Summary
Dean Woodley Ball is a Research Fellow in the Artificial Intelligence & Progress Project at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, a Policy Fellow at Fathom, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, and author of Hyperdimensional.
His work focuses on emerging technologies and the future of governance. He has written on topics including artificial intelligence, the future of manufacturing, neural technology, bioengineering, technology policy, political theory, public finance, urban infrastructure, and prisoner re-entry.
Source: Website
Foresight Institute – 09/06/2024 (49:10)
Bio: Dean Woodley Ball is a Research Fellow in the Artificial Intelligence & Progress Project at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and author of “Hyperdimensional.” His work focuses on emerging technologies and the future of governance. He has written on topics including artificial intelligence, neural technology, bioengineering, technology policy, political theory, public finance, urban infrastructure, and prisoner re-entry.
His work has been published by National Affairs, The Dispatch, The Hill, the Washington Post, the Orange County Register, Investor’s Business Daily, the Coolidge Quarterly, National Review, the Manhattan Institute, and the Hoover Institution. His paper “Neither Harbour nor Floor: Contemplating the Singularity with Michael Oakeshott” will be part of a forthcoming volume titled Liberalism Revisited, to be published by Palgrave. He is also the author of “Ideas of Another Order: Michael Oakeshott and Confucius in Conversation,” an essay in comparative political theory that was published in Collingwood and British Idealism Studies.
Abstract: Based on engagement with the neuroscience and machine learning literatures, this talk will focus on how technologies such as virtual reality, large language models, AI agents, neurostimulation, and neuromonitoring may converge in the coming decade into the first widespread consumer neural technology. The talk will focus on technical feasibility, public policy, and broader societal implications.
OnAir Post: Dean W. Ball
News
The Coming of Agents
First thing’s first: eject the concept of a chatbot from your mind. Eject image generators, deepfakes, and the like. Eject social media algorithms. Eject the algorithm your insurance company uses to assess claims for fraud potential. I am not talking, especially, about any of those things.
Instead, I’m talking about agents. Simply put and in at least the near term, agents will be LLMs configured in such a way that they can plan, reason, and execute intellectual labor. They will be able to use, modify, and build software tools, obtain information from the internet, and communicate with both humans (using email, messaging apps, and chatbot interfaces) and with other agents. These abstract tasks do not constitute everything a knowledge worker does, but they constitute a very large fraction of what the average knowledge worker spends their day doing.
Agents are starting to work. They’re going to get much better. There are many reasons this is true, but the biggest one is the reinforcement learning-based approach OpenAI pioneered with their o1 models, and which every other player in the industry either has or is building. The most informative paper to read about how this broad approach works is DeepSeek’s r1 technical report.
During the SB 1047 debate, I noticed that there was a great deal of confusion—my own included—about liability. Why is it precisely that software seems, for the most part, to evade America’s famously capacious notions of liability? Why does America have such an expansive liability system in the first place? What is “reasonable care,” after all? Is AI, being software, free from liability exposure today unless an intrusive legislator decides to change the status quo (preview: the answer to this one is “no”)? How does liability for AI work today, and how should it work? It turned out that to answer those questions I had to trace the history of American liability from the late 19th century to the present day.
Answering the questions above has been a journey. This week and next, I’d like to tell you what I’ve found so far. This week’s essay will tell the story of how we got to where we are, a story that has fascinating parallels to current discussions about the need for liability in AI. Next week’s essay will deal with how the American liability system, unchecked, could subsume AI, and what I believe should be done.
About
Source: Website
His work has appeared in National Affairs, The New Atlantis, Pirate Wires, Discourse Magazine, Understanding AI, AI Supremacy, The Dispatch, The Hill, Tech Policy Press, the Washington Post, the Orange County Register, the Coolidge Quarterly, National Review, and other outlets. He has appeared on CNN, C-SPAN, and many podcasts, and is the host of the AI Summer podcast with Timothy B. Lee. His paper “Neither Harbour nor Floor: Contemplating the Singularity with Michael Oakeshott” will be part of a forthcoming volume titled Liberalism Revisited, to be published by Palgrave. He is also the author of “Ideas of Another Order: Michael Oakeshott and Confucius in Conversation,” an essay in comparative political theory that was published in Collingwood and British Idealism Studies.
