AI | Science, Technology and Public Policy (STPP)

In the Media

Green: "Antagonism toward data centers is real and organic"

Jun 10, 2026 Fortune

Ben Green, assistant professor of information at the University of Michigan, told Fortune there's meanwhile abundant signs that antagonism toward data centers is real and organic. "Anyone who doubts it should just show up to any of the communities wh...

Green: "Antagonism toward data centers is real and organic"

In the Media

State governments are experimenting with AI introduction - Kleinman

May 22, 2026 Michigan Advance

Molly Kleinman, the managing director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy said while state governments are trying to be deliberate about their approach to AI adoption, the...

State governments are experimenting with AI introduction - Kleinman

News

Green shares data center concerns with Michigan lawmakers

Feb 15, 2026

Members of Michigan's House Subcommittee on Oversight heard testimony on data centers, during which the Ford School's Ben Green was invited to offer his expertise. CBS Detroit, Bridge Michigan, and WWMT covered the meeting and Green's contributions.

Green shares data center concerns with Michigan lawmakers

In the Media

Kleinman quoted in NPR article on Ft. Wayne data center

Jan 5, 2026 WFYI Indianapolis

Kleinman quoted in Ft. Wayne NPR/PBS article about data centers.

Growth of data centers requires new policies to mitigate local community impacts

News

Hassan’s summer fieldwork explores politics and practice of AI development in Africa

Oct 17, 2025

The politics of AI and technology are tied to competing visions of a modern, postcolonial Africa, explained Yousif Hassan, assistant professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Building on his long-term research on technology and decolon...

Hassan’s summer fieldwork explores politics and practice of AI development in Africa

News

Kleinman gives keynote on AI regulation at Michigan civil rights forum

Aug 6, 2025

Molly Kleinman, managing director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program at the Ford School, delivered the keynote address at “Local and State Government in the Age of AI: Innovation, Civil Rights, and Policy,” a forum hosted by the Mi...

Kleinman gives keynote on AI regulation at Michigan civil rights forum

News

Hassan co-organizes workshop at University of Nairobi to chart Africa’s data future

Aug 6, 2025

Workshop brings together stakeholders to shape equitable AI and data governance across the continentBringing together experts in Kenya, Yousif Hassan, assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, co-orga...

Hassan co-organizes workshop at University of Nairobi to chart Africa’s data future

Publication

Growth of data centers requires new policies to mitigate local community impacts

Jul 17, 2025

The rapid growth of data centers, with their enormous energy and water demands, requires targeted policy interventions to mitigate environmental impacts and protect local communities. A new report by the University of Michigan’s Science, Technology, ...

News

State-level AI legislation can guide fair housing practices

May 20, 2025

As the number of artificial intelligence (AI)-related measures introduced in U.S. state and territorial legislatures continues to grow, policymakers, advocates and consumers can seize the moment to assure that the technology is promoting fair housing...

State-level AI legislation can guide fair housing practices

State & Hill

A pile of parts: Ethical STEM training prepares students for the big picture

May 8, 2025

Have you ever disassembled a broken coffee maker or a sink, convinced you could fix it, only to end up with a jumble of parts? As a child, Terry Nguyen’s (BA ’25) curiosity about how things worked led to a broken fan, a pile of parts, and no idea how...

A pile of parts: Ethical STEM training prepares students for the big picture

In the Media

Parthasarathy on AI running the government

Mar 13, 2025 Al Jazeera

Shobita Parthasarathy, Ford School professor, says "These workers have real expertise and a nuanced understanding of the issues, which AI does not. AI does not, in fact, ‘understand’ anything." So, she says, “It’s a very bad idea" to use AI to run t...

The politics of inclusive innovation in international development: Menstrual hygiene management and sanitary pads in India

News

DOGE Plan to Push AI Across the US Federal Government is Wildly Dangerous - Green

Mar 6, 2025

Ford School assistant professor (by courtesy) Ben Green, wrote an essay for Tech Policy on Elon Musk's new “AI-first strategy” for the federal government, and commented, "unleashing AI to revolutionize the federal government is a recipe for disaster....

