Around 50 attendees filed into Andrews House on Monday evening to hear a panel of University professors discuss the accessibility of public data sets under the Trump administration and the potential use of AI and technology in executing federal actions.
The panel, which was titled “Data in the Trump/DOGE Era,” was co-sponsored by the Data Science Institute and the Cogut Institute for the Humanities. It featured five professors across an array of disciplines, including public health, international affairs and data science. The event was moderated by DSI Deputy Director Holly Case, a professor of history and humanities.
Quoting author Yuval Noah Harari, incoming DSI Director Brenda Rubenstein began the event by emphasizing the importance of data.
“The most important asset in the 21st century is data,” said Rubenstein, an associate professor of chemistry and physics. “Those who control the data control the future, not just of humanity, but of life itself.”
During the panel, former White House tech advisor Suresh Venkatasubramanian — interim director of the DSI and director of the Center for Technological Responsibility, Re-imagination and Redesign — outlined how the federal administration’s approach to data sets has diverged from that of previous administrations.
According to Venkatasubramanian, who is also a professor of data science and computer science, the Trump administration has attempted to “get rid of” data that focuses on government operations while maintaining access to data that is “trying to surveil” the American population.
He also described how the Department of Governmental Efficiency’s “hunger to collect more data” is driven by the belief that “we will suddenly magically make government more efficient,” particularly through the use of artificial intelligence.
Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs Tim Edgar described DOGE as a “hacking team” that takes a “move fast, break things” approach.
“Security engineers think about systems in terms of their weaknesses and their vulnerabilities,” he said, adding that DOGE views the United States Constitution in a similar light.
Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Epidemiology Diana Grigsby pointed to DOGE’s current plans to facilitate a hackathon in order to gain access to the Internal Revenue Services’s data. According to Grigsby, DOGE intends to use IRS tax records to identify immigrants lacking permanent legal status.
“We are not used to thinking of the White House as a royal court, but in many ways it has become one,” Edgar said, describing what he perceived as a lack of oversight of DOGE.
“We’re constantly on defense,” Grigsby said. Referencing times when data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were made unavailable to researchers, Grisby explained that “when this data is being purged, there’s no time to react, there’s no time to plan.”
“The things that we relied on for so long, we can’t rely on them anymore,” she added. “People are losing trust in these data sources.”
Professor of Environment and Society, Population Studies and Epidemiology Beth Fussell also described how these actions may impact government credibility. “People will not share their information with the government unless they trust the government,” she said, explaining that this trust is “steadily diminishing.”
According to Grigsby, the sudden unavailability of data has prompted the rapid creation of data rescue organizations. But generating data remains a challenge.
Future data collection is also at risk, according to Grigsby. At Brown, librarians and professors like Case have led efforts to archive government data to protect it for future use, The Herald previously reported.
Given the tenuous availability of data, researchers must be “a lot more creative” when constructing data sets, Grigsby said. Forming partnerships across academic disciplines and institutions might be a viable option in the future, she added.
Venkatasubramanian said he was “hopeful” about the impactful work that could be done at the local level, including strengthening existing data-sharing arrangements between Rhode Island government agencies and local researchers.
Panel attendee Tuan Pham GS, a graduate research assistant in the Center for Computational Molecular Biology, said the multidisciplinary perspectives were “extremely helpful.”
“Data runs through the vein of research, through the vein of democracy itself,” he said. “I’m just trying to understand the best way to move forward.”
Acting Director of the Climate Solutions Lab and Professor of International and Public Affairs Mark Blyth emphasized the importance of advocacy to protect future data availability.
“You have to fight on multiple fronts,” he said. “One of them is the integrity of data, but it’s one of many.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Annika Singh is a senior staff writer from Singapore who enjoys rewatching Succession and cheating on the NYT crossword.
