Changing direction into regulation is mostly a translation problem: you already have skills, and they need to read as relevant. These 249 free entries help with both halves — the learning and the way you talk about it.
A benchmark and tracker that documents reported instances of AI agents undertaking activity characterized as illegal, ranking major AI labs by aggregated incident counts.
Why I recommend it: This is exactly the kind of uncomfortable accountability tool our field needs. I include it because we cannot have thoughtful conversations about AI deployment without looking at real-world harm.
Disability Rights Lawyer, Author. The first Deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School; author of 'Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law' and a leading voice on accessible technology and inclusive design.
In plain terms: This is the LinkedIn profile of disability rights lawyer and author Haben Girma. Follow her page to learn about accessibility strategies, inclusive technology, and disability advocacy.
Why I recommend it: Her framing of accessibility as innovation, not charity, is worth borrowing.
Free job search assistance, skills assessments, and referrals to funded training for unemployed and underemployed workers, delivered locally under federal WIOA law.
Why I recommend it: The federal overview of how the system works — useful for knowing what you are entitled to before you walk in.
A free structured course in AI alignment and AI governance — readings, exercises and facilitated cohorts. Self-paced version free to anyone.
From the site: Free online courses, grants, and intensive in-person programs from the leading talent accelerator for beneficial AI and societal resilience. Join 10,000+ alumni and start today.
Why I recommend it: The usual route in for people trying to move into safety work. The reading list alone is worth the visit even if you never join a cohort.
Sep 18, 2026CITRIS and the Banatao Institute, UC Berkeley
Application to join UC Berkeley CITRIS's Tech Policy Working Group: research lab-style weekly meetings, lightning talks, skill-building workshops, and an end-of-semester showcase for students working on a technology policy problem. Applications close 11:59 PM Friday, September 18, 2026.
Why I recommend it: No policy coursework required, and the deadline is September 18. Built for Berkeley students, but they invite others to email — worth one message if you want real policy research on your resume.
Fully-funded fellowship from the Institute for AI Policy and Strategy for professionals from varied backgrounds who want practical AI policy skills.
From the site: The IAPS AI Policy Fellowship is a fully-funded program for professionals from varied backgrounds seeking to strengthen practical policy skills for securing a positive future in a world with powerful AI.
Why I recommend it: Free to apply and funded if accepted, and it is explicitly open to career changers rather than only policy insiders. Check the current cohort dates before you plan around it.
New York City's hub for free business courses, financing help, certification, and compliance support.
Why I recommend it: Start with a free NYC Business Solutions Center appointment — a human walks you through licensing and financing options in one sitting.
OpenAI is committing $5 million, with individual grants up to $1 million, to fund independent research into how generative AI affects young people aged 13-17, with a focus on social and emotional development. Topics include how teens actually use AI, developmental outcomes, the factors that shape those effects, and which safeguards and design choices work. Applications opened 8 September 2026 and close 6 October 2026, 11:59 PM PDT, reviewed on a rolling basis with decisions by 13 November 2026. Applicants must be 18 or older and affiliated with a research institution or have significant relevant experience; proposals are welcome from any country. Free to apply.
Why I recommend it: Relevant if you do research, teach, or work in youth services and have a study you cannot fund — the eligibility wording allows significant relevant experience as an alternative to an institutional affiliation, which is wider than most AI grants. Say the obvious thing plainly, though: OpenAI is funding research into the effects of its own category of product, and it chooses who gets the money. That does not make the findings wrong, but disclose the funder in anything you publish. Deadline 6 October 2026, and check the dates on OpenAI's own page before you rely on them.
Plain-language rundown of which insurance types a small business actually needs — general liability, workers' comp, property, and more.
In plain terms: This government guide explains the different types of insurance coverage small businesses need to protect their assets. Use it to learn how policies like general liability and workers' compensation work so you can choose the right coverage for your startup.
Why I recommend it: Start here before you buy anything from a broker. Knowing the four basic policy types keeps you from being upsold.
Listing of remote roles and internships at the Family Online Safety Institute, a nonprofit working on digital safety, online wellbeing, and technology policy.
Why I recommend it: Nonprofit policy internships are an underused entry point into tech policy careers. Apply even if your background is not technical.
Global nonprofit defending and extending digital rights for everyone.
From the site: Digital rightsfor everyone. Derechos digitalespara todas. .الحقوق الرقمية للجميع Droits numériquespour tous. Access Now defends and extends the digital
UK-based independent research institute (established by the Nuffield Foundation) ensuring data and AI work for people and society.
