AI and the Concentration of Power: A Conversation with Zoë Hitzig and Yochai Benkler

Junior Fellow Zoë Hitzig, known for her research and writing on the political economy of AI, including a widely discussed op-ed reflecting on her decision to leave OpenAI, will examine how AI systems may reshape where knowledge resides and how decisions are made. As these systems begin to capture and operationalize forms of tacit, experience-based knowledge long embedded in workers and local contexts, information itself may become more concentrated—and with it, power. This shift raises broader questions about how institutions act as information powerbrokers, and what happens when expertise and decision-making move from individuals and local settings into centralized systems.

Hitzig will be joined in conversation with HLS Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies Yochai Benkler to discuss how AI systems may reshape where knowledge resides in the economy.

This is a hybrid event, but the in-person event is open to Harvard ID holders only. Registration is required.