This session invites participants to unlearn a persistent myth: that the public is too disengaged or too uninformed to participate meaningfully in decisions about AI governance. In fact, when we connect these issues to people’s everyday concerns — about fairness, jobs, safety, and accountability — we find something else entirely: a public that is deeply concerned and ready to act.

This will be one of the first opportunities for our movements to engage with the findings of the AI Regulatory Compass — two comprehensive, nationally representative public opinion studies on community attitudes toward AI governance in the United Kingdom and the United States. These groundbreaking studies offer critical insights into how public values, literacy, and attitudes shape political conditions and legislative action — and how we can strategically shape them in return.

Attendees will also gain early access to a new diagnostic tool designed to segment audiences — from our closest allies to the wider public — so that we can more effectively tailor our messages and campaigns to those who need to hear them most.

This keynote will offer clear, actionable findings on:
- How the public genuinely understands AI beyond surface-level perceptions — and how we can shift these views.
- Who people trust to manage AI risks, who they hold accountable, and how we can leverage this in our advocacy claims.
- The most persuasive narratives for shaping public debates and influencing government action.
- Practical recommendations to build stronger public support and trust for ambitious, public interest-oriented AI regulation.

Participants will gain unique, data-driven strategies to directly inform their advocacy, policymaking, and communication efforts, and with new tools for shifting power away from industry-led narratives and toward truly community-informed governance. The session will conclude with a live strategy clinic, where participants can raise real-world challenges and receive on-the-spot guidance on applying the findings to their own work.