Miguel Buitrago (’26)

This summer I interned at SeedAI as a policy intern. SeedAI is a small, relatively new nonprofit whose mission is to democratize access to AI in the US through policy and community engagement. The policy team, where I was working, works closely with congressional staffers by e.g. organizing primers on the Hill, submitting responses to congressional Requests for Information, and developing content that explains technical concepts in AI in terms understandable to a lay audience.

I worked mainly on research projects geared towards explaining emerging trends in AI research to congressional staff and developing white papers for policy proposals in AI policy. For example, I wrote a explainer piece on neural operators, which are a relatively new AI architecture in physics research for more quickly and more accurately simulating systems involving partial differential equations. My main project was a policy white paper on improving standards for benchmarking practices in AI, especially in consumer-relevant contexts. 

I am extremely happy with my time at SeedAI, and consequently am deeply grateful to the MIT Washington program for making it possible. I not only learned a lot about the policymaking process but also got to engage with many different stakeholders in AI and science policy, topics which saw many developments while I was in DC and which I hope to continue engaging with after leaving MIT.