Amber Samdahl

Biography

Amber Samdahl is the Director of Design & Innovation at PBS Wisconsin, where she leads the organization’s design, digital, and emerging media strategies. She co-founded the Wisconsin Public Media AI workgroup and has helped shape responsible-use guidelines and best practices for AI and emerging technologies nationally across the public media system. Amber is also a co-founder and national leader with Public Media Innovators, a cross-system collaborative exploring innovation in public media, including extensive work on AI through panels and workshops. Amber regularly presents at national public media conferences and events on emerging technologies and the future of public media.

Prior to joining PBS Wisconsin, Amber spent more than a decade in Walt Disney Imagineering’s cutting-edge Research & Development division, developing experimental interactive experiences and early-stage prototypes. She later served as an Executive Creative Director, leading interactive and game-based initiatives for Disney theme parks worldwide. Her work earned her multiple U.S. patents in augmented reality, social gaming systems, and interactive storytelling.

As a Media Fellow, Amber is collaborating with the Lab on an AI disclosure research study examining how different types of AI disclosure affect audience trust in public media. In the coming year, she will continue to expand that work as the study moves into its next phase.