Davar Ardalan

Davar Ardalan is a generative AI leader and technologist specializing in voice, cultural intelligence, and governance.A former journalist with two decades at NPR and later Executive Producer of Audio at National Geographic, she honed the storytelling expertise that informs her AI leadership today.In September 2025, she was named to the Voice AI 100 list by Project Voice for her pioneering work in Cultural AI, joining global leaders who have shaped conversational AI over the past decade.Her latest book, AI for Community: Preserving Culture and Tradition (Taylor & Francis, 2025), launched at the London AI Summit and offers a roadmap for building AI systems that reflect cultural nuance, historical awareness, and community-centered design. She will also be a featured author and panelist at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2025.Ardalan was recognized by Booz Allen as a finalist in the Gen AI Academy Awards for her work in multimodal storytelling. Beyond this, she has developed knowledge bases, prototyped AI assistants, and contributed to frameworks on LLM security, commercial readiness, and storytelling infrastructure.As Deputy Director of the White House Presidential Innovation Fellowship (PIF) Program, she championed a 2019 public-private AI health sprint that became a national model for open data innovation recognized in the U.S. AI R&D Strategic Plan.Her AI research was featured in The New York Times in 2022, spotlighting her work at the intersection of culture and computation.At the heart of Ardalan’s practice is a bold aspiration: to inspire AI itself to carry forward the cultural motifs and stories that shape us, and to imagine systems that are human-centered and rooted in our histories.She expresses this vision as a mixed media artist, using global stencils to explore how machines learn through memory and repetition. She is grateful to her long-time friend Parinaz Bahadori for inspiring her artistic journey.

Watch her AI historical readings on Vimeo. Check out Davar on Spotify, Medium, and LinkedIn. Fun fact: she has also been featured in Zippy the Pinhead.

Davar is a multidisciplinary artist whose work blends tradition, technology, and storytelling through handcrafted collage. Her pieces are currently featured at Gallery 57 in Annapolis, MD, where they explore the visual language of AI in deeply human terms.

Working with Davar?

Davar's contributions have made a significant impact on National Geographic. She has helped expand the reach of our content across our parent company, The Walt Disney Company, and our non-profit partners at the National Geographic Society. Her efforts with “Into the Depths” resulted in National Geographic Magazine featuring the first Black woman Explorer on its cover in its 134-year history.-- Michael Tribble, VP Multi-Platform Content National Geographic 2023

Few humans are as far ahead of the tech community as Davar Ardalan in understanding and making accessible the criticality and value of pairing story, memory, culture, diversity with data/ai projects.

-- Carrie Jaquith, Global Head of Product Abaxx Technologies

“I had the pleasure of collaborating with Davar on a pilot spatial audio series, where she oversaw the use of ambisonic microphones in the field. I took one of these microphones to the Ecuadorian Amazon, and Davar's expertise and guidance were invaluable. Her deep understanding of spatial audio's potential elevated the final production, creating an immersive and resonant narrative.”

-- Kiliii Yuyan, National Geographic Explorer