The official line: Anum Ali, PhD, LPC, NCC is a licensed professional counselor, mental health clinician, parenting and tech expert, counselor educator, and TEDx speaker based in Texas. Her research examined how South Asian parents make decisions about their teenagers' social media lives, and her frameworks are used in clinical practice, digital health products, and family interventions.

The honest one: I became a counselor to sit with people in the moments that matter. I started working on clinical AI because those moments are increasingly happening with machines, and someone who knows what real care looks like needs to be in the room where those machines are built.

I am happy to debate clinical AI evaluation frameworks or Bollywood soundtracks. Budget more time for the second one.

Today I move between the therapy room, the product room, the classroom, and the stage. Different rooms, same question: as technology learns to simulate connection, what do humans need to do on purpose that we used to do by default?

Current motto: presence over surveillance.