Research

Four programs.One connected agenda.

HSI studies how technological, human, planetary, and geopolitical change interact, and what those interactions require of institutions.

The work is organized across four research programs, each connecting emerging questions to evidence, practical tools, and institutional use.

The research programs

Program I

Responsible AI

AI governance as institutional design.

Accountability, oversight, and organizational design for increasingly autonomous AI systems.

Explore Responsible AI
Researcher testing an augmented-reality interface for collaborative interaction with industrial robot arms at NIST.
Human–robot teaming / NIST
Artemis II crew conducting Orion water-survival and recovery training in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.
Orion water-survival training / NASA
Program II

Human Performance

Human capability is institutional infrastructure.

How people build, retain, and renew capability across education, work, leadership, and longer lives.

Explore Human Performance
Program III

Planetary Futures

Stewardship across generations.

Institutional decisions across energy, climate, infrastructure, the biosphere, and space.

Landsat 9 satellite view of the Colorado River Delta and Gulf of California near San Luis Río Colorado.
Colorado River Delta / Landsat 9
Explore Planetary Futures
Participants seated around a large circular table during a European Commission working meeting in Berlin.
Institutional working meeting / Berlin
Program IV

Governance & Diplomacy

Coordination across borders and institutions.

How governments and institutions coordinate when shared problems cross borders and authority is fragmented.

Explore Governance & Diplomacy

The shared conceptual frame

Compound Transition

Technology, human capability, planetary systems, and geopolitics change together. We study how a decision in one domain constrains or enables choices in the others.

Explore the framework →

Research agenda / Selected questions

The work ahead.

View the full agenda
  1. Responsible AI

    How do board risk committees develop AI risk appetite frameworks when system behavior cannot be fully specified in advance?

    Drafting
  2. Human Performance

    What replaces the developmental function of entry-level work when AI absorbs routine tasks?

    Scoping
  3. Planetary Futures

    How should governments coordinate around orbital infrastructure, space-based computing, and other dual-use space systems?

    Scoping
  4. Governance & Diplomacy

    What coordination infrastructure does the AI labor transition require between states, when national workforce coalitions stop at the border?

    Scoping

Publications

In the public record.

All publications
Horizon ScanAI Governance in
Regulated IndustriesSecond edition · August 2026

Horizon Scan 001

AI Governance in Regulated Industries

Lifecycle accountability and the institutional gap in financial services and healthcare.

Cynthia Chen and Ashwin Telang
Second · August 2026

Read the research →

Tools & methods

From analysis
to assessment.

HSI AI Governance Readiness Assessment interface, showing the assessment overview and open methodology.

AI Governance Readiness Assessment

Open methodology · Free to use
Open the assessment →All tools & methods →
Image credits
Responsible AI
Human/robot teaming. Image: S. Bagchi/NIST.
Human Performance
Artemis II Orion water-survival training, Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, January 23, 2024. Photo: NASA/Josh Valcarcel.
Planetary Futures
Landsat 9 image of the Colorado River Delta and Gulf of California, March 30, 2025. Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Governance & Diplomacy
General view of a meeting during European Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas’s visit to Germany, Berlin, September 22, 2026. Photo: Kyriakos Samartzidis / European Commission. © European Union, 2026, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Cropped and resized for web presentation.