Compute Accounting Principles Can Help Reduce AI Risks

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A co-authored an op-ed on the need for compute accounting: Computational power, colloquially known as “compute,” is the processing resource required to do computational tasks, such as training artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Compute is arguably a key factor driving AI progress. Over the last decade, it has enabled increasingly large and powerful neural networks and ushered in the age of deep learning. Given compute’s role in AI advances, the time has come to develop standard practices to track the use of these resources.  Read the…Continue Reading “Compute Accounting Principles Can Help Reduce AI Risks” →

After the CHIPS Act: The Limits of Reshoring and Next Steps for U.S. Semiconductor Policy

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A co-authored a paper with Vishnu Kannan for the Carnegie Endowment that assess the extent to which the recently passed CHIPS and Science Act will solve the semiconductor supply chain issues that U.S. policymakers are concerned about. As America’s conscious foray into industrial policy, the CHIPS Act is an important political breakthrough and a potentially transformative piece of legislation. It highlighted that the United States, despite its dysfunction, is capable of mobilizing large amounts of money to meet strategic challenges. But the CHIPS Act will…Continue Reading “After the CHIPS Act: The Limits of Reshoring and Next Steps for U.S. Semiconductor Policy” →

How South Korea’s AI Ecosystem Stacks Up

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I co-authored an essay with Hana Anderson for the Carnegie Endowment that compares South Korea’s AI ecosystem with Japan’s. As South Korea tries to secure its economic competitiveness, AI will be a crucial testing ground, and a good point of comparison for its efforts is Japan—another high-tech regional power in Asia that is seeking to capitalize on AI. Although most conversations on AI revolve around the capabilities of leading powers like the United States and China, South Korea and Japan also offer unique strengths that should…Continue Reading “How South Korea’s AI Ecosystem Stacks Up” →

China’s AI Workforce: Assessing Demand for AI Talent

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I co-authored this CSET paper which introduces a novel dataset on China’s AI labor market. U.S. policies on artificial intelligence education and the AI workforce must grow, cultivate, attract, and retain the world’s best and brightest. Given China’s role as a producer of AI talent, understanding its AI workforce could provide important insight. This report provides an analysis of the AI workforce demand in China using a novel dataset of 6.8 million job postings. It then outlines potential implications along with future reports in this…Continue Reading “China’s AI Workforce: Assessing Demand for AI Talent” →

Congress Tees up Tech Directorate to Compete with China (ChinaTalk Column)

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I wrote a guest column for the ChinaTalk newsletter about the NSF “Tech Directorate” provisions in the recently signed “CHIPS and Science Act.” The final iteration of the Tech Directorate reflects a compromise between the House and Senate tech competition bills that has been over a year in the making. Differences in approach between the House and Senate reflected different diagnoses of the problem. The Senate, worried that U.S. leadership in key technology areas “is under pressure from China and is eroding,” sought to strengthen…Continue Reading “Congress Tees up Tech Directorate to Compete with China (ChinaTalk Column)” →

Letter to NAIRR Task Force on “Compute Accounting”

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I co-authored a letter to the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) Task Force, arguing that the NAIRR should “develop and implement a system for ‘compute accounting,’ standardized methods to track and audit the use of computational resources.” Technology companies today already build tools to internally track compute resource usage. For example, in algorithmic stock trading, it is not uncommon to maintain a company-wide dashboard displaying how much compute is being used by which algorithms and for what purposes. Cloud computing platforms such as Google Cloud…Continue Reading “Letter to NAIRR Task Force on “Compute Accounting”” →

Why Trust Is Taiwan’s Pivotal Competitive Advantage

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I co-authored a commentary with Evan Feigenbaum about how Taiwan can leverage its greatest competitive advantage—trust—to diversity its economy beyond semiconductors: While scale can be a critical determinant of industry dynamics and, ultimately, a country’s economic power, it is not the only factor. Trust can matter even more, especially in industries that rely on sensitive government or personal data, those that have dual-use implications and touch national security, and those in which governments and businesses aim to mitigate supply chain risks. Despite the unprecedented scale…Continue Reading “Why Trust Is Taiwan’s Pivotal Competitive Advantage” →

Two New Tech Bills Could Transform U.S. Innovation—if Congress Acts

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I co-authored a commentary with Matt Sheehan about Congress’s competing proposals for a tech directorate at the National Science Foundation: Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Act, a wide-ranging bill intended to bolster U.S. innovation and secure a technological edge over China. The legislation now proceeds to a conference committee that will attempt to reconcile it with a similar bill—the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act—passed by the Senate last year. The two bills are largely aligned on topics such as…Continue Reading “Two New Tech Bills Could Transform U.S. Innovation—if Congress Acts” →

Download Public Comments and Attachments from Regulations.gov

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Do you find public comments useful but hate the process of manually downloading/organizing them? If so, I’ve got just the python script for you! I wrote a script that automatically downloads public comments (and attachments) that were submitted in response to U.S. government Requests for Information (RFIs). The script downloads all comments and attachments for any docket on the U.S. government’s regulations.gov website. This is a particularly useful tool for anyone who wants to analyze RFIs that receive hundreds or thousands of comments (and attachments)….Continue Reading “Download Public Comments and Attachments from Regulations.gov” →