The AI Policy Podcast

On this special episode, New York Times reporter Ana Swanson is joined by Neil Chilson, Head of AI Policy at The Abundance Institute, Kara Frederick, Director, Tech Policy Center at The Heritage Foundation, and Brandon Pugh, Director and Senior Fellow, Cybersecurity and Emerging Threats at R Street Institute. They discuss what we can expect from the incoming Trump administration when it comes to AI policy.

In this episode, we are joined by Alondra Nelson, the Harold F. Linder Chair in the School of Social Science at the Institute of Advanced Study, and the former acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). We discuss her background in AI policy (1:30), the Blueprint for the AI Bill of Rights (9:43), its relationship to the White House Executive Order on AI (23:47), the Senate AI Insight Forums (29:55), the European approach to AI governance (29:55), state-level AI regulation (41:20), and how the incoming administration should approach AI policy (47:04).

In this episode, we discuss recent reporting that so called "scaling laws" are slowing and the potential implications for the policy community (0:37), the latest models coming out of the China AI ecosystem (12:37), the U.S. China - Economic Security Review Commission recommendation for a Manhattan Project for AI (19:02), and the biggest takeaways from the first draft of the European Union's General Purpose AI Code of Practice (25:46) https://www.csis.org/analysis/eu-code-practice-general-purpose-ai-key-takeaways-first-draft https://www.csis.org/analysis/ai-safety-institute-international-network-next-steps-and-recommendations https://www.csis.org/analysis/understanding-military-ai-ecosystem-ukraine https://www.csis.org/events/international-ai-policy-outlook-2025 Correction: hyperscalers Meta, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are expected to invest $300 billion in AI and AI infrastructure in 2025.

In this episode we are joined by Vilas Dhar, President and Trustee of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, a 21st century $1.5 billion philanthropy advancing AI and data solutions to create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable future for all. We discuss his background (1:26), the foundation and its approach to AI philanthropy (4:11), building public sector capacity in AI (13:00), the definition of AI governance (20:07), ongoing multilateral governance efforts (23:01), how liberal and authoritarian norms affect AI (28:35), and what the future of AI might look like (30:30).