Who We Are
FairwAI is an AI-powered bias detection and compliance platform transforming how industries address algorithmic discrimination. We're building the regulatory infrastructure of the future—starting with hospitality, and expanding into healthcare, hiring, and financial services. Our mission: to ensure that AI works fairly for everyone.
Our team of collaborators are from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and global institutions tackling digital rights, inclusive capitalism, and tech ethics.
Team
Mr. Dixon –Chief Compliance Strategist
Role: Visionary founder of FairwAI, Mr. Dixon leads overall strategy, mission alignment, institutional partnerships, and compliance innovation. He ensures the platform remains focused on real-world fairness, risk mitigation, and public accountability—rather than abstract DEI.
Bio:
Mr. Dixon is a serial founder, public interest technologist, and global strategist known for building impact ventures at the intersection of technology, governance, and equity. He is currently a strategic advisor at MIT, where he collaborates across departments such as the MIT Media Lab and Martin Trust Center. Mr. Dixon has served as a policy strategist to President John Mahama of Ghana, worked with the U.S. Department of Energy on distributed energy infrastructure, and led multi-million-dollar public-private partnerships with organizations like GE Healthcare, USAID, and UNICEF.
Mr. Dixon is the founder of SolarFi, a social enterprise that builds portable solar-powered infrastructure for clinics, schools, and underserved communities across Africa. Under his leadership, SolarFi was awarded major U.S. government contracts and featured by MIT and the UN. He has also advised on diplomatic and philanthropic partnerships.
FairwAI is Mr. Dixon's most urgent venture yet. Inspired by lived experiences of racial bias and systemic discrimination in global travel, hiring, and healthcare systems, he founded FairwAI to reframe fairness as a compliance and safety issue, not a corporate DEI trend. Antonio brings a rare combination of field-tested grit, institutional access, tech, diplomacy, and global coalition to ensure accountability becomes enforceable.
Dr. John Cooley – Technical Advisor
Role: Leads FairwAI's technical architecture, AI compliance engine, and research partnerships.
Bio: Dr. John Cooley is a renowned technologist and serial entrepreneur who holds five degrees from MIT: B.S. in Electrical Engineering, B.S. in Physics, M.S. in Electrical Engineering, an Engineer's Degree, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. He earned the David Adler Memorial Thesis Prize and the Morris Joseph Levin Award, recognizing his groundbreaking work in engineering and systems design. John was the CTO and later CEO of Nanoramic Laboratories, where he led the company to raise $44M+ in capital and developed cutting-edge battery and nanotechnology solutions. With 15+ years of experience at the frontier of hardware-software integration and AI systems, John brings a rare blend of research rigor and venture-scale execution. He now advises FairwAI on tech architecture, compliance logic, and academic research integration across MIT and international institutions.
Dr. Niousha Roshani – Social Systems Strategist
Role: Co-leads FairwAI's strategy, focusing on culturally responsive AI, equity frameworks, and global engagement.
Bio: Dr. Niousha Roshani is a leading voice in the intersection of AI, social justice, and public interest technology. She is a former Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University and co-founder of the Center for Democracy Development and Rule of Law at Stanford University. With a background spanning the UN system, Latin American human rights movements, and Stanford's impact tech community, Niousha brings a transnational lens to algorithmic fairness and ethical design. Her expertise ensures FairwAI builds tools that not only detect discrimination—but empower communities and institutions to address it systemically. Based in Brazil, she anchors our Global South partnerships and pilots. Brazil is the last country in the western hemisphere to abolish slavery.
Dr. Ryan Chin – Strategic Advisor, Urban Tech & Mobility Systems
Role: Ryan advises FairwAI on systems architecture, urban integration, and commercial strategy. He brings expertise in AI-driven mobility, sensor networks, and resilient infrastructure to inform how FairwAI scales across physical environments like hotels, hospitals, and cities.
Bio:
Dr. Ryan Chin is a globally recognized expert in smart cities, urban mobility, and sustainable design systems. He co-founded Optimus Ride, a leading autonomous vehicle company spun out of MIT, where he served as CEO and led the development of self-driving tech for campuses, cities, and business districts. Prior to that, Ryan was Managing Director of the City Science Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, where he pioneered AI-integrated mobility systems and urban computing platforms.
Ryan holds a Ph.D. and two Master's degrees from MIT in Media Arts and Sciences and Architecture. A serial entrepreneur and systems thinker, Ryan has advised Fortune 100 companies, U.S. government agencies, and international city governments on emerging technologies, sustainability, and mobility innovation. He is a frequent keynote speaker at Davos, Smart City Expo, and the UN.
At FairwAI, Ryan supports us with building out our advisory team and the integration of computer vision, IoT, and AI fairness protocols into real-world infrastructure, ensuring our platform is adaptable, sensor-compatible, and aligned with the future of ethical urban technology.
Mike Rinella – Government Affairs & Financial Strategy
Role: Shapes FairwAI's public policy strategy, unions to get ivolved, government, and compliance market integration.
