As the University expands further into artificial intelligence, the 2025 Envision AI Conference, held on campus on Saturday, Feb. 22, hosted a series of speakers to focus on potential policy changes impacting the artificial intelligence field.
A common theme across speaker presentations was the new and changing nature of regulation and the ambiguity surrounding policy changes.
“There are so many new questions,” said Cecilia Kang, a New York Times reporter who covers technology and regulatory policy, during opening remarks. Addressing the uncertainty surrounding AI regulatory policy under the new Trump administration, Kang highlighted that “what’s left the conversation is safety.”
Speaking about Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, and other tech billionaires, Kang said that these figures have become “villains within the Democratic party.” She described the massive shift in the tech world towards conservative politics and Trump’s agenda. Kang explained, “That’s what [Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos] want from Trump, they want a home.”
Addressing an audience question about how students should think about pursuing higher education, Kang emphasized the importance of the liberal arts. Invoking a self-prescribed cliché, Kang said, “I think we need to double down on being human … How you think, how you feel, and how you love.”
Around 100 attendees registered for the conference, about half of whom were University students, according to the co-organizers of the conference, Maddie Feldman ’27 and Emmett Souder ’27.
Souder is a former Humor and Opinion writer for the ‘Prince.’
Envision AI was founded in 2016, according to Souder. In previous years, they have hosted similar events, with each conference’s vision determined by the organizers. Last year, the conference was focused on entrepreneurial ventures and tech ethics.
“[We have a] wide perspective, and that’s to reflect the overall idea that the successful deployment of these AI systems, and tech systems more generally, is super diversified,” Feldman said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
“There has never been a more impactful time to be in AI policy,” said Joshua New, Director of Policy at SeedAI, during his talk. New discussed the trend of American policymakers prioritizing American dominance over safety and excessive regulatory policy, citing Vice President J.D. Vance’s recent speech at the AI Action Summit in Paris, France, where Vance said “I’m not here this morning to talk about AI safety… I’m here to talk about AI opportunity.”
New went on to discuss how societies often only have concerns about safety once rapid advances in technology come about, highlighting how “the bomb [has] to drop first” before serious AI regulatory policies come into popular discussion.
Students told the ‘Prince’ that the event was informative. “I’ve filled in some gaps that I had about AI as it relates to environmental policy and also as it relates to manufacturing issues and industrial policy,” Daniel Schiffman, a student from Brown University, said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’
In September 2023, the Princeton Language and Intelligence Initiative (PLI) awarded $798,000 to over a dozen research projects that utilize AI and large language models (LLMs), with the goal of supporting early-stage AI projects across various disciplines, including the humanities.
In December 2023, an AI hub — a partnership between the University and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority — was announced. According to the press release from Governor Phil Murphy’s office, the initiative aimed to provide a dedicated accelerator space, connect researchers, and promote workforce changes. Earlier this year in January, Murphy and University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 announced that Microsoft and CoreWeave had joined the effort as founding partners.
“We’re all students who are going to be graduating into positions of power in these industries at some point,” Feldman said. “To think critically about these problems … that’s kind of the purpose of today.”
Devon Rudolph is an associate News editor and staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Kian Petlin is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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