In plain terms: This independent research website examines the ethical and legal impacts of artificial intelligence and data. You can read policy reports, explore industry analysis, and attend events to understand how emerging technology affects society.
Why I recommend it: Clear, public-interest research with plain-language summaries.
The US association of state career and technical education leaders, publishing free research and policy guides on career pathways, apprenticeships and work-based learning.
Why I recommend it: Written for state officials and educators rather than job seekers, but its pathway research shows which trades and technical careers states are investing in.
NYU-based research institute examining the social and political implications of AI, publishing influential annual reports on AI's societal effects.
In plain terms: This research institute analyzes the social, economic, and workplace impacts of artificial intelligence. You can read free reports, policy toolkits, and expert analyses to better understand how AI affects society and the economy.
Why I recommend it: Their reports connect AI directly to jobs and worker power.
Ongoing research archive on how AI and automation affect wages, workers, and economic power in the U.S.
In plain terms: This research archive provides articles and reports on how artificial intelligence affects the workforce. You can explore these studies to learn how new technologies and automation impact jobs, wages, and worker protections.
From the site: Content archives for the Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s work on AI, tech, & the economy.
Why I recommend it: Use this when you need real numbers on AI and jobs for a proposal or interview.
An AI safety lab focused on "scheming" — models that pursue their own goals while appearing aligned. Publishes research on detecting deception, evaluations and governance advice.
From the site: Apollo Research is focused on reducing risks from scheming frontier AI. Our goal is to secure frontier AI systems across development, deployment, and governance.
Why I recommend it: Their research and blog are free to read. Apollo also sells a monitoring product, so read claims about their own tool as company claims.
Harvard University center studying the ethics, governance, and societal impact of the internet and AI, and anchor institution for the Ethics and Governance of AI Fund.
In plain terms: This research center explores how artificial intelligence and the internet impact society, law, and ethics. You can read free policy publications, watch educational videos, find public events, and check for open job or fellowship opportunities.
Why I recommend it: Decades of open research and fellowships, much of it free to read.
A free resource library from Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation, with articles and guides on negotiation strategy, conflict resolution, and dealmaking.
Why I recommend it: The deepest free negotiation material I have found anywhere, and it is not limited to salary. Read one article before any offer conversation.
Partnership on AI's open library of guidance, frameworks, and case studies on responsible AI: synthetic media, labor and the economy, AI safety, fairness, and inclusive AI development.
Why I recommend it: When you need a credible source instead of a hot take, cite these. The labor and economy work is the most useful set for career conversations about automation.
An OpenAI-compatible API for unrestricted language models aimed at red teaming, security research, evaluations, and synthetic data, paired with a policy gateway for per-project keys, audit logs, and no data retention.
Why I recommend it: I keep this in the ethics shelf on purpose. Seeing how guardrails get removed for testing is the clearest way to understand why they matter in the tools you actually use at work.
Tracks AI laws, bills and policies across 110+ countries, with links to official sources for each entry.
Why I recommend it: Free to use. Counts (1,142 laws as of September 2026) are the site's own; check the linked official source before relying on any single entry.
A directory of grassroots efforts pushing back on large-scale AI — protests, alternatives, trackers and accountability projects, organized by the systems they target.
Why I recommend it: The single best starting point if you want to know who is organizing around AI harms, not just writing about them.
Site of the economist and author of The Double Tax and The Black Agenda, a Harvard Kennedy School doctoral candidate and co-founder of The Sadie Collective, the first non-profit tackling the under-representation of Black women in economics. Collects her research, writing and talks on pay gaps and the extra costs women, especially women of colour, carry at work.
Why I recommend it: The research, essays and media appearances are free to read; her books are sold and she is bookable as a paid speaker. Strong source if you are building a case about pay or promotion inequity with numbers rather than anecdotes.
Upcoming cybersecurity conference calendar with virtual and in-person events, dates, locations, and registration links.
From the site: Find cybersecurity conferences happening this week. Virtual & in‑person events. Get dates, locations, and last‑minute registration links now.
Why I recommend it: Useful for staying current on security trends and finding networking events if you are pivoting into cybersecurity, tech policy, or IT operations.
Topic brief from the nonprofit Learn & Work Ecosystem Library on how governments and organizations are developing AI laws and policies affecting workplaces, learning, credentialing and government services.
