ORGANIZATION
Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
The Harvard Kennedy School research center co-founded and directed by Fung, whose December 2024 workshop on AI and democracy movements documented the asymmetric disadvantage AI imposes on civil society relative to state and corporate actors.
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation is a Harvard Kennedy School research center focused on democratic innovation, participatory governance, and the institutional conditions under which democracy succeeds or fails. Co-founded and directed by Archon Fung, the Center has produced substantial research on participatory budgeting, citizens' assemblies, transparency policy, and — increasingly since 2023 — the governance implications of artificial intelligence. Its December 2024 workshop on AI and democracy movements convened democracy activists, social scientists, and technology specialists in a joint analysis of the asymmetric effects of AI on civil society capacity relative to state and corporate actors.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The Center's research agenda reflects Fung's distinctive approach: systematic empirical analysis of democratic institutions combined with practical engagement with governance design challenges. Its projects on participatory budgeting in the United States, on transparency policy across multiple domains, and on democratic innovation in