AI Policy Labs

I cofounded AI Policy Labs in 2017 to help connect policymakers with the people developing and studying artificial intelligence. Our focus was practical: helping leaders understand what AI could mean for the workers, industries and communities they represented.

From research to understanding

The Obama White House had published reports on AI and its economic implications in 2016. Our starting point was the work already being done by researchers, technology companies and policy organizations. We wanted to make it more useful to officials through briefings, public-attitudes research and discussion of its local implications. The 2016 White House report

Bringing DC and AI together

At SXSW on March 10, 2018, we brought together U.S. Representative Terri Sewell, Sarah Holland of Google, Partnership on AI executive director Terah Lyons and C&M International director Clark Jennings for Ending the Dangerous Disconnect Between DC and AI.

The session was organized around how the policy and technology communities could work together, which issues required attention, and how to prepare for AI’s effects. It gave the initiative a public forum with participants from Congress, industry and the AI policy community.

Building the agenda

I developed the business plan, research agenda and funding materials, helped recruit advisers, and initiated fundraising with my cofounders. Our proposed research included mapping exposure to automation by congressional district and ZIP code, measuring policymakers’ understanding of AI, and studying workers’ attitudes toward technological change.

We completed the research plan and began fundraising, but did not execute the full program before all the cofounders took roles elsewhere. The SXSW discussion was the initiative’s principal public accomplishment.