Claire Boine is a Research Scientist at Theiss Research and a Senior Policy Research Fellow at FLI where she focuses on policies to mitigate existential risks. Her project portfolio centers around two main goals: 1) producing a series of policy recommendations to address the risks associated with disruptive technologies in artificial intelligence and biotechnology in the U.S., the E.U., and Canada; and 2) proposing and testing an innovative policy analysis method applicable to long-term problems. Claire is also a research associate at the Artificial and Natural Intelligence Toulouse Institute and in the Accountable AI in a Global Context Research Chair at UOttawa.
Prior work
From January 2018 to November 2021, Claire was a Research Scholar at the Boston University School of Public Health. Her research is funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Focusing on American gun culture, she explores the social identity of gun owners and shared values between gun owners and non gun owners. Passionate about what values drive people, and how they form collective identities, she uses methods drawn from psychology, sociology, political science as well as quantitative methods and machine learning. She also conducts research about the predictors of firearm violence and how to reduce homicide rates.
Claire has concurrently been pursuing a PhD in the law of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on the legal and ethical implications of the intersection between life and technology. She has worked on racial and gender algorithmic biases, as well as human-computer interaction and social robotics. She is passionate about how technology is impacting the future of human life, from the consequences on social interactions to existential risks.
In the past, Claire worked on topics as diverse as human trafficking, the use of torture, and asylum law. Claire’s research has always been driven by her profound desire to understand the world as well as a commitment to try to make it a better place for humans and other animals when she can. In her ideal world, she would program the first effective expert system to help humans address challenges such as poverty and hunger, animal suffering in factory farming, or climate change.
As an undergraduate, she studied history to identify what was universal and what was relative in human societies. Wanting to approach complex problems from a multidisciplinary background, she also obtained a Master in Public Policy (Harvard University), a JD (Master 2) in International Law (Nantes Law School), a Master in political science (Toulouse University) and a graduate diploma in Conflict Analysis (Toulouse University). Her law thesis tackled the laws and policies to prevent child trafficking into France. Her MPP thesis at Harvard was about finding ways to scale up American anti-trafficking policies across the world.
In the public sphere, Claire has generated ideas in many areas. An out-of-the-box thinker, she identifies needs, generates ideas to meet them, and connects the right actors to move the projects forward. In 2017, inspired by the practical experience American gain in their studies, she created Apportez vos talents à l'innovation publique and recruited Harvard and MIT students to be hosted in French public organizations in Toulouse, where they participated in classes, a hackathon and public service internships.
The same year, she pushed for French universities to replicate the HKS From Harvard Square to the Oval Office program, a program that promotes the involvement of women in politics. She reached out to the right actors and facilitated a collaboration that resulted in the creation of the Gender Equality and Public Policy certificate.
Claire has plays leadership roles in the French community in Boston. For the French Consulate in Boston, she chaired a workgroup that authored a report on brain drain out of France. She also pushed for the Consulate to bring gender equality to the top of their agenda, which led to the organization of the International Symposium on Education and Gender Equality at Wellesley College.
During her time at Harvard, Claire was selected as a participant in the Emerging Human Rights Leaders Program at the Carr’s Center for Human Rights (2016-2017). In the summer 2016, she conducted a monitoring and evaluation mission of an anti-trafficking program conducted in Haiti by Free The Slaves. For two years prior (2014-2016), she conducted research within the Cost and Consequence of Torture Project.
Claire also chaired the HKS Francophile Club and co-chaired the Harvard Club of France on Campus. In that capacity, she ideated and organized the Diversity and inclusion: French and American perspectives symposium at the Harvard Kennedy School, gathering 50 French and American speakers and 200 participants. In 2020, she co-organized the Night of Philosophy and Ideas at Harvard. Today, Claire is a member of the Board of the HKS Women’s Network, where she manages 50 global chapters. She recently organized the 2021 Rewind & Empower Conference.
In 2015, Claire participated in the Asylum Law Clinic at the Harvard Law School and was granted honors for her clinical work with asylum seekers. Passionate about it, she worked pro-bono on four cases. Before coming to the U.S., Claire worked as a history teacher in both traditional and pedagogically innovative settings.
