I’m Shaun Coughlin, a practitioner working at the intersection of policymaking, technology, and Trust & Safety. Over the past 19 years, I’ve operated across government and technology, including as a U.S. diplomat, senior policy adviser, and leader within platform Intelligence and risk functions.

My work has focused on how complex systems fail under pressure—whether in conflict environments, international justice efforts, or large online platforms facing abuse, manipulation, and adversarial exploitation. At Google, I’ve led strategy, workflows, and cross-functional execution to identify emerging risks and translate policy and regulatory requirements into scalable detection, enforcement, and mitigation approaches, including for generative AI–enabled threats.

Earlier in my career, I helped shape U.S. foreign policy, negotiated international agreements, and engaged directly with foreign governments, international organizations, and civil society in high-risk environments. Across these roles, a consistent theme has been understanding how actors adapt to safeguards—and how institutions can respond without over-relying on static rules or assumptions.

AIxIntel is where I bring those experiences together. The site examines how AI, platform governance, and Intelligence functions interact in practice - especially where traditional safeguards, policies, and enforcement models struggle to keep pace with adaptive threats. The focus is on surfacing overlooked risks, institutional blind spots, and strategic tradeoffs that shape real-world harm and resilience.