The Institute for Law & AI (LawAI) is an independent think tank that researches and advises on the legal challenges posed by artificial intelligence. We believe that sound legal analysis will promote security, welfare, and the rule of law.

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What we do

Research

We engage in foundational research at the intersection of law and artificial intelligence, to further our understanding of promising paths to beneficial AI governance. Current projects include work on the role of compute thresholds for AI governance, liability for harms from frontier AI systems, how to design unusually adaptive regulation, the track record of anticipatory regulation, what existing authorities US agencies currently have to regulate transformative AI, and the legal implementation of potential international institutions for AI.

Consulting

We advise and conduct analyses for governments, international organizations, and other public institutions as well as private actors concerning the legal challenges posed by artificial intelligence. Please reach out to us at hello@law-ai.org to learn more about how we can help.
The Capitol

Our Team

Prof Christoph Winter
Director
Christoph is the Director of the Institute for Law & AI. He is also Assistant Professor of Law at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), Research Associate in Psychology at Harvard University, and Faculty Advisor to the AI Futures Fellowship. His research focuses on law and governance of advanced artificial intelligence, and he consults various national and international AI legislation initiatives. He studied law, philosophy, and psychology at Harvard University, Princeton University, King’s College London, University of Sydney, and Humboldt University of Berlin.
Suzanne Van Arsdale
Senior Research Manager

Suzanne is a Senior Research Manager at LawAI, where she manages consulting projects. Her research includes frontier AI regulation and compute governance. Suzanne received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was Editor-in-Chief of both the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology and the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, was Senior Technical Editor of the Business Law Review, and worked with the Department of Justice, Civil Division, Intellectual Property Section. Suzanne is also a Law and Policy Fellow at the Wild Animal Initiative, where she conducts legal and policy research to improve the welfare of wild animals.

Mackenzie Arnold
Director of US Policy

Mackenzie is Director of US Policy at LawAI, where he provides analysis and advice to ensure that advances in AI benefit the public at large. His own research focuses on administrative law, agency decision making, and liability. Prior to joining LawAI, Mackenzie clerked for Judge Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr. of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, worked in public health law at a New York nonprofit, and graduated, cum laude, from Harvard Law School. Before law school, Mackenzie completed a Fulbright Grant in Ourense, Spain and received his B.A. in political science, summa cum laude, from Boston College, winning the G.F. & J.W. Bemis Award (for exemplary service to others) and the Donald S. Carlisle Award (awarded to the top graduate in political science).

Charlie Bullock
Research Scholar

Charlie is a Research Scholar at LawAI. Charlie's research focuses on the intersection of AI governance and U.S. law and policy, with a particular focus on U.S. administrative law. Charlie received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 2020, where he was an editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation. After law school, Charlie clerked for the Honorable Sue E. Myerscough of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois and worked as an associate at the law firm of Reichman, Jorgensen, Lehman and Feldberg LLP.

Cullen O’Keefe
Director of Research

Cullen is the Director of Research at LawAI. Prior to LawAI, Cullen worked at OpenAI in various legal and policy research roles. Cullen is also a Research Affiliate at the Centre for the Governance of AI. Cullen graduated with a JD cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2019.

Daisy Newbold-Harrop
Operations Manager

Daisy Newbold-Harrop works as LawAI’s Operations Manager. Prior to joining the team, she managed events bringing together academics and professionals working on AI governance, as well as those interested in doing so. She holds an MSc in Global Politics, with a specialization in governance of advanced technologies, from the London School of Economics and Political Science; and a BA in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Exeter, UK.

Eric Martínez
Research Fellow

Eric is a Research Fellow at LawAI. He researches how lawyers, non-lawyer humans and machines create, understand and interpret law, as well as the implications of these findings for both long-standing and cutting-edge questions of law and policy. To answer these questions, Eric’s research complements traditional legal-doctrinal analysis with empirical methods, such as behavioral experiments and observational data analysis. Eric holds a JD from Harvard Law School, is a PhD candidate in cognitive science at MIT, and is admitted to the bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Dr Matthijs Maas
Senior Research Fellow

Matthijs is Senior Research Fellow at LawAI. His work focuses on mapping theories of change for long-term AI governance, different international institutional designs for AI, and the effect of AI on international law. He is also a research affiliate with the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, and a non-residential research associate at King’s College, University of Cambridge. Matthijs received a PhD in Law from the University of Copenhagen, and a MSc in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh. He has previous experience working at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies and the Dutch Embassy in Beirut, amongst others.

Matteo Pistillo
Research Scholar
Matteo is a research scholar at the Institute for Law & AI. His research concentrates on AI regulation and policy, with a particular focus on the legal aspects of the computational infrastructure necessary to develop and deploy notable AI systems. He is involved in many AI-related initiatives, including as an AI Futures Fellow at the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico and a member of the AI Task Force of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center. Prior to joining the Institute for Law & AI, Matteo worked for five years in cross-border commercial dispute resolution as an associate attorney at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. Matteo holds a J.D., cum laude, from Università di Torino and an LL.M. from Stanford Law School, which he attended while on a Fulbright Scholarship.

Opportunities

Summer Research Fellowship

Applications for LawAI's 2024 Summer Research Fellowship are now open. If you're a graduate law student (e.g. JD or LLM), PhD candidate, or postdoc working in law and are interested in exploring questions around law and AI, you can find out more details about the fellowship and apply here, before February 16.

Open Positions

If you're interested in working with LawAI to ensure effective governance of artificial intelligence, you can read more about and express interest in roles across our operations, research, and consulting teams here.