NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Building Trust in the Age of AI: Safeguarding the Impact Economy with B Cavello

The Impact Economy depends on transparency, accountability, and stakeholder trust — values increasingly tested by the rise of opaque AI systems. As algorithms shape decisions in finance, healthcare, hiring, and development, biases and unintended harms threaten to undermine social progress. This session will explore cutting-edge approaches to ethical AI and impact measurement: embedding fairness in design, aligning AI with SDGs, and ensuring human oversight in high-stakes contexts. Together, we will ask: How do we govern AI at scale so that it advances equity, justice, and systemic well-being rather than eroding them?

At a moment when AI adoption is accelerating faster than regulation, the stakes could not be higher. Governments are scrambling to write rules, companies are racing to integrate AI into core operations, and civil society is calling for safeguards before trust is irreparably broken. For impact investors, entrepreneurs, and changemakers, the question is not whether AI will transform markets and societies — but whether it will do so in ways consistent with human dignity and planetary sustainability. This conversation will surface the tensions, opportunities, and bold ideas needed to ensure that AI becomes a tool for systemic good rather than systemic harm.

About the Featured Guest

B Cavello is a technology and facilitation expert who is passionate about creating social change by empowering everyone to participate in technological and social governance. They serve as director of emerging technologies for Aspen Digital, a program of the Aspen Institute. B also serves as assistant program chair for the Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) Conference and as a board member to Metagov, an interdisciplinary research nonprofit promoting digital self-governance. Previously, they worked as a tech policy advisor in the US Congress, program lead at Partnership on AI, senior engagement lead at IBM, and director of product and community Exploding Kittens.