MIT and Carnegie Mellon University have joined a growing research consortium that maintains one of the world’s largest public archives of artificial intelligence governance documents. The collaboration, announced by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology, expands the team behind the AGORA database beyond its original academic partner, Purdue University.
The timing reflects surging demand for reliable information about how governments regulate AI. Since launching in 2024, AGORA has accumulated more than 1,000 laws, regulations, and standards from jurisdictions spanning the United States, the European Union, and beyond. CSET, which operates the archive under its Emerging Technology Observatory, reports that researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in multiple regions now rely on the resource.
Under the expanded arrangement, MIT’s AI Risk Initiative and Carnegie Mellon’s EncyclopAIdia team will work alongside Purdue’s Governance and Responsible AI Lab, known as GRAIL. Together, the three university groups will source, screen, and annotate governance documents. Their stated goals include broader coverage, faster processing, and a more usable interface. Plans also call for publishing analyses and tools built on the archive’s contents.
AGORA’s platform offers plain-language summaries, metadata, thematic tags, and filtering options. Full text accompanies hundreds of AI-focused policies. New material gets added continuously.
“I’m excited these teams are coming together to ensure AGORA is a sustained and useful resource for researchers, policymakers, and journalists shaping how AI is implemented and governed,” said Catherine Aiken, CSET’s Director of Data Science and Research.
Daniel Schiff, Co-Director of GRAIL and Assistant Professor of Technology Policy at Purdue, emphasized the archive’s international reach. “We’ll be able to provide stronger tools, richer insights, and better coverage of more types of documents from around the world.”
Next month, a Schmidt-funded workshop in Washington, D.C., will showcase AGORA and encourage broader community participation.
