Dr. Emmanuel Letouzé is the Director and Co-Founder of Data-Pop Alliance, established in 2013 in collaboration with MIT Media Lab, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and ODI. The organization focuses on using data and AI to promote human development, humanitarian action, and democracy. He also co-founded the OPAL project and serves as an Adjunct Faculty member at Columbia University and Sciences Po Paris.

Previously, Dr. Letouzé was a Marie Curie Fellow at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and an Economist for the United Nations in New York and the French government in Vietnam. In 2012, he authored the UN’s “Big Data for Development” White Paper and has since written and spoken extensively on the role of data, technology, and AI in driving social change.

Under the alias “Manu,” Letouzé also works as a political and editorial cartoonist, blending social commentary with artistry. He is a member of the Cartoon Movement, an online platform bringing together professional editorial cartoonists from around the world.

Dr. Letouzé holds a BA in Political Science and Economics, an MA in Economic Demography from Sciences Po, an MA in International Development from Columbia University as a Fulbright Fellow, and a PhD in Demography from UC Berkeley, followed by a postdoctoral position at MIT.

Publications

AI for the SDGs—and Beyond: Towards a Human AI Culture for Development and Democracy (2023). Emmanuel Letouzé, Nuria Oliver, Bruno Lepri, and Patrick Vinck. Book Chapter in UNESCO-MILA Book on “Missing Link in AI Governance”. Read more. 

Accurate Intercensal Estimates of Energy Access to Track Sustainable Development Goal 7 (2022). Neeti Pokhriyal, Emmanuel Letouzé, and Soroush Vosoughi. Read more. 

Parallel Worlds: Revealing the Inequity of Access to Urban Spaces in Mexico City Through Mobility Data (2022). Emmanuel Letouzé, Zinnya del Villar, Rodrigo Lara Molina, Berenice Fernandez Nieto, Guillermo Romero, Julie Ricard, Diego Vazquez, and Laura Arely Centeno Maya; et al. MIT Press. Read more.

Trust, Regulation, and Human-in-the-Loop AI (2022). Stuart Middleton, Emmanuel Letouzé, Ali Hossaini, and Adriane Chapman. Communications of the ACM. Read more. 

Analyzing the Effect of Time in Migration Measurement Using Georeferenced Digital Trace Data (2021). Lee Fiorio, Emilio Zagheni, Guy Abel, Johnathan Hill, Gabriel Pestre, Emmanuel Letouzé, and Jixuan Cai. Read more.

“Policy Paper: Using Data to Fight COVID-19 – And Build Back Better” (2020). Vodafone Institute. Emmanuel Letouzé, Nuria Oliver, Maria Antonia Bravo, Natalie Shoup. Read more.

“Mobile phone data for informing public health actions across the COVID-19 pandemic life cycle” (2020). Nuria Oliver, Bruno Lepri, Harald Sterly, Renauld Lambiotte, Sébastien Deletaille, Marco De Nadai, Bruno Lepri, Emmanuel Letouzé, Albert Ali Salah, Richard Benjamins, Ciro Catturo, Vittoria Colizza, Nicolas de Cordes, Sam Fraiberger, Till Koebe, Sune Lehmann, Juan Murillo, Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Phuong Pham, Frederic Pivetta, Jari Saramaki, Samuel V. Scarpino, Michele Tizzoni, Stefaan Verhulst, Patrick Vinck. Read more.

“Study for the assessment of DEVCO work in digitalisation in Sub-Saharan Africa” (2020). ADE. Emmanuel Letouzé, Patrick Vinck, Tatiana Goetghebuer, Katia Duhamel, Julie Ricard, Konstantin Gruev, Romain Fourmy, Maria Antonia Bravo, Andrés Lozano. Read more.

“Socio-economic, built environment, and mobility conditions associated with crime: A study of multiple cities” (2020). Marco De Nadai, Yanyan Xu, Emmanuel Letouzé, Marta C. González, Bruno Lepri. Read more.

“Definición de la estrategia de Big Data para el estado colombiano y para el desarrollo de la industria de Big Data en Colombia” (2020). Maria Antonia Bravo, Andres Lozano, Valentina Casasbuenas, Emmanuel Letouzé. Read more.

“Mobile phone data and COVID-19: Missing an opportunity?” (2020). Nuria Oliver, Emmanuel Letouzé, Harald Sterly, Sébastien Delataille, Marco De Nadai, Bruno Lepri, Renaud Lambiotte, Richard Benjamins, Ciro Cattuto, Vittoria Colizza, Nicolas de Cordes, Samuel P. Fraiberger, Till Koebe, Sune Lehmann, Juan Murillo, Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Phuong Pham, Frédéric Pivetta, Albert Ali Salah, Jari Saramäki, Samuel V. Scarpino, Michele Tizzoni, Stefaan Verhulst, Patrick Vinck. Read more.

