Imperfect Oracle – What AI Can and Cannot Do: a seminar with Cass Sunstein

Decision-making and Public Policy in the Age of AI

Join us for an engaging seminar with renowned legal scholar, behavioural economist and bestselling author, Cass Sunstein, as he delves into the thought-provoking themes of his latest book, Imperfect Oracle: What AI Can and Cannot Do.

In this illuminating discussion, Sunstein examines the challenges of human decision-making, the cognitive biases that shape human judgments and the promise and limits of AI. 

Drawing on decades of research in behavioural science and his experience in public policy, Sunstein will explore how individuals and institutions grapple with uncertainty, make predictions and navigate the limits of their knowledge and how AI can help overcome human bias and noise. He will also address how these insights can be applied to improve decision-making processes in areas including medicine and law. 

We will discuss:

• understanding the limits of human judgment and how biases influence decisions
• insights into how institutions can design better policies in the face of uncertainty
• understanding how AI can avoid those biases and also ‘noise’
• understanding what AI cannot do, not now and not ever

Refreshments will include a light vegetarian finger buffet lunch, tea and coffee.

Please note that the session will not be streamed or recorded, in keeping with Chatham House rules.

Moderation

Lucia Reisch

El-Erian Professor of Behavioural Economics and Policy

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Research interests

Lucia Reisch researches the theory and application of behavioural insights to promote behavioural change of individuals and organisations towards societal welfare and sustainable development; behavioural economics and policy; consumer behaviour and policy.

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About the speaker

Professor Cass R Sunstein is an Honorary Fellow of the El-Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Public Policy.

He is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard and serves as founder and director of the Program on Behavioural Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. From 2009 to 2012, he was the Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under President Obama. He has worked with the World Health Organization and the United Nations. He served in the Biden Administration at the Department of Homeland Security, focusing on resilience against weather-related risks and on eliminating administrative burdens. In 2024, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the department’s highest civilian honour. He has written several bestselling books, including Nudge, which he co-authored with Richard Thaler. In 2025, he published Manipulation and On Liberalism, as well as Imperfect Oracle.

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