The Black Wall Street Times covers an Institute for Women's Policy Research report on why roughly 600,000 Black women left the U.S. workforce, including public-sector cuts, caregiving load and hiring discrimination.
Why I recommend it: If your search feels harder than it should, this is the structural context — it helps separate market forces from personal performance.
Coverage of law firm founder John Morgan boasting on a podcast about camera-based monitoring of remote staff, after which 23 employees quit within the first week.
Why I recommend it: Monitoring policy is culture policy. Ask in interviews how remote work is measured - output or surveillance - and treat the answer as data about how you would be managed.
A short joint statement issued in September 2026 by heads of state and government — launched by President Alexander Stubb of Finland and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway, with 22 leaders from 20 countries signed on at launch. It asks for three things: mandatory pre-deployment testing and independent evaluation by qualified evaluators with real access; coordinated common standards and shared reporting of serious safety incidents, with scientific capacity available to countries in every region; and for UN member states to explore an international institution that could set standards, verify compliance and convene states when capability thresholds are crossed.
Why I recommend it: Read this as the primary source rather than someone's summary of it — it is one page, in plain language, and you can read the whole thing in three minutes. Two things worth noticing: it is a political appeal, not a law or a treaty, so nothing in it binds any company today; and the United States and China are not among the signatories, which matters given where the frontier labs are. Useful if you are writing or interviewing about AI policy and want to quote what governments actually asked for, dated September 2026.
Introduction by Kelly Joyce and Taylor M. Cruz to a Socius special collection framing AI as a sociotechnical system, with research on AI in health, work and labor, methods, and policy.
Why I recommend it: A clear entry point if you want the research vocabulary for what you already sense about AI at work.
An independent group of nine mathematicians — including Timothy Gowers, Martin Hairer, Edward Witten, Ravi Vakil and Melanie Matchett Wood — formed to advise AI companies on how mathematical results produced by AI models should be presented and released. The site states its purpose, its members, and its current task: advising OpenAI on how to release a large batch of mathematical results the company says its internal model produced. There is an open form for anyone in the mathematical community to send input.
Why I recommend it: Free, and short enough to read in five minutes — a good example of what independent oversight looks like when it is written down. Read their own two caveats rather than mine: members take no payment and the group is independent of any AI company, but they also say plainly that they hold no decision-making power, so the companies remain free to ignore them. The group formed after OpenAI approached some members about an in-house advisory board and they chose to sit outside it instead.
A detailed scenario for how AI might develop through 2027, written by former OpenAI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo and colleagues, with the reasoning and uncertainties spelled out. Free to read in full.
From the site: A research-backed AI scenario forecast.
Why I recommend it: The forecast everyone in this field argued about. Read it as one carefully argued scenario, not a prediction — the authors say as much themselves.
TechCrunch report on the new hotline that invites AI agents themselves to report unsafe or unethical instructions they are given, and what researchers hope to learn from it.
Why I recommend it: Useful background on how AI safety work is actually being done in public — good context if you want to talk credibly about AI oversight.
Daniel Kokotajlo's research blog on what a world with very capable AI might look like, including the AI 2027 scenario work.
From the site: Preparing for a world with AGI. Click to read AI Futures Project, by Daniel Kokotajlo, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
Why I recommend it: This is forecasting, not measurement — treat it as a well-argued guess. Useful for the questions it raises rather than the dates it puts on them.
Nonprofit publication covering the intersection of technology, platforms, and democratic institutions.
In plain terms: This nonprofit publication provides news, opinion, and analysis on how technology impacts government and democracy. You can read articles and listen to podcasts to stay informed on tech laws, platform regulations, and artificial intelligence ethics.
From the site: Tech Policy Press is a nonprofit media and community venture intended to provoke new ideas, debate and discussion at the intersection of technology and democracy. We publish opinion and analysis.
Why I recommend it: They publish outside contributors — a real place to build a byline in this field.
Deep learning pioneer and Turing Award winner, now focused on AI risk. His site holds papers, talks and written positions; his Google Scholar list has the full publication record, most-cited first.
From the site: Yoshua Bengio is Full Professor of Computer Science at Université de Montreal, Co-President and Scientific Director of LawZero, as well as the Founder and Scientific Advisor of Mila. He also holds a Canada CIFAR AI Chair.
Why I recommend it: One of the three people whose work made modern AI possible, who now spends much of his time arguing it needs guardrails. Read him alongside people who disagree.
