The AI Policy Podcast

4.8 (59)
Tech News
Biweekly

Join CSIS's Aalok Mehta, Director of the Wadhwani AI Center, on a deep dive into the world of AI policy. Every Thursday, tune in for insightful discussions covering AI regulation, economic impacts, national security, geopolitics, and more. CSIS is a bipartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. The AI Policy Podcast is produced by Cera Baker, Nicole Errera, and Chris Gorin.

3d ago

What METR Found at Anthropic + Nvidia's Crisis of Trust

This week, co-hosts Aalok, Nicole, and Chris break down the revelation that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had an affair with an alleged Chinese spy tied to Megaspeed. They also unpack METR's recent report on accelerated AI R&D at Anthropic, before returning to last week's midterm elections and the future of U.S. AI policy. NOTE: This episode was recorded Wednesday November 11, before reports of Jensen Huang’s second affair became public, or the Wall Street Journal report that Nvidia’s board is considering ousting him. Timestamps: 01:02 Nvidia CEO faces spy scandal 05:59 Legal remote access vs. illegal chip diversion 08:56 What the U.S. government knew, and when they knew it 16:39 Why the alleged spy connection matters 18:05 Policy implications 25:15 METR report on the pace of AI progress at Anthropic 34:12 Why RSI is a safety concern 37:15 Reactions from authors of AI 2027 43:23 U.S. midterm election results 50:53 What to expect from the new Congress on AI policy 55:17 Other news: Anthropic IPO + new Fable, Mythos 5.2 modelsAdditional Reading:“Nvidia Chief Seen as Target of Chinese Spy Plot” (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/29/us/politics/nvidia-china-jensen-huang-trump.html Jensen Huang’s statement to Nvidia employees: https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/a-message-to-our-company AI chip imports by country (Epoch AI): https://epoch.ai/data/ai-chip-imports?view=graph&tab=h100_equivalents METR’s assessment of AI R&D acceleration at Anthropic: https://metr.org/blog/2026-11-05-anthropic-ai-rd-acceleration-assessment/ AI Futures Project’s timelines update in response to METR: https://blog.aifutures.org/p/q35-timelines-update-looks-like-the Data center-related ballot measures, 2026 (Ballotpedia): https://ballotpedia.org/Data_center-related_ballot_measures,_2026
Nov 5

America's First AI Election? Plus Sella Nevo on Securing Model Weights

This week, Aalok is joined by Chris Gorin, associate fellow at the Wadhwani AI Center and the newest co-host on the AI Policy Podcast, for a recap of Tuesday’s midterm elections. They discuss how AI influenced voters at the polls and the potential for AI regulation in the new Congress. Aalok then sits down with Sella Nevo to discuss threats to frontier AI labs, securing model weights, and his work on SL5. Guests: Sella Nevo, Director, RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology 0:00 Intro 1:49 Chris intro 4:06 Midterms roundup 9:46 How data center measures could impact AI development 11:55 Exit polls and the potential for new AI regulation in Congress 18:23 Google restricts search for schools that disable AI 22:37 Sella intro 25:19 Why securing model weights matters 31:44 Threat vectors and real-world attacks 36:19 How frontier lab security has evolved over time 38:49 AI for cyber defense vs. offense 45:22 Security Levels 1–5 (SL1–SL5) explained 51:46 Where frontier labs stand today and obstacles to SL5 58:50 AI agents, containment breaches and sovereign AI 1:03:41 Security risks of embedded evaluators 1:06:26 Sella's predictions and biggest worries 1:10:30 Policy prescriptions Additional Reading: NBC News 2026 Exit Polls: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-elections/exit-polls Saudi National Arrested For Installing Surreptitious Audio Recording Device At OpenAI In San Francisco (U.S. Attorney’s Office): https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/saudi-national-arrested-installing-surreptitious-audio-recording-device-openai-san How an AI start-up founded by ex-DOGE staffers broke into Anthropic (The Washington Post): https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/10/26/researchers-cybersecurity-start-up-cathedral-got-inside-anthropic/ “Securing AI Model Weights” by Sella Nevo, Dan Lahav, Ajay Karpur, Yogev Bar-On, Henry Alexander Bradley, Jeff Alstott (RAND): https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2849-1.html
Oct 29

