Washington AI Network with Tammy Haddad

Less than one year since the UK hosted the first AI Safety Summit, all eyes turn to France for the next global AI summit. President Macron chose AI leader Anne Bouverot as Special Envoy to organize the AI Action Summit. In this episode, Bouverot, who holds a PhD in AI Research, shares her team’s plans including – for the first time – the official dates and goals of the AI Action Summit.

In this episode, Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), Vice Chair of the House AI Caucus, David Zapolsky, Amazon’s SVP of Global Public Policy & General Counsel, Dr. Seth Center, the State Department's Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology, and Rebecca Finlay, CEO of the Partnership on AI, join host Tammy Haddad for a fireside chat and panel discussion on the one year anniversary of the White House’s Voluntary AI Commitments and the road ahead.

Ben Brake, Director General at the German Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport, joins host Tammy Haddad for a breakfast to discuss how Germany and the EU are approaching AI policy, as well as competing against China, regulating disinformation, and implementing the Digital Services Act.

Mary Ellen Callahan, Assistant Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Office, tells host Tammy Haddad AI has not yet made creating a chemical or biological threat easier but following the new DHS report, but it is time to put in the governance, structure and baseline standards (including the the Department of Commerce’s AI Safety Institute) so model developers can apply the right standards to keep as much of the novel chemical and biological threats off of AI as possible.

Madhumita Murgia, the first AI editor at the Financial Times, is interviewed by host Tammy Haddad on the ethical implications and real-world impact of AI, which Murgia extensively explores in her new book, Code Dependent, Living in the Shadow of AI.

Ben Buchanan takes us around the AI world for his conversations with AI companies from Anthropic, Microsoft and Google as well as Apple’s integration with OpenAI. He acknowledges that the pace of AI requires the government to move fast but says “we're trying to make it earn its reputation and make it live up to the lofty claims that are sometimes given to it.”

During the SCSP’s inaugural AI Expo for National Competitiveness on May 7 in Washington, DC, host Tammy Haddad interviews Elham Tabassi, NIST’s chief AI advisor. Elham Tabassi brings us up to date on the U.S. Government's AI efforts and answers audience questions.

During the SCSP’s inaugural AI Expo for National Competitiveness on May 7 in Washington, DC, host Tammy Haddad interviews legendary Washington Post columnist and bestselling novelist, David Ignatius, who shares his insights on AI, national security, space warfare, the Middle East, and his new book, Phantom Orbit: A Thriller.

Host Tammy Haddad interviews Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday, May 8 in Washington, DC, during the SCSP’s inaugural AI Expo for National Competitiveness. In this wide-ranging interview, Sen. Schumer reveals his proposed framework for AI legislation and his concerns about the upcoming election, competition with China, the global race for AI dominance, and the opportunities and challenges AI presents to all Americans.

The future of AI from one of the world’s leading AI researchers. In this special episode, Host Tammy Haddad interviews Joelle Pineau, Meta’s vice president of AI research, at the inaugural TGAIFriday lunch on Friday, April 26th to kick off the 2024 White House Correspondents weekend. The Washington AI Network took over the House at 1229 to showcase Meta's latest AI technologies, including the Quest 3, mixed reality VR headset, Spotty, the AI-powered robot dog, and the Ray-Ban | Meta Smart Glasses.

All eyes are on the 2024 election and global concerns about the impact of AI are rampant, especially with deep fakes and disinformation campaigns from hostile governments and nefarious actors. In this special episode, host Tammy Haddad interviews two of the nation’s leading forces for safety and security in elections, Jen Easterly, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Joined by UVA’s Kyle Kondik, this conversation was recorded on Friday, April 5 with a live audience at the 25th anniversary celebration of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. A special collaboration with the Center’s Politics Is Everything podcast.

With the seemingly limitless capabilities of artificial intelligence, national security experts, technologists, and academicians are sounding the alarm on the potential havoc AI could wreak in the hands of bad actors. In the midst of this new technological arms race with China, organizations like the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) are calling for the U.S. to maintain its innovation and information dominance to protect American citizens. In this episode, host Tammy Haddad interviews Ylli Bajraktari, president & CEO of the SCSP and former executive director of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) on putting AI and emerging tech at the center of the United States’ national competitiveness.

Known for her “red chair” interviews with tech’s biggest players, Kara Swisher’s commitment to ask tough questions has made her Silicon Valley’s most respected and most feared journalist. In this special episode, we turn the tables and open the mic for members and friends of the Washington AI Network to “Ask Kara Anything.” Host Tammy Haddad interviews Swisher at the House at 1229 in Washington, DC, following the release of her new book, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story. Kara brings her sharp wit and deep knowledge of the tech industry. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a policy wonk, or simply curious about which tech company she would pick to run, this is one episode you don’t want to miss.

From the halls of Congress and state legislatures to local communities and everywhere in between, all eyes are on AI and the future of the innovation economy. Host Tammy Haddad interviews Linda Moore, president and CEO of TechNet, a national, bipartisan network of technology CEOs and senior executives that promotes the growth of the innovation economy. In this episode, Moore discusses the “AI for America” education initiative, as well as how to develop policy to foster the use and growth of AI responsibly and to promote and protect the United States’ position as the world leader in innovation.

