Mary Saunders, senior vice president for government relations and public policy at ANSI, shared her insights on the role of international standards in assuring safety and governance of emerging technologies in a recent conversation hosted by the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of International Studies (IIS). Saunders was joined by IIS Senior Fellow Debra L. Miller Glass, Ph.D., for a wide-ranging discussion on how standards intersect with trade policy and global competition at a time of increasing geopolitical tension and regulatory uncertainty.
Drawing on her career spanning ANSI, NIST, and the International Trade Administration, Saunders offered a practitioner’s perspective on how trust and collaboration in international standards development have been strained by trade fragmentation and U.S.-China technological rivalry, while noting that China’s growing intellectual property interests may create some incentive for cooperation — particularly in AI governance.
Saunders underscored the importance of private sector leadership and public-private partnerships in managing technology risks that neither governments nor corporations can navigate alone. She also spoke to the value of communication, negotiation, and consensus-building skills for professionals working at the intersection of technology and policy.
A full recording of the conversation is available on the IIS YouTube channel.
