ChinaTalk

Saif Khan, a technology policy researcher and former U.S. official, discusses launching the Center for Technology and Statecraft. He explores DUV lithography as a pivotal lever in U.S.-China AI competition, the rise of robotics, and how rigorous research becomes policy. They also examine AI’s impact on government, work, cultural learning, childhood, and the possibility of insect-like machine societies.

Jerusalem Demsas, a journalist and policy commentator focused on housing and institutions, joins Matt Yglesias, a political writer known for public-policy and economic analysis. They roam from AI’s democratic legitimacy and impact on Congress to China’s censored models, automation’s threat to development, and contrasting optimism about disruption. They also debate corruption, AI-powered oversight, and what Trump’s summit with Xi really achieved.

Kevin Roose, technology journalist and author of AGI Chronicles, explores the believers driving the AI race. He examines why conviction mattered more than money or GPUs, the competitive personalities behind OpenAI, Anthropic, and DeepMind, and why AI power differs from the Manhattan Project. The conversation turns to China, Dario Amodei’s hawkishness, Washington’s “machine god,” public backlash, and the possibility of recursive self-improvement by 2027.

Bharat Patel, Accenture’s defense AI and data lead and a former Navy sailor and Army acquisition professional, explores why military AI depends on painstaking data work. They discuss Ukraine’s long autonomy journey, autonomous vehicles and human trust, synthetic data, adversarial deception and data poisoning, rigorous testing, and the Pentagon’s acquisition maze.

Arthur Tellis, a technology policy and defense innovation fellow at the Institute for Progress, joins a lively debate on Pentagon plans for autonomous warfare. They examine whether a four-star command would accelerate drones or bury them in bureaucracy, and what autonomy needs beyond procurement. They also scrutinize Project Meridian’s star-studded panel, conflicts of interest, vulnerable bases, and whether America needs another one.

Ethan Frisch, co-founder of Burlap & Barrel and former Afghanistan aid worker, joins international trade attorney Peter Harrell of the Council on Foreign Relations. They trace wild Afghan cumin to a global spice business, explore why tariffs cannot protect U.S. spice makers, and unpack Frisch’s lawsuits against Trump’s trade measures. They also examine corporate fear, Section 301’s expansion, years of appeals, and which tariffs might survive a future administration.

Logan Wright, Rhodium Group partner and author of Broken China, joins economist Brad Setser of the Council on Foreign Relations to examine China’s strained growth model. They discuss the credit boom behind the property crisis, youth unemployment, AI’s limits, industrial overcapacity, supply-chain power, and whether China remains a systemic economic rival to the West.

Tony Stark, a defense technology analyst, Justin McIntosh, a national-security specialist, and Bryan Clark, a Hudson Institute naval strategist, examine America’s strained Pacific posture and the Iran blockade’s costly stalemate. They debate midterm budget pressures, Pentagon leadership, defense startups, shipbuilding risks, AI organization, robot warfare, and how recovered drones and failed missiles can hand Beijing valuable intelligence.

Julian Gewirtz, historian, author, and former Biden NSC China director, explores the symbolism and stakes of a Trump-Xi summit. They discuss protocol anxiety, a K-shaped U.S.-China relationship, China’s shifting political salience, and the uncertainty surrounding Beijing’s AI policies. The conversation turns to Mao’s final years, Xi’s possible decline and succession, America’s recurring China fascination, and Qing-era political satire.

Garrett Berntsen, Chief AI Officer at Accenture Federal Services and former U.S. technology and national security official, returns to discuss what it takes to bring AI into government. They explore lessons from the U-2, forcing bureaucracies to change, empowering troops to experiment, AI-driven intelligence and diplomacy, cybersecurity risks, outcome-based contracting, and the future of government workflows.