Podcasts
Podcast Series 5: AI Commission Final Report Highlights from NSCAI Staff
Reorganizing DoD for the AI Future with Ryan Carpenter, Lance Lantier, and Justin Lynch
Reorganizing DoD for the AI Future with Ryan Carpenter, Lance Lantier, and Justin Lynch
Ryan Carpenter, Lance Lantier, Justin Lynch
NSCAI Directors of Research and Analysis Ryan Carpenter and Justin Lynch & Former Director of Research and Analysis Lance Lantier
NSCAI Directors of Research and Analysis Justin Lynch and Ryan Carpenter along with former Director of Research and Analysis Lance Lantier talk about how the 1986 Goldwater Nichols Act that reorganized the US military inspired the commission’s recommendations to reorganize the Department of Defense to drive adoption of emerging and disruptive technology capabilities.
IP Protection for AI with Rama Elluru and Christie Lawrence
IP Protection for AI with Rama Elluru and Christie Lawrence
Rama Elluru and Christie Lawrence
NSCAI Director of Research and Analysis Rama Elluru and former Director of Research and Analysis Christie Lawrence
NSCAI Director of Research and Analysis Rama Elluru and former Director of Research and Analysis Christie Lawrence talk about how intellectual property protections play an unexpected role in guiding U.S. innovation and contribute to the global competition with China for dominance in AI.
Steps to Drive AI Innovation with Tess DeBlanc-Knowles and Michael Garris
Steps to Drive AI Innovation with Tess DeBlanc-Knowles and Michael Garris
Tess DeBlanc-Knowles and Michael Garris
NSCAI Director of Research Tess DeBlanc-Knowles and former Chief Technology Advisor Michael Garris
NSCAI director of Research and Analysis Tess Deblanc-Knowles and former Chief Technology Advisor Mike Garris talk about the steps the U.S. government needs to take to foster AI innovation in the years ahead.
Stronger Together with David Kumashiro and Matt Cordova
Stronger Together with David Kumashiro and Matt Cordova
David Kumashiro and Matt Cordova
NSCAI Directors of Research and Analysis David Kumashiro and Matt Cordova
In this episode NSCAI Directors of Research and Analysis David Kumashiro and Matt Cordova discuss how the rapid pace of technological development and the threats those developments pose to national security require an accelerated, internationally collaborative effort on AI.
The International Democratic Development Initiative with Paul Lekas and Christie Lawrence
The International Democratic Development Initiative with Paul Lekas and Christie Lawrence
Paul Lekas and Christie Lawrence
NSCAI Directors of Research and Analysis Paul Lekas and Christie Lawrence
Part two of double feature with NSCAI Directors of Research and Analysis Paul Lekas and Christie Lawrence. In this episode, they discuss shaping a favorable international technology order including details on the Emerging Tech Coalition, the International Digital Development Initiative, international standards, development finance and aid, and export controls.
Shaping a Favorable International Technology Order with Paul Lekas and Christie Lawrence
Shaping a Favorable International Technology Order with Paul Lekas and Christie Lawrence
Paul Lekas and Christie Lawrence
NSCAI Directors of Research and Analysis Paul Lekas and Christie Lawrence
Part one of double feature with NSCAI Directors of Research and Analysis Paul Lekas and Christie Lawrence. In this episode, they discuss shaping a favorable international technology order including details on the Emerging Tech Coalition, the International Digital Development Initiative, international standards, development finance and aid, and export controls.
Setting the Technical Foundations for AI with Michael Garris and Mike Jackson
Setting the Technical Foundations for AI with Michael Garris and Mike Jackson
Micheal Garris and Mike Jackson
Former NSCAI Chief Technology Advisor Micheal Garris and former Director of Research and Analysis Mike Jackson
Former NSCAI Chief Technology Advisor Micheal Garris and former Director of Research and Analysis Mike Jackson spoke on how DoD can set the technical foundations for an AI future. Some of the topics discussed include AI digital ecosystems, the IC technical environment, necessary interoperability/sharing across the national security sector.
Public-Private Partnerships for AI Innovation with Parker Wild and Aristotle Vainikos
Public-Private Partnerships for AI Innovation with Parker Wild and Aristotle Vainikos
Parker Wild and Aristotle Vainikos
Former NSCAI fellow Parker Wild and former intern Aristotle Vainikos
Former NSCAI fellow Parker Wild and former intern Aristotle Vainikos spoke about the commission’s recommendations for establishing public-private innovation hubs around the country that can encourage and tap the entrepreneurial potential between the coasts and expand the participation of private enterprise in national security.
AI: Getting the Intelligence Community Up To Speed with Mike Jackson and Darren Wright
AI: Getting the Intelligence Community Up To Speed with Mike Jackson and Darren Wright
Mike Jackson and Darren Wright
NSCAI staff member Mike Jackson and volunteer Darren Wright
