Keynote Speakers

Steve Chien is a Technical Fellow, Senior Research Scientist, and Co-Head of the Artificial Intelligence Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.  He has played a key role in the deployment of AI software to a wide range of NASA missions including Autonomous Science craft on EO-1, Earth Observing Sensor web, WATCH on MER, IPEX, ESA’s Rosetta, ECOSTRESS, OCO-3, EMIT, and the M2020 Perseverance Rover. Under Dr. Chien’s leadership, the JPL Artificial Intelligence Group has additionally deployed AI software to several other billion-dollar missions or enterprises, including the Deep Space Network, AEGIS on MSL and M2020, and the upcoming NISAR mission.

Dr. Chien was recognized four times in the NASA Software of the Year competition (1999, 1999, 2005, and 2011), and received four NASA Medals for his work in AI for Space. In 2011, he was awarded the inaugural AIAA Intelligent Systems Award for his contributions to Spacecraft Autonomy.

Dr. Chien’s work with the United States Government has included providing expert testimony to the U.S. Senate and offering specialized knowledge to the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense – Research and Engineering, the Defense Science Board, and the USAF Scientific Advisory Board. From 2018 to 2021, he served as a Congressionally-appointed member of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (nscai.gov). Presently, Dr. Chien is a member of the Army Science Board, where he continues to share his expertise as an AI subject matter expert.

Dr. Chien holds a B.S. in Computer Science with concentrations in Economics and Mathematics, an M.S. in Computer Science, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning), all from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Audrey Tang (唐鳳)is a Taiwanese free software programmer and the inaugural Minister of Digital Affairs of Taiwan. Described as one of the “ten greatest Taiwanese computing personalities,” Tang became the first transgender and the first non-binary official in Taiwan’s first executive cabinet when elected to the Taiwan Executive Yuan as a minister in 2016.

Tang is known for revitalizing the computer languages Perl and Haskell, as well as building the online spreadsheet system EtherCalc in collaboration with Dan Bricklin.

Tang became involved in politics during Taiwan’s 2014 Sunflower Student Movement demonstrations, in which Tang volunteered to help the protesters occupying the Taiwanese parliament building broadcast their message. The prime minister invited Tang to build media literacy curriculum for Taiwan’s schools, which was implemented in late 2017. Following this work, Tang was appointed minister without portfolio for digital affairs in the Lin Chuan cabinet in August 2016.

Tang took office as the “Digital Minister” and was placed in charge of helping government agencies communicate policy goals and managing information published by the government, both via digital means

While as a conservative anarchist, Tang ultimately desires the abolition of Taiwan and all states, they justify working for the state by the opportunity it affords to promote worthwhile ends. Tang’s conservatism stems from wanting to preserve free public spaces independent from the state, such as Internet properties, and wanting technological advances to be applied humanistically, so that all can reap its benefits rather than a few, to the exclusion of others. Tang’s department does not follow hierarchical or bureaucratic relationships. As of 2017, Tang’s staff of 15 chose to work in the department. 

The group produces a weekly roadmap as collaborators, not orders. Tang was quoted as saying, “My existence is not to become a minister for a certain group, nor to broadcast government propaganda. Instead, it is to become a “channel” to allow greater combinations of intelligence and strength to come together.”

Tang’s first initiative, the g0v project, involved swapping out the “o” for a zero in the government’s “gov.tw” top-level domain to view more accessible and interactive versions of those governmental websites. The project was open source, in-line with Tang’s principles, and very popular, as accessed millions of times each month. Another initiative, vTaiwan, uses social media paradigms for citizens to create digital petitions. 

Those with 5,000 signatories are brought to the Premier and government ministries to be addressed. Changes implemented through this system include access to income tax software for non-Windows computers, and changes to cancer treatment regulations. The Taiwanese parliament complained that citizens had better access to influence regulation than they did as legislators. As of 2017, Tang was working on sharing economy software that would facilitate the free exchange of resources in abundance instead of the ride-sharing and peer hotel applications for which the technology is known.

As a general practice of “radical transparency”, all of Tang’s meetings are recorded, transcribed, and uploaded on a public website.