Policy Brief
Why Collective Behavior Change Requires a Civic Culture Approach
A new policy brief explores how civic culture can reshape social norms, encourage collective action, and drive lasting behavioral change.
Policy Brief
AGI and Democracy
We face a fundamental question: is the very pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) the kind of aim democracies should allow?
By:
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![Seth Lazar]()
Seth Lazar
Issues
If we are a long way short of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), why worry about it now?
Seth Lazar and Alex Pascal argue that the people building the most advanced AI systems are explicitly and aggressively working to bring AGI about, and they think they’ll get there in two to five years. Even some of the most publicly skeptical AI researchers don’t rule out AGI within this decade. If we, the affected public, do not actively shape this agenda now, we may miss the chance to do so at all. We face a fundamental question: is the very pursuit of AGI the kind of aim democracies should allow?
Related Resources
Commentary
Field Report: How AI Is Being Used in the 2026 Midterms
Allen Lab Policy Fellow Hillary Lehr provides a late-October 2026 snapshot of the multiple ways that AI and the midterms are intersecting, including campaign use cases, policy issues, and voters’ use of LLMs.
Additional Resource
From Questions to Evidence
Commentary
Field Report: How AI Is Being Used in the 2026 Midterms
Allen Lab Policy Fellow Hillary Lehr provides a late-October 2026 snapshot of the multiple ways that AI and the midterms are intersecting, including campaign use cases, policy issues, and voters’ use of LLMs.
Commentary
California Writes Public Deliberation Into Law
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Additional Resource
How A.I. Can Be Good For Democracy
In a recent guest essay for The New York Times, Allen Lab Democracy Stack Fellow Beth Noveck argues for putting A.I. behind every public servant.