PeopleofSuperintelligence

Public voice

Dean Ball

Also known as Dean W. Ball, Dean Woodley Ball

Dean Ball is an AI policy writer and scholar whose work covers AI regulation and governance. He graduated magna cum laude from Hamilton College in 2014 and held policy roles at the Manhattan Institute, the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, and Stanford’s Hoover Institution. At Mercatus, he worked on state and local AI policy. In 2025, he proposed a hybrid public-private framework for frontier AI governance, served as a White House adviser, and drafted America’s AI Action Plan. He coauthored research on third-party AI audits, and since July 2026 leads OpenAI’s Strategic Futures team.

Now at
OpenAI and Foundation for American Innovation
Works
2

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.

Timeline

  1. 2014–2020

    History at Hamilton, policy at Manhattan

    He graduates magna cum laude from Hamilton College in 2014 with a BA in history. At the Manhattan Institute, he serves as Deputy Director of State and Local Policy from 2014 to 2018 and directs the Adam Smith Society from 2018 to 2020.

  2. November 2024

    The global open-source AI race

    In November 2024, he coauthors The United States Must Win The Global Open Source AI Race with Keegan McBride. The article urges policymakers to weigh US-developed AI against increasingly capable Chinese open-source models.

  3. March 2025

    Research at Mercatus

    In March 2025, he joins the CSIS AI Policy Podcast to discuss state and local AI regulation. He is a Research Fellow in the Artificial Intelligence & Progress Project at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, after serving as Senior Program Manager for Hoover’s State and Local Governance Initiative and Executive Director of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation.

  4. April 2025

    A framework for frontier AI

    In April 2025, he publishes A Framework for the Private Governance of Frontier Artificial Intelligence. It proposes a hybrid public-private system where government-authorized private bodies certify frontier AI developers.

  5. 2025

    Advising White House on AI

    In 2025, he serves as Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology at White House OSTP and is the primary staff drafter of America’s AI Action Plan.

  6. January 2026

    Auditing frontier AI companies

    In January 2026, he coauthors Frontier AI Auditing, which proposes rigorous third-party verification of frontier AI developers’ safety and security claims.

  7. Since July 2026

    Leading Strategic Futures

    Since July 2026, he leads Strategic Futures at OpenAI and remains a non-resident senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation.

Career

  1. Since 2026OpenAILead
  2. NowFoundation for American InnovationNon-resident senior fellow
  3. 2025White House Office of Science and Technology PolicySenior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology
  4. 2014–2020Manhattan InstituteDeputy Director of State and Local Policy, Director of the Adam Smith Society
  5. Hoover InstitutionSenior Program Manager
  6. Calvin Coolidge Presidential FoundationExecutive Director
  7. George Mason UniversityResearch Fellow

Education

  1. 2014Hamilton CollegeBA in history

From the biography.

  1. 13 of 79 people shaping AI with a former OpenAI role now work at AnthropicIncludes OpenAI. Our estimates of where OpenAI recruits came from and where people with former OpenAI roles work now.
  2. The median h-index is 53 at universities and 19 at frontier AI labsIncludes OpenAI. The median h-index is 53 at universities and 19 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, citations and moves to estimate how universities and frontier labs contribute to AI research.
  3. Google alumni founded or led 87 other organizations, the most among the labs we compareIncludes OpenAI. We trace 212 organizations founded or led by AI lab alumni, and 223 career moves between the labs.
  4. 44% of AI career moves go from one university to anotherIncludes OpenAI. We estimate how 14,272 AI career moves link universities, companies, labs and government research centers, with net flows and the most common paths.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Dean Ball yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Dean W. Ball justsecurity.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Dean W. Ball - Biography deanball.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. The United States Must Win The Global Open Source AI Race justsecurity.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. The State and Local AI Regulation Landscape with Dean Ball - The AI Policy Podcast | CSIS Events csis.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. [2504.11501] A Framework for the Private Governance of Frontier Artificial Intelligence arxiv.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. OSTP taps policy scholar Dean Ball as AI, emerging tech advisor | FedScoop fedscoop.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. [2601.11699] Frontier AI Auditing: Toward Rigorous Third-Party Assessment of Safety and Security Practices at Leading AI Companies arxiv.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  8. Dean Ball Joins OpenAI as Head of Strategic Futures | The Foundation for American Innovation thefai.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  9. Dean Ball | Foundation for American Innovation thefai.org. Checked 19 October 2026.