Bio
Sreya Francis is a program manager at CIGI, where she supports research initiatives at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), dual-use technologies and international governance. Her work contributes to CIGI’s AI-related programming across AI empowerment, responsible technology and global AI risks, helping advance research, convenings and policy outputs that address both the opportunities and the risks of emerging technologies.
Sreya brings experience across applied AI leadership, machine learning research and AI policy. Before joining CIGI, she led AI initiatives in the Canadian reinsurance sector, working with cross-functional teams to move AI, automation and analytics projects from concept to implementation. Earlier, she conducted research at Mila — Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute on privacy-preserving, causal and federated machine learning, including applications in health and distributed AI systems, with work published in international distributed computing venues. She has also led work on embedded AI, robotics and smart home automation at Panasonic’s AI research and development division.
Her policy and governance work spans international AI policy, human rights, regulation, cooperative AI, geopolitics, law and global affairs. She has contributed to policy research at the Center for AI and Digital Policy and at the University of Milan’s Information Society Law Center, where she led international multidisciplinary teams contributing to comparative AI policy assessments.
Sreya holds a master’s degree in machine learning from the Université de Montréal.