Using algorithms in government: Opportunities, challenges, and paths forward

News

Parthasarathy speaks at AAAS Annual meeting about Asilomar’s legacy

Feb 27, 2025

Earlier this month, Shobita Parthasarathy spoke at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in a session titled, “Revisiting Asilomar Fifty Years Later: Who is in the room when we talk about AI?” The session exam...

In the Media

Parthasarathy: AI energizes people to consider direction of science and technology

Dec 4, 2024 Nature

"Shobita Parthasarathy teaches graduate students about science policy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. New technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are 'really energizing people' to consider the directions of science and technolog...

Shobita Parthasarathy’s “Expert Voices” column in Science: Beware the drive to scale technology

News

Hassan awarded U-M anti-racism grant

Sep 10, 2024

Ford School assistant professor Yousif Hassan has been chosen for a University of Michigan research grant for his work that explores how AI innovations and data can center social justice and address racial and economic inequalities in African societi...

Hassan on AI, power, and decolonial possibility in Africa

News

STPP awarded MIDAS grant to advance equitable AI research

Jul 23, 2024

A research project from the Ford School’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) program was selected by the Michigan Institute for Data and AI in Society (MIDAS) as part of its 2024 Propelling Original Data Science grants to accelerate respon...

STPP awarded MIDAS grant to advance equitable AI research

Publication

STPP releases analysis of Biden’s Executive Order on Safe AI and the EU AI Act

Jul 8, 2024

As artificial intelligence technologies proliferate in industries across the globe, governments around the world are working to regulate how and when these technologies are used. In October 2023, President Joe Biden signed the Executive Order on Safe...

STPP releases analysis of Biden’s Executive Order on Safe AI and the EU AI Act

State & Hill

Meet new assistant professor Yousif Hassan

Apr 24, 2024

Expert in AI, equity, and science and technology studies joins the facultyMy story has been shaped by many lived experiences at different events and places,” says Yousif Hassan, who, after seeing members of his family safely conveyed from war-torn Kh...

News

U-M experts: We need to emphasize AI’s societal impacts over technological advancements

May 12, 2023

Artificial intelligence—AI for short—is all over the news lately. And for good or ill, it has implications for us all. Two University of Michigan professors—Nigel Melville from the Ross School of Business and Shobita Parthasarathy from the Ford Sch...

"I Hope This Helps"

Mar 30, 2025, 12:30-2:00 pm EDT

Main Auditorium, Michigan Theater

"I Hope This Helps!" is a humorous, genre-bending hybrid documentary that invites viewers to ponder the evolving relationship between humanity and technology.

Dean's Symposium - The AI Bill of Rights and the Future of Technology Policy

Apr 11, 2024, 3:15 pm EDT

Joan and Sanford Weill Hall Annenberg Auditorium (1120)

A wide-ranging discussion with technologist Alondra Nelson, reflecting on her time in the White House, her role as a social scientist involved in shaping science and technology (and particularly AI), her insights into the policy process, and specifically her work on the open access and AI Bill of Rights initiatives.

Watch live from this page

Dean's Symposium - The AI Bill of Rights and the Future of Technology Policy

Policy Brief

The Vote, the Truth & the AI: How to Spot AI Election Threats

February 18, 2026

Jose Pelaez, MPP '26

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can create images, voices, or texts that look and sound real — but aren't. The misuse of AI is considered voter suppression when it intimidates or misleads voters. Communities historically targeted by voter suppression ta...

Several individuals at voting booths with an American flag in the background.

Policy Brief

Development of and Concerns Regarding Predictive Policing Practices

June 24, 2024

Madison Cutler

Predictive policing is the application of analytical software to identify likely targets for police intervention and prevent crime. The last 8–10 years has brought the application of analytical tools and artificial intelligence to enable such predict...

Photo of agent looking at security cameras on a screen