Tom Davidson joins Kevin Frazier, AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the University of Texas School of Law and a Senior Editor at Lawfare, to discuss AI timelines, explosive economic growth, and the increasingly urgent debate over “AI character” — the behavioral traits and decision-making tendencies embedded into advanced AI systems.

Drawing on Davidson’s recent paper, “The Importance of AI Character,” which he co-authored with Will MacAskill, their conversation explores how the character of future AI systems may influence democratic governance, military conflict, institutional trust, and even the long-run trajectory of civilization. The discussion also examines the key influences on character development and which actors should ultimately play a part in dictating the default values and behaviors of AI models. 

You may also enjoy Tom's article on AI as advisors.

Today on Lawfare No Bull: On June 3, the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies held a hearing entitled, “Oversight Hearing – Department of Justice.” Over the course of two hours, the representatives questioned acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on whether the Justice Department would commit to scrapping its proposed $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” the current standing of the agreement in the Trump family’s settlement that bars the IRS from bringing claims against the Trump family and its businesses for past tax issues, and more.

Owen Larter, Senior Director and Head of Frontier Policy and Public Affairs at Google DeepMind, joins Kevin Frazier, AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the University of Texas School of Law and a senior editor at Lawfare, to provide an inside look at how DeepMind approaches frontier governance. 

The conversation moves beyond the familiar U.S.-EU-China framing of AI policy to examine international coordination after the recent U.S.-China summit, Google DeepMind’s national AI partnerships, the role of the Frontier Model Forum, and the challenge of expanding AI adoption. Kevin and Owen also discuss policy formation inside frontier AI companies. They close with an examination of the need to build a deeper AI policy talent pipeline.

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Melissa Hutchins, founder and CEO of Certifi AI, joins Kevin Frazier, AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the University of Texas School of Law and a Senior Editor at Lawfare, to discuss the rise of deepfakes, non-consensual sexually explicit imagery, and the growing policy fight over AI-generated harms online.

Drawing from both her professional work and her personal experience as a victim of cyberstalking, Melissa explains how synthetic media is changing the threat landscape for individuals, platforms, and policymakers alike. The duo also unpack proposals like the Take It Down Act, the challenges posed by a fragmented patchwork of state AI laws, and what it’s like building an AI company from Seattle rather than Silicon Valley.

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Today on Lawfare No Bull: On May 19, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies held a hearing entitled, “A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the Department of Justice,” in which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified for a 13% budget increase from the 2026 fiscal year, amounting to a total proposed budget of ​​$41.2 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. Over the course of two hours, the subcommittee questioned Blanche on the Justice Department’s recently announced $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” its investigations into accusations of child sex trafficking and other crimes in the Epstein files, its role in implementing the March 31 executive order on securing federal elections, and more.

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Adeel Khan of MagicSchool AI and Ryan Trattner of StudyFetch join Kevin Frazier, AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the University of Texas School of Law and Senior Editor at Lawfare, to discuss the rapid integration of artificial intelligence into education.

The conversation explores how AI tools are being used by both teachers and students, from automating lesson planning to providing personalized tutoring and study support. The group examines claims about improved learning outcomes and time savings, while probing what counts as meaningful evidence versus early-stage or self-reported metrics.

They also discuss the regulatory and operational challenges of building AI systems in education, including constraints imposed by student data protections, limited access to high-quality training data, and the growing impact of regulations and public scrutiny on product development and deployment.

John McAuliff, a Delegate in the Viriginia House of Delegates, joins Kevin Frazier, Director of the AI Innovation and Law Program and a Senior Fellow with the Abundance Institute, to discuss the ongoing debates around data centers at the state level.

John was one of the first candidates to recognize data centers as a key issue. He had to convince his polling team to put the issue on early surveys. Of course, they soon realized he was on to something. In his first legisatlive session as a delegate, John championed legislation to try to help counties negotiate with data center developers. He's not done working on the topic. Learn more about his plans and related issues by giving this episode a listen.