IN THE PAST TWO YEARS, generative AI has exploded with widescale adoption across the world. This global phenomenon is changing the way people work and live. Harvard Kennedy School researchers have dug into the threats and opportunities of artificial intelligence.
For example, faculty members from the Project on Workforce—a joint effort of the Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education—have studied the impact of artificial intelligence on the workforce. The project launched a series of nationally representative surveys tracking how people use generative AI at work and at home. The goal is to inform policymakers and leaders about the pace and intensity of generative AI adoption and its economic implications.
Kennedy School experts have also provided guidance to Congress. On June 4, 2025, Bruce Schneier, an adjunct lecturer in public policy, testified before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight about “The Federal Government in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” He warned that consolidating citizen data across federal agencies (as part of what he called the “DOGE approach”) poses severe security, privacy, and civil liberties risks—especially when that data fuels AI systems.
Danielle Allen, the James Bryant Conant University Professor, also explores the ethical, institutional, and civic dimensions of AI deployment, especially through her Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation. She and colleagues in her lab produced a roadmap for governing AI that also encourages human flourishing.
And faculty members Sharad Goel, professor of public policy, Dan Levy, senior lecturer in public policy, and Teddy Svoronos, senior lecturer in public policy, teach degree program students and executive education participants about the science and implications of generative AI to equip students to harness it responsibly. They have made teaching materials publicly available for broader reach.
(Read what some of our faculty members have to say about AI in the Summer 2023 issue of HKS Magazine.)
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