"The Invisible Side of AI Governance" by Charbel-Raphaël cover art

"The Invisible Side of AI Governance" by Charbel-Raphaël

"The Invisible Side of AI Governance" by Charbel-Raphaël

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Tldr: Most strategic writing on AI governance on LessWrong describes the outsider game, which is most often visible: press, statements, open letters. Here I want to describe the other, invisible half: the insider work within ministerial cabinets and international fora, and the work of people within national and international institutions. Here are a few claims that I defend in the post:

  1. A huge part of the work that mattered in AI governance has been invisible
  2. There are many types of games in AI governance, which differ in how visible they are. Some of the most impactful work is highly invisible
  3. Some of the most impactful work is in the executive branch and complements the legislative branch. This also explains some of my hesitations about replicating ControlAI in France.
  4. The community is probably overinvesting in intellectual production. There is a bias against invisible types of work. In particular, public work is not necessarily visible to whom it matters.
  5. A few criticisms of both strategies
I think the AI Safety Community is under-indexing on the invisible part as a result, which might mean we miss large avenues for impact. Some of the strongest questions/objections of this type of invisible policy [...]

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Outline:

(02:40) A huge part of the work that mattered in AI governance has been invisible

(05:44) There are many types of games in AI governance.

(07:36) 3. types of meetings: the bazooka, the useful assistant, and the advisor

(10:46) Some of the most impactful work is within the executive branch

(12:53) People ask me regularly whether CeSIA should replicate what ControlAI does with parliamentarians?

(15:27) The community is probably overinvesting in intellectual production

(20:31) Limits of Outsider work

(22:17) Limit of Insider work

(23:47) An aside on one particular limit: the Defense-in-Depth Paradigm of present AI governance

(26:21) Closing & call for action

The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.

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First published:
June 20th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/AWKkDLDnShemNCSzZ/the-invisible-side-of-ai-governance

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