May 14, 2026

TPL PhD student named a 2026 Apple Scholar in AIML

Tech Policy Lab

TPL PhD student Kyra Wilson has been named a 2026 Apple Scholar in AIML PhD fellowship. The award is “part of Apple’s ongoing commitment to fostering the next generation of leaders in machine learning and artificial intelligence.” Wilson, a second year PhD student within the Information School advised by TPL Co-Director Aylin Caliskan, was recognized […]

AI companies distracting with fear-mongering, Faculty Associate says

BBC

AI companies are marketing their products as powerful and potentially problematic to “humanity,” which critics say is a distraction from the harm they’re actually doing. In the BBC article “Why AI companies want you to be afraid of them,” experts say that there may some psychology at play. “It’s just part of this pattern of […]

May 12, 2026

TPL alumna honored with iSchool GOLD Award

UW Information School

This year’s GOLD Award recipient, Steph Ballard, Ph.D. ’23, MLIS ’17, is a director of Responsible AI at Microsoft. In a fast-changing environment, Ballard stays on top of regulatory changes around the world and provides clear guidance to engineering teams to ensure the company’s products are built responsibly.

May 5, 2026

Co-Director notes flaw in Meta’s threats in New Mexico

New York Post

A judge in New Mexico is considering whether the state attorney general’s requests to Meta amount to “overreach.” The New York Post article “New Mexico’s proposed kids safety fixes for Instagram, Facebook may go too far, judge warns” details how the state is embroiled in a case that has found Meta failed to protect children […]

April 24, 2026

Co-Director’s book formally fills content gap

UW Daily

Seeing the need for books on approaching technology from a legal perspective, TPL  Co-Director Ryan Calo wrote “Law and Technology: A Methodical Approach.” Calo, who holds a joint appointment at the UW Information School and an adjunct appointment at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, published his book in September 2025.

April 15, 2026

TPL joins UW partners in hosting journalists to discuss risks, realities of AI chatbots

Tech Policy Lab

Seattle community members, students and professionals gathered at the Seattle Central Library on April 7 to hear from two of the country’s leading journalists about the potential perils that lie in adoption of AI. “The Risks and Realities of AI Chatbots” attracted over 100 people to a conversation moderated by Monica Nickelsburg of KUOW and […]

April 2, 2026

Co-Director receives Schmidt Sciences award

Tech Policy Lab

Co-Director Aylin Caliskan has been named a recipient of the 2025 Science of Trustworthy AI award from Schmidt Sciences to further explore large language models. Caliskan’s project, “Towards Understanding Motivated Reasoning in LLMs,” will investigate when, why, and how large language models (LLMs) exhibit human-like motivated reasoning. The goal is to make LLMs’ reasoning more […]

March 31, 2026

Q&A with Ryan Calo on new book, “Law and Technology”

UW News

March 3, 2026

Fall 2026 international engagement

Tech Policy Lab

In November, the Lab hosted an international group with representatives from four South Central Asian countries as part of a larger U.S. visit of leaders exploring various areas of tech policy. They discussed a wide variety of tech policy issues with the Lab, as well as how different legislative processes in different countries can present […]

February 27, 2026

If chatbots are therapists, what are obligations? Co-Director asks

A recent New York Times article considers the questions surrounding use of AI that endangers public safety, including instances where individuals built bombs or planned large-scale attacks. “When Chatbots Are Used to Plan Violence, Is There a Duty to Warn?” brings forward issues of privacy vs. safety, including questions around when to report to law enforcement […]