Lauren is an award-winning international researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for womenand youth. She is an Adjunct Professor lecturing on civil society, NGO management, and GenderEquality in Japan in the Faculty of International Business and Economics at Sophia University, aPh.D. Candidate in International Relations and Researcher at the University of Tokyo, and anLLM Candidate in Law at the University of Edinburgh. Lauren is the Founder and Advisorof Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP) Tokyo, an NGO committed to providing a nexusof engagement for international scholars, students, professionals, and thought leaders acrosssectors, cultivating the next generation of foreign policy leaders. Lauren is also a consultant forthe ASEAN-IPR – ERIA Joint Research Project on Women Peace and Security (WPS) andWomen in the Digital Economy (WDE): Women Economic Empowerment and Sustainable Peacefor the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).Lauren has been a Women7 (W7) Advisor on gender equality for the G7 Summit since 2023.She has also served as a Women20 (W20) Delegate on gender equality in the Delegation of theUnited States to the G20 Summit since 2023, and was a Co-Chair for the Women in STEMWorking Group during the G20 Brazil Presidency. Lauren has also co-authored multiple policybriefs under the Think Tank 20 (T20) engagement group for the G20 Summit on the topic ofdigital inclusion. Lauren has been a stakeholder to the G20 and G7 Summits since the 2020

Saudi Presidency, serving in multiple capacities.Previously, Lauren has worked as an Adjunct Professor at Temple University Japan, a LeadResearcher for the Digital Gender Gap Study, a part of the Gender Investment and InnovationProgram, at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation; an Official at the Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development (OECD), and an Editorial Board Member of the Journal forHuman Security Studies. She has contributed to projects with the UN-OHCHR, UNICEF, UN-ESCAP, UN-MGCY, and YOUNGO.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been rapidly accelerating advancements in digital and emerging technologies, leading to the public launch of the generative artificial intelligence (AI), ChatGPT, on November 30, 2022, and sparking global interest and concern about how AI might be leveraged to disrupt or amplify different forms of discrimination, including discrimination against women and girls in all their diversity. International decision-makers, including the US and Japan, swiftly pivoted to adopt and implement interim policies on AI and the debate on international AI governance dominated high-level political forums, including the 2023 G7 Japan Presidency. In parallel, epistemic communities in civil society mobilized to advocate for gender equality, human rights, and the inclusion of women and marginalized voices in AI governance and digital development. Looking at high-level multilateral forums in which Japan and the US are key players, this chapter investigates key deliberations on policy outcomes for developing more inclusive digital governance on AI and adjacent emerging technologies for the US and Japan, with a focus on bridging the digital gender gap, and how this impacts US-Japan relations. To do this, we will compare US and Japan commitments to and outcomes in bridging the digital gender gap, including through providing insights from oral histories of the key actors leading feminist advocacy on AI and emerging technologies at the G7 Japan and G20 India forums during this historic inflection point in global governance.