Payal Arora

Payal Arora is an award-winning author and Professor of Inclusive AI Cultures at Utrecht University (Media & Culture Studies). She is a digital anthropologist with two decades of research on user experiences in the Global South, using that expertise to shape inclusive, AI-enabled design and policy.

She is the co-founder of Inclusive AI Lab (a global public–private consortium focused on co-designing inclusive and sustainable AI with neglected communities, especially in the Global South) and FemLab.Co (a seed-funded initiative researching how precarious women workers can strengthen their position in labor markets via digital platforms, while developing ethical platform design, storytelling outreach, and accessible legal toolkits).

Arora has authored 150+ academic publications and several acclaimed books, including The Next Billion Users (Harvard University Press) and From Pessimism to Promise (MIT Press), the latter recognized by major business-book awards. Her work has been widely covered by international media (e.g., Financial Times, Wired, BBC, The Economist).