Honoring Audrey Tang: 2025 World Leader in AI World Society Award
On April 22, 2025, at Harvard University’s historic Loeb House, the Boston Global Forum presented the World Leader in AI World Society (AIWS) Award to Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador, Audrey Tang.
Governor Michael Dukakis, in his remarks, praised Audrey as “an extraordinary individual whose vision, courage, and brilliance have reshaped the landscape of governance and freedom in the AI Age.” From child prodigy to cabinet minister, from civic tech pioneer to international thought leader, Audrey has redefined what it means to lead in the age of artificial intelligence.
Audrey’s acceptance speech was a moving call to action for a future built on transparency, prosocial participation, and “plurality over polarization.” Reflecting on Taiwan’s digital democracy successes—from the g0v movement and vTaiwan platform to real-time citizen engagement—Audrey reminded us that technology must amplify collective wisdom, not divide it. As she put it: “Sunlight is an immunization against manipulation.”
She closed with a poem—a vision of the future where machines enhance, rather than replace, human values:
“When we see ‘internet of things,’ let’s make it an internet of beings… When we hear ‘the singularity is near,’ let us remember: the Plurality is here.”
Audrey’s work is not just technical leadership—it is moral leadership. As the global community navigates the challenges of AI governance, Audrey’s example lights the way forward.
Audrey Tang receives the 2025 World Leader in AIWS Award at Harvard’s Loeb House. Featuring remarks from Governor Dukakis and Audrey’s visionary acceptance speech on democracy, technology, and trust:
Audrey Tang receives the 2025 World Leader in AIWS Award from Tuan Nguyen, CEO of the Boston Global Forum, during a landmark ceremony at Harvard’s Loeb House.
Remarks by Governor Michael Dukakis Honoring Audrey Tang
Boston Global Forum Conference
Boston Finance Accord for AI Governance 24/7
Harvard University Loeb House, 17 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
April 22, 2025
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my profound privilege to honor an extraordinary individual whose vision, courage, and brilliance have reshaped the landscape of governance and freedom in the AI Age—Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador, the world’s first nonbinary cabinet official, and the Boston Global Forum’s 2025 World Leader in AIWS Award recipient.
Audrey, your journey is nothing short of inspiring. A child prodigy mastering mathematics at six and programming by eight, you were a Silicon Valley innovator by nineteen. Yet, it is your fusion of technical genius with a deep commitment to pluralism and democracy—nurtured in a pro-democracy family—that truly sets you apart. You saw the internet not just as code, but as a bridge to unite people through shared dreams, a vision you’ve carried from Taiwan to the world.
Your impact is transformative. Through Taiwan’s g0v civic tech community, you pioneered platforms like Join.gov.tw, empowering citizens to shape policies—from tax software to cancer treatment reforms—with unprecedented transparency. During the 2014 Sunflower Movement, your livestreaming of a controversial trade pact turned deliberation into a public act of courage, cementing Taiwan as Asia’s beacon of freedom. In the face of COVID-19, your ingenuity—think mask maps and fact-checking tools—showed the world how technology can serve humanity with clarity and compassion.
As a “conservative anarchist,” you’ve redefined governance, blending radical openness with practical wisdom. Your leadership in Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs and now as Cyber Ambassador has made collective decision-making a reality, inspiring the AI World Society’s vision of Government 24/7. Just last month, at the 4th Shinzo Abe Conference in Tokyo, your insights enriched our Boston Finance Accord—a testament to your global influence, recognized by TIME Magazine’s 2023 Top 100 AI Influential People and today’s AIWS Award.
Audrey, you’ve said you aim to be a “good enough ancestor for future generations.” To us, you are already a guiding light, honoring Shinzo Abe’s legacy of innovation and cooperation while forging a path toward global enlightenment. On behalf of the Boston Global Forum, I salute you for your unwavering dedication to transparency, inclusion, and a better tomorrow. Thank you, Audrey Tang, for inspiring us all.
Acceptance Speech by Audrey Tang
Cyber Ambassador of Taiwan
Recipient of the World Leader in AI World Society Award
Harvard University, Loeb House – 17 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
April 22, 2025 | 8:00 AM – 11:30 AM EDT
Governor Dukakis, Co-Chairs Mr. Tuan and Professor Patterson, distinguished guests—good morning.
Standing in Harvard’s Loeb House to receive the World Leader in AIWS Award, I feel honored — and compelled. Climate shocks, border crises, cyber-conflict: today’s threats travel at machine speed, yet their solutions still rely on the tempo of human trust. Our task is to keep that trust synchronized—twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
People often ask what a “Cyber Ambassador” does. I answer: I help societies steer through transformative technologies. The word cyber comes from the Greek kybernetes, “to steer,” and it was Norbert Wiener who gave “cybernetics” its modern meaning here in Boston.
Today’s Boston Finance Accord for AI Governance 24/7 shows how purposeful steering can turn artificial intelligence into assistive intelligence, technology that amplifies our collective wisdom and compassion.
Why does this matter? Consider five sets of figures from Taiwan’s past decade of digital democracy:
- First, over 20 000 participants in the g0v civic-tech network have “forked” government websites into open-source versions that citizens actually prefer.
- Second, 500 000 citizens joined the 2014 Sunflower rallies, livestreamed by those same volunteers, pushing the government to adopt radical transparency as our national ethos.
- Third, The gov.tw platform—visited by 10 000 people every day—has given everyone in Taiwan a direct voice in policy, and 80 % of issues deliberated on vTaiwan have led to decisive action.
- Fourth, During COVID-19, an open-data “mask map” went live in 48 hours; Taiwan avoided lockdowns entirely, yet our economy grew by more than 12 % during the three years of pandemic.
- Last but not the least, today 91 % of Taiwanese say democracy is “fairly good”, our 15 years olds top the world in terms of civic knowledge, and and we rank among the least socially polarized societies globally.
And because no democracy is an island—not even Taiwan—those civic muscles must expand across oceans, cultures, and time zones. When one society’s guardrails wobble, tremors ripple everywhere.
I accept this award on behalf of communities that made those numbers possible. Their lesson is simple: sunlight is an immunization against manipulation. That’s the lesson of every number I just shared.
Looking ahead, I pledge two principles:
1. Prosocial Participation
Every stakeholder—citizen, startup, civil-society group—deserves a real-time seat at the policy table. Pilots in Bowling Green, Kentucky and the “Engaged California” platform are bringing the Taiwan model here to the US.
2. Plurality over Polarization
Diversity is not noise; it is a chorus. Deliberative systems must surface shared ground without erasing minority insight, proving that the remedy for polarization is not fewer voices, but more choices. Here in the US, the Utah Digital Choice Act paves the ground of freedom of movement across social networks.
Let me end by returning to its beginning, by reading a poem I wrote in 2016 — my Job Description:
When we see “internet of things,” let’s make it an internet of beings. When we see “virtual reality,” let’s make it a shared reality.
When we see “machine learning,” let’s make it collaborative learning. When we see “user experience,” let’s make it about human experience.
When we hear “the singularity is near,” let us remember: the Plurality is here.
May 2025 be remembered as the year we chose transparency over fear, collaboration over coercion, and vigilance over complacency.
Today, I am proud to serve, and prouder still to learn with all of you. Remember, Taiwan can help—and so can Boston, Tokyo, and every community that believes we can free the future — together.
Thank you for your kind attention. Live long and prosper
