# hi, I'm lenz. I do AI governance research and field-building, focusing on how institutions make decisions about AI strategy, and who gets to make them, as we prepare for a post-AGI society. I mostly do project-based stuff, which is why [[Now|I wear a lot of hats]]. Ultimately, I want to work on [[Next|improving institutional decision-making]] so that governments can deal with the rapid *and* massive transformation being brought about by technologies like AI. Right now, I'm a research consultant at [The Asia Foundation](https://asiafoundation.org/), a research fellow at [SPAR](https://sparai.org/), the co-founder and learning experience director of [Safe AI Philippines](https://safeai.ph/), and the co-convenor and lead researcher of [AI4PH](https://ai4ph.substack.com). I also facilitate courses at [BlueDot Impact](https://bluedot.org) and sometimes do [[Research|research collaborations with a bunch of different folks]]. I’m based in Metro Manila, and I like exploring the city through food (and drinks?). I literally wrote [my undergraduate thesis on how food choices differ among urban Filipinos across social classes](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392908087_Mapping_the_urban_food_environment_of_Taguig_City_through_a_place-based_analysis_of_social_capital). I found that the food choices of Filipino individuals (regardless of age and social class) are heavily shaped by whoever heads the household. We eat what they eat. If they go on some kind of diet, so do we. Over time, one person’s preference becomes the habit of a whole family; sometimes, those habits tend to outlast the decision itself. My dad ate lots and lots of seafood while I was growing up. Until now, it's still one of my siblings' and my favorite foods. Policy works a lot like that. There are only a few people who get to decide what millions have to live with, and sometimes those decisions transcend generations. That’s why I care about how those choices get made, why, and by whom, especially now, when governments have to make choices about a technology like AI whose biggest implications haven’t happened yet. --- [CV](https://bit.ly/ld_cv) · [Substack](https://halfbakedtheories.substack.com/) · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/llenzl/) · [GitHub](https://github.com/ramennaut) · [Feedback](https://www.admonymous.co/lenz)