The “2024 Carnegie California Global Affairs Survey” revealed how deeply Californians believe their well-being and security to be connected to transnational events and trends, from migration crisis to technological innovation to urban growth. The shape and form of those connections are subjects for the research and analysis that inform much of our work, on elements such as the promise and peril of democracy in the state; AI safety; subnational AI policy; or trade, ports, and infrastructure.
Moreover, understanding and shaping the links between the local and global, whether here in California or in Asia or Africa, is also a matter of storytelling, of narrative. As we move into 2025, we invited five outside experts on migration, democracy and media, democracy and technology, and AI safety to collaborate with us to reflect on the ways storytelling has advanced their understanding of their fields.
Migration
In January, Carnegie California convened with the Stanford Immigration Policy Lab a workshop on “The Future of U.S. Immigration Policy in a Turbulent World.” The workshop report can be found here, and it reflects the input of Alex Aleinikoff, former United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees and current executive dean and professor of The New School for Social Research, as well as one of the world’s leading experts and practitioners on migration.
We asked Alex what story or piece of art—visual, written, performed novel—best advanced his understanding of or ability to explain migration policy and in what way.
Alex Aleinikoff: I would choose Valeria Luiselli’s book, Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions, a gripping, incisive, and distressing account of children subject to the U.S. asylum process. Luiselli’s first-person account, based on her role as an interpreter in interviews with the children, is luminous and poetic while describing a reality that is as hard-edged as it gets. It portrays a system established for humanitarian purposes that is too frequently bewildering to those it is supposed to help and that too often produces inhumane results. The book is a metaphor for our immigration system as a whole—full of complexities and contradictions, welcoming in and turning away.
Democracy and Media
At the end of October, Carnegie California convened an event on “Democracy and the New Media Landscape.” This year was critical for democracy around the world, and Californians understand democracy to be an international, national, and local issue.
We asked Kristen Go, editor-in-chief of CalMatters and a participant in the discussion, what story or piece of art—visual, written, performed novel—best advanced her understanding of or ability to explain the shifting media landscape and how it is shaping democracy.
Kristen Go: The New York Times piece “Bus by Bus, Texas’ Governor Changed Migration Across the U.S,” by J. David Goodman, Keith Collins, Edgar Sandoval, and Jeremy White. This data visualization was a powerful way of seeing how busing migrants directly impacted Democratic-led cities. For months, there were stories about migrants traveling to cities such as New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, and more. But this story embodies the journalistic saying of “show, don't tell.” It was published at the height of the presidential campaign, and although not every single migrant was bused, data from the story estimates that of migrants who had hearings in New York, Chicago, or Denver, at least one in five was bused. At the Republican National Convention, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said it was his way of taking “the border to them.” In essence, he was showing, not telling.
Democracy and Technology
In late September, Carnegie California hosted a workshop with leading experts in the fields of deliberative democracy, democracy policy, and equity in public engagement and technology to advise state officials as they consider new approaches to direct democracy.
We asked Audrey Tang, one of the expert participants and Taiwan’s ambassador-at-large and former digital affairs minister, what story or piece of art—visual, written, performed novel—best advanced her understanding of or ability to explain the upsides of social media and in what way.
Audrey Tang: Visiting Tokyo’s Miraikan [National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation] in July, we stood before the Geo-Cosmos, a giant globe illuminated by shifting streams of data—languages, beliefs, cultures. There, diversity revealed itself not as stark lines, but as shimmering patterns of interlaced identities, each contour fluid and alive. In that moment of shared overview effect, I visualized “prosocial media” as fostering meaning across broad listening, not stoking polarization through viral broadcasting. Like the Geo-Cosmos, prosocial media honors nuance and cultivates empathy, encouraging us to listen across differences. By adopting open protocols, these spaces free content to flow where it’s most needed, granting everyone a voice, a choice, and a stake. As AI refines the stories we see, prioritizing curiosity and care, our digital world can become a garden of understanding. By 2025, prosocial media will champion connection over conflict, weaving us together like those luminous patterns on the globe.
In early October, Carnegie California convened the only global private-sector consultation to inform the UN’s upcoming “People Centred-Smart Cities” guidelines, which UN member states will adopt in 2025. The workshop report will be published in early 2025.
We asked Liza Rose Cirolia, a participant and associate professor at the African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town, which story or piece of art—visual, written, performed novel—best advanced her understanding of or ability to explain urban policy and in what way.
Liza Rose Cirolia: There are so many great pieces. For example, there is an exceptional exhibition on bureaucracy from David Goldblatt, which has forever seared the “work of being the state” into my mind. It has helped me to think about the humans behind the machine of government and all the technologies that shape this. More recently, there was a film screened in Dar es Salaam called The Apostles of Cinema. This documentary really shows how you put something into the world and it takes on its own life, circulating, being interpreted, and shared, far beyond what you might have expected or intended. It follows a famous character in Tanzanian cinema, BJ Black, who would do the translated voiceover, often in real time in small theatres, for Hollywood and Bollywood movies. I love this film not only because it is a very interesting story about cultural infrastructure in urban Tanzania, but it also makes you think about what it means for ideas, policies, plans, and the like, to move and be taken up in different places. In this way, a policy or a plan is something dynamic, which you cannot control once you put it into the world.
AI Safety
In November, Carnegie California hosted a workshop and reception to mark the AI Safety Institute network summit and launch in San Francisco. The workshop, “AI Safety Beyond the Network,” featured leading industry voices and AI safety leads from the United States, France, Singapore, Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
We asked Elizabeth Kelly, the director of the U.S. AI Safety Institute, which story or piece of art—visual, written, performed novel—best advanced her understanding of or ability to explain AI safety and in what way.
Elizabeth Kelly: Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun. Through the lens of Klara, the artificial narrator, Ishiguro reveals the subtle ways humans both create and constrain artificial intelligence and machine agents. While Klara possesses remarkable observational abilities and emotional intelligence, she operates within carefully prescribed boundaries—displayed in a store window, trained to interact with children in specific ways, and expected to fulfill her role as a companion with unwavering dedication. Yet what makes the novel so compelling is how it shows Klara operating in the human world not simply through explicit rules or controls, but just as importantly through social norms, expectations, and relationships with humans.
As AI becomes increasingly capable, AI governance becomes increasingly important. And as Ishiguro’s beautiful novel suggests, it is and will continue to be a nimble “both and” approach as we evolve our understanding of how to harness the immense power of AI and manage its risks, all while keeping human interests in the foreground.
