Dan Taber

About Dan Taber

Most AI strategy focuses on tools and deployment. The biggest failures I see show up later, in the people, incentives, and organizational systems that determine whether AI creates value or chaos.I\'ve led research and responsible AI programs at Spotify and Indeed, where I\'ve seen the same pattern repeat: organizations race to adopt AI capabilities while underinvesting in governance and organizational design. The result isn\'t just ethical risk. It\'s stalled adoption, internal friction, and missed value.My work sits at the intersection of AI, safety, and institutional change. I combine analytical depth (PhD in Epidemiology) with experience leading cross-functional initiatives across Product, Policy, Legal, and Data Science. As a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard, I developed frameworks like AI Blindspot that help organizations translate ethical ideals into operational practice.I write and speak about why AI adoption stalls even when the technology works — why training programs don\'t change behavior, why no one owns the transformation, and why the organizations with the most complex governance tend to get stuck in ways that generic AI playbooks can\'t solve.

Experience

1. Head of Research & Responsible Programming, Trust & Safety

   Spotify

   Jan 2025 — Present

   Lead an integrated function combining research, safety strategy, and responsible programming to guide Spotify’s enterprise approach to trust, safety, and emerging technologies.• Oversee senior managers and policy leaders driving initiatives on fairness, content distribution, and generative AI risk.• Advanced Spotify’s use of large language models to strengthen content safety and integrity, from co-authoring foundational research on LLM-based moderation to leading real-world applications that inform platform-wide risk mitigation.• Advise senior leaders on balancing product innovation with measurable harm reduction and accountability outcomes.• Led rapid development of an LLM-based detection system for child safety at platform scale, delivering results in weeks that unblocked a major product launch.

Education

• University of Washington

  MPH, Health Services

• Pomona College

  BA, Religious Studies

• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  PhD, Epidemiology

  2005 — 2010

Skills

• Python
• Biostatistics
• Health Policy
• Global Health
• Tableau
• Sql
• Data Analysis
• Project Management
• R
• Machine Learning
• Nutrition
• Quantitative Research
• Social Determinants of Health
• Research
• Microsoft Office
• Epidemiology
• Microsoft Excel
• Public Speaking
• Literature Reviews
• Behavioral Health
• Public Health
• Statistics