Dean W. Ball
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Research Fellow
Dean Woodley Ball is a Research Fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and author of the Substack Hyperdimensional. His work focuses on artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and the future of governance. Previously, he was Senior Program Manager for the Hoover Institution's State and Local Governance Initiative.
He has published on topics including artificial intelligence, neural technology, biotechnology, political theory, public finance, infrastructure, and prisoner re-entry. His paper “Neither Harbour nor Floor: Contemplating the Singularity with Michael Oakeshott” will be published in a forthcoming volume titled Liberalism Revisited, to be published by Palgrave. He is the author of “Ideas of Another Order: Michael Oakeshott and Confucius in Conversation,” an essay in comparative political theory between the West and China, which was published in Collingwood and British Idealism Studies. His writing has appeared in National Affairs, The Dispatch, The Hill, the Orange County Register, Investor’s Business Daily, the Coolidge Quarterly, and National Review, and his research has been published by the Manhattan Institute and the Hoover Institution.
Prior to his role at the Hoover Institution, he served as Executive Director of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, based in Plymouth, Vermont and Washington, D.C. In that role he oversaw a foundation with assets of more than $20 million, an annual budget of $3 million, and the Coolidge Scholarship, a full-ride, merit-based undergraduate program that is among the most competitive and prestigious scholarships in the United States. He worked as the Deputy Director of State and Local Policy at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research from 2014–2018, and as Director of the Adam Smith Society from 2018–2020. In addition, he oversaw the Institute’s Hayek Book Prize, one of the most financially generous book prizes in the world.
He has also worked as an independent consultant, allowing him to focus on projects near and dear to his heart. These have included efforts to reform policing in Argentina and Chile and to recreate, at small scale, the Florentine guild system for sacred liturgical art.
He serves on the Board of Directors of the Alexander Hamilton Institute and on the Advisory Council of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University. He graduated magna cum laude from Hamilton College in 2014 with a B.A. in History, and currently resides in Washington, D.C. with his girlfriend Abigail and their two cats, Io and Ganymede.
Latest Work
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Gavin Newsom Vetoes a Controversial AI Safety Bill | Lawfare’s “Lawfare Daily”
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
What Comes After SB 1047? | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The OpenAI Pastiche Edition | Hyperdimensional
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
An Extraordinary Alien | Hyperdimensional
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Prediction Markets and AI Diffusion | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Policy Briefs Policy Briefs
Building America’s Applied AI Workforce: Strategies for Effective Technology Diffusion
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Public Interest Comments Public Interest Comments
Comment on NIST/AISI AI 800-1: Expanding Guidelines for Open-Source AI
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
On AI "Black Boxes" | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
AI Regulation and Government Adoption | AI, Government, and the Future
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
SB 1047 Is Amended | Hyperdimensional
Latest Work
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Gavin Newsom Vetoes a Controversial AI Safety Bill | Lawfare’s “Lawfare Daily”
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
What Comes After SB 1047? | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The OpenAI Pastiche Edition | Hyperdimensional
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
An Extraordinary Alien | Hyperdimensional
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Prediction Markets and AI Diffusion | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Policy Briefs Policy Briefs
Building America’s Applied AI Workforce: Strategies for Effective Technology Diffusion
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Public Interest Comments Public Interest Comments
Comment on NIST/AISI AI 800-1: Expanding Guidelines for Open-Source AI
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
On AI "Black Boxes" | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
AI Regulation and Government Adoption | AI, Government, and the Future
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
SB 1047 Is Amended | Hyperdimensional
Latest Work
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Policy Briefs Policy Briefs
Building America’s Applied AI Workforce: Strategies for Effective Technology Diffusion
Latest Work
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Gavin Newsom Vetoes a Controversial AI Safety Bill | Lawfare’s “Lawfare Daily”
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
AI Regulation and Government Adoption | AI, Government, and the Future
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
The Age of Artificial Intelligence | The Aaron Renn Show
- | Regulation Regulation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
We Don’t Need AI Regulations | Ethical Machines
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Radio Appearance Radio Appearance
How Big Tech Threatens The Marketplace Of Ideas | The Federalist Radio Hour
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
David Rubenstein, Dean Ball, and Alan Rozenshtein on AI Federalism | Lawfare Daily
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
AI Policy: CA SB 1047, Upcoming AI Disaster Response, Llama 3 405B, Chinese Open-source AI, and Scaling Laws | Interconnects Interviews
- | Radio Appearance Radio Appearance
Sunsetting Section 230 | Lars Larson Show
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Radio Appearance Radio Appearance
What Congress’ TikTok Ban Means for 170 Million Users in US | WBUR Boston’s “Here & Now”
Latest Work
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Public Interest Comments Public Interest Comments
Comment on NIST/AISI AI 800-1: Expanding Guidelines for Open-Source AI
Latest Work
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
What Comes After SB 1047? | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The OpenAI Pastiche Edition | Hyperdimensional
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
An Extraordinary Alien | Hyperdimensional
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Prediction Markets and AI Diffusion | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
On AI "Black Boxes" | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
SB 1047 Is Amended | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Reflections on El Segundo | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The Era of Predictive AI Is Almost Over | The New Atlantis
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary