Cover Image for What evaluation frameworks exist for AI, and what's their rationale?
Cover Image for What evaluation frameworks exist for AI, and what's their rationale?
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What evaluation frameworks exist for AI, and what's their rationale?

Hosted by sugaroverflow, Alexandra Ciocanel & Edward Saperia
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About Event

This session is part of the How to Think about Tech? The Case of 'AI Safety' study group initiated by some of the fellow candidates of the 2025/2026 Introduction to Political Technology course. It is open to faculty and fellowship candidates only.

Evaluations (or "evals") have become central to AI governance - companies use them to justify model releases, regulators require third-party assessments, and researchers design benchmarks for dangerous capabilities.

But who decides what gets measured? Whose values are embedded in evaluation design? And how do evals function in practice?

​This study group session examines AI evaluation as both a technical practice and a political process, analyzing how "safety" gets operationalized through benchmarks, who holds power in defining risk, and what systematically gets excluded from evaluation frameworks.

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Key Discussion Questions:

  • Who decides what capabilities or risks to evaluate?

  • How do evaluation frameworks shape what gets built and deployed?

  • What's the relationship between evals and actual safety?

  • Can we evaluate "societal impact"? What would that require?

  • How do evals function in governance?

  • What gets optimized when benchmarks become targets?

  • What's the gap between evaluation results and deployment decisions?

Recommended Readings: 

Readings are also linked in the study group doc

Introduction & Context

Technical Approaches (for reference)

Critical Perspectives & Limitations

Listen/Watch

Alternative Approaches & Sociotechnical Evaluation

For Technical Deep Dive (Optional)

Location
Newspeak House
133 Bethnal Grn Rd, London E2 7DG, UK
Lounge
1 Going