Nikhil Daniel
Studying how societies govern powerful technologies, international markets, and geopolitical risk.
Harvard College, Class of 2030
I’m a first-year at Harvard studying Social Studies and Statistics. Right now, I do AI and policy research with Orit Shaer at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and I’m an associate for Ambassador Chris Lu at the Institute of Politics.
Before Harvard, I spent most of my time on journalism, debate, and housing policy. I still serve on the advisory board of Outreach Debate, a nonprofit that makes speech and debate accessible to students around the world.
What I’m up to
- Studying Social Studies and Statistics at Harvard
- AI and policy research with Orit Shaer at the Radcliffe Institute
- AI Policy Fellow at the AI Safety Student Team
- Competing with the Harvard College Debating Union
- Associate for Ambassador Chris Lu at the Institute of Politics
- Advisory board member and former executive at Outreach Debate
Before Harvard
- Ranked as high as third in the country in Public Forum debate
- Won the Congressional App Challenge with software for homeless service providers
- Twice named Florida Journalist of the Year (Online and Emerging)
- Published through the UN Human Rights Committee
- Technology innovation at the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida
- Co-founded Clusion, a debate prep platform
Find me elsewhere
Research
AI, policy, and the people who live with both.
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2026–
AI and policy research, Harvard Radcliffe Institute
With Orit Shaer, the 2026–27 Sally Starling Seaver Fellow at Radcliffe and a professor of computer science at Wellesley College, where she directs the Human-Computer Interaction Lab. Her Radcliffe project is a book, Weaving Wonder: Human Flourishing in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, which proposes a framework for designing and evaluating AI systems, drawing on cases from design, education, and emergency medicine.
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Fall 2026
AI Policy Fellow, AI Safety Student Team
A small-group seminar on the pace of AI progress, risks from misuse and misalignment, and the policy responses on the table: model audits and evaluations, liability, transparency, compute and semiconductor governance, and international coordination.
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High school
Technology innovation and housing policy, Homeless Services Network of Central Florida
HSN is the lead agency for Central Florida’s response to homelessness across Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties. It funds shelter and housing programs, runs the region’s coordinated-entry system, and tracks homelessness data to inform policy. I worked on technology innovations there alongside research on housing policy.
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High school
Winner, Congressional App Challenge, Florida’s 10th District
Selected by Rep. Maxwell Frost as the winning app for his district in the House of Representatives’ nationwide coding competition for middle and high school students. The app helps homeless service providers manage their work.
Debate
Arguing for a living, so far without pay.
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2026–
Harvard College Debating Union
Harvard’s internationally competitive debate team, which competes in American Parliamentary style on the APDA circuit and at the World Universities Debating Championship.
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High school
Co-founder, Clusion
A platform for competitive speech and debate that brings rankings, a searchable evidence bank, an AI card cutter, judge reviews, tournament planning, and a coach and judge marketplace into one place. Debaters at schools including Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton use it.
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Ongoing
Advisory board member and former executive, Outreach Debate
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit that makes public speaking and debate more accessible to students worldwide through free camps, learning resources, and an online community spanning dozens of cities across countries including Vietnam, India, Kazakhstan, the United States, and Canada.
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High school
Public Forum debate, ranked as high as third nationally
Two-on-two debate on current-events resolutions, from trade and security policy to technology and human rights.