Pinned Tweet
I remember the first time I walked into the Oval Office to brief President Biden. I'd just been appointed as the White House Special Advisor for AI. The President sat behind the Resolute desk and began with a single question: "What is the worst harm that AI could enable?"
I had We talked about the pace of technological progress — how, thanks to better chips and algorithms, what was cutting-edge that day would be commonplace within a couple of years. We talked about how high the ceiling on intelligence was, and about the dangers that AI would likely bring in areas like cybersecurity and bioweapons. We talked about how technology was fast and government was slow.
Then he asked about the benefits. He cared about ending cancer as much as anything in the world, and AI — managed well — offers more hope for that than anything else.
Most of all, we talked about what became the argument of the book my White House colleague @TantumSCollins and I have written: that democracies must lead in inventing this technology, turn that lead into a lasting advantage, and do it all without betraying their own values. Achieving all three at once will be a bitter struggle. Every choice pits security against liberty, speed against caution, power against principle.
Today THE BITTER STRUGGLE is out from Crown, in hardcover, ebook, and audio. It’s our account of what happened, what’s coming, and what’s at stake. We don’t pretend the answers are easy — in some ways we’re more worried than when we started. But these questions are too important to be debated only behind closed doors, including the door to the Oval Office. We hope you will join the debate.
penguinrandomhouse.com/books/821154/t…
I had We talked about the pace of technological progress — how, thanks to better chips and algorithms, what was cutting-edge that day would be commonplace within a couple of years. We talked about how high the ceiling on intelligence was, and about the dangers that AI would likely bring in areas like cybersecurity and bioweapons. We talked about how technology was fast and government was slow.
Then he asked about the benefits. He cared about ending cancer as much as anything in the world, and AI — managed well — offers more hope for that than anything else.
Most of all, we talked about what became the argument of the book my White House colleague @TantumSCollins and I have written: that democracies must lead in inventing this technology, turn that lead into a lasting advantage, and do it all without betraying their own values. Achieving all three at once will be a bitter struggle. Every choice pits security against liberty, speed against caution, power against principle.
Today THE BITTER STRUGGLE is out from Crown, in hardcover, ebook, and audio. It’s our account of what happened, what’s coming, and what’s at stake. We don’t pretend the answers are easy — in some ways we’re more worried than when we started. But these questions are too important to be debated only behind closed doors, including the door to the Oval Office. We hope you will join the debate.
penguinrandomhouse.com/books/821154/t…
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We're doing a series of events to talk about the book. Three still have space available:
November 12: Center for a New American Security, events.cnas.org/firesidechatwi…
November 16: Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, CA, commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-11…
November 19: Politics and Prose, Washington, DC, politics-prose.com/event/2026-11-…
If you'd like to buy through an independent bookseller, we recommend bookshop.org/p/books/the-bi…
November 12: Center for a New American Security, events.cnas.org/firesidechatwi…
November 16: Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, CA, commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-11…
November 19: Politics and Prose, Washington, DC, politics-prose.com/event/2026-11-…
If you'd like to buy through an independent bookseller, we recommend bookshop.org/p/books/the-bi…
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Ben Buchanan retweeted
On a Friday evening in June 2023, Russian Wagner Group warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin was marching on Moscow.
And National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called Ben Buchanan into his office to talk about AI. Sullivan knew that, “We can’t let the urgent things crowd out the important the first White House AI Policy Czar, tells the story and much more in his new book with @tantumscollins, The Bitter Struggle. It's a first person account of the Biden Administration's landmark AI Policy moves: chip export controls, industrial policy, AI safety, data centers and energy. It's got it all.
Ben joined me on the AI Power Podcast. Fantastic conversation. Give it a watch (link in reply), and buy Ben & Tantum’s book!
And National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called Ben Buchanan into his office to talk about AI. Sullivan knew that, “We can’t let the urgent things crowd out the important the first White House AI Policy Czar, tells the story and much more in his new book with @tantumscollins, The Bitter Struggle. It's a first person account of the Biden Administration's landmark AI Policy moves: chip export controls, industrial policy, AI safety, data centers and energy. It's got it all.
Ben joined me on the AI Power Podcast. Fantastic conversation. Give it a watch (link in reply), and buy Ben & Tantum’s book!
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Ben Buchanan retweeted
The morning after the blue tsunami, I talked with @BuchananBen, the White House Special Advisor for Artificial Intelligence under President Biden, about voters’ AI concerns, export controls, and American leadership in 2028. A quick look at some of his takes and the full piece below.
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I led AI policy in the Biden administration, and my colleague @tantumscollins was Director for Technology on the National Security Council. Our book on AI and national security -- THE BITTER STRUGGLE -- comes out in 11 days. @tylercowen said it “will become the standard source” hina chip bans and Biden-era AI policy. @crmiller1 said it is “essential reading for understanding how AI will impact geopolitics and how the great powers are shaping AI.”
