Director Sutherland at the Center for AI Learning offices on Emory’s main campus. Photographer: Kevin Garrett

Dr. Joe Sutherland, noted technology executive, public service leader, and educator, is the inaugural director of the Emory Center for AI Learning, a newly established center that promotes artificial intelligence (AI) literacy and community across Emory University.

He serves as lead PI of the Emory branch of the U.S. AI Safety Institute Consortium, associate faculty of the Empathetic AI for Health Institute at Emory Healthcare, and fellow of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Public Policy, and Government at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a professor in Emory’s Department of Quantitative Theory & Methods.

Sutherland’s professional experience spans public service in The White House, technology entrepreneurship, executive roles including as CEO of an AI company and at Amazon and Cisco, and academic positions at Columbia, Johns Hopkins and Princeton. Sutherland founded two startups that were later acquired: Peachtree AI, a professional services firm specializing in artificial intelligence integrations, and Prattle, a fintech company that uses natural language processing to forecast both the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions and the performance of publicly traded companies.

From 2011 to 2013, he served in the White House Office of Scheduling and Advance for President Barack Obama, traveling with the President in support of various policy initiatives. His research exploring the utilization of machine learning and AI in congressional lawmaking, state policy leadership, and development economics is published in top peer-reviewed journals, including the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, Political Behavior, and Energy. In 2017, the National Science Foundation recognized his work in state politics and policy with Honorable Mention, considered a national honor.

Sutherland earned his PhD, MPhil, and master’s degree in political science from Columbia University and his bachelor’s degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis. He lives in Historic Brookhaven, Atlanta, Georgia with his family, where he enjoys playing golf and tennis.