Saif Khan makes his ChinaTalk debut. He is perhaps my favorite example of posting-to-policy that I’ve seen over the course of my time following Washington. Saif wrote some truly excellent deep dives into AI and semiconductors during his time at CSET, then went into the NSC and Commerce in the early-to-mid 2020s, across both the Biden and Trump II administrations, to help manifest the export control regulatory regime we have today. He is now out of government and launching the Center for Technology and Statecraft, an IFP-affiliated think tank, which is already producing excellent, grounded, technical, forward-looking work that will certainly shape many an AI policy discussion in the years to come.
We discuss:
Why Saif started a new think tank, and the value of deep, forward-looking policy research in an AI world moving at breakneck speed;
CTS’s landmark DUV report, which projects that stopping tool exports today could leave China producing roughly 100x fewer AI chips than the US by the mid-2030s, making DUV controls the US’s most consequential lever over the AI balance;
How rigorous research actually translates into government policy, and why think tank experience is valuable before working in government;
Robotics as the next frontier of US-China AI competition, and the security vs. diffusion mindsets shaping AI policy;
How AI is changing policy research itself, the challenge of bringing AI into government, and what AI-driven economic and social change could mean for humans.
Plus, why everyone should read Lu Xun, why AI might socialize like insects, and AI-nannying.
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