Nita Farahany

Nita Farahany is one of the world’s foremost experts on the ethical, legal, and societal implications of emerging technologies and their impact on our brains.

A distinguished professor at Duke University and the founding director of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, she has shaped global conversations on cognitive liberty and mental privacy.

Her groundbreaking work, including her books The Battle for Your Brain and Cognitive Extinction, has had extraordinary global impact, shaping legal frameworks, ethical guidelines, and public discourse. As a result, she has been appointed to several high-profile policy leadership roles, including: U.S. Delegate and elected co-chair to the UNESCO Expert Group on the Ethics of Neurotechnology; Chair of the Uniform Laws Commission Study Committee on Mental Privacy; Reporter for the American Law Institute (ALI) and European Law Institute (ELI) Joint Project on the Principles of Biometrics; and Co-Chair of the Global Futures Council on Neurotechnology at the World Economic Forum.

Nita is a frequent commentator for national and international media, with her insights featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, BBC, NPR, CBS News, CNN, Politico, The Atlantic, and TED Radio Hour. She has made notable television and film appearances, including a feature episode on Azeem Azhar’s Exponential View (Bloomberg series), Brains on Trial with Alan Alda (PBS), I Am Human (which premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival), CNN’s A.I. and the Future of Humanity with Anderson Cooper, Hacking Humanity (Al Roker Entertainment), and The UnXplained with William Shatner—all with estimated reach of over 50 million viewers globally.

Her thought leadership extends beyond traditional media, with widespread engagement in digital spaces, including over 3 million views on her TED talks, tens of thousands of podcast listeners, and extensive discussions of her work across major online platforms. She has been featured in The TED AI Show, The Big Tech Show, Privacy Files, Machines Like Us, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepherd, the Scott Galloway Podcast, and The Jordan Harbinger Show. She has been a guest on numerous high-profile podcasts, including Stay Tuned with Preet Bharara, The Gray Area with Sean Illing, The Thinking Atheist, and 80,000 Hours Podcast. She is also a recurring guest on NBC News with Gadi Schwartz in the Future of Everything segment and has been interviewed multiple times by Greta Van Susteren.

As a sought-after speaker, she presents regularly at the World Economic Forum at Davos, the Aspen Ideas Festival, TED, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Academies of Science Workshops, and U.S. Judicial Conferences. She has testified before Congress on the implications of emerging technologies and has been a regularly invited speaker at SxSW. Her keynote at the 2024 World Economic Forum on Brain Transparency was a landmark event in global neuroethics discussions, attended by global leaders, policymakers, and industry executives, and sparking a viral set of posts and discussions with millions on TikTok, featured on Russel Brand and The Joe Rogan Experience. The keynote sparked widespread discourse, influencing multiple policy discussions and leading to increased international interest in the concept of cognitive liberty.

For her pioneering contributions, she was named to the 2024 Vox Future Perfect 50, a list recognizing the world’s most impactful thinkers and innovators shaping the future.

Appointed by President Obama in 2010, she served on the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues until 2017. She has also served as President of the International Neuroethics Society, co-chair of the Neuroethics Working Group of the U.S. Brain Initiative, on the National Advisory Council for NINDS, and on scientific and ethics advisory boards for multiple corporations. Nita is co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Law and the Biosciences and serves on the Board of Advisors for Scientific American. She holds an A.B. in Genetics, Cell, and Developmental Biology from Dartmouth College, a J.D. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Duke University, an M.A. from Duke, and an A.L.M. in Biology from Harvard University. She clerked for Judge Judith W. Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit before beginning her academic career.