Safe Space - Talking Trust and Safety

In this episode of Safe Space, hosts John Starr and Pailes Halai sit down with Lauren Jonas, Head of Youth Wellbeing at OpenAI, to talk about what it takes to design technology that truly supports and protects young people in the age of AI.

Join us for a fascinating conversation with Ryn Linthicum, who brings a unique perspective to AI safety at Anthropic. Ryn shares insights from time spent at TikTok and their current work on Anthropic's safeguards team, where they help build safety into AI models from the ground up. 

David Polgar, founder of All Tech is Human, shares how he built a 55,000-member community focused on responsible technology without a tech background. Polgar reveals the motivations driving trust and safety professionals as they seek to reclaim the internet's original promise of global connection. 

John Starr sits down with our new host, Pailes Halai, Thorn's Sr. Manager of Key Accounts & Partnerships, to hear how he got here and his interest in uncovering the stories of trust and safety pros in the AI industry.

Del Harvey, a legend in the field, built Twitter's trust and safety organization from the ground up, leading it for over a decade as the platform became a global phenomenon. In this Safe Space episode, the pioneering safety leader shares her unconventional journey from lifeguard to reality TV psychological screener to trust and safety icon. Del offers insights into hiring passionate teams, building psychological safety for rapid decision-making, and maintaining optimism while preparing for worst-case scenarios. She discusses the evolution of trust and safety as a field, the importance of collaborative rather than adversarial approaches, and her transition from Twitter to advising the next generation of safety leaders. Host John Starr, who worked under Del's leadership for six years, guides this conversation filled with strategic wisdom and practical advice for anyone working to make the internet safer.