Shaping the Future of Intelligence: Roosevelt Institute and Data & Society Launch AI Policy Residency

NEW YORK, NY — In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly evolving from a technological novelty to a foundational pillar of the global economy, a critical debate has emerged: Who will set the rules of the road? As the private sector accelerates its investment in generative AI, concerns regarding market concentration, labor displacement, and the erosion of democratic oversight have reached a fever pitch.

In response to this growing urgency, the Roosevelt Institute and Data & Society have announced the launch of the "Good Life Residents Program on AI." This ambitious policy residency brings together a cohort of subject matter experts and practitioners dedicated to crafting robust regulatory frameworks that prioritize public interest over corporate self-regulation. By focusing on how government policy can steer capital investment and shape the development of AI, the program aims to ensure that the technology serves the citizenry rather than the other way around.

The Core Mandate: Reclaiming Public Control

The initiative represents a fundamental shift in how think tanks are approaching the AI boom. Rather than focusing solely on "AI safety" in a technical sense, the program seeks to address the structural economic questions that underpin the industry. The residents—Advait, Danica, and Matthew—are tasked with developing policy proposals that address four primary pillars:

Capital Flow and Market Diversification: Investigating how government levers can prevent the monopolization of AI by a handful of tech giants.
Labor and Workplace Transitions: Ensuring that the integration of AI into the workforce empowers, rather than disenfranchises, laborers.
Economic Deconcentration: Preventing AI investment from siphoning capital away from other essential sectors like infrastructure, education, and green energy.
Democratic Accountability: Establishing mechanisms that ensure the development of generative AI remains aligned with public values and ethical standards.

Chronology: From Tech Hype to Policy Urgency

The trajectory of AI policy has moved with unprecedented speed over the last 24 months, shifting from speculative optimism to a recognition of systemic risk.

Late 2022: The public release of advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) triggers a massive influx of venture capital, leading to an "AI arms race" among Silicon Valley firms.
Early 2023: Regulatory bodies worldwide begin to grapple with the copyright, privacy, and disinformation implications of generative AI. The Roosevelt Institute begins internal research on the "Good Life Agenda," identifying AI as a key frontier for democratic reform.
Late 2023: Data & Society publishes research highlighting the material impacts of AI, including the environmental cost of data centers and the labor conditions of "ghost workers" who label training data.
Early 2024: The partnership between Roosevelt and Data & Society is formalized, focusing on the intersection of industrial policy and digital technology.
Current Day: The announcement of the Good Life Residents Program signals a transition from high-level observation to concrete policy drafting.

Supporting Data: Why Industrial Policy Matters

The urgency of this initiative is grounded in the current state of the AI market. As of 2024, the "AI bubble" has attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in investment. However, market analysts note that this capital is highly concentrated. A small number of firms control the vast majority of computing power, data access, and algorithmic research.

Economic data suggests that without intervention, the "Winner-Take-All" dynamic of the digital age will only intensify. Recent studies indicate that AI-driven automation could increase productivity, but if the benefits of that productivity are captured exclusively by capital owners, income inequality is projected to widen significantly. By embedding the "Good Life" framework into AI policy, the Roosevelt Institute aims to ensure that the gains from AI are broadly shared through mechanisms such as public-private partnerships, antitrust enforcement, and labor protections that mandate human-in-the-loop systems.

Official Perspectives: Shifting the Paradigm

The leadership behind this partnership is clear: the current "wait and see" approach is a luxury the public cannot afford.

Elizabeth Wilkins, President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, emphasized the historical weight of the current moment. "It is essential that we act quickly to ensure public, democratic control over this technology rather than private self-regulation," she stated. "What we do today will determine who’s in charge for decades. These resident scholars bring smart ideas for how to shape capital markets and AI development in the public interest, ensuring that the economy serves the people and not the other way around."

Brian J. Chen, policy director of Data & Society and senior advisor to the residents, echoed this sentiment, pointing toward the need for more aggressive structural change. "As much as AI predominates in policy conversations—from discussions about AI safety and circular financing to the material impacts of data centers—there is an urgent need for more forceful proposals to shape how new technologies drive the public’s benefit," Chen noted. "I’m delighted to announce that Advait, Danica, and Matthew are joining the Good Life Resident program to focus on AI. They each bring an impressive record of experience and a sharp point of view to build out ambitious policies to constrain and reimagine our AI sector."

Implications: The "Good Life" Vision

The residency is part of a broader "Good Life Agenda" at the Roosevelt Institute—a comprehensive vision for an economy built on security, agency, and institutional resilience.

Defining the "Good Life"

The program defines the "Good Life" as a reality where economic policy is designed to lower the cost of living while increasing the dignity of labor. Historically, Roosevelt’s work has focused on the Federal Reserve, housing, and social security. By expanding into AI, the Institute is signaling that technology is no longer a peripheral issue; it is a central factor in the modern affordability crisis.

The Risks of Inaction

If the government fails to establish clear market rules, the implications are severe:

Institutional Capture: The risk that AI companies will become "too big to regulate," effectively lobbying for rules that protect their dominance.
Labor Displacement: A transition that prioritizes short-term shareholder value over the long-term stability of the American workforce.
Infrastructure Neglect: The diversion of national resources away from critical public goods (like education or climate resilience) to fuel the energy-intensive demands of AI training.

Conclusion: A Blueprint for the Future

The Good Life Residents Program on AI is not merely an academic exercise; it is an effort to rebalance power in the economy and democracy. By pairing the Roosevelt Institute’s focus on structural reform with Data & Society’s rigorous research into the social impacts of technology, the residency promises to provide policymakers with a blueprint for a more equitable AI future.

As the residents begin their tenure, the focus will remain on practical, actionable levers: antitrust laws to break up bottlenecks, industrial policy to incentivize ethical AI development, and labor standards to ensure that technology serves as a tool for human enhancement rather than a mechanism for worker exploitation.

In the words of the organizers, the goal is clear: to ensure that when we look back at the development of AI, we can say that we chose to put people first. The residency marks a critical step toward that future, proving that while technology moves fast, the values that guide it must move with even greater conviction and clarity.

About the Partners

The Roosevelt Institute serves as a think tank and student network dedicated to rebalancing power in the economy and democracy. Acting as the nonprofit partner to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, the Institute continues the legacy of FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt by fostering the next generation of policy leaders.

Data & Society is an independent, non-profit research and policy institute that investigates the social, political, and economic implications of data-centric technologies. By grounding policy in empirical research, they work to ensure that technology is developed and deployed in ways that serve the public interest.