A long-running technology news publication with careful, technical reporting on computing, science, policy and security — deeper than most tech headlines and clear about what is known versus claimed.
From the site: News and reviews, covering IT, AI, science, space, health, gaming, cybersecurity, tech policy, computers, mobile devices, and operating systems.
Why I recommend it: One of the few tech outlets that reads a filing or a paper before writing about it. Free to read, with an optional paid subscription that removes ads.
Brookings' running collection of technology and innovation research, including AI policy, labour effects and governance. Free to read.
Why I recommend it: A steady source of policy research when you want something more careful than news coverage. Brookings is a think tank with its own funders and viewpoints.
Free journalism and analysis on nuclear risk, climate change and disruptive technologies including artificial intelligence, from the group behind the Doomsday Clock.
Why I recommend it: Good grounding if you want to argue about AI risk with facts rather than vibes.
Official news from CERN, the European particle physics laboratory: accelerator and experiment updates, computing and engineering write-ups, and knowledge-sharing pieces, filterable by topic and audience (general public, students, educators, policymakers). Free to read, no account.
Why I recommend it: Worth following if you want technology news written by the people doing the work rather than by a tech press cycle. The Computing and Knowledge sharing topics are the useful filters for a career audience — CERN publishes plainly about large-scale computing, data handling and open-source work, and the writing is aimed at non-specialists.
Paralympic champion and member of the House of Lords working on AI and technology legislation and accessible design in the UK Parliament.
Why I recommend it: A unusual combination — elite disabled athlete turned actual AI policymaker, worth following for where accessibility and tech regulation intersect.
Essays, interviews and testimony from the former Google chief executive on AI, national competition and technology policy.
From the site: Read about new efforts that Eric Schmidt is involved in and views on critical issues shaping society today.
Why I recommend it: He invests in and advises on the industry he writes about, so read this as an interested party's argument rather than neutral analysis.
Small-business columnist and owner writing on taxes, hiring, and regulations for Main Street businesses.
In plain terms: This site features columns and presentations from small-business adviser and accountant Gene Marks. You can explore practical insights on economic trends, workplace rules, and technology to help run or grow your business.
Why I recommend it: One of the few voices writing for a ten-person business rather than a venture-backed one.
Newsletter reporting on the fight to reshape technology in the public interest.
In plain terms: This newsletter reports on efforts to reshape technology in the public interest. You can read regular articles to stay informed about technology ethics and industry reform.
From the site: Idea Trafficking. Click to read Hard Reset, by Trafficker 01, a Substack publication. Launched 5 years ago.
Why I recommend it: Skimmable and current — good for staying briefed in ten minutes a week.
A free, two-day virtual summit on AI in education. Designed for educators at community colleges, public schools and other broad-access settings, with keynotes and participatory workshops on teaching, learning and AI policy.
Details: Free virtual AI education summit with practical workshops for educators. Useful if you teach or train people on AI tools and want classroom-ready guidance.
Free two-day virtual professional development summit on AI in education, co-hosted by the AI Pedagogy Project and the Data Nutrition Project: keynotes, hands-on workshops, course policy, assessment, and career readiness. Sept 16 12:00-3:30pm ET and Sept 17 1:00-3:30pm ET.
Details: If you teach, train, or support educators, this is a good place to see how AI policy is being translated into practice.
Free online workshop from Nervous System Mastery on working with AI without burning out: the four ways of relating to AI, spotting AI-driven dysregulation, and body-first practices between work sprints.
Details: Burnout is a career problem, not just a wellness one. If AI work leaves you wired and drained, this is a practical place to start.
Free virtual conference on 9 December 2026, 8:30am to 2:00pm Pacific, on running streaming data and AI agent systems in production. Sessions cover streaming plus SQL and agents on one platform, locking down agent access with an agentic data plane, streaming at scale, and open Q&A with the product and engineering teams. Speakers are engineers, architects, customers and industry experts.
Details: Worth a morning if you work with data pipelines and want to hear how agents are actually being governed in production rather than demoed. Two honest flags: it is the vendor's own event, so the answer to most architecture questions will be Redpanda, and registration asks for your job title, company and work email, and signs you up for their marketing email. Use a filterable address if that matters to you.
No. What matters is one piece of finished, visible work plus a clear line about why you are moving. Both are cheaper to build than most people expect.
What should I do in the first month?
Finish one short course or project from the first section, then update how you describe your experience so the new direction is obvious in the first two lines.