Bio: Mike Rinella brings decades of experience in public finance, state governance, and strategic planning. He served as a senior advisor to two Governors of New York, including Governor Mario Cuomo, where he worked on economic development, energy regulation, and state-level policy reform. He was also Director of Strategic Planning at SolarFi, helping guide federal partnerships and compliance infrastructure for renewable energy deployments. A graduate of Harvard Kennedy School ('86), Mike is instrumental in crafting FairwAI's pathways to adoption by Attorneys General, state legislatures, and procurement agencies. He also helps navigate our positioning with foundation-aligned capital like PRIs and MRIs.
Carson Smuts – IoT & Hardware Integration Advisor (MIT Media Lab)
Role: Advises on spatial sensing, IoT systems, and architecture for real-world monitoring.
Bio: Carson Smuts is a Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab's City Science Group, where he has spent over a decade developing sensor platforms, digital twins, and hardware systems that interact with real-world environments. He co-created the CityScope urban simulation platform and led the design of MIT's Environmental Sensing Infrastructure, a foundational piece of the lab's smart city research. Trained as an architect at Columbia University, Carson transitioned into full-stack engineering with a passion for embedding fairness into built environments. He guides FairwAI's integration with CCTV, IoT sensors, and spatial computing to power real-time bias detection in travel, healthcare, and hiring.
Dr. Taj Ahmad Eldridge – Strategic Advisor, Capital & Climate Justice
Role: Taj advises FairwAI on capital formation, social impact investment strategy, and ESG-aligned growth. He brings deep expertise in climate finance, racial equity, and fund structuring—ensuring FairwAI's monetization models and funding pathways align with both mission and market.
Bio:
Taj Ahmad Eldridge is a leading voice in climate justice investing and equitable capital innovation. A former Senior Director of Investment at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), Taj has helped deploy hundreds of millions of dollars toward sustainable technologies and underrepresented founders. He is currently Managing Partner at Include Ventures, where he builds investment vehicles that close wealth gaps and accelerate climate solutions—particularly in communities historically excluded from capital access.
With 20+ years of experience in banking, venture capital, and fund management, Taj has advised funds and institutions including the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Elemental Excelerator, and Capria Ventures. He is also a Senior Advisor to Jobs for the Future (JFF) and a board member of multiple national investment networks and ESG platforms.
Taj's unique strength lies in combining climate policy, community wealth-building, and financial engineering to drive systems-level impact. As an advisor to FairwAI, he supports efforts to build revenue models rooted in risk mitigation, government accountability, and regulatory tech—while helping ensure capital raised aligns with the venture's vision of equity-first compliance.
This internship is offered through our 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which focuses on education, healthcare, and economic development. As a nonprofit, we are able to host unpaid interns in compliance with U.S. labor law and CPT/OPT eligibility guidelines. We welcome international students with CPT or OPT authorization.
Role Overview
We're seeking a driven AI + Compliance Research Intern to support our mission through high-impact research, grant sourcing, and strategic documentation. This internship is ideal for students or early-career professionals in public policy, law, AI governance, ethics, or business development.
You'll work directly with our leadership team (including advisors from MIT and the UN) on shaping how AI compliance is governed—and funded—across sectors.
Key Responsibilities
Conduct deep-dive research on regulatory frameworks (e.g., EU AI Act, Algorithmic Accountability Act).
Identify and help prepare funding opportunities from foundations.
Draft briefing memos, pitch decks, and compliance overviews for funders and policy stakeholders.
Collaborate on presentation materials for global forums (e.g., UN, Davos, Lloyd's Lab, Stanford).
Analyze data related to bias reporting, risk scoring, and legal exposure in target sectors.
Coordinate with our Legal, Policy, and Marketing leads to ensure documentation is compelling and compliant.
Preferred Qualifications
Passion for ethical tech, AI policy, and digital inclusion.
Strong research and writing skills with an ability to translate complex ideas into clear, concise language.
Familiarity with grant databases, compliance tools, or public policy frameworks.
Self-starter comfortable in a fast-moving, startup-style team.
Bonus: Prior experience with impact investing, ESG, or working on funded proposals.
What You'll Gain
Real-world exposure to AI ethics, compliance innovation, and international grantmaking.
Mentorship from a global leadership team including MIT PhDs, Harvard fellows, UN advisors, and startup founders.
Opportunity to contribute to high-profile applications to Ford Foundation, MacArthur, Gates, and others.
Flexible work schedule + remote-first culture.
Pay attention:
We're excited to see how you think. If you choose to use AI tools to help structure or brainstorm, that's fine — but we're not looking for polished fluff or regurgitated answers. We're looking for your voice, your logic, and your lens
This is an unpaid internship however you may apply for scholarships or school credit or use it for a capstone project. The goal is that once funding is available to hire the interns that perform well. You will be more of a Fellow (Internship-Level Role)
Top-performing interns will be:
Referred to graduate fellowships or full-time impact AI roles.
Eligible for future paid positions with FairwAI or its nonprofit arm if funding is available.
Supported in publishing or presenting findings at tech and policy forums.
You will aslo receive the FairwAI Vanguard Certificate for participation. This should help you with future employment and education.