Urs Gasser

Urs Gasser is Professor of Public Policy, Governance and Innovative Technology, Rector of the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy (HfP), and Dean of the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology. His research focuses on the interactions between innovative technologies and society, particularly the social and regulatory implications of AI, augmented and virtual reality, and quantum technologies. At TUM, he has spearheaded the TUM Think Tank and launched initiatives such as the TUM Generative AI Task Force, the TUM Quantum Social Lab, the Friedrich Schiedel Fellowship for Technology in Society, and the Global Tech Policy Practice.  

Prof. Gasser advises international organizations such as the OECD, UNICEF, and UNESCO. He also contributes to policy discussions at the World Economic Forum (WEF), is a member of the US National Academies of Sciences Working Group on Generative AI, and chairs the International Policy Advisory Panel on AI Governance of the Kingdom of Thailand. Previously, he served as a member of the Colombian President’s Commission of Experts on AI and a member of the German Digital Council under Chancellor Merkel.

Previously, he was Executive Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School. He continues to serve on the Berkman Klein Center’s Board of Directors and is a Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard. He was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Zurich, Singapore Management University, University of St. Gallen, and KEIO University in Japan.

Dr. Gasser frequently acts as a commentator on digital technology, policy, and society issues for the US and European media.

Key Publications

Selected Books

• Gasser, U., & Palfrey, J. (2025), Advanced Introduction to Law and Digital Technologies. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Gasser, U., & Mayer-Schönberger, V. (2024), Guardrails: Guiding Human Decisions in the Age of AI. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Drolshammer, J., & Gasser, U. (2020). Pandemie als Verbundkrise und Digitales Phänomen: Betrachtungen aus dem «Lockdown» zu einer neuen Rechtswirklichkeit. Basel: Helbing Lichtenhahn.
• Palfrey, J., & Gasser, U. (2020). The Connected Parent: An Expert Guide to Parenting in the Digital World. New York: Basic Books.
• Thouvenin, F., Hettich, P., Burkert, H., & Gasser, U. (2018). Remembering and Forgetting in the Digital Age. Berlin: Springer.

Recent Articles

•  Blau, W., et al. (2024). Protecting Scientific Integrity in the Age of Generative AI. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 21 May 2024, Vol 121, No 22, 1-3.
• Gasser, U. (2024). Governing AI with Intelligence. Issues in Science and Technology, Summer 2024, 36-40.
• Gasser, U., De Jong, E., Kop, M. (2024). A call for responsible quantum technology. Nature Physics, 9 Apr 2024, Vol 20, 525-527.
• Kop, M., Aboy, M., De Jong, E., Gasser, U., Minssen, T., Cohen, I.G., Brongersma, M., Quintel, T. Floridi, L., Laflamme, R. (2024). Ten principles for responsible quantum innovation. Quantum Science and Technology, Vol 9, Issue 3, 035013.
• Gasser, U. (2023). An EU landmark for AI governance. Science, 15 Jun 2023, Vol 280, Issue 6651, 1203.
• Kostick-Quenet, K., Mandl, K.D., Minssen, T., Cohen G.I., Gasser, U., Kohane, I., McGuire, A.L. (2022). How NFTs could transform health information exchange: Can patients regain control over their health information? Science, 3 Feb 2022, Vol 375, Issue 6580, 500-502.
• Vokinger, Kerstin N., Gasser, U. (2021). Regulating AI in medicine in the United States and Europe. Nature Machine Intelligence 2021 (3), 738-739.