POLITICO Tech

The Trump administration launched the U.S. Tech Force this week, aiming to recruit 1,000 fellows with backgrounds in AI, cybersecurity and other high-tech fields into federal agencies. It’s the latest attempt to solve the government’s long-standing recruitment problem. But will this time be different? On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly sits down with Office of Personnel Management Director Scott...

President Donald Trump declared on Truth Social this week that he will sign an executive order aimed at banning state AI laws. The move will almost certainly appease Silicon Valley executives and anger some of his fellow Republicans — not to mention ignite a legal battle with state governments concerned about federal overreach. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly breaks down the latest developmen...

Craig Newmark is best known for shaping our digital past. As the founder of Craigslist, he was  a pioneer in online classified advertising and lived the Silicon Valley dot-com bubble firsthand. These days, Newmark is donating his vast wealth to fight disinformation and cyber scams. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly sat down with Newmark to discuss whether he sees an AI bubble forming today, and...

Meeting the rising energy demands of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and other emerging technologies is one of the big challenges facing the Trump administration. And Dario Gil, the undersecretary for science at the Energy Department, is one of the key officials searching for solutions — including yet-unrealized power sources like fusion. For POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly spoke with...

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been called a “Luddite” and “anti-tech,” but the actor, filmmaker and entrepreneur insists he’s actually dazzled by artificial intelligence. He just has qualms with the tech companies building it, and how they’re compensating people for their work and data. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly met up with Gordon-Levitt on the sidelines of an Aspen Digital event in Washingt...

Democrats logged big election wins this week in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City. And in some races, artificial intelligence — and specifically the energy data centers will consume — was a key issue for voters. As the tech industry spends billions of dollars to build out AI infrastructure, Tuesday’s outcome suggests there could be new political roadblocks ahead. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven...

Tech companies are spending billions of dollars to build out their AI ambitions — with little clarity about how they’ll recoup their investments. Miriam Vogel, the CEO of the nonprofit EqualAI and former chair of the National AI Advisory Council, says the industry’s profitability depends in part on setting ground rules for the technology. On POLITICO Tech, Vogel joins host Steven Overly to discuss...

Even if you don’t use Signal, you certainly remember Signalgate. That was the scandal in March when senior U.S. officials used a private messaging app to communicate about a military strike in Yemen — and included a journalist in the chat. It thrust Signal and Signal Foundation President Meredith Whittaker into the spotlight. But she’s made headlines before as a Google employee turned vocal tech c...

Tensions between the U.S. and China are inflamed yet again — with the tech sector in the crossfire. In the latest move, Beijing has threatened to restrict the trade of rare earth magnets and metals, which are critical for making high-tech products, from microchips to smartphones to electric vehicles. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly sits down with Liza Tobin, a geopolitical risk adviser and fo...

A growing number of city governments are adopting artificial intelligence — and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan wants to outpace all the rest. The former tech entrepreneur is pushing employees across Silicon Valley’s largest city to adopt the technology as a way of streamlining everything from bus routes to business permits. On POLITICO Tech, Mahan joins host Steven Overly to discuss the AI-enabled city...

The concept of "smart cities" — local governments that are digitized and automated — has been around for decades, but that bold vision hasn't quite materialized yet. Still, many cities are making a run at the idea, and they’re increasingly turning to artificial intelligence. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly sits down with James Anderson of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Government Innovation progra...

POLITICO’s AI & Tech Summit this week tackled major policy debates: the partisan fight over online speech after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, along with Washington’s efforts to fend off China — and California — in the U.S. quest for AI dominance. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly sits down with technology reporters Brendan Bordelon and Anthony Adragna to analyze the most notable moments from th...

Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to authors whose pirated books the company used to train its AI model, an eye-popping amount and one of the first big settlements of its kind. With so many copyright cases hanging out in the courts, could this be the first of many big payouts to come? On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly put that question and others to Keith Kupferschmid, the CEO of the Copyrig...

The federal government is buying artificial intelligence technology at deeply discounted rates — part of an effort to bring agencies into modern times. And for companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, it’s a chance to get the government hooked on their products. On POLITICO Tech, Box CEO Aaron Levie joins host Steven Overly to discuss his own bargain for the Trump administration, why these deals are h...

With mounting concerns about AI leading to job losses, policymakers are grappling with how to prepare workers for major changes ahead — and the disruption that has already begun. Bharat Ramamurti was the deputy director of the National Economic Council under President Joe Biden and, in a recent opinion piece, he called AI-driven unemployment “the biggest economic issue no one is talking about.” On...

As a senior policy adviser in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Dean Ball helped write President Donald Trump’s recently released AI Action Plan. This week, Ball left the administration and plans to continue shaping AI policy from outside the White House. On POLITICO Tech, Ball joins host Steven Overly to discuss the government’s role in regulating artificial intelligence, Trump allowin...

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) was a tech adviser to President Barack Obama back when Washington was first grappling with artificial intelligence. Now, he’s introducing legislation this week with Rep. John McGuire (R-Va.) that aims to prepare the federal government for quantum computing, and how hackers could tap its speed and power to steal sensitive data. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly tal...

Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin may garner lots of attention, but there are a growing number of tech companies now chasing commercial and defense opportunities in space. And they’re ratcheting up the competition for longtime contractors who sell to the federal government. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly sits down with Rob Geckle, the CEO of Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, to discu...

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump unveiled his AI Action Plan, which effectively outlines his strategy for keeping the U.S. at the forefront of artificial intelligence. And for the most part, it’s a gift to Silicon Valley — slashing AI regulation at the federal level and trying to halt it in the states. But, one part of the plan will drag tech further into Trump’s war on wokeness. On POLITICO T...

Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly warned that artificial intelligence poses a danger to humanity. And as the U.S. and other governments turn away from regulating AI, the Catholic Church is emerging as a vocal skeptic on the world stage. One of the influential voices shaping those calls is Father Paolo Benanti, a professor and author who acts as the Vatican’s de facto adviser on AI. On POLITICO Tech, Ben...

There’s a power struggle between humanity and technology. And Vilas Dhar, president and trustee of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, argues humanity coming out on top depends not just on regulation, but on people regaining agency vis-à-vis technology and a voice in how it is created. On POLITICO Tech, Dhar joins host Steven Overly to discuss how humans can reclaim their power, and why he thinks...

Patrick McGee has written the definitive book on how Apple supercharged China’s development into a global manufacturing colossus and leveraged its relationship with Beijing to become one of the most iconic consumer tech brands in history. Now, the author of “Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company” joins POLITICO Tech guest host Phelim Kine to break down how Apple’s reliance on...

The Federal Communications Commission will meet today with a new Republican majority after the confirmation of former Capitol Hill staffer Olivia Trusty. That’s likely to boost Chair Brendan Carr’s Trump-approved agenda as he ramps up scrutiny of TV broadcasters and social media platforms over perceived conservative bias. On POLITICO Tech, reporter John Hendel joins host Steven Overly to explain t...

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been called a “Luddite” and “anti-tech,” but the actor, filmmaker and entrepreneur insists he’s actually dazzled by artificial intelligence. He just has qualms with the tech companies building it, and how they’re compensating people for their work and data. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly met up with Gordon-Levitt on the sidelines of an Aspen Digital event in Washingt...

Mississippi is trying to position itself as the “Digital Delta” — a hub in the American South for artificial intelligence development and data centers. It’s one of many states that largely missed out on the internet boom and are now looking for AI to boost their local economy.  On POLITICO Tech, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves joins host Steven Overly to discuss how his state is trying to seize the ...