NSCAI staff Mike Jackson and Volunteer Darren Wright talk about the commission’s recommendations for bringing the intelligence community up to speed with AI. They spoke about the organizational changes needed and the culture shift required to ensure that the intelligence community is integrating AI in its work.
Democratizing AI for the for the Warfighter with David J. Kumashiro and Courtney Barno
Democratizing AI for the for the Warfighter with David J. Kumashiro and Courtney Barno
David J. Kumashiro and Courtney Barno
NSCAI staff member David J. Kumashiro and former NSCAI staff member Courtney Barno
NSCAI staff member David J. Kumashiro and former member Courtney Barno talk about leadership and synchronization of the warfighter and enabling bottom-up AI innovation. Other discussion topics include the Role of JAIC, AI delivery teams, AI experimentation, and wargaming.
Making the Government a Better AI Customer with Raina Davis and Kevin McGinnis
Making the Government a Better AI Customer with Raina Davis and Kevin McGinnis
Raina Davis and Kevin McGinnis
NSCAI staff members Raina Davis and Kevin McGinnis
NSCAI staff members Raina Davis and Kevin McGinnis talk about what it is going to take to make the government a better AI customer. Discussion topics include networking digital initiatives, signaling priorities, investments, and SBIR reform.
Organizing DoD to Adopt and Scale with Courtney Barno and Christopher Rice
Organizing DoD to Adopt and Scale with Courtney Barno and Christopher Rice
Courtney Barno and Christopher Rice
NSCAI staff member Christopher Rice and former member Courtney Barno
NSCAI staff member Christopher Rice and former member Courtney Barno talk about what it is going to take to organize DoD to adopt and scale AI applications. Discussion topics include NDS tech annex, agile acquisition, modernizing the budget, divestment from legacy systems/investments in AI R&D, tech scouting, and educating the warfighter for the AI era.
Educating the Warfighter to Use AI with Justin Lynch, Lance Lantier, and Shaantam Chawla
Educating the Warfighter to Use AI with Justin Lynch, Lance Lantier, and Shaantam Chawla
Justin Lynch, Lance Lantier, and Shaantam Chawla
with NSCAI staff Justin Lynch, Lance Lantier, and Shaantam Chawla
NSCAI staff Justin Lynch, Lance Lantier, and Shaantam Chawla, talked about educating the warfighter for the AI era. They spoke about what kind of training warfighters need to effectively integrate AI, from commanders to infantry men and women and how that integration will change the nature of warfare and the military’s perception of itself in the years ahead.
NSCAI Final Report Overview with Executive Director Yll Bajraktari
NSCAI Final Report Overview with Executive Director Yll Bajraktari
Yll Bajraktari
with Executive Director, Yll Bajraktari
Yll Bajraktari, Executive Director of the National Security Commission on AI, talked about what he considers the most important recommendations in the Commission’s Final Report and about the need for Congress and the White House to act swiftly to counter China’s concerted efforts to beat the U.S. in deploying this critical technology around the world.
Podcast Series 4: Highlights from 2020 Quarterly Recommendations
Ethical and Responsible AI: International Standards
Ethical and Responsible AI: International Standards
Dr. Eric Horvitz
with Dr. Eric Horvitz
NSCAI Commissioner Eric Horvitz talked about the commission's recommendation that the U.S. government promote international standards in areas that further the responsible use of AI among the U.S. and its allies.
AI Applications: Data Processing
AI Applications: Data Processing
Katharina McFarland
with The Honorable Katharina McFarland
NSCAI Commissioner Katharina McFarland talks about ensuring AI projects move beyond early stage research and development and the critical need for the intelligence community to employ AI to process ever-increasing amounts of data.
Accountable AI
Accountable AI
Eric Horvitz
with Eric Horvitz
NSCAI Commissioner Eric Horvitz talks about human-AI teaming and the need for humans to be accountable for AI decisions.
Marshaling AI Competition: Ensuring Technological Literacy Among the US Diplomatic Corp
Marshaling AI Competition: Ensuring Technological Literacy Among the US Diplomatic Corp
Gilman Louie
with Gilman Louie
NSCAI Commissioner Gilman Louie discusses the need for training to ensure technological literacy among the US diplomatic corps to counter China and other strategic competitors and adversaries in the AI age.
Research and Development: AI for the Warfighter
Research and Development: AI for the Warfighter
Ken Ford
with Ken Ford
NSCAI Commissioner Ken Ford talks about integrating artificially intelligent agents into warfighter teams.
AI Applications: Establishing an Emerging Technology Steering Committee
AI Applications: Establishing an Emerging Technology Steering Committee
Katharina McFarland
with Katharina McFarland
with The Honorable Katharina McFarland
NSCAI Commissioner Katharina McFarland talked about the Commission's recommendation that the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence establish a steering committee on emerging technology to ensure that AI for national security gets top priority in the years ahead.

