Richard Haass

AI position

No x-risk mention

Coverage focuses on AI governance, regulation, and great-power competition, not existential risk.

Why influential

Translates specialist research into narratives and recommendations consumed by policymakers, journalists, donors and institutional leaders. Primary policy lanes: foreign policy; institutions; alliances; u.s. politics.

Who pays attention

Diplomats, national-security officials, think tanks, congressional staff, academics and institutional media

Work samples

• Can Societies Keep Up with Technology? (Nine Questions for the World, with Fei-Fei Li)

  Dec 16, 2021 · podcast

  Haass interviews Fei-Fei Li on AI ethics, bias, and the need for multi-stakeholder tech regulation; part of CFR's centennial 'Nine Questions for the World' series.

• The New, New Thing (May 28, 2026)

  May 28, 2026 · newsletter

  Home & Away issue devoted largely to AI, prompted by Pope Leo XIV's encyclical on AI and domestic AI politics.

• Alternate Shots: AI as governance debate (with John Ellis)

  May 1, 2026 · podcast

  Co-hosted episode framing AI backlash, regulation, and US-China competition as a governance and political story; no AI-world guest, discussion between the two hosts.

• Once Upon a Time in China (May 15, 2026)

  May 15, 2026 · newsletter

  Discusses US-China AI consultations on guardrails against misuse, per Treasury Secretary Bessent.

• Home & Away newsletter archive

  Jan 1, 2026 · newsletter

  General foreign-policy/domestic-politics weekly commentary; representative of his primary (non-AI) output.

AI-world contacts

• Fei-Fei Li — Professor, Co-director, Stanford HAI

  • Hosted / interviewedsource · interview · Nov 1, 2021 — Haass interviewed Fei-Fei Li live for CFR's centennial 'Nine Questions for the World' series, discussing AI ethics, bias, and regulation. Recorded Nov 1, 2021, published Dec 16, 2021.