Danielle Allen
James Bryant Conant University Professor
GETTING-Plurality
A part of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, GETTING-Plurality is a multi-disciplinary research network linking philosophers, social scientists, computer scientists, legal scholars, and technologists
Governance of Emerging Technology and Tech Innovations for Next-Gen Governance (GETTING-Plurality) is a multi-disciplinary research network linking philosophers, social scientists, computer scientists, legal scholars, and technologists. We are building a unique collaborative that unites tech ethics initiatives at Harvard University with external impact partners across higher education and the tech industry, bringing philosophers and ethicists to the table for every project.
The network is housed in the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation.
Our Mission
We’re at a pivotal moment. To promote universal well-being, we need to promote the responsible governance of innovation and responsibly innovate the way we govern.
GETTING-Plurality seeks to advance understanding of how to shape, guide, govern, and deploy technological development in support of democracy, collective intelligence, and other public goods. Our focus is on how to do so, given the plural nature of human intelligence. We pursue foundational analysis and theory, field-building, and policy development to foresee and mitigate potential harms to democracy and to strengthen the public benefit and democracy-supportive effects flowing from technology innovation.
Research Areas
This network will convene multi-disciplinary teams to tackle questions of how to govern emerging technologies and how to deploy emerging technologies for governance from a multiplicity of viewpoints and expertise.
Leadership
Darshan Goux
Senior Lab Director, Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation
Sarah Hubbard
Associate Director for Technology & Democracy, Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation
Allison Stanger
Non-resident Senior Fellow, Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation;
Co-Director and Co-Investigator, GETTING-Plurality Research Network
Network Members
Tina Eliassi-Rad
Professor, Northeastern University
Ami Fields-Meyer
Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation
July 2024-June 2025
Zoë Hitzig
Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows
Saffron Huang
Co-Founder, Collective Intelligence Project
Shrey Jain
Researcher, Microsoft Research
Jonas Kgomo
Founder, Equiano Institute
Yu-Ting Kuo
Faculty Member, MIT and National Tsing Hua University
Seth Lazar
Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University
Anna Lewis
Research Scientist, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Puja Ohlhaver
Researcher & Lawyer
Omoaholo Omoakhalen
Founder, Remake Africa & Plurality Lead, School of Politics, Policy and Governance
Aviv Ovadya
Affiliate, Berkman-Klein Center, Harvard Law School & Affiliate, Centre for the Governance of AI
Alexander Pascal
Senior Fellow, Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation
Nick Pyati
Strategy, Microsoft
Mathias Risse
Faculty Director, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy & Professor, Harvard Kennedy School
Bruce Schneier
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
Divya Siddarth
Co-Founder, Collective Intelligence Project
Ajeet Singh
Physician Instructor and Clinical Informaticist, Rush University Medical Center
Meredith Sumpter
CEO & Managing Partner, Just Equity
Tessel van Oirsouw
EthicAI and Former Visiting Fellow, Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation
Shlomit Wagman
Visiting Fellow
Glen Weyl
Research Lead, Microsoft Research, Plural Technology Collaboratory & Founder, RadicalxChange Foundation
Zachary Wojtowicz
Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology and Economic Theory, Harvard University
Kinney Zalesne
Former Co-Head of Corporate Strategy, Microsoft
Graduate Student Network Members
Nate Hiatt
PhD Candidate in Political Science, Yale University
Uma Ilavarasan
PhD Candidate in Government, Harvard University
Woojin Lim
Researcher, Harvard College
Charlotte Siegmann
PhD Candidate in Economics, MIT
Luke Thorburn
PhD Candidate, King's College London
Upcoming Events
Online Book Talk—The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley
Online Event
Virtual Event
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST
The latest news, resources, and research
Political Economy of AI Essay Collection
Earlier this year, the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation hosted a convening on the Political Economy of AI. This collection of essays from leading scholars and experts raise critical questions surrounding power, governance, and democracy as they consider how technology can better serve the public interest.
Additional Resource
Watching the Generative AI Hype Bubble Deflate
As a part of the Allen Lab’s Political Economy of AI Essay Collection, David Gray Widder and Mar Hicks draw on the history of tech hype cycles to warn against the harmful effects of the current generative AI bubble.
Additional Resource
AI and Practicing Democracy
As a part of the Allen Lab’s Political Economy of AI Essay Collection, Emily S Lin and Marshall Ganz call on us to reckon with how humans create, exercise, and structure power, in hopes of meeting our current technological moment in a way that aligns with our values.
Additional Resource
AI, Digital Sovereignty, and the EU’s Path Forward: A Case for Mission-Oriented Industrial Policy
As a part of the Allen Lab’s Political Economy of AI Essay Collection, Tessel van Oirsouw explores how the EU should pursue “mission-oriented industrial policy” to align its technological development with its cross-sector strategic objectives.
Additional Resource
Medicare Advantage as Asset Management: The Pretense of Care Under Logics of Extraction
As a part of the Allen Lab’s Political Economy of AI Essay Collection, Ajeet Singh explores how AI technologies deployed in the health care sector often orient towards the extraction of greater surplus revenues at the expense of patient health.
Additional Resource
Cooperative Paradigms for Artificial Intelligence
As a part of the Allen Lab’s Political Economy of AI Essay Collection, Sarah Hubbard explores alternative ownership and governance structures for artificial intelligence that may better serve the public interest.
Commentary
Sunset and Renew: Section 230 Should Protect Human Speech, Not Algorithmic Virality
Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation Senior Fellow Allison Stanger, in collaboration with Jaron Lanier and Audrey Tang, advocate for a “repeal and renew” approach to Section 230 in an effort to reform the current social media ecosystem.
Commentary
Tech Policy that (Actually) Serves the People
Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation Fellow Ami Fields-Meyer lays out research questions for developing a new U.S. tech policy agenda that puts people first.
Occasional Paper
The National Security Case for Public AI
Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation Fellow Alex Pascal and Vanderbilt Law Professor Ganesh Sitaraman make the case that public options for AI and public utility-style regulation of AI will enhance national security by ensuring innovation and competition, preventing abuses of power and conflicts of interest, and advancing public interest and national security goals.
Video
Building a Digital Democracy with Audrey Tang and Megan Smith
The “Building a Digital Democracy” panel brought together Audrey Tang, Megan Smith, Professor Danielle Allen, and Professor Mathias Risse for a conversation on how technology is being used to transform our political institutions.
Commentary
GETTING-Plurality Public Comment on U.S. AI Safety Institute Guidance
The GETTING-Plurality Research Network recently submitted a public comment on the NIST U.S. AI Safety Institute’s “Managing Misuse Risk for Dual-Use Foundation Models” draft guidance. The full text of the public comment can be found below.
Podcast
Conference on the Political Economy of AI Podcast Episodes
Check out the podcast episodes from the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation’s Conference on the Political Economy of AI to glean insights from each panel.
Feature
AI and Democracy Summer Reading List
This list, curated by the GETTING-Plurality Research Network at the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, highlights a mix of foundational texts and new thinking on the timely issue of how AI will impact democracy, especially as we head into election season.
Feature
Conference on the Political Economy of AI
Experts gathered at the Allen Lab conference to examine the incentives and structures of AI development, as well as to discuss the past, present, and potential future of steering AI towards better serving the public interest.
Feature
AI and the 2024 Elections
From misinformation to AI panic, experts joined the Allen Lab’s GETTING-Plurality event to discuss the threats the burgeoning technology poses to democracy.