We wrote this book because the decisions shaping AI -- and the future for all of us -- are too important to only be debated behind closed doors. If you're planning on reading it, pre-ordering is one of the best ways to help us bring this conversation to a broader audience.
penguinrandomhouse.com/books/821154/t…
We wrote this book because the decisions shaping AI -- and the future for all of us -- are too important to only be debated behind closed doors. If you're planning on reading it, pre-ordering is one of the best ways to help us bring this conversation to a broader audience.
penguinrandomhouse.com/books/821154/t…
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Ben Buchanan retweeted
Today I’m launching the Center for Technology & Statecraft (CTS), an initiative inspired by the lessons I learned first as a policy researcher and later in the White House.
I'm an optimist about technology. Institutions adapt to disruptions — whether the industrial revolution, comphrough competition, self-correction, and iteration, and we mostly figure it out in the long run.
But we've never had to adapt to a technology that is both this transformative and developing this fast. AI capabilities continue to scale rapidly with no sign of slowing, and it's a full-time job just to keep up with model releases. I worry policy will stay reactive right up until we face immense disruptions — including basic challenges to human agency and relevance in a world of powerful AI.
Even still, I believe policy can steer this transition, but only with foresight and the right information.
CTS aims to provide just that. Our two initial policy focus areas:
1) How policy can shape virtual and physical automation over the next decade as we reimagine the social contract in light of advanced AI.
2) How to manage long-term strategic US-China AI competition while ensuring stability.
These focus areas will build on a deep model of the AI value chain, from chipmaking tools, to the compute, algorithms, and data that make AI, to the tokens, agents and robots that affect the world.
For more on our worldview and research philosophy, read techstatecraft.org/launch.
I’ve seen firsthand how technical, forward-looking research can inform policy if it’s ready for the policy window. After a decade as an IP and tech lawyer, I joined a think tank, CSET, in 2019 to study AI chips, their supply chains, and AI policy. This was three years before ChatGPT, so these weren't seen as urgent topics at the time.
Soon after, AI quickly became an increasingly salient policy issue. From 2021–2025 I served in the White House NSC and the Commerce Department and put new policy ideas into practice (alongside many brilliant colleagues).
One goal of CTS is to scale this kind of experience to a whole team: @KonstantinPilz @nchlsbrwn @amelia__michael @mary_clare_m already bring a wealth of technical and policy expertise and we’ll continue to grow to tackle an ambitious research agenda.
We're thrilled to be supported by and affiliated with @IFP, and grateful to the advisors and colleagues who helped get CTS off the ground, including @ohlennart, @fiiiiiist, @AlecStapp, and @calebwatney.
Our first major reports will launch soon. You can follow us at @techstatecraft.
I'm an optimist about technology. Institutions adapt to disruptions — whether the industrial revolution, comphrough competition, self-correction, and iteration, and we mostly figure it out in the long run.
But we've never had to adapt to a technology that is both this transformative and developing this fast. AI capabilities continue to scale rapidly with no sign of slowing, and it's a full-time job just to keep up with model releases. I worry policy will stay reactive right up until we face immense disruptions — including basic challenges to human agency and relevance in a world of powerful AI.
Even still, I believe policy can steer this transition, but only with foresight and the right information.
CTS aims to provide just that. Our two initial policy focus areas:
1) How policy can shape virtual and physical automation over the next decade as we reimagine the social contract in light of advanced AI.
2) How to manage long-term strategic US-China AI competition while ensuring stability.
These focus areas will build on a deep model of the AI value chain, from chipmaking tools, to the compute, algorithms, and data that make AI, to the tokens, agents and robots that affect the world.
For more on our worldview and research philosophy, read techstatecraft.org/launch.
I’ve seen firsthand how technical, forward-looking research can inform policy if it’s ready for the policy window. After a decade as an IP and tech lawyer, I joined a think tank, CSET, in 2019 to study AI chips, their supply chains, and AI policy. This was three years before ChatGPT, so these weren't seen as urgent topics at the time.
Soon after, AI quickly became an increasingly salient policy issue. From 2021–2025 I served in the White House NSC and the Commerce Department and put new policy ideas into practice (alongside many brilliant colleagues).
One goal of CTS is to scale this kind of experience to a whole team: @KonstantinPilz @nchlsbrwn @amelia__michael @mary_clare_m already bring a wealth of technical and policy expertise and we’ll continue to grow to tackle an ambitious research agenda.
We're thrilled to be supported by and affiliated with @IFP, and grateful to the advisors and colleagues who helped get CTS off the ground, including @ohlennart, @fiiiiiist, @AlecStapp, and @calebwatney.
