Thompson Paine’s Carolina roots help shape AI’s future | UNC-Chapel Hill
Source: https://www.unc.edu/posts/2026/04/20/thompson-paines-carolina-roots-help-shape-ais-future
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:10
Thompson Paine’s Carolina roots help shape AI’s future | UNC-Chapel Hill
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“UNC seeded a lot of curiosity in me and exposed me to things that I eventually found really interesting and part of my passion,” Paine said. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)
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Thompson Paine ’05 loves returning to Chapel Hill. “I leap at any chance I get.”
In town only 20 hours on April 13, he managed to cram in a run through campus, java with a friend at Meantime Coffee in the Campus Y, then a Sutton’s Drug Store lunch.
But that day, Paine’s main mission as Anthropic’s head of geopolitics was to join other representatives from government and the tech industry, as well as Carolina’s experts, at the University’s
AI for Public Good Conference
.
For Anthropic, Paine researches and analyzes the global AI landscape, assessing future scenarios and how current trends align with them. He examines policy implications of the scenarios to identify actions policymakers can take to steer AI development toward beneficial outcomes and avoid potential risks.
“The conference was really well done,” said Paine. “Carolina got fantastic speakers. They teed up the right topics for discussion. All of the moderators and organizers asked great questions, as well as the attendees. It was a quite productive use of time.”
Paine noticed how knowledgeable policymakers and higher education administrators and faculty are about AI’s potential benefits and risks. “There’s a meme that the government is always behind and can’t grasp new technologies. That meme is unfair. People at UNC and in North Carolina government are asking the right questions, are already starting to take some of the right actions.”
After years of AI development, Paine said, what feels distinct in 2026 is that scenarios long considered hypothetical by technologists and policymakers are becoming a reality. Anthropic’s Mythos model and its cyber capabilities, for example, stunned security experts by uncovering software vulnerabilities that researchers failed to find over decades. It changed the nature of AI discussions.
During the keynote panel, conference co-chair
Marina Carreker ’03
asked Paine about preparing the next generation for the AI era. He echoed remarks by Magnus Egerstedt, Carolina’s executive vice chancellor and provost. “The qualities of problem-solving, curiosity, being entrepreneurial, seeing around corners are going to enable people to adapt to a world economy that will change quickly in their lifetime. That’s going to be as important, if not more important, than the tactical skills or domains that you bring. We need people in every discipline — sciences, math, liberal arts — to have those more intangible skills on top of tactical, concrete ones so that they can adapt. The second thing needed is leaders. In times of high uncertainty, you need high-quality leaders. UNC produces leaders uniquely well.”
Carolina days
At Carolina, Paine was a Morehead-Cain scholar and majored in political science. He soaked up what he learned in classes and from other students who tried new things and explored subjects they’d never thought about studying.
“UNC seeded a lot of curiosity in me and exposed me to things that I eventually found really interesting and part of my passion,” Paine said. “I developed confidence that it was not risky to pursue something that was uniquely interesting to me, even if everyone else wasn’t pursuing it,” he said. Paine credits many professors with encouraging him, among them faculty in Chinese politics, history and Chinese language.
Before his sophomore year, Paine took a risk and taught English for the summer in Yantai City, China. The experience was so transformational that he added a second major in Asian studies and began studying Chinese language. After graduating, he taught in Dalian City, China, for a year. He moved to Beijing without a job and found one as a political analyst at the U.S. Embassy. He later earned a law degree and an MBA at Stanford University.
In a career that includes jobs at iTunes and Quizlet before he joined Anthropic in 2023, Paine traces each step back to the summer in China and encouragement from faculty and mentors.
“I have such deep feelings and nostalgia for Carolina and love returning,” Paine said. “It’s fun to see UNC leading on issues and topics that I not only care about, but that are crucially important.”
Carolina’s first AI for Public Good Conference offered cutting edge views on the future of artificial intelligence to nearly 600 attendees.
Marina Carreker ’03 helps businesses use artificial intelligence responsibly at Galleon Strategies and is bringing industry expertise to the Carolina community.
Want more Carolina news? The Well newsletter updates Tar Heels on UNC-Chapel Hill’s top stories, upcoming events and campus accolades, arriving in your inbox every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning.
NC Children’s will be North Carolina’s first freestanding hospital dedicated to caring for kids.
The Carolina sophomore shares her life through her poems, tours and activities on campus.
Heather Wasser focuses her work on safe infant feeding, a concern after the storm hit western North Carolina.
During a BIOL 119 hospital shift, Neha Varrier did CPR on a patient until help arrived.
