In September, I took the train down to Washington, D.C., as part of Professor Ted Wittenstein’s AI, Emerging Tech, and National Powers class to attend the Special Competitive Studies Project’s AI + Energy Summit and visit assorted U.S. agencies and firms — all made possible by the Schmidt Program. My main takeaways from the trip were twofold: There is a growing need to pair STEM and humanities together to come up with out-of-the-box solutions to address the supply problem facing the artificial intelligence industry, and we are in an exceptionally timed position to be part of the answer.

Coming from a background in financial services, I have not had much exposure to the energy space, especially as it relates to data centers and the staggering amount of gigawatts needed to power AI infrastructure. For this reason, I found the conference particularly eye-opening, learning from the perspectives of high-profile speakers like Page Crahan, general manager of Google Tapestry; Rachel Appleton, public policy lead at Anthropic; and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. I gained exposure to conversations I otherwise would not have been privy to. In one session on the future of energy generation, I heard serious arguments for geothermal and nuclear fusion as power sources to meet rapidly expanding, AI-driven energy demand. And then, during a coffee break immediately after that particular panel, I got to chat with a Navy nuclear engineer and PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins, learning about the mechanics behind the nuclear fusion process firsthand.

A theme throughout the day is the need to “be first, be fast” in terms of quietly iterating, pioneering, and meeting demands in the AI revolution. In a single day of sessions, we covered great swaths of ground: strategic competition with China, critical minerals, Taiwanese semiconductor chips, and more. Speaker after speaker stressed that multidisciplinary thinking — the marriage of STEM and the humanities — is paramount to keeping the U.S. on the cutting edge of this technical renaissance. We saw a compelling example of that pioneering innovation on day two of our trip when we visited the D.C. office of Palantir and got a demonstration of their defense surveillance technology on the Ukrainian war front. Afterward, we headed over to the Department of Commerce, where we met Saif Khan, senior advisor to the Secretary for Critical and Emerging Technologies, and Elizabeth Kelly, director of the U.S. AI Safety Institute. We discussed regulatory standards and supply chain needs to sharpen the U.S.’ strategic competitive position.

As we continued our discussion of speed to discovery from an AI industry leadership standpoint, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo walked into the room, shook our hands, and sat with us around the table. What stood out to me from her responses to our questions was an emphasis on a measured perspective of adoption, trust, and technical accessibility needed to reach the American populace. In this nascent stage, little adjustments can make a big difference in shaping the emerging technology revolution.

Our AI safety discourse later in the day at National Security Council with Ben Buchanan, the White House special advisor for artificial intelligence, Tarun Chhabra, special assistant to the president and senior director for technology and national security, and Teddy Collins, director for technology and national security, reinforced Secretary Raimondo’s inclusive sentiments. They echoed the theme of urgency for technologically literate policy excellence in this critical moment in time; this is why the multidisciplinary approach within Professor Wittenstein’s class primes me for a future working hand-in-hand with technical developers and policy professionals to create ideas that ramp up cybersecurity without curbing innovation.

Sitting there with the National Security Council in the Secretary of War suite of the Eisenhower Building, I marveled at just how lucky I was to be there. I thought back to how experiences like these are why I wanted to be a part of the Schmidt Program and played a key role in why I chose the Jackson School overall. With half of the first semester of the Artificial Intelligence, Emerging Technology, and National Powers yearlong seminar course now over, the program has certainly exceeded my expectations. What better way to embark on a career trajectory in AI governance and national security than this?

Read more about the Schmidt Program trip to Washington, D.C.