AI is accelerating scientific discovery, expanding access to education and healthcare, and making it possible to solve previously intractable problems. This may be the most significant force for human progress since the industrial revolution. But such monumental change also brings outsized risk. These technologies are being applied at a pace that has far outrun the rules and norms meant to govern them and the public conversation about what those rules should be. Algorithms already determine whose medical procedure gets covered by insurance, which neighborhoods get policed, what information people consume, and, increasingly, who gets targeted in a military strike. With AI, these systems are becoming more capable, more autonomous, and harder to explain.
An essential question is what this technology means for effective self-government and for democracy itself. Self-government rests on a set of basic assumptions, including the notion that individuals making decisions on behalf of the people can be identified, and that those people can appeal, protest, vote, and demand accountability. As decisions get absorbed by automated systems, those assumptions come under pressure in ways that go beyond any particular policy failure. When the systems governing people’s lives are ones humans built but cannot fully explain, when the logic of a decision cannot be traced to any human judgment, then the question is much bigger than how we understand or regulate technology. Instead, the question becomes what self-government even means and whether any institution is equipped to respond.
Society requires a generation of leaders with a triple fluency: in technology itself, in the systems that govern it, and in the ethics and leadership needed to debate and determine its future.
We are at a crossroads. Whether we move toward the extraordinary or the alarming comes down not to the technology itself, but to human judgment. It comes down to whether the people making decisions about how to build this technology, govern it, and use it have the capacity to do it well and in the public interest.
Consider what is possible when government uses these tools to improve its work: delivering services to people faster and more accurately, helping doctors and public health officials get ahead of disease outbreaks before they spread, giving teachers the ability to personalize learning for every student, monitoring pollution and wildfires in real time to keep communities safe. The possibilities are limitless—accelerating scientific discoveries to address problems that have plagued humanity for centuries and expanding opportunity to more people in more places than ever. Government equipped to harness these tools will be faster, more responsive, and more capable of serving people in ways we cannot imagine. That is the goal. But right now, while the private sector races ahead, most government agencies lack the people and the capacity to get there. Closing this widening gap is one of the most important governance challenges of our era.
To meet this challenge, society requires a generation of leaders with a triple fluency: in technology itself, in the systems that govern it, and in the ethics and leadership needed to debate and determine its future. We cannot have three separate groups of people covering each competency. A technologist without policy knowledge builds tools that have unintended consequences. A policymaker without technical knowledge writes rules for systems they don’t understand. An ethicist without either produces analysis that may not reckon with reality and may never reach the people making decisions. The Kennedy School will train people who are fluent in all three, as the baseline of what public leadership requires in a world where technology is transforming every domain of life.
Initial priorities
- Train 600 public sector technologists and 6,000 technologically informed public leaders over the next decade by launching a new technology concentration, exploring a specialized degree program in technology and policy, and integrating emerging technologies into our broader curriculum — ensuring students have the expertise in in both technology and governance to build, deploy, and oversee AI in the public interest.
- Create pathways for HKS students and graduates to design, build and deliver technology-enabled solutions that help public institutions solve public problems.
- Prepare society for rapid technological change by investing in research and convening technologists and policymakers to shape the rules and norms governing how AI and other technologies are built, used, and held accountable.
Delivering on our Future
The forces reshaping the world are accelerating at a pace unknown to recent generations. We are setting ambitious goals — grounded in four imperatives — to respond to a changing world.
Create a Path to Public Service for All
Substantially increase our resources for financial aid and make it possible for talented public servants everywhere to learn with HKS, whether on campus or where they live and work.
Help Government Deliver for People
Collaborate with cities, states, national governments, and civil society to improve how they solve problems and serve their constituents.
Forge Principled and Effective Leaders for Polarized Times
Embrace faculty, staff, students, and speakers who bring diverse experiences and perspectives to campus—and cultivate a culture of free and rigorous inquiry in all that we do.
Leadership for a New Era
A vision for how HKS will lead in this moment — and make the world more safe, free, and sustainably prosperous for all.