The Washington Roundtable travels to Madison, Wisconsin, for a conversation about the politics of artificial intelligence before a live audience at the Cap Times Idea Fest. The group discusses the stakes of Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, D.C.; the potential for coöperation between the U.S. and China on A.I., which the staff writer Evan Osnos likens to “private nuclear weapons”; and whether American policymakers can even agree amongst themselves on how to approach regulating the technology. “The executive branch is approaching this not as an existential-level threat to our society,” the staff writer Susan B. Glasser says, “but as a pot of gold that our wealthy business leaders, and presumably the politicians who support them, win if they get to the end of the race first.”  

This week's reading:


“Our A.I. Problem,” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus

“Is A.I. Above the Law?,” by Jill Lepore

“There Is No A.I. ‘Race,’” by Chang Che

“What China’s Vibe-Coding Capital Can Tell Us About the A.I. Boom,” by Afra Wang





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