As the U.S. Congress weighs legislation for artificial intelligence, we hear directly from two of the leading U.S. House members. Host Tammy Haddad interviews Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA-23), an expert computer scientist and vice chair of the House AI Caucus, and Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-CA-15), a member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology representing Silicon Valley. Obernolte calls for watermarking authentic materials instead of AI-generated content, and they both share concerns for combating deep fakes and misinformation in elections, safeguarding Americans without stifling innovation, and protecting content creators, touching on the New York Times’ recent copyright infringement lawsuit against ChatGPT.

On the heels of President Biden’s AI executive order, federal agencies are scrambling to identify 400 AI leads to shepherd government into tech’s largest frontier. Host Tammy Haddad interviews Arun Gupta, a longtime venture capitalist investor, author, and adjunct professor at Georgetown and Stanford, on how government can lead on AI by bridging the tech talent gap. Arun is the CEO of the NobleReach Foundation and co-author of a new book, Venture Meets Mission: Aligning People, Purpose, and Profit to Innovate and Transform Society.

While ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) are making headlines, the federal government and the U.S. military have been leveraging AI for years to support the mission. Host Tammy Haddad interviews Vice Admiral Frank Whitworth, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), who is one of the Pentagon’s top leaders in AI. In this episode, VADM Whitworth discusses how NGA uses AI “from the seabed to space” in national security, intelligence, warfare, competition with China, and the promise of advanced AI models that can analyze visual data.

As technologists and policymakers convene in Washington at the Axios AI+ Summit, host Tammy Haddad interviews Ina Fried, Axios’ chief technology correspondent and co-author of the daily Axios AI+ newsletter. Fried takes us inside the summit, breaking down newsworthy comments from Eric Schmidt and DHS Secretary Alejando Mayorkas, and shares the “craziest hundred hours” of her reporting career following Sam Altman’s ouster from OpenAI and what she sees coming next.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and as the wars in Ukraine and Israel continue, Nobel Prize-winning economist Michael Spence has teamed up with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Cambridge’s Queen’s College president Mohamed El-Erian to author Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World, their new book on how to break down the global “Permacrisis”' of sputtering growth, surging inflation, poor policy responses, an escalating climate emergency, worsening inequality, increasing nationalism and a decline in global co-operation. One of the most respected economists of our time, Spence walks us through the major economic trends stemming from world-disrupting events and how to tackle the toughest economic challenges ahead and how AI can drive necessary economic growth.

As investors around the world are racing to ride the next AI unicorn, leading Silicon Valley firm General Catalyst led the creation of the partnership between venture capital firms and Sec. Gina Raimondo and the Commerce Department to develop responsible AI guidelines for themselves and their portfolio companies. Paul Kwan and Teresa Carlson of General Catalyst walk us through their new investment thesis on building global resilience and their focus on responsible innovation and radical collaboration. In the second panel, we’ll hear from former NSA deputy director George Barnes of Red Cell Partners, Saildrone’s former Head of Defense, Cameron McCord and Anduril’s chief revenue officer Matt Steckman on how portfolio companies are using responsible AI to drive growth and innovation in defense, intelligence, and national security with comments by Sue Gordon, former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence.

Washington AI Network digs into the latest on AI policy. Moderated by host Tammy Haddad, this episode features Paul Rennie OBE, Head of the Global Economy Group at the British Embassy, to discuss UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's first-ever AI Safety Summit on Nov. 1-2.

Host Tammy Haddad features an interview with Maya Wiley, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, one of 24 guests for the closed-door AI Insight Forum hosted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Wiley reveals what it was like to be one of only four advocates next to some of the world’s biggest tech CEOs from Musk to Zuck, and the questions senators raised. Wiley sounded alarm bells about the dangers of AI beginning with the models and the humans who create them. While senators differed vastly on what parts of AI to legislate, they told the CEOs their trust issues with private industry since tech blocked their legislation. She comments on Elon Musk grabbing “the headlines and sound bites” with his dire prediction of the end of civilization and ignoring the other ways AI is dangerous and impacting people’s lives.

Washington has come alive with the return of Congress and the final countdown to the arrival of tech CEO royalty from Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg to Elon Musk and Sundar Pichai to name a few. While it won’t be the cage match dangled between Musk and Zuck, many would like to be in the room when they come face-to-face with AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and American Federation of Teachers Union President Randi Weingarten. Cat Zakrzewski, tech policy reporter at the Washington Post, takes us behind the scenes of one of the most consequential policy gatherings of the year.

Miriam Vogel, the President and CEO of EqualAI and Chair of NAIAC, speaking in her personal capacity, highlights the critical crossroads between Congress, federal agencies and the tech industry on AI policy. Government policymakers, particularly at the FTC and CFPB are already evaluating the effect of artificial intelligence, while agencies like the EEOC are investigating the potential impact on civil rights laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act. Recognizing they’ve missed opportunities in the past, and armed with a greater depth and understanding of AI, Congress is rising to the occasion on a bipartisan basis in terms of exploring regulation.

Washington AI Network launched in July 2023 to gather Washington insiders for the latest on AI policy. Moderated by host Tammy Haddad, this episode features Victoria Espinel, a member of President Biden's National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC) and the president and CEO of BSA | The Software Alliance, and Kellee Wicker, director of the Wilson Center’s Science and Technology Innovation Program.