statements of political actors in Turkey. He was also a founding member of Izlemedeyiz (On Watch) a Turkish independent non-profit media aimed at fostering transparency in Turkish politics through claim and promise checks, data mining and capacity building. Orsek holds a BA in Arts from Istanbul Bilgi University and a MA in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from Sabanci University.

Elisa Pilichowski has been the director for public governance at the OECD since 2020. In this role, she spearheads the organisation’s efforts to support governments in building citizen trust by leading the directorate’s policy work on key governance issues and overseeing the OECD Reinforcing Democracy Initiative. Previously she held different positions within the organisation including acting director of the council and executive committee secretariat, advisor and then counsellor in the office of the secretary-general, deputy head of the Eurasia programme, and policy analyst in the public governance directorate. Before joining the OECD in 2000, Pilichowski held positions in the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific region vice president’s office and at the World Bank Institute.

Krisztina Stump has been the head of unit of the media convergence and social media unit at the European Commission since 2020. She oversees the Commission’s policy work on fighting online disinformation. She is also chairing the taskforce of the code of practice, steering its work on elections, including the recent 2024 European parliamentary elections. Her unit is also in charge of media literacy and research and innovation projects that contribute to the fight against disinformation. Stump has held various positions within the European Commission in telecommunications, audiovisual media regulation, media pluralism, copyright and social media policy. She holds two master's degrees in law with a focus on media law from Columbia Law School (New York) and in German and European law form Humboldt University (Berlin) on top of a master's degree in communication and media studies from the ELTE University (Budapest).