Rob Reich is a professor of political science at Stanford University and a leading voice at the intersection of technology and society. He is the co-author of System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot and recently served as a senior advisor at the U.S. AI Safety Institute.

Rob joined Var Shankar to discuss:

• The shifting landscape of AI governance federally and in the states
• Why governments are increasingly concerned with national security risks from frontier models
• How to involve civil society in setting technical standards for AI
• What a "mature ecosystem" of independent AI evaluators would look like
• How to help younger people navigate the AI age

Michelle De Mooy is the author of The AI Archipelago. She is the Principal of De Mooy Consulting. In previous roles, she served as Director of the Tech & Public Policy program at Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy and Director of the Privacy and Data Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Michelle joined Var Shankar to discuss:

• How AI capabilities and risks emerge from networked interactions between systems
• The role of 'AI culture' - and how to measure it
• How to improve AI governance approaches that focus on individual AI systems
• Why we may have limited time to shape AI's collective behavior
• How policymakers and AI governance practitioners should respond

Assemblymember Alex Bores is a New York state lawmaker and sponsor of the Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act.

Alex joined Var Shankar to discuss:

• What drew him to the AI space as a lawmaker
• Emerging AI opportunities and risks
• How the Empire AI effort is strengthening New York's economy
• The RAISE Act and its future
• How lawmakers in other jurisdictions should think about AI