Tech Policy Lab Annual Report 2020-21

This first report marks the launch of the Cornell Tech Policy Lab, established to study the effect of emerging technology on politics and the effect of politics on technology.

Its stated comparative advantage was to take both seriously at once. Technology is often studied by engineers and computer scientists with less grounding in politics, while the sharpest political voices are often less versed in the technology.

The report sets out three founding issue areas, military technology and the accountability questions raised by armed drones, misinformation and the targeted manipulation of public opinion on social media, and the pandemic, where political leaders were urged to follow a science that did not speak with one voice.