Research and Development: Doubling AI R&D Funding
Research and Development: Doubling AI R&D Funding
Dr. Andrew Moore
with Dr. Andrew Moore
NSCAI Commissioner Andrew Moore speaks about the Commission's recommendation that Congress double non-defense AI R&D funding to $2 billion.

AI Workforce: Attracting and Retaining Talent
AI Workforce: Attracting and Retaining Talent
Dr. Jose-Marie Griffiths
with Dr. Jose-Marie Griffiths
NSCAI commissioner Jose-Marie Griffiths talks about how to strengthen the government's AI workforce, focusing on raising AI literacy within the government and streamlining government hiring practices in order to attract and retain talent.

International Standard Bodies: The China Challenge
International Standard Bodies: The China Challenge
with Gilman Louie
Gilman Louie
NSCAI Commissioner Gilman Louie talks about the challenge China poses to international standards bodies that are charting the course for global infrastructure, such as 5G.

AI Key Considerations
AI Key Considerations
with Dr. Eric Horvitz
Dr. Eric Horvitz
This week we spoke with NSCAI Commissioner Dr. Eric Horvitz about the AI Key Considerations NSCAI included in its Third Quarter Recommendations submitted to Congress in October 2020.
Podcast Series 3: Interim Report and Third Quarter Recommendations

National Security Applications for AI
National Security Applications for AI
Hon. Katharina McFarland
with Hon. Katharina McFarland
This week I speak with NSCAI Commissioner Katharina McFarland about her line of effort’s recommendations to empower chief technology officers in the Defense Department and Intelligence Community to oversee AI efforts, ensuring that initiatives are not siloed in individual offices, while creating more flexible funding to get good ideas into production faster.

Protect and Build Upon AI Tech Advantages and Hardware
Protect and Build Upon AI Tech Advantages and Hardware
Chris Darby
with Chris Darby
Chris Darby, NSCAI commissioner and CEO of the U.S. Intelligence Community-backed tech investment company In-Q-Tel, talks about the commission's recommendation that AI for national security be extended to biotechnology and that bio-data be considered an instrument of national power.

Ethical and Responsible AI
Ethical and Responsible AI
Dr. Eric Horvitz
with Dr. Eric Horvitz
This week we talked to NSCAI Commissioner Eric Horvitz about ensuring the interoperability of AI systems with US allies and working to make all AI systems reliable. Beyond interoperability, he discusses the need to address the complexity and possibility of unexpected interactions among AI systems.

Research and Development
Research and Development
Dr. Steve Chien
with Dr. Steve Chien
NSCAI commissioner Steve Chien, technical supervisor of the artificial intelligence group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, talks about the Commission's Interim Report and third quarter recommendations and the growing demand for AI solutions in space, from coordinating an increasing number of earth-orbiting objects to protecting critical communication satellites from attack.

Training and Recruiting AI Talent
Training and Recruiting AI Talent
Dr. José-Marie Griffiths
with Dr. José-Marie Griffiths
This week, NSCAI Commissioner José-Marie Griffiths talks about her line of effort's recommendations to increase STEM related educational funding by $8 billion in order to prime the pump for an AI ready workforce and to make a variety of bureaucratic changes that will open AI related career pathways for government employees.

Marshaling AI Cooperation
Marshaling AI Cooperation
Jason Matheny
with Jason Matheny
In this week’s episode, NSCAI Commissioner Jason Matheny talks about coordinating AI developments with NATO and making India the focus of the United State's Indo-Pacific AI strategy to counter China.
Podcast Series 2: Second Quarter Recommendations

Marshaling AI Cooperation
Marshaling AI Cooperation
Gilman Louie
with Gilman Louie
NSCAI Commissioner Gilman Louie talks about great power competition in the digital age and the US need for a more technologically literate diplomatic core to counter China's increasing diplomatic efforts on the technology front.

Research and Development
Research and Development
Dr. Ken Ford
with Dr. Ken Ford
Ken Ford, an NSCAI commissioner and founder/CEO of the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition, talks about turning AI from a tool to a teammate, and unshackling AI research and implementation from government bureaucracy to compete with nimbler countries such as China.

