Jordi Calvet-Bademunt
Senior Research Fellow, The Future of Free Speech, Vanderbilt University
Senior Research Fellow, The Future of Free Speech, Vanderbilt University
I am a lawyer and senior research fellow at The Future of Free Speech, a think tank at Vanderbilt University. My research examines how AI governance and risk-management obligations affect fundamental rights, combining analysis of legislation and corporate practice with empirical work on model behavior.
At The Future of Free Speech, I designed and now manage a research program on AI and freedom of expression, with $1 million in funding over two years and a team of fifteen legal, technical, and policy experts. We test how ten major AI models, including those built by OpenAI, Google, Mistral AI, and DeepSeek, handle contested speech, and we assess whether AI governance regimes in twelve jurisdictions — among them the EU, the United States, China, and India — are compatible with free expression. I bring the findings to policymakers, industry, and the public through commentary in outlets ranging from MSNBC to Lawfare, talks at conferences, and direct advice to regulators and developers.
I am one of thirty experts worldwide in the Freedom Online Coalition's Advisory Network, which advises an intergovernmental coalition of more than forty governments. My team was one of three external organizations Anthropic invited to review its flagship model for freedom of expression. I am completing a part-time Ph.D. at ESADE Law School on systemic-risk obligations under the EU AI Act and the Digital Services Act.
Before joining Vanderbilt, I spent four years as a policy analyst at the OECD in Paris, where I led reform projects with the governments of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Tunisia. Earlier, I practiced EU law for five years at European law firms. I hold an M.P.A. from the Harvard Kennedy School and an LL.M. from the College of Europe.