This fall, nearly a thousand Tar Heels got help from fellow students through this free Learning Center program.
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Alert Carolina!
Normal
The University is currently operating under normal conditions
Last updated at 4:01am
Tuesday,
March 17th, 2026
Skip to Main Content
“UNC seeded a lot of curiosity in me and exposed me to things that I eventually found really interesting and part of my passion,” Paine said. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Pinterest
Share via Email
Print Friendly
Thompson Paine ’05 loves returning to Chapel Hill. “I leap at any chance I get.”
In town only 20 hours on April 13, he managed to cram in a run through campus, java with a friend at Meantime Coffee in the Campus Y, then a Sutton’s Drug Store lunch.
But that day, Paine’s main mission as Anthropic’s head of geopolitics was to join other representatives from government and the tech industry, as well as Carolina’s experts, at the University’s
AI for Public Good Conference
.
For Anthropic, Paine researches and analyzes the global AI landscape, assessing future scenarios and how current trends align with them. He examines policy implications of the scenarios to identify actions policymakers can take to steer AI development toward beneficial outcomes and avoid potential risks.
“The conference was really well done,” said Paine. “Carolina got fantastic speakers. They teed up the right topics for discussion. All of the moderators and organizers asked great questions, as well as the attendees. It was a quite productive use of time.”
Paine noticed how knowledgeable policymakers and higher education administrators and faculty are about AI’s potential benefits and risks. “There’s a meme that the government is always behind and can’t grasp new technologies. That meme is unfair. People at UNC and in North Carolina government are asking the right questions, are already starting to take some of the right actions.”
After years of AI development, Paine said, what feels distinct in 2026 is that scenarios long considered hypothetical by technologists and policymakers are becoming a reality. Anthropic’s Mythos model and its cyber capabilities, for example, stunned security experts by uncovering software vulnerabilities that researchers failed to find over decades. It changed the nature of AI discussions.
During the keynote panel, conference co-chair
Marina Carreker ’03
asked Paine about preparing the next generation for the AI era. He echoed remarks by Magnus Egerstedt, Carolina’s executive vice chancellor and provost. “The qualities of problem-solving, curiosity, being entrepreneurial, seeing around corners are going to enable people to adapt to a world economy that will change quickly in their lifetime. That’s going to be as important, if not more important, than the tactical skills or domains that you bring. We need people in every discipline — sciences, math, liberal arts — to have those more intangible skills on top of tactical, concrete ones so that they can adapt. The second thing needed is leaders. In times of high uncertainty, you need high-quality leaders. UNC produces leaders uniquely well.”
Carolina days
At Carolina, Paine was a Morehead-Cain scholar and majored in political science. He soaked up what he learned in classes and from other students who tried new things and explored subjects they’d never thought about studying.
“UNC seeded a lot of curiosity in me and exposed me to things that I eventually found really interesting and part of my passion,” Paine said. “I developed confidence that it was not risky to pursue something that was uniquely interesting to me, even if everyone else wasn’t pursuing it,” he said. Paine credits many professors with encouraging him, among them faculty in Chinese politics, history and Chinese language.
Before his sophomore year, Paine took a risk and taught English for the summer in Yantai City, China. The experience was so transformational that he added a second major in Asian studies and began studying Chinese language. After graduating, he taught in Dalian City, China, for a year. He moved to Beijing without a job and found one as a political analyst at the U.S. Embassy. He later earned a law degree and an MBA at Stanford University.
In a career that includes jobs at iTunes and Quizlet before he joined Anthropic in 2023, Paine traces each step back to the summer in China and encouragement from faculty and mentors.
“I have such deep feelings and nostalgia for Carolina and love returning,” Paine said. “It’s fun to see UNC leading on issues and topics that I not only care about, but that are crucially important.”
Carolina’s first AI for Public Good Conference offered cutting edge views on the future of artificial intelligence to nearly 600 attendees.
Marina Carreker ’03 helps businesses use artificial intelligence responsibly at Galleon Strategies and is bringing industry expertise to the Carolina community.
Want more Carolina news? The Well newsletter updates Tar Heels on UNC-Chapel Hill’s top stories, upcoming events and campus accolades, arriving in your inbox every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning.
NC Children’s will be North Carolina’s first freestanding hospital dedicated to caring for kids.
The Carolina sophomore shares her life through her poems, tours and activities on campus.
Heather Wasser focuses her work on safe infant feeding, a concern after the storm hit western North Carolina.
During a BIOL 119 hospital shift, Neha Varrier did CPR on a patient until help arrived.
This fall, nearly a thousand Tar Heels got help from fellow students through this free Learning Center program.
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