Emily M. Bender, Ph.D.
Professor of linguistics at the University of Washington
Emily M. Bender, Ph.D., is the Thomas L. and Margo G. Wyckoff Endowed Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Washington where she is also the faculty director of the Computational Linguistics Master of Science program, director of the Computational Linguistics Laboratory, and affiliate faculty in the School of Computer Science and Engineering and the Information School. In 2023, she was included in the inaugural Time 100 list of the most influential people in AI. She is frequently consulted by policymakers, from municipal officials to the federal government to the United Nations, for insight into how to understand so-called AI technologies.
Bender is the co-author, with Alex Hanna, Ph.D., of the 2025 book The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want. Bender and Hanna are also the co-hosts of the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 livestream.
