Compiled by Athena Smith.
Articles
Scaling Sovereign Wealth: Evaluating Mechanisms for the U.S. Government to Own Parts of AI Companies
Felix Wu argued that the ideal mechanism for granting public ownership of frontier artificial intelligence (AI) firms would be a dual strategy of revenue-sharing—which could provide direct payments to Americans—alongside golden shares granting shareholders veto power over key corporate actions. Wu outlined the issues with voting common stock, which could clash with regulations, face legal obstacles, and increase the federal deficit.
Note that the traditional tools of taxation and regulation remain available, even absent any ownership scheme. The U.S. government does not need equity to regulate corporate conduct, nor does it need stock to raise revenues. Ideas abound for ways Congress can levy new taxes on AI firms or place safeguards on AI development. But with both the populist left and the populist right calling for stakes in AI firms, the policy discourse may have left taxation behind. A relevant question, then, is which instruments the government should aspire to hold to pursue its desired goals.
Where Is Federal Law Enforcement’s Data-Buying Transparency?
Justin Sherman broke down the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s first report on how the U.S. intelligence community acquires commercial data and what the report reveals about how little these agencies publicly disclose about the data they collect on citizens. Sherman emphasized that this practice defies the spirit of the Fourth Amendment and that Congress should call on these agencies to answer questions about their data-buying practices.
But informed public debate, transparency into domestic surveillance activities, and effective legislative responses would all be aided by more insight. When the U.S. intelligence community has taken steps across multiple administrations to establish frameworks and provide transparency into its data-buying and subsequent use through the new ODNI report—agree or not with its supposed practices, and there is absolutely much more to be debated—it is even more important that federal law enforcement agencies provide, or that Congress directs them to provide, the same. And the time to do so is now.
Podcasts
Lawfare Daily: The Midterms and What’s Next:Benjamin Wittes sat down with Molly Reynolds, Julia Curlee, Scott Anderson, Eric Columbus, Michael Feinberg, and Loren Voss to discuss how the new composition of Congress will shape key national security issues, including the appropriations process, presidential war powers, how Congress can address the Trump administration’s damage to the national security apparatus, and more.
Rational Security: The “Riding the Blue Wave Special Election” Edition:Scott Anderson spoke with Tyler McBrien, Eric Columbus, Ariane Tabatabai to discuss the Democrat’s historic victory in the midterms, the significance of President Trump’s decision to initiate the Iran War, what the midterms can tell us about what national security issues will be during the next presidential election, and more.
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