How Sayash Kapoor turned AI research into policy influence
sayashk · x · 2026-07-28
How an academic can shape AI policy
This long interview with Sayash Kapoor focuses on how researchers can make real policy impact. Kapoor describes how watching GDPR implementation at Facebook pushed him toward tech policy, and how that path led him to influence a U.S. federal report on open-source AI and gain credibility in Washington.
The conversation covers:
- why tech policy can feel more like venture capital than engineering, where long-shot bets can still pay off;
- the different ways research can affect policy;
- how to create impact even at institutions that do not strongly reward it;
- how Kapoor chooses research questions, and which AI policy questions he thinks are currently neglected;
- what technically trained people need to learn if they want to contribute to policymaking.
Kapoor is also co-author of AI Snake Oil and the AI as Normal Technology Substack essay, and will join UC Berkeley next fall as an assistant professor running a lab on the science of AI evaluations.
Related event: Scholars Discuss Maximizing Impact on AI Policy(2 posts)→
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