When Tech Meets Activism: How Amnesty Is Protecting People in a Digital World

Technology can protect, expose, and empower, sometimes all at once.

In this episode of Igniting Change, Sophie sits down with Paul Smith, Chief Information Officer at Amnesty International, to unpack what it really takes to modernise technology inside one of the world’s most values-driven organisations.

Paul shares his journey from the corporate world into the nonprofit sector, why leading with empathy matters, and how Amnesty is using data, cloud and AI responsibly to power global change while protecting the people behind the mission.

Chapters

0:00 – Welcome to Igniting Change
1:05 – Meet Paul Smith, CIO at Amnesty International
3:00 – How Paul’s unconventional career path led to purpose-driven tech
6:00 – What makes Amnesty’s tech challenges unique
8:10 – Cybersecurity when the stakes are life and death
10:45 – Protecting Amnesty’s 60-year digital archive
14:20 – Diversity, collaboration, and global digital transformation
18:40 – AI: opportunity and risk in human rights work
22:10 – Fighting misinformation and the ethics of tech
25:45 – Innovation vs accountability: the nonprofit balance
29:00 – Blockchain, transparency, and truth in advocacy
33:00 – Hope in tech: what’s next for human rights innovation

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