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By Gabriel Toscano MPP'26
Building Bridges
Like many folks at Sanford, my interest in technology policy sprouted outside of government spaces. I started thinking about policy issues as an undergraduate student working on applied ethical questions. In trying to understand the impacts of technology in society, now and across history, I found myself making connections to law, policy, and governance.
While technologists can decide how to design a system, they can’t decide the social, political, and legal context through which technologies develop. Whether it’s business practices, how data is created and shared, to how people access technology, many determining factors come down to decisions made by policymakers. If history is any indication, building technology that promotes the public interest is neither trivial nor the default trajectory.
In my Sanford journey, my work in the Master of Public Policy program engages with technological innovation, analyzing how policymakers, technologists, and civic society can work together to guide AI development in the public interest. My goal is to build bridges connecting technology, government, and the public to guide decision-making processes toward pro-social outcomes.
Igniting Conversations at Sanford
Serving as the co-president of the Technology Policy Club has allowed me to practice what I preach. In my role, I’m able to work with a group of motivated, kind, and knowledgeable Sanfordites to bring forth conversations that help us understand how to build a more desirable technological future.
We have been fortunate to host social events bringing together students and faculty from more than six departments, lunch-and-learn opportunities where we learned about state-of-the-art research in AI and mental health, and opportunities to engage with students who are publishing and working in promoting spaces across tech, business, and policy.
The ongoing success of the Tech Policy Club speaks to the wealth of knowledge within the Sanford School of Public Policy and the broader Duke and Durham communities. I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to uplift voices willing to help advance shared goals and interests around timely issues.
Advancing Open Source and Beyond
As part of my summer internship with the Open Source Initiative (OSI), I attended the United Nations’ Open Source Week, where I was immersed in an alternative vision of technology. The Free and Open Source Software movement started in the 1970s and 80s as a multistakeholder movement to promote freedoms in the quickly expanding digital world. The goal was, and remains, to promote the free and unrestricted use, sharing, study, and modification of software.
While many people have never thought about software licenses, the licensing framework established by the Open Source movement makes possible many of the core technologies that underlie the internet and many of the digital services we rely on every day.
As I look forward to graduation, I expect to continue working on issues of broad concern that require domain expertise and a deep commitment to the public interest. While the destination remains unclear, the path is coming into focus. Ultimately, I know my time at Sanford is empowering me to influence decisions about why, how, and what we build with digital technologies.
Gabriel Toscano MPP'26 is a philosopher turned computer programmer turned public interest technologist specializing in technology policy. Passionate about advancing technology in the public interest, his work explores the ethical, social, and governance dimensions of computing and digital technologies. Gabriel’s research on artificial intelligence was recently featured in the MIT Science Policy Review and presented at the Stanford Trust and Research Conference. Outside of school and work, Gabriel enjoys playing guitar, singing, making and eating food with his friends and family––ideally at the same time.