National Security Applications for AI
National Security Applications for AI
Hon. Katharina McFarland
with Hon. Katharina McFarland
Katharina McFarland, an NSCAI commissioner, talks about the commission’s recommendations on inserting AI into the National Defense Strategy and how war games should integrate AI enabled applications in order to inform US military doctrine.

Ethical and Responsible AI
Ethical and Responsible AI
Dr. Eric Horvitz
with Dr. Eric Horvitz
Eric Horvitz, an NSCAI commissioner and the chief scientific officer of Microsoft, speaks this week about the commission’s second quarter recommendations to Congress that responsible and ethical uses be a primary consideration in any AI system for national security.

Protect and Build upon AI Tech Advantages and Hardware
Protect and Build upon AI Tech Advantages and Hardware
Jason Matheny
with Jason Matheny
Jason Matheny, an NSCAI commissioner who now leads a think tank at Georgetown University focused on the intersections of technology, policy and national security, spoke in this week’s episode about the Commission’s recommendations on export controls for sensitive technology and the difficult problem of protecting digital assets like algorithms and data.

Training and Recruiting AI Talent
Training and Recruiting AI Talent
with Hon. Mignon Clyburn
with Hon. Mignon Clyburn
Mignon Clyburn, an NSCAI commissioner and longtime regulator at the FCC, talks about the Commission’s recommendations to increase competency in artificial intelligence at the Department of Defense and other government agencies. Ms. Clyburn talked about establishing a National Reserve Digital Corps with a scholarship program modeled after the ROTC and the creation of a United States Digital Service Academy to mint a new class of civil servants with deep technical knowledge.
Podcast Series 1: First Quarter Recommendations

Ethical and Responsible AI
Ethical and Responsible AI
Dr. Eric Horvitz
with Dr. Eric Horvitz
In this week's episode, the last in a series of six, we talked to Eric Horvitz, Commissioner at the National Security Commission on AI and Chief Research Scientist at Microsoft, about the commission's recommendations to Congress about the need for training, standards and documentation to govern the application of AI in the national security space.

Marshaling AI Cooperation
Marshaling AI Cooperation
Jason Matheny
with Jason Matheny
In this episode, the fourth of a series of six podcast episodes, Jason Matheny, NSCAI Commissioner and founding director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University, talks about his line of effort regarding cooperation on AI with key allies and partners. He spoke about his group's recommendations that the government establish a senior national security point of contact for AI and convene a multilateral working group for AI collaboration and interoperability - as well as the need for AI war games.

NSCAI Recommendations on Training and Recruiting AI Talent
NSCAI Recommendations on Training and Recruiting AI Talent
Dr. José-Marie Griffiths
In the second of a series of podcast episodes, former New York Times correspondent and now a Special Government Employee at the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, Craig S. Smith, spoke with Dr. José-Marie Griffiths, NSCAI Commissioner and President, Dakota State University. The podcast with Dr. Griffiths is focused on her line of effort's recommendations on training and recruiting AI talent, part of the recommendations the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence issued its first-quarter recommendations to Congress in April 2020, covering seven lines of effort, six of which are public and one of which is classified.

NSCAI First Quarter Research and Development Recommendations
NSCAI First Quarter Research and Development Recommendations
Dr. Andrew Moore
with Dr. Andrew Moore
In April 2020, the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence issued its first-quarter recommendations to Congress, covering seven lines of effort, six of which are public and one of which is classified. In the first of a series of podcast episodes about those recommendations, Craig S. Smith, a former New York Times correspondent and now a Special Government Employee at the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, spoke with Andrew Moore, NSCAI Commissioner and Google's Vice President and General Manager, Cloud AI and Industry Solutions, about his line of effort's recommendations on AI R&D funding.

Protect and Build upon AI Tech Advantages and Hardware
Protect and Build upon AI Tech Advantages and Hardware
Gilman Louie
with Gilman Louie
In this fifth of a series of six podcasts episodes, we talk with NSCAI Commissioner Gilman Louie and Co-Founder and Partner of Alsop Louie Partners about his line of effort’s recommendations to Congress on how to maintain US leadership in AI hardware and 5G. He spoke about the need for a national microelectronic strategy and policies that would advance spectrum sharing for 5G to create a global alternative to the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

National Security Applications for AI
National Security Applications for AI
Hon. Katharina McFarland
with Hon. Katharina McFarland
This week I speak with NSCAI Commissioner Katharina McFarland about her line of effort’s recommendations to empower chief technology officers in the Defense Department and Intelligence Community to oversee AI efforts, ensuring that initiatives are not siloed in individual offices, while creating more flexible funding to get good ideas into production faster.