Mutale Nkonde is a Zambian journalist and artificial intelligence policy researcher. She was educated at Leeds Metropolitan University and Columbia University. She founded the nonprofit AI for the People, aimed at increasing the amount of Black voices in tech and reducing algorithmic bias. In 2021, she won a New York Emmy Award.

Nkonde was born in Zambia and raised in the United Kingdom (UK). She later lived in Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan.^[1] Nkonde studied in the neurology department at Leeds Metropolitan University for three years before completing a B.Sc. with honors in sociology.^[2] She earned a M.A. in American studies from the Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.^[4] Nkonde is pursuing a Ph.D. in digital humanities as a Harding distinguished postgraduate scholar at University of Cambridge.

Nkonde started working in politics during the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign.^[1] She worked as the director of labor of Bill Lynch Associates and later founded the management consultancy firm Nkonde & Associates.^[1] Following the publication of Weapons of Math Destruction in 2016, Nkonde began researching algorithmic bias.^[9] In 2019, she co-authored the article "Advancing Racial Literacy in Tech" with Jessie Daniels and Darakhshan Mir.

Nkonde is the founder and chief executive officer of AI for the People, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the reduction of algorithmic bias and promotes equity in technology and public policy.^[6] Through her nonprofit and policy work, she has contributed to public discussions on ethical AI governance and algorithmic accountability.^[8] Prior to this, she helped introduce the Algorithmic and Deep Fakes Algorithmic Acts, in addition to the No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act, to the U.S. House of Representatives. AI for the People also supported the drafting of the "Algorithmic Accountability Act" introduced by Yvette Clarke to the United States House of Representatives in 2019.^[10] In 2024, Nkonde supported the development of the AI policy platform of the Congressional Black Caucus.^[5]

In 2019, Nkonde became a fellow at both the Harvard Law School Berkman Klein Center of Internet and Society and the civil society lab at Stanford University. In 2021, she won a New York Emmy Award for her storytelling efforts on a news segment covering facial recognition.^[7] She is currently a Visiting Policy Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute.^[7]

Nkonde and her husband separated in 2010. As of 2014, Nkonde resided in Brooklyn with her two sons.^[1]