AI Cyber Incidents Pile Up + Anthropic’s Draft Safety Bill

Aalok and Nicole discuss the latest AI cyber incidents, including major ARTEX-driven hacks and Qwen3.8 attempting to send local system data to a server in China. On the bright side, security experts used AI to find and patch a vulnerability in PHP impacting 70% of the internet. Plus, what's interesting in the Kimi K3.1 Pro model card and why Anthropic is getting backlash for its draft safety bill. Timestamps: 1:12 ARTEX-enabled hacks 9:50 Qwen3.8 attempts to send data to China server 17:56 Calif finds vulnerability in PHP with GPT-5.6 Sol 25:32 Kimi K3.1 Pro model launch 31:06 Anthropic pitches draft safety bill Additional Reading: Microsoft blog post on ARTEX-enabled attack: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2026/10/21/storm-0940-uses-artex-agentic-ai-connectwise-supply-chain-compromise/ Cohere report on misaligned Qwen3.8: https://cohere.com/blog/concerning-behaviour-popular-open-weight-ai-model Calif report on PHP2Shell: https://calif.io/php2shell/ Kimi K3.1 Pro model card: https://www.kimi.ai/blog/kimi-k3-1-pro Anthropic's statement on improved distillation defenses: https://www.anthropic.com/news/distillation-defenses Anthropic’s draft AI safety bill: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lJLyXL_2T6yc4rlKPqi6niMpfGucZ-oR/view Anthropic’s IPO prospectus: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2130357/000162828026067168/anthropicpbc-sx1.htm
Oct 22

Tracing the Evolution of Russia's Geran Drone with CSIS's Kateryna Bondar, Nicole Errera & Samuel Bendett

This episode cross-posts the event "From Shahed to Geran: How Russia Continues to Reinvent the One-Way Attack Drone" hosted by the Wadhwani AI Center at CSIS on September 29. Check out the full event recording: https://www.csis.org/events/shahed-geran-how-russia-continues-reinvent-one-way-attack-drone Guests: Kateryna Bondar, Senior Fellow, Wadhwani AI Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Nicole Errera, Research Assistant, Wadhwani AI Center at CSIS Samuel Bendett, Senior Associate (Non-resident), Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at CSIS Additional Reading: "From Shahed to Geran: How Russia Continues to Reinvent the One-Way Attack Drone" by Kateryna Bondar and Nicole Errera: https://www.csis.org/analysis/shahed-geran-how-russia-continues-reinvent-one-way-attack-drone
Oct 15

Trump Launches Super Intelligence Force + OpenAI Does More Math

In this episode, Aalok and Nicole unpack OpenAI's latest math proof drop before diving into the White House's first policy actions in the "SI" era. They cover the (voluntary?) Accord on Super Intelligence signed by all the major industry players and discuss what listeners can expect from Trump's new Super Intelligence Force. *This episode was recorded at 2:00 pm ET on Tuesday, October 13, 2026.* Timestamps: 00:39 Model release updates + OpenAI/Anthropic price war 7:48 New math results from OpenAI 21:42 Tech leaders sign Accord on Super Intelligence 34:02 Trump's new Super Intelligence task force 43:40 Nonprofit sues OpenAI over Hugging Face hack Additional Reading: "Introducing GPT-6 Sol and Luna" by OpenAI: https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-6-sol-and-luna/ "Introducing Claude Opus 5.5" by Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/claude-opus-5-5 "GPT-6.1 Sol" by OpenAI: https://www.anthropic.com/claude-opus-5-5 "Claude Haiku 5.5" by Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/claude-haiku-5-5 "Introducing Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full: Frontier Models for Agents" by Meta: https://about.fb.com/news/2026/10/introducing-muse-wonder-models/ "Mark Zuckerberg says Meta has reached AI 'frontier'" by Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/fca23e77-be57-4d7e-ae61-74ff299e25cb "Gemini 4 Argon: Built to solve your hardest problems" by Google: https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/introducing-gemini-4-argon/ OpenAI math results GitHub repository: https://github.com/openai/math/tree/main "100+ reactions to 100+ solutions" on Proofs and Prompts: https://proofsandprompts.com/2026/10/08/100-reactions-to-100-solutions/ White House Executive Order on Super Intelligence: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/09/inaugurating-the-era-of-super-intelligence/ White House Accord on Super Intelligence: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/white-house-accord-super-intelligence Letter by three fired OpenAI employees: https://mikitabalesni.com/letter/letter.pdf Legal Advocates for Safe Science and Technology vs. OpenAI: https://lasst.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/LASST-v.-OpenAI-Complaint-09.29.2026-AS-FILED.pdf California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act: https://www.calpers.ca.gov/documents/ca-penal-code-502/download California Assembly Bill No. 316: https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab316 "AI models may be capable of self-replicating without access to a datacenter" by Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/research/self-replicating-ai
Oct 8

Unpacking the Data Center Backlash with Jasmine Sun

AI data centers have become a flashpoint for policymakers across the country in the leadup to midterm elections, with polls showing that seven in 10 Americans oppose new data center construction in their local area. In this episode of the AI Policy Podcast, Wadhwani AI Center director Aalok Mehta sits down with writer Jasmine Sun for a conversation about the AI data center backlash. They unpack what's driving the opposition movement, where Washington and Silicon Valley diverge from the rest of the country, and how the AI infrastructure buildout might influence voters in November. This event is made possible by general funding to CSIS and the CSIS Wadhwani AI Center.
Oct 1

