Earlier this year, Snap announced that it was seeking applications from qualified specialists in artificial intelligence (AI) to join our Safety Advisory Board (SAB), now a group of 16 professionals and three youth advocates that serves as Snap’s sounding board on platform safety issues. We are pleased to share that two AI experts joined our board and took part in last month’s first in-person meeting of our new SAB.

Meeri Haataja, CEO of Finland-based Saidot, and Patrick K. Lin, a U.S.-based lawyer and author of Machine See, Machine Do, were selected among dozens of applicants for two AI-expert seats on Snap’s SAB. Meeri and Patrick bring a wealth of knowledge and experience and are helping to inform our thinking on issues at the intersection of AI and online safety. Here are a few comments from Meeri and Patrick in their own words: 

Meeri: “I'm thrilled to join this group and collaborate with Snap in their AI journey. We're living in pivotal times where AI technologies create new opportunities for social media companies to enhance and refine their value and services. Having such a scale of impact, Snap bears an incredibly important responsibility to explore these new AI opportunities with care, prioritising the well-being of its young users and protecting them from potential risks. I feel privileged to collaborate with Snap through the multidisciplinary Safety Advisory Board to help ensure safe and responsible AI deployments and, hopefully, to contribute towards the creation of responsible industry practices for AI in social media, too.”

Patrick: “AI offers exciting opportunities to introduce new interactions and features on social media. However, the potential benefits of AI cannot be fully realised without thoughtful and continuous discussions about the technology's risks. It is promising to see Snap recognise those risks while considering the ways the technology can be used to develop a safer digital space, especially for teenagers and young people. I look forward to contributing to those ongoing efforts as an AI specialist on Snap's Safety Advisory Board.”

In 2022, we expanded and reinvented our SAB to include an even more diverse group of professionals from different geographies, disciplines, and safety-related roles. We also selected three members of Generation Z, who are all Snapchat power-users, to ensure representation – at this strategic level – of the all-important youth voice. The advent of My AI prompted us to expand our SAB further to include experts in this unique and growing field.

We thank Meeri and Patrick, and all of our SAB members, for the deep insights and perspectives they shared at last month’s inaugural in-person meeting at Snap’s headquarters. We collectively discussed new and existing product features and functionality, complex global legislative and regulatory issues, and ideas for reaching Snapchatters and parents of our youngest users with key awareness-raising and informative tips for staying safe.    

We look forward to working with our SAB for many months and years to come.

- Jacqueline Beauchere, Snap Global Head of Platform Safety