“Diagnóstico de la situación actual de Colombia estructurado alrededor de las seis dimensiones” (2019). Emmanuel Letouzé, Alex Pentland, Isabella Loaiza, Julie Ricard, Andrés Clavijo, Nicolas de Ligny, Daniel Rodríguez, Orlando Saavedra, Luisa García y Mónica Moreno. Read more.

“Recomendaciones e insumos para la definición de una estrategia nacional de Big Data” (2019). Emmanuel Letouzé, Alex Pentland, Isabella Loaiza, Julie Ricard, Andrés Clavijo, Diego Silva. Read more.

“Propuesta de plan de implementación de la estrategia de Big Data para el Estado” (2019). Emmanuel Letouzé, Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland, Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Isabella Loaiza, Maria Antonia Bravo, Valentina Casasbuenas y Gonzalo Araujo. Read more.

“Impacto económico y social de la implementación de la estrategia” (2019). Maria Antonia Bravo, Andrés Lozano, Valentina Casasbuenas, Emmanuel Letouzé, Irving Wladawsky-Berger y Alex “Sandy” Pentland. Read more.

“The ABCDE of Big Data: Assessing Biases in Call-Detail Records for Development Estimates” (2019). Gabriel Pestre, Emmanuel Letouzé, Emilio Zagheni. Read more.

“Sharing is Caring: Four Key Requirements for Sustainable Private Data Sharing and Use for Public Good” (2019). Emmanuel Letouzé, Nuria Oliver. Read more.

“Women in the gig economy: Paid work, care and flexibility in Kenya and South Africa” (2019). Emma Samman, Emmanuel Letouzé, Nuria Oliver. Read more.

“Harnessing Innovative Data and Technology to Measure Development Effectiveness” (2019). Emmanuel Letouzé, Micol Stock, Francesca De Chiara, Alberto Lizzi, Carlos Mazariego. Read more.

“Evaluación de nuevas herramientas y técnicas del big data para proyectos del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo” (2019). Emmanuel Letouzé, Nicolás de Ligny Tandefelt. Read more.

“Big Data to Address Global Development Challenges – Paper Series” (2019). Bessie Schwarz, Beth Tellman, Jonathan Sullivan, Catherine Kuhn, Richa Mahtta, Bhartendu Pandey, Laura Hammett, Gabriel Pestre, Marco De Nadai, Emmanuel Letouzé, Martha C. González, Bruno Lepri, Sveta Milusheva, Elisabeth zu Erbach-Schoenberg, Linus Bengtsson, Erik Wetter, Andy Tatem, Rodrigo Lara Molina, Alejandro Noriega, Eaman Jahani, Julie Ricard, Alex “Sandy” Pentland. Read more.

“Guide to Mobile Data Analytics in Refugee Scenarios” (2019). Albert Ali Salah, Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Bruno Lepri, Emmanuel Letouzé. Read more.

“Retrouver le sens de la mesure pour de meilleures décisions collectives: vers une intelligence artificielle humaine à l’ère des données (p. 47 à 55)” (2018). Emmanuel Letouzé. Read more.

“Towards a Human Artificial Intelligence for Human Development” (2018). Emmanuel Letouzé, Alex “Sandy” Pentland. Read more.

“On the privacy conscientious use of mobile phone data” (2018). Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye, Sébastien Gambs, Vincent Blondel, Geoffrey Canright, Nicolas de Cordes, Sébastien Deletaille, Kenth Engø-Monsen, Manuel Garcia-Herranz, Jake Kendall, Cameron Kerry, Gautier Kring, Emmanuel Letouzé, Miguel Luengo-Oroz, Nuria Oliver, Luc Rocher, Alex Rutherford, Zbigniew Smoreda, Jessica Steele, Erik Wetter, Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Linus Bengtsson. Read more.

“Mobiliser et humaniser la Révolution des Données pour la statistique publique, le développement et la démocratie” (2018). Emmanuel Letouzé. Read more.

“Data for Refugees: The D4R Challenge on Mobility of Syrian Refugees in Turkey” (2018). Albert Ali Salah, Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Bruno Lepri, Emmanuel Letouzé, Patrick Vinck, Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye, Xiaowen Dong, Ozge Dagdelen. Read more.

“Panorama setorial da Internet. Big Data e desenvolvimento: uma visão geral” (2018). Emmanuel Letouzé. Read more.

