Policy and Governance
The MATS Policy & Governance Track supports research on how advanced AI is governed and how it should be governed. As AI capabilities accelerate, many of the hardest problems are no longer purely technical. They involve international coordination, governance under uncertainty, state capacity, regulatory design, and translating safety goals into real-world policies and institutions. Decisions made in the next 6–12 months will shape what labs build, what governments require, and what oversight looks like for years to come.
- Initial application: Submit 1-2 writing samples.
- Stage 2: Complete 1 assessment evaluating writing and analytical skills.
- Stream applications & follow-up: Apply to individual streams; follow-up includes interviews or additional assessments depending on the stream.
The track covers a wide range of research areas. Some streams focus on concrete governance mechanisms, including evaluations, standards, safeguards, monitoring systems, and enforcement structures. Others conduct policy and institutional analysis, such as comparative reviews of governance regimes, regulatory frameworks, and international coordination challenges. A third set engages broader questions, like how advanced AI may reshape global power dynamics or what governance approaches could meaningfully reduce catastrophic risk.
We are looking for fellows who can reason rigorously and write clearly about these topics. Strong candidates have come from policy, economics, law, political science, public administration, security studies, philosophy, computer science, forecasting, sociology, history, journalism, and science and technology studies, among other backgrounds.
Fellows are matched to mentors based on fit, and projects are scoped to produce concrete artifacts by program end e.g., policy memos, regulatory comments, technical specifications, comparative analyses, and peer-reviewed research. Target audiences span AISI staff, lab governance teams, regulators, standards bodies, and the broader research and policy communities shaping frontier AI governance.
I (Cas) work on a range of projects from technical safeguards to technical governance. This stream follows an academic collaboration model and will work will likely focus on technical topics in AI governance.