Horizon co-hosts career workshops on AI policy and AIxBio convergence
The AI Innovation & Security Policy Workshop and the AIxBio Game Changers Workshop convened technologists, researchers, students, and other participants for intensive weekends of learning, networking, and hands-on policy practice. Both events aimed to give participants the insights and connections they need to decide whether a policy career is right for them, and if so, how to make that transition.
We are deeply grateful to our partners for their collaboration in hosting these workshops and to our exceptional speakers and facilitators for sharing their stories and expertise. If you’d like to stay up to date on opportunities in emerging technology policy, including future workshops, please fill out our career support form.
AI Innovation & Security Policy Workshop
In July, Horizon partnered with the Foundation for American Innovation to host a three-day workshop exploring career opportunities in AI policy.
The weekend’s speakers included Dean Ball, then Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Neil Chilson, Head of AI Policy at the Abundance Institute and former Chief Technology Officer at the Federal Trade Commission. Both drew on their executive branch experiences to illuminate how AI policy takes shape at the highest levels of government.
Samuel Hammond, Chief Economist at the Foundation for American Innovation, opened the workshop by discussing how AI policy work can strengthen state capacity, framing careers in the field as an opportunity to help the government adapt to rapid technological change. Participants also explored the substance of AI policy through rotating breakout sessions on compute infrastructure and AI evaluations, and heard from experts at RAND, Mozilla, the Atlantic Council, and congressional offices on topics ranging from federal R&D funding to the intersection of AI and cybersecurity.
Panels and networking receptions featuring current staffers in the legislative and executive branches gave participants a picture of how policy is developed and implemented in different institutions, while structured speed meetings helped them build connections with others making similar career transitions.
By the end of the weekend, 89% of participants reported being more excited to pursue a policy career. Many participants specifically named meeting other attendees as a highlight. As one participant put it, “It was really invigorating getting to interact with so many smart, thoughtful people who want to make change in the AI space.”
AIxBio Game Changers Workshop
In October, Horizon partnered with the Brown University Pandemic Center and the Scowcroft Institute for International Affairs at Texas A&M University to co-host the third annual Game Changers Workshop. Over 50 participants gathered to explore how AI is transforming biotechnology, biosecurity, and pandemic preparedness—and what that means for their careers.
Gerald Parker, Associate Dean at Texas A&M University and former senior director on the National Security Council for Biosecurity and Pandemic Response, opened the weekend with a keynote on why biosecurity and pandemic preparedness matter and how the major biosecurity challenges from the Cold War through the present can inform the solutions of the future, setting the stage for three days of intensive engagement with the field.
Over the course of the workshop, participants engaged with more than two dozen experts from federal agencies, research institutions, NGOs, and congressional offices through panels and discussions on current policy issues in biosecurity and biotechnology.
Participants also moved beyond learning about policy work to practicing it. Policy briefing exercises challenged small groups to develop their own policy prescriptions, while a National Security Council tabletop exercise put them in the position of advisors responding to a biosecurity crisis in real time. These hands-on sessions, combined with personalized career advice from experienced practitioners, helped participants understand not just whether they wanted to pivot into biosecurity policy, but how to do so.
Participants left the workshop energized: 81% said they were more likely to pursue a career in biosecurity policy, and 94% expressed increased excitement about contributing to the field. As one participant reflected, “The workshop was engaging and affirming. I am so appreciative that this accessible and short term option exists for tangibly opening doors for career development.”
About Horizon
The Horizon Institute for Public Service is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that helps the US government navigate our era of rapid technological change by supporting the next generation of emerging technology policy talent. In service of this mission, Horizon runs a number of programs, including workshops and events, a policy careers guide, career advising services, and a fellowship program.
About FAI
The Foundation for American Innovation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit think tank, develops technology, talent, and ideas that support a better, freer, and more abundant future. FAI’s work is rooted in an optimistic vision for the future, in which technology is aligned to serve human ends: promoting individual freedom, supporting strong institutions, advancing national security, and unleashing economic prosperity.
About the Brown University Pandemic Center
The Pandemic Center is working to prevent, reduce vulnerabilities, and increase resilience to pandemics, other biological emergencies, and the harms they pose to health, peace, security, and prosperity. We serve as an independent and credible voice for positive disruption. We identify institutional, policy, and communication-related obstacles that are hampering preparedness, tailor programs to overcome them, and then drive action and forge collaborations to make change.
About the Scowcroft Institute for International Affairs
The Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs is an international affairs research institute housed in the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University. The Institute was founded by Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, , whose long and distinguished career in public service included serving as National Security Advisor for Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush. The Institute’s Biosecurity and Pandemic Policy Program is motivated by a vision of a world safe, secure, and resilient to biological threats. It produces policy-oriented research on biosecurity, supports faculty and student research, and convenes conferences and targeted workshops to develop and advance policies to realize this goal.
