Molly Kinder

Molly Kinder is a nationally recognized expert in AI, economic inequality, and the present and future of work. As a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, she is leading a multiyear project examining the impact of generative AI on work and workers, and what to do about it.

A trusted voice in national conversations, Kinder’s insights have shaped public policy, influenced worker pay across the country, and sparked widespread media attention. Kinder’s scholarship has been cited in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, Yahoo Finance, CNBC, NPR, Business Insider, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and the BBC. Kinder’s research on essential workers has influenced federal policy and state-level programs, and was cited in dozens of city and county government mandates requiring higher pay for frontline workers.

Kinder has over two decades of experience at the intersection of policy, tech, research, and social impact. Before Brookings, she led research on AI and work at New America, taught a graduate course on AI’s societal and economic impact at Georgetown University, co-founded a $200 million social impact fund, and served in the Obama administration. She’s also worked globally in Liberia, India, and Pakistan, and co-authored one of the Center for Global Development’s bestselling books.

Kinder holds a Master of Public Administration degree in international development from Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame, where she made history as the first woman in the Irish Guard.