Recent years have seen growth in the capability and use of AI tools across society, including by business, academia, the media, and the economy more widely. Many institutions have embraced AI tools and models such as ChatGPT (OpenAI) and Gemini (Google) to provide solutions to a variety of challenges, from the everyday to the global. At the same time, many commentators have expressed concerns about bias in AI, its contribution to other global challenges like climate change, and that it may even be a threat to society or democracy.
In February 2025 the Phelan US Centre issued a call for entries from LSE Master's students to write a 1000-word essay on climate change and the United States with the prompt: "Is AI a threat or an opportunity for the US?" Students were encouraged to interpret this prompt from a variety of perspectives, and with an interdisciplinary focus.
Submitted essays were judged by a panel of Phelan US Centre staff and LSE academics.
The winning entry and runners up were published on the US Centre's LSE United States Politics and Policy Blog (USAPP). With over 350,000 visitors every year this is an excellent chance for LSE students to publish their original work on the United States to a wider audience.
Essay competition winner
AI in the US: The Next Space Race or the Next Subprime Crisis? - Kayode Adeniyi - LSE Department of Management
Essay competition runners-up
The AI race: will the US lead or fall behind? - Natasha Chávez - LSE Department of International Relations
Trump’s hunger for AI domination is allowing Silicon Valley to seize the state but not its people - Francesca Nicolodi - LSE Department of Social Policy
Presentation to the British-American Parliamentary Group in the UK Parliament
In April 2025, Kayode Adeniyi presented his essay in Parliament to Lord Fox, Lord Kirkhope, Emily Darlington MP, and The Rt. Hon Richard Holden MP, members of the British-American Parliamentary Group (BAPG). This was followed up with a Q&A session with BAPG members, the essay competition winner, and the runners up, Natasha Chávez and Francesca Nicolodi .
The BAPG is the interparliamentary group for Members of both Houses of Parliament of the United Kingdom to promote closer relations and understanding with Members of both Houses of the US Congress and other US political and leading figures.
Watch the Phelan US Centre video featuring the 2023 climate change essay competition winner and runners-up
Phelan US Centre Climate Change Essay Competition
Header image: Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash