AI Policy and Governance Overview | Virtual Workshop Series

About this event

A free, public workshop—no technical background needed
​AI is moving fast. The companies building it are moving fast. Governments are trying to respond, but most people still don’t have a clear picture of what is actually happening or what good policy would even look like.
​This workshop is meant to give people that bigger picture.
​We’ll start with a quick, plain-English overview of what AI is as a technology, how today’s systems work at a high level, and why the last few years have felt so different from the AI progress that came before. From there, we’ll look at the new industry forming around frontier AI: the major labs, the incentives they face, the race to build more capable models, and why that race has raised serious questions about safety and governance.
​Then we’ll move into AI safety: what people mean by it, why it matters, and why this is not just a technical issue for researchers in labs. AI already creates real problems today, from scams and misinformation to bias, privacy concerns, cyber risks, and labor disruption. More advanced models could raise the stakes further, especially if they become better at persuasion, hacking, autonomous planning, scientific research, or acting on behalf of users in the real world.
​Together, we’ll explore questions like:

• ​What is AI, really? What makes today’s systems different from older software, and why are people treating this moment as a major technological shift?
• ​What is AI safety? What are researchers, policymakers, and companies worried about, and which concerns are immediate versus more forward-looking?
• ​Current risks: How is AI already affecting scams, misinformation, privacy, labor, education, and trust?
• ​Near-future risks: What could change if models become significantly more capable over the next year or two?
• ​AI legislation: What kinds of laws and regulations have been passed so far, what are they trying to do, and how has the debate around them gone?
• ​Governance options: What policy tools are being discussed to handle more serious risks from advanced AI systems?

​What you’ll get:

• ​A beginner-friendly overview of AI as a technology and industry
• ​A clear explanation of what AI safety means and why people disagree about it
• ​A grounded look at the risks AI poses today and the risks more advanced systems may pose soon
• ​A concrete overview of existing AI policy efforts and the debate around them
• ​A map of the main governance ideas being discussed, from transparency and evaluations to liability, licensing, compute governance, and international coordination

​This workshop is not about taking a simplistic “AI good” or “AI bad” position. The real world is messier than that.
​AI could bring enormous benefits, and it could also create serious problems if we build and deploy it carelessly. The goal of this workshop is to help you understand the policy conversation well enough to follow what is happening, evaluate proposals for yourself, and think clearly about what responsible governance might look like before the technology gets even more powerful.
​This is the final session of a six-part virtual series. Each workshop stands on its own and is free to attend