Ami Fields-Meyer
Former White House Senior Advisor, New York Times Bestselling Author & Harvard Democracy Strategist
Ami Fields-Meyer
Former White House Senior Advisor, New York Times Bestselling Author & Harvard Democracy Strategist
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Biography
Ami Fields-Meyer is a New York Times bestselling author, former White House senior policy advisor, and leading voice in the movement for American democracy.
His first book, On Courage, co-authored with Julia Angwin, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list in July 2026. Hailed by Rachel Maddow as “a classic of our time,” On Courage is a deeply reported manual about how anyone can defy an authoritarian – based on original interviews with more than 100 dissidents, activists, and theorists across the world.
Long before AI became a national political issue, Fields-Meyer was helping to lead the fight to take on Big Tech’s growing power and give Americans more control over how technology shapes their lives. From 2021 to 2024, he served in the White House, including as Senior Policy Advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris and as a member of the President’s science and technology policy team. He led the development of the U.S. government’s landmark AI Bill of Rights.
A trusted voice on democracy, authoritarianism, civil and human rights, and political power, Fields-Meyer is regularly sought out by national media for interviews and expert analysis. He has been interviewed by Rachel Maddow, Scott Galloway, and Heather Cox Richardson, and has appeared on Morning Joe and NPR’s 1A. He has been quoted in the New York Times, TIME, NPR, Axios, WIRED, The Boston Globe, and various international media outlets.
Fields-Meyer has served as Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation. He has also been an advisor to political candidates, leaders of top civil rights groups and major philanthropic foundations, and high-profile public officials, from the mayor of Los Angeles and cabinet members to the vice president of the United States.
He has written about defying authoritarianism for the New Yorker and the New York Times, police brutality against disabled Americans for The Atlantic, AI’s march toward illiberalism for Foreign Policy, what America can learn from South Africa’s race reckoning for Talking Points Memo, how technology is used to punish the poor for The American Prospect, the politics of the American Jewish community for Haaretz, and more. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Speech Topics
How to Save the Free World: Secrets of Defeating Authoritarianism from the Front Lines
Authoritarian power can appear immovable until the people confronting it discover where its weaknesses lie. Drawing on years of reporting for his New York Times bestselling book On Courage, Ami Fields-Meyer takes audiences inside the movements and communities that have challenged repressive regimes around the world. Ami shares what democracy’s front-line defenders have learned through victories, costly mistakes, and moments when seemingly entrenched systems began to crack. He explores how authoritarian power is built, why resistance succeeds in some moments and fails in others, and what ordinary people can learn from those who have risked everything to defend democratic freedoms. Riveting and deeply informed, this keynote offers a practical and hopeful look at how people can protect democracy when its future feels uncertain.
Audiences will learn:
What movements confronting authoritarianism have learned about how power can be challenged
Why some efforts at democratic resistance succeed while others falter
How individuals and communities can help strengthen democratic institutions and freedoms
Technology, Power & Public Voice: Who Shapes Our AI Future?
The future of technology is not shaped by innovation alone. It is also shaped by who has influence over the decisions that determine how powerful systems affect our work, privacy, communities, and daily lives. Drawing on his experience shaping AI policy in the White House and studying how movements build collective power, Ami Fields-Meyer explores what happens when concerns that appear separate begin to reveal a common thread. From workers navigating algorithmic surveillance to communities responding to new technology infrastructure and families confronting the effects of social media, Ami examines how people with different experiences can recognize shared interests and participate more meaningfully in the decisions shaping technological change. Rather than treating the direction of AI and Big Tech as inevitable, this thought-provoking keynote invites audiences to consider how public participation, policy, and coalition-building can influence the rules governing our technological future.
Audiences will learn:
How seemingly different concerns about technology can reveal shared interests
What movement-building can teach us about turning public concern into collective influence
Why participation and public voice matter as the rules governing emerging technology take shape
Why Not You? How One Act of Courage Can Start a Movement
Movements often begin before anyone realizes they are part of one. Ami Fields-Meyer takes audiences inside moments when ordinary people chose to act before they knew whether anyone else would follow, from dissidents challenging dictatorships to citizens quietly defying authoritarian systems. Through stories of resistance in East Germany, Egypt, Hong Kong, and beyond, Ami shows how one visible act of courage can give others permission to step forward, turning private frustration into collective action. He explores why movements can seem impossible until suddenly they are not, and how courage spreads through communities when people recognize that they are no longer alone. This inspiring keynote challenges audiences to consider the role each person can play when change requires someone willing to go first.
Audiences will learn:
How individual acts of courage can create momentum for collective action
Why people often underestimate the possibility of change until it begins
What movements teach us about the power of going first
Don’t Start from Scratch: How to Turn Your Existing Networks into a Powerful Force for Change
The resources needed to create change are often closer than we think. Ami Fields-Meyer draws on history and global reporting to show how movements have grown out of ordinary networks, familiar institutions, and relationships that were already in place. From creative communities and neighborhood groups to workplaces and classrooms, Ami reveals how people have transformed overlooked connections and everyday skills into powerful engines for collective action. He explores why successful movements do not always begin by building something new, but by recognizing the potential in what already exists and organizing it around a shared purpose. This energizing keynote challenges audiences to look differently at the people, communities, and institutions around them and ask what might already be hiding in plain sight.
Audiences will learn:
How existing networks can become powerful foundations for change
Why familiar relationships and institutions often hold untapped potential
How to identify and activate the resources already present in a community
How to Be a Dissident: Trusting Your Voice and Finding the Courage to Act
Courage is often tested in the moment when staying silent begins to feel like a betrayal of who you are. Drawing on years of conversations with dissidents and courageous people around the world, Ami Fields-Meyer explores what he calls “moral collisions,” moments when our deepest convictions come into conflict with the personal cost of acting on them. Ami reveals that courageous people are not necessarily fearless. Instead, they learn to weigh the fear of speaking up against the cost of living dishonestly, abandoning their values, or looking back knowing they remained silent. Through unforgettable stories and practical lessons, he reframes dissent not as an act reserved for extraordinary heroes, but as the decision to remain true to yourself when pressure pushes you to conform. This powerful keynote shows audiences that courage is not something we have to wait to find. It is something we can practice.
Audiences will learn:
How to recognize the “moral collisions” that test our values
Why courage does not require the absence of fear
How to practice speaking and acting with greater conviction
Testimonials
In The News
Articles
The State of American Resistance Is Stronger Than You May Think (The New York Times)
So You Want to Be a Dissident? (The New Yorker)
The Police Are Failing People With Disabilities (The Atlantic)
Shame Won’t Save Us From the Autocrats (The Bulwark)
AI’s Alarming Trend Toward Illiberalism (Foreign Policy)
Tech Shouldn’t Block the Poor from the Social Safety Net (The American Prospect)
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