An Academy event explored the interplay between artificial intelligence and human memory to understand the threats and opportunities that emerge when they interact. How does machine learning shape our perception of history, identity, and truth?

In a daylong symposium, the American Academy's Commission on the Arts explored the integration of arts, humanities, and STEM in higher education.

The Academy’s record of distinction in Science, Engineering, and Technology dates to its founding mission “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.” Rather than generate new scientific research, the role of the Academy has been uniquely interdisciplinary, bridging the social sciences and arts with the physical sciences to support a national understanding, belief, and trust in science and discovery. Perhaps no better example of this can be found than in the mid-1800s when the Academy hosted hotly contested debates about a new scientific theory: the theory of evolution.

As part of its Making Justice Accessible project, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences hosted a summit in March 2024 to bring together a diverse group of participants to address the civil justice gap.

NAPA and the American Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship led a four-part series on public governance and civic engagement, covering topics such as civic culture, media, and trust in government.

On January 29, 2026, the Academy’s San Diego Committee, in partnership with the San Diego Natural History Museum, organized a discussion on the importance of science in our everyday lives and its impact on our future. The program featured Rommie Amaro (University of California, San Diego) and J. Craig Venter (J. Craig Venter Institute) in conversation with Peter Cowhey (University of California, San Diego). Judy Gradwohl (San Diego Natural History Museum) and M. Margaret McKeown (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit) provided welcome remarks. An edited transcript of the program follows.

On October 16, 2024, the Academy hosted a discussion on the importance of science communication and strategies to bridge the gap between science and the public. The event featured Sean Decatur (American Museum of Natural History) and Naomi Oreskes (Harvard University) in conversation with Holden Thorp (American Association for the Advancement of Science). Shirley Malcom (American Association for the Advancement of Science) offered opening remarks and Cristine Russell (formerly, Harvard Kennedy School) provided some final comments.

The 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding is approaching, and the opportunities are huge for museums to reframe history and engage their communities more deeply.

The Global Security and International Affairs program area draws on the expertise of a broad range of policymakers, practitioners, and scholars to foster knowledge and promote innovative and evidence-based policies to address crucial issues affecting the international community. Projects underway in this area engage with pressing strategic, development, and moral questions that underpin relations among people, communities, and states worldwide. Each initiative embraces a broad conception of security as the interaction among human, national, and global security imperatives. Project recommendations move beyond the idea of security as the absence of war toward higher aspirations of collective peace, development, and justice at all levels of society.

A protracted debate within the Academy over Darwin’s Origin of Species began with a paper on Japanese flora presented by Asa Gray in 1858, leading to an exchange between Louis Agassiz and William Barton Rogers...

Our focus on issues of inequality in many areas of the Academy’s work – from convenings, to commissions and projects, to issues of Dædalus – illustrates what the Academy does best: explore contemporary challenges, identify solutions, and offer ways forward to advance the public good.

As both a scholar and former administrator, Hope Shannon has been immersed in the world of local history organizations, and speaks in her essay to the ways in which such groups can use NIHO to leverage their limited resources.

The CORE Score is a nationwide measurement of American wellbeing. It was launched in November 2023 by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences as a result of the cross-partisan, multi-disciplinary Commission on Reimagining Our Economy (CORE).

At an Academy event held in Seattle, Washington, author Annie Proulx described some surprising places her research has led: from accusations of plagiarism against Alfred, Lord Tennyson to obsessive lepidopterists and images of long-lost swamplands. Following her opening remarks, she joined Shawn Wong, professor of English, in conversation.

A survey of Americans showed substantial engagement with the Humanities - especially history programs on television - during the pandemic.

George Packer, in The Atlantic, considers whether America might now repair our broken democracy by entering an era of major reform - including the Academy's recommendations in Our Common Purpose.