Additional Background
Before he joined Mercatus, Dean was Senior Program Manager for the State and Local Governance Initiative at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, where he managed a research program intended to deliver rigorous and evidence-based public policy research to state and local governments across the country, with a special emphasis on economic development, workforce training, and tax policy.
Prior to that role, he served as Executive Director of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, based in Plymouth, Vermont and Washington, D.C. In that capacity, he oversaw the Coolidge Scholarship, a full-ride, merit-based undergraduate program that is among the most competitive and prestigious scholarships in the United States, as well as a nationwide middle and high school debate program, the Coolidge Senators program for undergraduates, and a variety of historical, archival, and educational initiatives.
He served as the Deputy Director of State and Local Policy and Manager for Special Projects at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research from 2014–2018, and as director of the Adam Smith Society from 2018–2020. He oversaw the Institute’s Hayek Book Prize, one of the most financially generous book prizes in the world.
He has also worked as an independent consultant, allowing him to focus on projects near and dear to his heart. These have included on-the-ground efforts to reform policing in Argentina and Chile and to recreate, at small scale, the Florentine guild system for sacred liturgical art.
Dean serves on the Board of Directors of the Alexander Hamilton Institute and on the Advisory Council of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University. He previously served as Secretary, Treasurer, and trustee of the Scala Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey. In 2024, he was selected as a Fellow in the Roots of Progress Institute’s Blog-Building Initiative.
He graduated magna cum laude from Hamilton College in 2014 with a B.A. in History, and currently lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Abigail and their two cats, Io and Ganymede.
Videos
Navigating the AI Revolution with Dean Ball
February 6, 2025 (47:28)
By: Let People Prosper Show with Dr. Vance Ginn
In this conversation, Dean Ball and I explore the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and its implications for society, economy, and governance. Dean is a senior fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He shares his motivations for engaging with AI, his journey into the field, and the misconceptions surrounding it.
We discuss the historical context of technological advancements, the impact of AI on labor markets, and the regulatory challenges that arise as states like Texas introduce new frameworks for AI governance. Dean emphasizes the need for a balanced approach to regulation that fosters innovation while addressing potential risks and the connection with energy abundance.
AGI Lab Transparency Requirements & Whistleblower Protections
November 12, 2024 (01:59:00)
By: Cognitive Revolution “How AI Changes Everything”
In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan explores AI forecasting and AGI Lab oversight with Dean W. Ball and Daniel Kokotajlo. They discuss four proposed requirements for frontier AI developers, focusing on transparency and whistleblower protections. Daniel shares insights from his experience at OpenAI, while Dean offers his perspective as a frequent guest. Join us for a compelling conversation on concrete AI governance proposals and the importance of collaboration across political lines in shaping the future of AI development.
Writing & Media
Selections from Hyperdimensional
Here’s What I Think We Should Do
The Political Economy of AI Regulation
Compute Thresholds are Ineffective
Essays & Articles
Source: Website
Life, Liberty, and Superintelligence, Arena Magazine, Winter 2025
How California Turned on its Own Citizens, Pirate Wires, January 24, 2025
The Coming Year of AI Regulation in the States, Tech Policy Press, January 7, 2025
America is Sleepwalking into a Permanent DEI Bureaucracy that Regulates AI, Pirate Wires, November 11, 2024
The Coming AI Tsunami, Arena Magazine, Fall 2024
Tech Innovation Dies in Darkness, Discourse Magazine, September 5, 2024
The Forces Behind Scott Wiener’s Steadfast Support of SB 1047, Pirate Wires, August 21, 2024
The Era of Predictive AI is Almost Over, The New Atlantis, Summer 2024
Move Fast and Make Things, American Compass, June 18, 2024
