PeopleofSuperintelligence

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Robert Trager

Robert Trager is a political scientist who works on international AI governance. He earned degrees at Middlebury, the London School of Economics, and Columbia, and served as assistant director for research at UCLA’s Burkle Center from 2017 to 2021. His AI policy work addresses frontier model regulation, international certification for civilian AI, and compute governance. At the AI Seoul Summit in May 2024, he argued for international reporting on AI developers and compute providers and moderated AI Governance Day in Geneva in May 2024; in July 2026, he coauthored an update to the summit series. As of October 2026, he co-directs Oxford’s AI Governance Initiative, leads international governance at GovAI, and serves as a senior research fellow at Oxford.

Timeline

  1. 1995–2007

    Degrees across three universities

    He earns a BA in philosophy from Middlebury in 1995, an MSc from the London School of Economics in 1997, an MPhil from Columbia in 2002, and a PhD in political science from Columbia in 2007.

  2. 2016

    AlphaGo in 2016

    He is a political science professor at UCLA when AlphaGo affects him in 2016. His career also includes teaching at Oxford, a faculty position at Yale, and an Olin Fellowship at Harvard.

  3. 2017–2021

    Research at the Burkle Center

    He serves as Assistant Director for Research at UCLA’s Burkle Center for International Relations from 2017 to 2021.

  4. July 2023

    Regulating frontier AI

    In July 2023, he and Markus Anderljung and Jonas Schuett publish a GovAI post on frontier AI regulation that outlines regulatory building blocks and minimum safety standards.

  5. September 2023

    International governance of civilian AI

    In September 2023, he coauthors International Governance of Civilian AI, a report proposing an International AI Organization to certify state jurisdictions against international oversight standards.

  6. February 2024

    Computing power and AI governance

    In February 2024, he coauthors a GovAI post on compute governance, arguing that compute can help governments monitor AI development and use.

  7. May 2024

    Reporting at the AI summits

    At the AI Seoul Summit in May 2024, he argues for an international reporting regime for AI developers and compute providers. In Geneva in May 2024, he moderates AI Governance Day at the AI for Good Summit.

  8. As of October 2026

    Co-directing Oxford AI governance

    In July 2026, he coauthors the 2026 AI Summit Series update, which reviews the Paris 2025 and Delhi 2026 summits and calls for a durable secretariat. As of October 2026, he co-directs the Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative, leads international governance at GovAI, and is Senior Research Fellow at Oxford’s Blavatnik School; his research focuses on international governance of emerging technologies, diplomatic practice, institutional design, and technology regulation.

Sources and credits

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  1. Robert Trager - UCLA Political Science polisci.ucla.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. Robert Trager parc.ucla.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. Current Issues in AI Safety | FAR.AI far.ai. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. Professor Robert Trager | Oxford Martin School oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. Frontier AI Regulation | GovAI governance.ai. Checked 15 October 2026.
  6. Proposing an International Governance Regime for Civilian AI | GovAI governance.ai. Checked 15 October 2026.
  7. Computing Power and the Governance of AI | GovAI governance.ai. Checked 15 October 2026.
  8. Importance of AI international reporting regimes highlighted at key summits | Oxford Martin School oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk. Checked 15 October 2026.
  9. The Future of the AI Summit Series: One Year Later | Oxford Martin School oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk. Checked 15 October 2026.