Our first major reports will launch soon. You can follow us at @techstatecraft.
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I was the first White House Special Advisor for AI. My friend Tantum Collins was Director for Technology and National Security, joining government after five years at Google DeepMind. Our jobs were to help make AI safe and ensure that democracies led the way in inventing and ’m a professor at Johns Hopkins and an advisor to Anthropic and others, and Tantum is the CEO of Inherent.
Long before we served in government, we thought that humanity was on track to create AI systems that outperform humans at virtually every cognitive task. This was once a fringe hypothesis. It now seems inevitable.
THE BITTER STRUGGLE is our new book about what’s happened, what’s coming, and what’s at stake. From nanometer-scale chips to gigawatt data centers, we will show you why AI is so powerful, and why its progress will accelerate from here in ways that feel like science fiction. We will take you into the Oval Office with President Biden, the Situation Room with the Cabinet, and the Roosevelt Room with leading CEOs — and we will examine what has happened under President Trump. The decisions made in these rooms, and in Silicon Valley, will determine which nations gain a decisive lead in AI. Whoever wields that technology will gain a power unlike any in history. The next few years may decide the next few decades.
But, most of all, together we will confront AI’s hardest questions. What is the proper relationship between the companies inventing the technology, the government, and the public? How can we make sure AI is safe and trustworthy? How do democracies win without losing our values?
And how can humanity figure all of this out when we are so quickly running out of time?
That question is why we wrote this book — and why we believe the answers are too important to only be debated in closed rooms, including the ones we once sat in. We are so excited to finally share our work with you.
The book is available for pre-order now and out November 10th from Crown. penguinrandomhouse.com/books/821154/t…
Long before we served in government, we thought that humanity was on track to create AI systems that outperform humans at virtually every cognitive task. This was once a fringe hypothesis. It now seems inevitable.
THE BITTER STRUGGLE is our new book about what’s happened, what’s coming, and what’s at stake. From nanometer-scale chips to gigawatt data centers, we will show you why AI is so powerful, and why its progress will accelerate from here in ways that feel like science fiction. We will take you into the Oval Office with President Biden, the Situation Room with the Cabinet, and the Roosevelt Room with leading CEOs — and we will examine what has happened under President Trump. The decisions made in these rooms, and in Silicon Valley, will determine which nations gain a decisive lead in AI. Whoever wields that technology will gain a power unlike any in history. The next few years may decide the next few decades.
But, most of all, together we will confront AI’s hardest questions. What is the proper relationship between the companies inventing the technology, the government, and the public? How can we make sure AI is safe and trustworthy? How do democracies win without losing our values?
And how can humanity figure all of this out when we are so quickly running out of time?
That question is why we wrote this book — and why we believe the answers are too important to only be debated in closed rooms, including the ones we once sat in. We are so excited to finally share our work with you.
The book is available for pre-order now and out November 10th from Crown. penguinrandomhouse.com/books/821154/t…
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Ben Buchanan retweeted
#Patriots play-action schemes on the goal-line have been really effective all camp. Maye with TDs to Brown (slant) and Hollins (cross).
Maye also hit Henry on a nice chip-and-release play for a TD.
Maye also hit Henry on a nice chip-and-release play for a TD.
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President Biden Issues Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence | The White House whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…
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Biden-Harris Administration Launches Artificial Intelligence Cyber Challenge to Protect America’s Critical Software | The White House whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…
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FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Secures Voluntary Commitments from Leading Artificial Intelligence Companies to Manage the Risks Posed by AI | The White House whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…
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TODAY is the pub date for THE NEW FIRE: WAR, PEACE, AND DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF AI. The product of years of work with the great @Andrew_Imbrie, the book explores AI, its role in geopolitics, and democracies can master it. Technology need not favor tyranny.
🧵and link below
🧵and link below
My next book, THE NEW FIRE: WAR, PEACE, AND DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF AI, comes out on March 8th. My co-author @Andrew_Imbrie and I make a simple, though counterintuitive, argument: Technology need not favor tyranny. Democracies can win tech competitions. 🧵 amazon.com/New-Fire-War-P…
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My next book, THE NEW FIRE: WAR, PEACE, AND DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF AI, comes out on March 8th. My co-author @Andrew_Imbrie and I make a simple, though counterintuitive, argument: Technology need not favor tyranny. Democracies can win tech competitions. 🧵 amazon.com/New-Fire-War-P…
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We've benefited greatly from the insights and generosity of many friends and colleagues, including @CSETGeorgetown, @GeorgetownCSS, and the wonderful team @mitpress. This book does not reflect the views of the US government and was completed prior to our return to public service.
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Lots more in the book, which comes out on March 8th! amazon.com/New-Fire-War-P…
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