“Estado del arte y análisis comparativo de estrategias nacionales de Big Data” (2017). Viviana Cañón, Andrés Clavijo, Luis Godoy, Emmanuel Letouzé, Gabriel Pestre, Julie Ricard. Read more.

“Buenas prácticas sobre cómo los gobiernos pueden implementar una estrategia para estimular el ecosistema de negocios Big Data” (2017). Viviana Cañón, Andrés Clavijo, Luis Godoy, Emmanuel Letouzé, Gabriel Pestre, Julie Ricard. Read more.

“How to use Big Data? Leading experts’ roadmap to data-driven innovation projects” (2017). Emmanuel Letouzé, David Sangokoya. Read more.

“Understanding Patterns of Human Mobility At Different Timescales” (2017). Leo Fiorio, Emilio Zagheni, Guy Abel Johnathan Hill, Gabriel Pestre, Emmanuel Letouzé, Jixuan Cai. Read more.

“Characterizing and analyzing urban dynamics in Bogota” (2017). Marco De Nadai, Emmanuel Letouzé, Marta C. González, Bruno Lepri. Read more.

“Big Data – Predicting and preventing climate-related shocks” (2017). Emmanuel Letouzé, David Sangokoya, Julie Ricard. Read more.

“Fair, Transparent and Accountable Algorithmic Decision-making Processes” (2017). Bruno Lepri, Nuria Oliver, Emmanuel Letouzé, Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Patrick Vinck. Read more.

“Leveraging Algorithms for Positive Disruption: On data, democracy, society and statistics” (2016). Emmanuel Letouzé, David Sangokoya. Read more.

“The Tyranny of Data? The Bright and Dark Sides of Data-Driven Decision-Making for Social Good” (2016). Bruno Lepri, Jacopo Staiano, David Sangokoya, Emmanuel Letouzé, Nuria Oliver. Read more.

“Oportunidades y requerimientos para aprovechar el uso de Big Data para las estadísticas oficiales y los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible en América Latina” (2016). Julia Manske, David Sangokoya, Gabriel Pestre, Emmanuel Letouzé. Read more.

“CDRs & Poverty and Population Analysis – Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal” (2016). Emmanuel Letouzé, Gabriel Pestre, Cyrille Bellier, Thomas Roca, Nicolas de Cordes. Read more.

Book chapter – “The Evaluation of Complex Development Interventions in the Age of Big Data” (2016). Emmanuel Letouzé, Ana Lucía Martinez Arias, Sally Jackson. Read more.

“Applications and Implications of Big Data for Demo-Economic Analysis:The Case of Call-Detail Records” (2016). Emmanuel Letouzé. Read more.

Event Paper – “Big Data and Privacy: Understanding the Possibilities and Pitfalls of the Data Revolution in Germany” (2015). Emmanuel Letouzé, David Sangokoya. Read more.

“Beyond Data Literacy: Reinventing Community Engagement and Empowerment in the Age of Data” 2015. Rahul Bhargava, Erica Deahl, Emmanuel Letouzé, Amanda Noonan, David Sangokoya, Natalie Shoup, Mark Frohardt, William Hoffman, Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Alessia Lefébure. Read more.

“Big Data for Climate Change and Disaster Resilience: Realising the Benefits for Developing Countries” (2015). Jesse Anttila-Hughes, Marion Dumas, Lindsey Jones, Gabriel Pestre, Yue Qui, Marc Levy, Emmanuel Letouzé, Simone Sala, Bessie Schwarz, Natalie Shoup, Elizabeth Tellman, Patrick Vinck. Read more.

“Moves on the Street: Classifying Crime Hotspots Using Aggregated Anonymized Data on People Dynamics” (2015). Andrey Bogomolov, Bruno Lepri, Jacopo Staiano, Emmanuel Letouzé, Nuria Oliver, Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Fabio Pianesi. Read more.

“Group Privacy in the Age of Big Data” (2015). Lanah Kammourieh, Thomas Baar, Jos Berens, Emmanuel Letouzé, Julia Manske, John Palmer, Patrick Vinck, Augustin Chaintreau, Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye, Natalie Shoup. Read more.

“Big Data and Development: An Overview” (2015). Emmanuel Letouzé. Read more.

“The Law, Politics and Ethics of Cell Phone Data Analytics” (2015). Emmanuel Letouzé, Patrick Vinck. Read more.

“Official Statistics, Big Data, and Human Development” (2015). Johannes Jütting, Emmanuel Letouzé. Read more.

“Big Data & SDGs note for Global Sustainable Development Report” (2015). Emmanuel Letouzé. Read more.