# Dean Ball

> Dean Ball is a leading AI policy scholar, writer, and former White House advisor who shaped America's AI strategy from the inside. As Senior Fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, co-host of the AI Summer podcast, and author of the widely-read Hyperdimensional newsletter, he makes the case for market-driven, light-touch governance of frontier AI - arguing that private governance mechanisms, not government mandates, are the right framework for the most transformative technology of our time.

- **Role:** Senior Fellow at Foundation for American Innovation
- **Organizations:** Foundation for American Innovation, Fathom, Heritage Foundation, Yale Law School, Alexander Hamilton Institute
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.A. in History (magna cum laude), Hamilton College
- **Known for:** Primary staff drafter of America's AI Action Plan (2025) - the Trump administration's flagship AI strategy document with 90+ policy recommendations, Co-Chair of the National AI Research Resource Pilot Steering Committee, Co-Chair of the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Machine Learning and AI

## Career timeline

- **2014** — Graduated magna cum laude from Hamilton College with B.A. in History; served as Undergraduate Fellow at Alexander Hamilton Institute
- **2015-2018** — Executive Director at Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation
- **2018-2020** — Deputy Director of State and Local Policy at Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
- **2020-2022** — Senior Program Manager, State and Local Governance Initiative at Stanford University's Hoover Institution
- **2022-2024** — Research Fellow, Artificial Intelligence & Progress Project at George Mason University's Mercatus Center
- **2024** — Launched Hyperdimensional newsletter on Substack; joined Foundation for American Innovation as Senior Fellow
- **2025-Jan** — Appointed Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology at White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
- **2025-Jul** — Primary staff drafter of America's AI Action Plan (released July 2025)
- **2025-Aug** — Departed OSTP; returned to Foundation for American Innovation as Senior Fellow
- **2025-2026** — Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School co-teaching Colloquium on Frontier AI Governance; Policy Fellow at Fathom; Visiting Fellow at Heritage Foundation; co-host of AI Summer podcast with Timothy B. Lee

## Achievements

- Primary staff drafter of America's AI Action Plan (2025) - the Trump administration's flagship AI strategy document with 90+ policy recommendations
- Co-Chair of the National AI Research Resource Pilot Steering Committee
- Co-Chair of the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Machine Learning and AI
- Chair of the General Services Administration's AI Community of Practice
- Strategic Advisor for AI at the National Science Foundation
- Hyperdimensional newsletter grew to tens of thousands of subscribers
- Published in Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, National Review, The New Atlantis, Lawfare, and dozens of other outlets
- Quoted/featured in New York Times, The Economist, The New Yorker, The Atlantic
- Appeared on Bloomberg TV, CNN, C-SPAN
- Joined Board of Directors of the Alexander Hamilton Institute
- Named Senior Fellow at Foundation for American Innovation
- Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Active as Senior Fellow at Foundation for American Innovation; continuing Hyperdimensional newsletter and AI Summer podcast
- **2025-08** — Departed White House OSTP after 4 months; returned to think tank work at FAI
- **2025-07** — America's AI Action Plan released - the 28-page document Ball was primary drafter of
- **2025-01** — Appointed Senior Policy Advisor for AI & Emerging Technology at White House OSTP
- **2024-01** — Launched Hyperdimensional newsletter on Substack

## Links

- Website: https://www.deanball.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-ball-66823728/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/deanwball

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/dean-ball
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-23