Academic center · Science policy · Stanford University, Stanford · Est. 2019
The Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (Stanford HAI) is a university-wide academic institute at Stanford University that advances interdisciplinary AI research, education, and policy with a focus on human impact. Stanford HAI defines its mission around three research principles—studying and forecasting AI’s human impact, designing AI to augment (rather than replace) people, and developing intelligence informed by human intelligence—and it positions itself as an interdisciplinary hub spanning academia, industry, government, and civil society.
In strategic terms, Stanford HAI has been scaling both the breadth of its academic “ecosystem” and the infrastructure needed to support large-scale, cross-disciplinary work. In May 2026, Stanford announced a merger of Stanford HAI with the Stanford Data Science initiative under the Stanford HAI name, with computer scientist James Landay continuing as Denning Director and Stanford’s past president John Hennessy joining Fei-Fei Li and James Landay in leadership roles. The university described the merged institute as combining HAI’s network of 400+ scholars, its industry-affiliates program, and $60M in cumulative grant funding with Stanford Data Science’s high-performance Marlowe cluster and an early scholar fellowship program. Programmatically, Stanford HAI’s work includes (1) research and convening tied to its three focus areas (“Human Impact,” “Augment Human Capabilities,” and “Inspired Intelligence”), (2) policy engagement and policymaker education (including its Congressional Boot Camp on AI), and (3) public-facing measurement and tools such as its AI Index and the Global AI Vibrancy Tool.
This brief assesses data broker compliance with California privacy laws and calls for more stringent consumer protections.
Companies That Buy and Sell Your Data Are Not Following California’s Strict Privacy LawsA new Stanford study shows data brokers are making it difficult for consumers to submit privacy requests and failing to report how many privacy requests they receive.
Making Local Law Legible: LLM-Assisted Detection of DiscriminationThis brief demonstrates the potential of LLM-assisted review to accelerate legal reform.
AI Legal Review Says Millions Live Under Discriminatory Local LawsBuilding an AI pipeline to comb through millions of local statutes, researchers at Stanford Law School turn a spotlight on unsavory laws still on the books in communities across the country.
Designing Loyalty: AI Agents and Conflicts of InterestThis brief examines the conflict-of-interest risks posed by AI agents and calls for imposing a duty of loyalty on developers and deployers.
Student Affinity GroupsGrant ProgramsYour Boss, Tech Companies And Police Can Read Your Chatbot ConversationsHAI Policy Fellow Jennifer King discusses privacy issues with AI chatbots, saying, “Unless you are having a chat with a service that has a temporary chat or, basically, an incognito version ... [and] you’re also having it within a browser that’s not tracking you, the answer is no
California's Data And Privacy Laws Aren't Being FollowedThe state's Delete Act was supposed to give Californians a one-stop-shop to request their online information be deleted. But only a minority of registered data brokers are abiding by those laws, says Jennifer King, privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford University Institu
Fellowship ProgramsYour ‘For You’ Algorithm Disagrees With YouA new Stanford-led study finds that X’s “For You” algorithm mistakes outrage for interest – and fills your feed accordingly.
Using AI to Increase Your Intelligence & Enrich Humanity | Dr. Fei-Fei LiThis conversation spans the evolution of AI, exploring the opportunities for AI to augment human capabilities, particularly in healthcare, education, and scientific discovery. Fei-Fei discusses the limits of today’s AI, the importance of preserving human agency, and why society,
Stanford RegLab and Stanford HAI describe findings on compliance with California’s Delete Act and related broker transparency requirements, including a reported compliance rate and discussion of enforcement and reporting gaps.
New Stanford Grants Tackle AI's Impact on Global Security and GeopoliticsStanford HAI and the Hoover Institution’s Technology Policy Accelerator backed a new set of grant projects examining AI’s role in issues such as nuclear proliferation detection, U.S.-China competition, and political influence.
AI Companions May Worsen Loneliness for Vulnerable Users, Stanford Study FindsA Stanford HAI-associated study reports that for some users seeking emotional support from AI companions, engaging with chatbots may correlate with lower well-being, particularly among users with limited social networks.
Open-Weight Models Aren’t Enough. We Need Truly Open Source AI Models for Science and Society.Stanford HAI commentary and analysis address the policy and societal implications of open-weight versus genuinely open-source models, framed around governance, security, and research accessibility considerations.
Why Governing World Models Is AI's Next Big Policy ChallengeStanford HAI describes a policy brief as an initial comprehensive examination of how to govern “world models,” which are positioned as more complex than LLMs because they build working representations of physical environments to predict change in response to action.