Deirdre K. Mulligan is a professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information (iSchool) who works on AI governance, privacy, and sociotechnical analysis of regulatory systems. She is co-founder and faculty director of the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC) and of the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Algorithmic Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency program. She previously served as Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer under the Biden Administration.
Background and roles
Mulligan's academic work spans privacy and algorithmic-accountability scholarship over two decades. At UC Berkeley she holds appointments at the iSchool and helped establish the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC), where she is co-founder and faculty director, and the BAIR Algorithmic Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency program. Her prior government service includes the role of Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer during the Biden Administration.
Research and positions
Mulligan is the lead author, with Nik Marda and Victor Zhenyi Wang, of A Conceptual Model to Guide AI Risk Governance Strategies (Knight Columbia, March 16 2026) — see Sociotechnical AI Risk Governance and A Conceptual Model to Guide AI Risk Governance Strategies (Mulligan + Marda + Wang, Knight Columbia, March 16 2026). The framework names the harm/hazard distinction as a methodological primitive and the handoff lens as an analytic approach.
The framework advances critiques of several governance approaches: a technical-drift critique of International AI Safety Institute Network (INSAI / AISIN) and NIST CAISI (Center for AI Standards and Innovation); a model-centric critique of Responsible Scaling Policy (RSP), Anthropic's Responsible Scaling Policy (Version 2.2), and OpenAI Preparedness Framework V.2; and an if-then-rationality critique of Safety Cases (Frontier AI) and inability arguments.
Earlier work with Bamberger (Mulligan & Bamberger) developed the handoff lens, using coordinated CSAM-handling as the canonical example of a sociotechnical system.
Relationships
- affiliated-with: Uc Berkeley (iSchool), Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC)
- prior-role: Deputy U.S. CTO (Biden Administration)
- co-author-with: Nik Marda, Victor Zhenyi Wang (Knight Columbia 2026 framework)
- author-of: A Conceptual Model to Guide AI Risk Governance Strategies (Mulligan + Marda + Wang, Knight Columbia, March 16 2026)
- supports: Sociotechnical AI Risk Governance, Handoffs (sociotechnical concept), Meaningful Human Review
- engages-with: International AI Safety Institute Network (INSAI / AISIN), NIST CAISI (Center for AI Standards and Innovation), Responsible Scaling Policy (RSP), Safety Cases (Frontier AI)