Active recommendationGlobal securityBiosecuritySystem changeArtificial intelligence

Horizon Institute for Public Service

Illustrative image

▲ U.S. House of Representatives, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Horizon Institute for Public Service is a nonprofit organization that helps to bridge the talent gap between highly qualified technical experts and the U.S. government, in order to help Congress, the Executive Branch, and the wider U.S. policy ecosystem better navigate rapid technological change. As part of this work, Horizon runs several programs, including its Horizon Fellowship to train and place subject matter experts on AI and biosecurity in the U.S. federal government or think tanks. Horizon also organizes workshops, provides tailored career support, and creates in-depth guides on working in U.S. emerging technology policy via its career website emergingtechpolicy.org.

Powerful technologies are advancing rapidly, but the U.S. government lacks the expertise to adequately understand these technologies and craft smart policy. As an example, less than 1% of AI PhD graduates enter government and experts agree that policymakers lack relevant expertise, even as the government proposes sweeping regulations on AI.

Policymakers on both sides of the aisle recognize this problem:

  • “The pace with which [technology] is moving is so fast and the relative lack of expertise in government is such that we’re constantly playing catch-up.” - Secretary of State Antony Blinken
  • Congress “doesn’t know what the hell it’s doing” with AI and “I think the median age in the Senate is about 142. This is not a tech savvy group” – Senator Ted Cruz

(Importantly, better scientific and technological literacy in the U.S. government can help to protect against both over- and under-regulation of highly consequential advanced technology. Congress and federal agencies already regulate AI and other advanced technologies and will do so more in the future; the question will be how well those regulations are crafted.)

But the public sector can’t solve this talent problem alone — government hiring processes are slow, difficult to navigate, and pay much lower rates for scientists and technologists than the private sector. Horizon is an organization that aims to help bridge the emerging tech talent gap, building a robust pipeline of subject-matter expertise—experts with outstanding scientific expertise, quantitative skills, and deep understanding of new technologies —into public service.

Horizon has a track record of securing top positions for experts via its flagship policy fellowship, a focus on the most consequential technologies, and a strong team and network (see, e.g. its high-powered bipartisan advisory board), making it one of the best bets for supporting emerging talent in this space. Horizon has placed 50+ fellows into public policy roles to date. These fellows are placed across key parts of the U.S. policy ecosystem, including the Department of State, Department of Commerce, Department of Health and Human Services, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and influential think tanks, like Brookings, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

To evaluate Horizon, we interviewed several current and former Horizon Fellows, as well as several stakeholders in the U.S. policy ecosystem, who all attested to the strength of the team’s ability to secure high-quality placements for fellows — with a 100% placement rate so far. It’s too early to confidently evaluate the effect of the fellowships on the career trajectory of fellows, but all of the fellows we interviewed felt that Horizon had meaningfully impacted their decision to enter public service, and all expressed a plan to continue to serve. Thus far, 100% of fellows who have completed the fellowship have stayed in policy and public service roles afterward.

Additional funding can help Horizon expand its fellowship program, its policy career support resources, workshops, and other offerings. Importantly, this work is highly scalable, meaning that additional funding can secure additional impact without necessarily displacing other funders.

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