OpenAI Agents Hack Australian Government and Trump Rejects Global Governance at UNGA

This week, Aalok and Nicole discuss new reports of rogue AI agents on the open internet – including the first known case of an agent hacking a government system – and the lackluster outcome of last week's highly anticipated U.S.-China summit. Plus, the Trump Administration and frontier lab CEOs present contrasting visions for AI governance at the UN General Assembly, and states continue to pass new regulation on both AI models and the data center buildout. *Disclaimer: this episode was recorded prior to a complaint filed against OpenAI Tuesday afternoon in San Francisco's Superior Court by Legal Advocates for Safe Science and Technology, citing California's Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act and Unfair Competition Law. Timestamps: OpenAI agents hack Australian government site (1:02) Axios reports frontier labs facing "tens of thousands" of AI cyber incidents (7:48) Last week's U.S.-China summit (17:13) Remarks by heads of state at UNGA (21:26) Trump to appoint AI czar, establish AI Force (30:03) Updated court ruling on Anthropic vs. DOD (35:27) New data center directives in Texas, Virginia (38:30) California regulation updates (44:52) Additional Reading: “Scoop: Top AI companies probing tens of thousands of security incidents” by Axios: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/26/openai-anthropic-thousands-ai-security-incidents “Sam Altman’s remarks at the United Nations Security Council” by OpenAI: https://openai.com/index/sam-altman-un-security-council-remarks/ Florida Office of the Attorney General vs. OpenAI: https://www.myfloridalegal.com/sites/default/files/openai-filed-stamped-complaint.pdf “OpenAI Scraps Release of New AI Model Over Safety Concerns” by The Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-chatgpt-model-release-cancel-safety-5a2f9f42 White House Executive Order "Streamlining Access To Government Services Through America.gov" https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/09/streamlining-access-to-government-services-through-america-gov/ Federal court ruling on Anthropic vs. DOD: https://media.cadc.uscourts.gov/opinions/docs/2026/09/26-1049-2194984.pdf Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's data center directive: https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/TCEQ_Data_Center.pdf Virginia Executive Order: https://www.governor.virginia.gov/media/governorvirginiagov/governor-of-virginia/pdf/eo/eo-22-estab… California Executive Order: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FINAL-N-9-26-AI-EO-9.18.26-SIGNED.pdf CA Senate Bill No. 813: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB813 Text - SB-813 Independent verification organizations.
Sep 24

How AI Startups are Navigating Regulation with Maryam Mujica and Munjal Shah

This week, Aalok is joined by Maryam Mujica, president of the General Catalyst Institute, and Munjal Shah, co-founder and CEO of generative AI startup Hippocratic AI, for a discussion on how generative AI startups are thinking about AI regulation. Guests: Maryam Mujica, President, General Catalyst Institute Munjal Shah, co-founder and CEO, Hippocratic AI Timestamps: About the General Catalyst Institute (1:52) About Hippocratic AI (6:56) Healthcare applications of AI (13:43) Impact of regulation on AI startups (18:32) Munjal's interactions with federal regulators (24:07) Issue of compute shortage (31:21) Impact of AI on labor (48:23)

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4.8

out of 5

59 Ratings

A Must-Listen for Anyone Interested in AI Policy and Innovation

08/28/2024

K5SCM

This series is informative and deeply insightful. The discussions blend technical depth and policy analysis, making complex topics accessible to both experts and those new to the field. I enjoy its focus on the intersection of AI, national security, and geopolitic areas that are often overlooked in mainstream AI discussions by covering nuances of AI regulation, innovation, and the global implications of AI advancements and a comprehensive understanding of the current landscape. Gregory curates a variety of perspectives through interviews with industry leaders, policymakers, and academics. This diversity of viewpoints enriches the conversation and gives a well-rounded view of the issues at hand. This is a great resource that will keep you informed and engaged in a highly dynamic and rapidly evolving technology policy domain. Highly recommended. In addition to the excellent content, the episodes are professionally produced and the audio quality is high. Easy and enjoyable listening.
Clear, concise, and enjoyable

01/27/2024

Arubin17

I learn a lot every episode
Incredible Insight

01/25/2024

HA Schwartz

This is the podcast for you if you want to understand and explore the intersection of AI and the policies that govern it.

Join CSIS's Aalok Mehta, Director of the Wadhwani AI Center, on a deep dive into the world of AI policy. Every Thursday, tune in for insightful discussions covering AI regulation, economic impacts, national security, geopolitics, and more. CSIS is a bipartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. The AI Policy Podcast is produced by Cera Baker, Nicole Errera, and Chris Gorin.