In our pursuit of technological advancement, we must scrutinize who is at the table and whose experiences are being considered. The lack of inclusivity in AI doesn’t just mirror inequalities; it amplifies them. From social welfare algorithms to predictive policing, the stakes are high, and the impacts are real.
We need a paradigm shift to ensure AI systems do not continue becoming tools of oppression but instruments for equity. Watch as I challenge the status quo at the #UnitedNations and call hundreds of people present there for a transformative approach to AI development. Join us in pushing for systems that recognize and respect the full spectrum of human diversity. 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
@unitednations@onubrasil@nacoesunidas@unyouthaffairs 🇺🇳
Opening the High-level segment of the UNESCO General Conference this week was probably one of the highest points of my career.
Highlighting how systems, often perceived as ‘neutral’, inherently reflect the biases of their creators, I challenged the audience to recognize the patterns of systemic oppression ingrained into our digital world.
From the suppression of voices through internet shutdowns to the erasure of identities in incomplete data narratives, my speech underscored the vital role of inclusive technology in policymaking.
Data tells our human stories, but how many are we leaving out? Gender surveys often ignore transgender and queer identities, leading to policies that are not just ineffective but deeply unjust.
We look towards the youth, the architects of a just digital future, not for token gestures but for real support. At UNESCO, I did not just ask for a seat at the table—it was the first step building a new one.
Join me in championing a revolution of trustworthy technology, where digital self-determination is a right for all.
#UN #UNESCO #DigitalRights #InclusionRevolution @unyouthenvoy@onubrasil@nacoesunidas@unitednations@unescobrasil@unesco
We are digital rights activists!!!!!! 🇺🇳🇺🇳🇺🇳🇺🇳🇺🇳🇺🇳 I can finally share this with you after having to keep this secret for so long: I am THRILLED to be appointed by @unyouthaffairs as one of the next #SDGYoungLeaders!!!!!!! Announced at this year’s 77th United Nations General Assembly!!!!
After one of the hardest application processes I’ve ever been through - 5,500 applicants from 190 countries - I will be one of the 17 (brilliant!!!!) young people recognized and mentored by the @unitednations to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. It is unbelievable to think that the selection committee was composed by personalities like @guajajarasonia 😱🔥✨
Now more than ever I’ll keep on advocating for the responsible use of technology, AI ethics, and data justice from a young, feminist, queer, and Global South perspective 🇧🇷🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
As a queer latinx, I’ll use this spotlight to ensure that the allure of the data revolution doesn’t shield governance from developing evidence-based, ethically built, public policies 🤓✊🏼
We’re just getting started 🤪
Luísa Franco Machado is taking our TEDx stage.
What if spaces need to adjust to us, not the other way around?
📅 May 23, 2026
📍 MuTh Theater, Vienna
Will you make it?
🎟️ Get your ticket now. Link in bio.
birthdays always make me thoughtful.
after 1 year living out of an overweight suitcase that has brought me anxiety every time I was about to drop it off by an airline check-in counter, last week I emptied my suitcase and put all my clothes in a wardrobe for the first time.
someone this year asked me after hearing about my nomadic lifestyle: “what are you running from or running towards?” I got caught a bit off guard, admittedly, but now I can confidently answer: I am running from the future, and towards the present.
for a long time, I’ve lived thinking of how great life could be in the future. all the great things I could achieve, stories I could create, people I could love, friends I could make. and that has made it deeply difficult to enjoy the great things that were happening to me when they did happen. this year was the first in many where the present was just as exciting as the future. where I didn’t want tomorrow to arrive because I was so happy with what was happening today.
the photos, roughly in order, of some cool things I did this year: hiking the Machu Picchu in Peru, roadtripping in Brazil from South to North, celebrating carnaval in Rio de Janeiro, retreating at a Buddhist temple in Korea, visiting 12 countries, speaking at the UN multiple times (and going viral for it), learning how to be a better leader in San Francisco, drinking real matcha in Japan, seeing Billie Eilish live in Glasgow, being featured at an exhibition in Madrid, being a guest at my favorite podcast in Barcelona, going with my best friends to Morocco, moving to Berlin, taking EquiLabs to another level, indulging in friendship, love, adventure and joy. and a lot of work for a cause I care so deeply.
