In this lecture, Alondra Nelson will draw on the WhiteHouse’s “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,” a cornerstone of President Biden’s historic AI executive order, and a recent study from the AI Democracy Projects to discuss how governing for the future paradoxically requires anchoring in long if imperfectly held democratic commitments. These commitments include civil rights and civil liberties, regulating toward prosocial outcomes rather than around technological objects—and doing both while advancing research and policy innovation.