Civic AI Security Program

Civic AI Security Program
AbbreviationCivAI
Formation2023; 3 years ago (2023)
Founders
  • Lucas Hansen
  • Siddharth Hiregowdara
TypeNonprofit
Tax ID no.93-4182617
HeadquartersBerkeley, California
Websitecivai.org

The Civic AI Security Program (CivAI) is an American nonprofit organization that raises awareness of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and risks using interactive demonstrations. CivAI gives presentations to lawmakers and civil society organizations and shares public demos online involving deepfakes, phishing attacks, and election misinformation. The organization also makes private demos showing more dangerous capabilities such as biosecurity risks.

CivAI's educational tools have been used by third parties such as the Arizona Secretary of State's office and in a presentation at the 2025 AI Action Summit. It is a member of the NIST AI Consortium.

CivAI was founded in 2023 by Lucas Hansen and Siddharth Hiregowdara in response to the 2022 launch of ChatGPT. The two previously worked together at real estate software company Qualia, which Hansen co-founded. The organization is based in Berkeley, California.

Views

CivAI does not take positions on specific legislation but generally supports bipartisan AI regulation. In June 2025, Hansen argued that AI's "pollution of the information ecosystem" was corrosive to society. In October 2025, he wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed discussing chatbot psychosis, arguing that AI companies should be held liable for harms caused by their products if they don't take adequate precautions. In December 2025, Hansen said that AI systems were already capable of automating much entry-level work, but technical hurdles were delaying widespread adoption.

References

  1. 1 2 Landers, Liz; Refuerzo, Nick; Couvillion, Cameron (2024-08-14). "Scripps News got deepfaked to see how AI could impact elections". Scripps News. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Jenkins, Austin (2025-05-23). "AI safety nonprofit demos dangers for lawmakers". Pluribus News. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  3. ↑ "Explore Our Work - CivAI". civai.org. Retrieved 2025-12-30.
  4. ↑ Dwyer, Devin (2024-10-17). Protecting the vote: State election officials lose sleep over AI (Television production). ABC News. Relevant segment at 2:44.
  5. ↑ Gross, Paige (2025-08-22). "AI is making it easier for bad actors to create biosecurity threats". News From The States. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  6. ↑ "NIST AI Consortium Members". NIST. 2024-02-07.
  7. ↑ "About - CivAI". civai.org. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  8. ↑ Pattison-Gordon, Jule (2024-01-17). "Nonprofit Aims to Help Govt Consider Risks of Generative AI". GovTech. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  9. ↑ Toms, Lauren (2024-09-05). "Berkeley non-profit works to counter AI election disinformation". CBS San Francisco. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  10. ↑ Smith, Carl (2024-10-25). "How Emergency Agencies Can Manage a Storm of Misinformation". Governing. Retrieved 2025-12-22.
  11. ↑ Myers, Steven Lee; Thompson, Stuart A. (2025-06-26). "A.I. Is Starting to Wear Down Democracy". The New York Times.
  12. ↑ Kiniry, Mike (2025-11-04). "Chatbots contributing to what's being called AI Psychosis?". WGCU PBS & NPR for Southwest Florida. Retrieved 2025-12-22.
  13. ↑ Hansen, Lucas (2025-10-02). "Opinion | I Need a Chatbot That Won't Drive Me Crazy". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2025-12-22.
  14. ↑ Scheid, Brian (2025-12-11). "AI eliminating entry-level, tech jobs with effects still in early stages". S&P Global.