No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups
00:25:23 · Jacob Helberg
[00:25:23] S0: Yeah. One of the approaches that we so I think, I mean, one of the approaches that the administration's taken that, you know, hopefully will will really be the foundation for a lot of, you know, short term change as well as just provide long term support is helping shape the environment. You know, creating a macro environment that basically makes innovation, iteration of innovations, as well as deployment of innovations, a lot easier and less expensive. So the administration's approach to expanding our domestic energy supply is obviously part of that. Expanding nuclear. The administration is really undertaking a lot of efforts to basically cut red tape, accelerate the deployment of American nuclear energy. And from memory, it was actually one of the first executive orders that the president signed that where they said they wanted to quadruple our domestic nuclear supply, as well as, you know, a lot of actions to deregulate. The one big beautiful bill included a lot of tax incentives. And through the State Department, we were looking to help, you know, be play a constructive part in shaping that environment by creating these evergreen, you know, systems basically, like the forward deployed industrial base, that will be a long term platform, and hopefully a replicable one that we could pursue in other geographies. And the idea is that for the long term, our technology companies will have these platforms to operate in that will provide, that will really be a competitive strategic edge that they can use to build very very quickly and actually get to market faster.
00:27:09 · S1, Jacob Helberg, Sarah Guo
[00:27:09] S1: How do you think about in general this transitioning through administration? So you mentioned a number of executive orders. Typically, when an administration shifts, you end up with a lot of those executive orders undone in both directions. Right? Somebody comes in and they kind of cancel a bunch of the executive orders that were signed by the prior administration, and they write a bunch of other ones that may be at odds with them. And so often the key is legislation or other approaches. How do you view making this stick if you think it's so important for our country's future? [00:27:40] S0: Well, are some things that I think will be hard to undo. I mean, tax reform is very sticky. And so, know, one of the interesting attributes about my role of the State Department is we're actually not allowed to comment on electoral politics. So it's kind of this interesting, you know [00:28:05] S1: Yeah. So I guess ignoring that. [00:28:06] S0: Statutory limitation that we're subject to. [00:28:08] S2: When you we we have the audience of a lot of folks in the AI ecosystem, but also a lot of folks in the general business and investing ecosystem of companies of different scale. What do you think, like, American business people and entrepreneurs should know about these policies in terms of how they affect them?
00:28:28 · Jacob Helberg
[00:28:28] S0: The the goal for Paxilica is we want to use it as a platform to expand market access for our companies. Because even amongst our allies, sometimes our companies, you know, face a lot of hurdles with exporting their products and services. So we want to hear feedback from them on, you know, what are what's working and what's not working in places like Japan, South Korea, India, and things that we could do better in the policymaking space to make sure that we can actually make, you know, provide some support for our companies to be more competitive in those markets. We also want to hear, you know, it's been great to already get a lot of feedback from a number of different companies on partnerships that are already in flight and opportunities that they see on the table on the supply chain security side. So there's a lot of cross pollination and partnerships that are already being forged between American companies and companies in India, in Japan, in South Korea, even in Singapore. And so understanding those partnerships helps us really understand how executives are thinking about their supply chain strategy. Everyone uniformly is obviously thinking about ways of having of being much more deliberate about their supply chain decisions in ways that factor in the realities of the need to not be overexposed to China because of the political dynamics at work. And so understanding where they see opportunities for what segments of their supply chain helps us get a better understanding of what's working and what can we help grow, you know, as quickly as possible and scale. And so that part is very useful. So I would say expanded market access, strategic partnership opportunities on the supply chain side. And and then we also want to make sure that we actually create a space where we can talk about important intellectual property intellectual property conversations. You guys are obviously very involved in the AI industry. And so I'm sure you've been, you know, spending a lot of time thinking about the whole model distillation debate, which is super important to actually protect the economic value of these hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in AI companies.
00:30:47 · Jacob Helberg, Sarah Guo
And so that remains a really important unresolved area of policy, where I think getting the input from the builders who are the closest to the development of this technology is super important. [00:31:00] S2: When we last spoke to you on No Priors, you were just beginning your tenure at the State Department. What has the biggest surprise been? You've been very active since you started.
00:31:11 · Jacob Helberg
[00:31:11] S0: Well, the biggest surprise is honestly how entrepreneurial it's the Trump administration has been. Because I think the stereotype for people who work outside of the government is usually really focuses on, you know, this idea of the government is super bureaucratic. And obviously, that's not to say that the government is a massive enterprise. And lots and lots of people involved, lots of processes. But the really extraordinary thing is we have a president who also spent most of his life in the private sector and who really likes speed. I mean, you know, the running joke, especially, you know, with our counterparts overseas that deal with the Trump administration is that we like to move in Trump time. Because, you know, the president, when he likes something, he wants it yesterday. And so that part's really been amazing because the appetite to try new things and the appetite for risk and to move really, really fast is highly unusual by government standards and really speak for the philosophy that President Trump brings to bear in the Oval Office. And so that part's really been extraordinary. That combined with the really great leadership that we've been able to benefit from at the cabinet level from secretary Bessen, secretary Lutnick, secretary Rubio, secretary Bergam, who, you know, it's an incredibly collegial team. And and they really, you know, operate with a level of professionalism that's been incredibly inspiring for people like me in the sub cabinet to be able to benefit from and and also, you know, work very constructively with our bureaus.
00:33:00 · Sarah Guo
[00:33:00] S2: One thing that you've said recently surprised me just in phrasing. You referred to America as a global underdog, believe. That's not the way I think of America. Can you explain yourself?