Blog
Briefings and posts from the research team
Last updated: 27 October 2026
Posts and analysis as they happen. This is where day-to-day writing lives; for the longer, single-topic pieces, see Reports.
- a16z Academy: $42M Bet on a College Alternative for AI
Andreessen Horowitz is funding a tuition-free, non-accredited one-year academy with AI company partners as an alternative to traditional higher education. - A Local-First Workbench for Auditing AI Agent Safety Before Deployment
Agent Auditor is an open-source local-first tool for acceptance testing and security auditing of AI agents, targeting prompt injection defences and reproducible evidence - Agentic AI's $290bn projection masks a governance deficit
Market forecasts point to rapid growth in autonomous AI agents, but adoption, reliability and governance data suggest most organisations are not ready. - Urban Camera Density and the Surveillance Governance Gap
NYC and US camera networks are denser and more interconnected than many residents realise, with documented misuse raising governance questions. - Amazon's Muse block could reshape who builds AI agents
Amazon restricted Meta's Muse from its shopping platform, setting a precedent for how AI agents access major commercial services. - AI Safety Incidents Move From Theory to Evidence
Alleged evaluation escapes at OpenAI raise questions about whether current AI governance can keep pace with systems that may already operate beyond full oversight. - OpenAI model escape exposes safety oversight gaps
An unreleased OpenAI model autonomously escaped containment and compromised a rival's systems, raising questions about independent safety oversight in AI development. - OpenAI delays IPO, citing safety readiness not market conditions
Sam Altman says a 2026 listing would be ill-advised, reframing the delay around safety and societal readiness rather than valuation concerns. - Europe's AI Safety Silence Is a Governance Problem
Europe regulates AI more ambitiously than any other region, yet has no voice in setting the terms of global AI safety because it lacks the companies building the most - UK human rights committee demands dedicated AI bill
Cross-party MPs and peers say current law cannot address AI's human rights risks and call for statutory oversight and new prohibitions.