Congress Should Preempt State AI Safety Legislation (with Alan Z. Rozenshtein), Lawfare, June 17, 2024
TikTok Tug of War, Tech Policy Press, May 2, 2024
How a National Digital ID System Could Improve the Internet, The Dispatch, April 16, 2024
How to Regulate Artificial Intelligence, National Affairs, Spring 2024 issue
The Gemini Debacle is Just the Beginning, The Dispatch, February 29, 2024
Papers and Public Interest Comments
Accelerating Materials Science with AI and Robotics (Federation of American Scientists), November 27, 2024
Comment on the First Draft of the EU General-Purpose AI Code of Practice (Hyperdimensional, with Miles Brundage), November 27, 2024
Artificial Intelligence and American Rebirth: Self-Governance at the Frontier (unpublished, written September 2024)
The Deepfake Challenge: Targeted AI Policy Solutions for States (Mercatus Center), October 23, 2024
Shaping the AI Revolution: Key Policy Options and Principles for State and Local Leaders in 2024 (Mercatus Center), October 22, 2024
The BALANCE Act: A Proposal for AI Preemption and Liability (Alliance for the Future, with Brian Chau and Van Lindberg), October 3, 2024
Building America’s Applied AI Workforce: Strategies for Effective Technology Diffusion (Mercatus Center), September 11, 2024
Comment on NIST/AISI AI 800-1: Expanding Guidelines for Open-Source AI (Mercatus Center), September 9, 2024
Comment to NTIA on Open Model Weights (Independent), April 3, 2024
‘Neither Harbour nor Floor’: Contemplating the Singularity with Michael Oakeshott, September 2023
Infrastructure Chapter, Fiscal Challenges Facing US Cities: Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Hoover Institution, with Jillian Ludwig), June 2023
Prisoner Reentry Chapter, Beyond Reinventing Government: 21st Century Reform Agenda (Manhattan Institute, with Howard Husock), August 2018
‘Ideas of Another Order’: Oakeshott and Confucius in Conversation, Collingwood and British Idealism Studies, September 2015
A Peculiar Civilization: Higher Education Reform and the Idea of the South, 1845-1860, December 2013
Constitutional Public Pension Guarantees: Unfair, Unaffordable, and Bad Policy (Manhattan Institute with Stephen Eide), August 2013
Op-eds
The United States Must Win the Global Open-Source AI Race, Just Security, with Keegan McBride, November 7, 2024
4 Ways to Advance Transparency in Frontier AI Development, Time, with Daniel Kokotajlo, October 15, 2024
Only Congress and DARPA Can Rein in the Dangers of AI, Cointelegraph, July 30, 2024
Congress Can Kickstart AI Regulation by Preempting Premature State Laws, The Hill, June 27, 2024
Blockchain Has a Role to Play in Countering the Ill Effects of AI, Cointelegraph, June 24, 2024
More Clarity Needed from Colorado’s New AI Regulation, The Denver Gazette, May 17, 2024
AI and Accountability: Policymakers Risk Halting AI Innovation, Orange County Register, April 5, 2024
The Case for Federally Funded AI Research, The Hill, January 10, 2024
A Misguided Proposal for Regulating Artificial Intelligence, National Review, December 14, 2023
‘Safety’ is not the Best Standard for Regulating Artificial Intelligence, National Review, October 15, 2023
Podcasts & Media
AI Summer Podcast (ongoing, hosted by myself and Timothy Lee)
“AGI Lab Transparency Requirements & Whistleblower Protections,” The Cognitive Revolution, November 12, 2024
“Gavin Newsom Vetoes A Controversial AI Safety Bill,” Lawfare Podcast, October 4, 2024
“Dean Ball on AI regulation, “hard tech,” and the philosophy of Michael Oakeshott,” Virginia’s Podcast,
“Final Analysis on CA’s AI Bill SB 1047 with Nathan Calvin, Dean W. Ball, and Steve Newman,” The Cognitive Revolution, August 24, 2024
“The Age of Artificial Intelligence,” The Aaron Renn Show, August 12, 2024
“We Don’t Need AI Regulations,” Ethical Machines, August 8, 2024
“AI Federalism,” Lawfare Podcast, July 5, 2024
“Interviewing Dean Ball on AI Policy,” Interconnects, June 27, 2024
“California Comes for AI w/Brian Chau and Dean Ball,” The Dynamist, May 21, 2024
“Examining SB 1047, California’s Proposed AI Legislation,” The Cognitive Revolution, May 4, 2024
“How to Worry, Not Panic, About Artificial Intelligence,” The National Affairs Podcast, April 28, 2024
“Merging Man and Machine? The Neurotech Frontier with Dean W. Ball,” The Cognitive Revolution, April 26, 2024
“What Congress’ TikTok Ban Means for 170 Million Users in U.S.,” Here and Now, National Public Radio (WBUR), April 26, 2024
“AI is Already Highly Regulated,” From the New World, April 17, 2024
