René Cassin Lecture 2025: Reclaiming Freedom While Democracy Decays and AI Surges

Democratic norms are decaying as strongman leaders disable checks on their power; artificial intelligence permeates every sector of societies. Although reflecting different origins and dynamics, these two trends in the first decades of the 21 century both escalate social distrust and diminish human capacities. Join us for a discussion on the necessity of reclaiming avenues for resistance and amplifying human capabilities of collaboration and protest, including through the use of technologies.

Biography

Martha Minow holds the 300th Anniversary University Professorship at Harvard University; she has taught at Harvard Law School since 1981 and served as dean for eight years (2009-2017). An expert in constitutional law and human rights, her work has focused on issues of exclusion and discrimination, legal responses to social, political, and religious conflict, and legal treatments of communications and new technologies.