Gillian K. Hadfield

Gillian K. Hadfield

Building AI That Understands Human Systems

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of AI Alignment and Governance at Johns Hopkins University, developing the legal, regulatory, and technical infrastructure for artificial intelligence that operates within human normative frameworks.

New Paradigms for AI Development; Agile and Robust AI Governance

My research develops the legal, regulatory, and technical infrastructure for artificial intelligence that operates within human normative frameworks. I lead a research group of computer scientists, cognitive scientists, and legal scholars at Johns Hopkins University that develops training environments and architectures that enable AI to become "normatively competent." I also develop practical, evidence-based policy proposals anchored in my foundational research on "regulatory markets"—private regulators competing to provide oversight while themselves subject to government regulation—to address the challenge of governing rapidly evolving AI systems. This research has helped shape the Independent Verification Organization (IVO) model, a concrete instantiation of that approach that has been introduced in state and federal legislation.

Research

Select Publications

Science 2024

Managing extreme AI risks amid rapid progress

With Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, Stuart Russell & others

A collaborative paper outlining governance approaches to address potential risks from rapidly advancing AI systems.

Upcoming

Workshop August 2026 · Aug 8–9

Workshop on Multi-Agent Ecosystems

Stanford, CA

Co-organized with the Center for AI Safety and Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, this workshop convenes researchers and policymakers to examine the legal, institutional, and technical frameworks needed to keep multi-agent AI ecosystems safe and accountable.

Fellowship September 2026 · Sep 8–25

AGI Governance Fellowship

Washington, D.C.

A new intensive fellowship at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center led by Professors Hadfield, Seth Lazar, and Nicholas Caputo, training the next generation of leaders to build the governance institutions humanity needs for AGI.

Speaker October 2026 · Oct 2–4

The Curve 2026

Berkeley, CA

Hosted by the Golden Gate Institute, this invitation-only gathering brings together leaders across AI development, policy, and governance for candid conversations on the path forward.

In the News

Get In Touch

Press & Media Inquiries

Andrew Gold
ajgold@jhu.edu

General Inquiries

Chris LaRosa
larosa@jhu.edu