Nicole Alvarez writes on AI and technology policy at the Center for American Progress (CAP) (The SANDBOX Act Uses AI Policy as a Trojan Horse for Unfettered Deregulation (Center for American Progress, September 2026)), where she is a senior policy analyst on the Technology Policy team (Source: americanprogress.org). Her work covers federal preemption of state AI laws, AI accountability and data privacy.
Background
Before joining CAP, Alvarez worked at the Future of Privacy Forum, analyzing legal and ethical aspects of data collection. She holds a Juris Doctor from Penn State Dickinson Law and a bachelor's degree in psychology from Penn State University (Source: americanprogress.org). She was a 2024–2025 fellow of the Siegel Family Endowment, whose profile states that her work at CAP focuses on accountability measures for AI developers and deployers and that she leads CAP's data-privacy portfolio (Source: siegelendowment.org). CAP lists the Technology Policy team as Alvarez, director Megan Shahi, and Adam Conner, vice president for technology policy (Source: americanprogress.org).
Positions and publications
SANDBOX Act. With Adam Conner, Alvarez co-wrote the September 2026 CAP report "The SANDBOX Act Uses AI Policy as a Trojan Horse for Unfettered Deregulation" (dated September 22, 2026 on CAP's site), which argues that Sen. Ted Cruz's SANDBOX Act would let companies and the OSTP director waive or modify nearly any federal rule for AI-related activity and concludes that Congress should reject it "and any similar proposal" (The SANDBOX Act Uses AI Policy as a Trojan Horse for Unfettered Deregulation (Center for American Progress, September 2026); Source: americanprogress.org). See AI Regulatory Sandbox and Nondelegation Doctrine.
State-law preemption. The same report cites two earlier 2025 CAP pieces by Alvarez on federal preemption of state AI laws: "The Senate's AI Ban Applies to Every State, Not Just BEAD Recipients" and "Moratoriums and Federal Preemption of State Artificial Intelligence Laws Pose Serious Risks" (The SANDBOX Act Uses AI Policy as a Trojan Horse for Unfettered Deregulation (Center for American Progress, September 2026)). CAP dates the first June 13, 2025; it argued that the Senate reconciliation draft contained a standalone 10-year ban on most state and local AI regulation that applied regardless of whether a state sought broadband funding. The second, dated November 19, 2025, examined what the failed 2025 moratorium indicated about renewed preemption efforts. With Conner she also wrote "The Senate's AI Pause May Take Billions in State Broadband Funds Hostage" (June 26, 2025) and "4 Reasons the Senate's AI Pause Should Be Opposed" (June 27, 2025), which urged senators to remove the provision from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Source: americanprogress.org). CAP held an April 29, 2026 event, "Preemption of State AI Laws Is Not the Path Forward," listed on her author page (Source: americanprogress.org). See AI Federalism and State-Level AI Regulation.
Privacy and government data. Alvarez's CAP work in 2025 also addressed privacy law and federal data use: articles on the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Department of Government Efficiency's access to federal databases (February and March 2025), CAP's April 2025 response to the House Energy and Commerce Committee privacy working group's request for information, a May 2025 report with Conner proposing mandated data deletion and algorithmic disgorgement for systems built on unlawfully obtained government data, and an August 2025 report on the consolidation of federal records into a centralized database (Source: americanprogress.org). See AI and Privacy.
Relationships
- related: Center for American Progress — employer
- related: The SANDBOX Act Uses AI Policy as a Trojan Horse for Unfettered Deregulation (Center for American Progress, September 2026) — co-author
- related: Adam Conner — co-author
- related: Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) — former employer
- related: Ted Cruz — sponsor of legislation she has opposed
- related: SANDBOX Act (S. 2750), AI Regulatory Sandbox, AI Federalism, State-Level AI Regulation, AI and Privacy