in a world that’s making us all sick, joy is resistance. cheers to enjoying the present (and to being able to park my suitcase on top of my wardrobe - for now). happy 27 with the very deep and dramatic song that inspired my name :)
i’ve been thinking a lot about how our feeds shape what we assume everyone else is seeing.
two people can open the same app and land in completely different worlds. one person gets urgency, research, community work. another gets content that downplays everything. and both walk away thinking, “this is what people are talking about.” these are the infrastructures of delay I’m talking about.
the new wave of AI-generated content is making this mess bigger. reports with no source, experts who don’t exist, videos that look legit but aren’t. it doesn’t even matter if people “believe” them. the point is to crowd the space until nothing feels solid. i’m not saying this to fuel fear narratives, but we have to name responsibilities.
collective action is hard when our digital infrastructures scatter us into separate realities. if we can’t agree on what’s happening, it’s almost impossible to agree on what needs to be done. if we’re all being fed different versions of the world, delay becomes the default and most people won’t even know why.
what a beautiful experience to be given a platform to tell the world how AI, justice and equality are all connected, and the role of philanthropy in supporting that. thank you Kit and Alliance Magazine for this opportunity. full article in my bio.
I’M BUILDING A YOUTH-LED NGO TO PROTECT OUR RIGHTS IN AI AND TECH!!!!
We all feel like the digital age is already decided by us, even if many of us feel extremely disempowered by tech decisions and their impacts on us. My generation is always at everyone’s speeches, but never at the decision-making tables. For the past year, I’ve been learning the unspoken rules of philanthropy that keep youth-led movements out of the game. How to build a movement? How to get funded? How to mobilize people?
I’ve had the privilege of navigating different kinds of spaces over the past year that have shown me that many of us feel disempowered because we don’t even know what’s possible. But if I learnt anything, is that there’s so much that we can do. But first we need to learn how to. So follow along this journey building @equi.labs !!!!
I recently learned that the funding for my participation at COP30 in Belém came from a mining company linked to serious harm against Brazilian communities and territories. I will not sit on a climate justice stage paid for by the same money that destroys lives, forests and rivers at home. So I withdrew from the panel, from the travel support, from all of it.
I am sharing this because this is exactly how the system works: they extract from our people, then buy space in our movements. They fund “youth voices” while silencing the communities who buried their dead. They sponsor “just transition” events while fighting regulations, denying reparations, and rewriting their public image through us.
If my presence on that stage helps clean anyone’s reputation, it is not activism. If that means fewer stages, so be it.
From family dinners to government cabinets, everyone loves to say they’re “doing it for the next generation.” It sounds noble, selfless even. Parents say it. Politicians say it. CEOs post it on LinkedIn like a badge of honor. And maybe they believe it. Maybe they truly want to leave the world better than they found it.
But somewhere along the way, that phrase lost its meaning. It became a shield for staying in control. Because if you listen closely, the phrase isn’t about us, “the next generation”, at all. It’s about them. It’s a way to stay comfortable while pretending to hand over the future.
We don’t need another speech about the future. We live inside the decisions being made right now. We carry their impact in our debt, our anxiety, our planet and technologies we have come to depend on. We’re not asking to be saved from the harm you created.
Maybe building a better world for the next generation isn’t about being remembered. Maybe it’s about stepping aside. About funding ideas you don’t fully understand. About trusting that our vision might look nothing like yours, and still choosing to believe it anyway.
I’ll be bringing these insights and more to @mozilla Festival in Barcelona 7-9 November.
Join me at:
→ “Youth-led digital governance: turning utopia into reality through collective action“ 7 Nov 2:45 PM, Zone C, Room C1
→ “Unlearning Systems” 9 Nov 4PM, Main Stage
