Making Your Voice Heard w/ Tristan & Felix de Simone

I am joined by Tristan Williams and Felix de Simone to discuss their work on the potential of constituent communication, specifically in the context of AI legislation. These two worked as part of an AI Safety Camp team to understand whether or not it would be useful for more people to be sharing their experiences, concerns, and opinions with their government representative (hint, it is).Check out the blogpost on their findings, "Talking to Congress: Can constituents contacting their legislator influence policy?" and the tool they created!(01:53) - Introductions (04:04) - Starting the project (13:30) - Project overview (16:36) - Understanding constituent communication (28:50) - Literature review (35:52) - Phase 2 (43:26) - Creating a tool for citizen engagement (50:16) - Crafting your message (59:40) - The game of advocacy (01:15:19) - Difficulties on the project (01:22:33) - Call to action (01:32:30) - Outro LinksLinks to all articles/papers which are mentioned throughout the episode can be found below, in order of their appearance.AI Safety CampPause AIBlueDot ImpactTIME article - There’s an AI Lobbying Frenzy in Washington. Big Tech Is DominatingCongressional Management Foundation study - Communicating with Congress: Perceptions of Citizen Advocacy on Capitol HillCongressional Management Foundation study - The Future of Citizen Engagement: Rebuilding the Democratic DialogueTristan and Felix's blogpost - Talking to Congress: Can constituents contacting their legislator influence policy?Wired article - What It Takes to Make Congress Actually ListenAmerican Journal of Polical Science article - Congressional Representation: Accountability from the Constituent’s PerspectivePolitical Behavior article - Call Your Legislator: A Field Experimental Study of the Impact of a Constituency Mobilization Campaign on Legislative VotingGuided Track websiteThe ToolHolistic AI global regulatory trackerWhite & Case global regulatory trackerSteptoe US AI legislation trackerManatt US AIxHealth legislation trackerIssue One article - Big Tech Cozies Up to New Administration After Spending Record Sums on Lobbying Last YearVerfassungsblog article - BigTech’s Efforts to Derail the AI ActMIT Technology Review article - OpenAI has upped its lobbying efforts nearly sevenfoldOpen Secrets webpage - Issue Profile: Science & TechnologyStatista data - Leading lobbying spenders in the United States in 2024Global Justice Now report - Democracy at risk in Davos: new report exposes big tech lobbying and political interferenceIpsos article - Where Americans stand on AIAP-NORC report - There Is Bipartisan Concern About the Use of AI in the 2024 ElectionsAI Action Summit report - International AI Safety ReportYouGov article - Do Americans think AI will have a positive or negative impact on society?