Leaders face a common challenge in understanding emerging backbone of power

Interview transcript:

Michelle Giuda In very fundamental terms, tech diplomacy is the working together of tech industry and the U.S. and all of our allies so that we can make sure that technology advances our values like freedom, security and prosperity. And why do people need to be trained in that? Technology is fundamental in its core to almost every aspect of America’s security and prosperity and freedom today. It’s not just a central part of our daily lives. And we hear about AI and ChatGPT and the role that it’s playing at home and at work, but it also really matters to our national security. Our ability to shape the trajectory of that technology for the future of our country, and to do it hand in hand with our allies so that we’re making the free world safer and more secure, is critical to securing the future for the United States today.

Terry Gerton The institute that you run there at Purdue has a program called the Tech Diplomacy Academy. You’re making that free, unlocking it if you will, for general participation. When you think about the global tech landscape right now, where is the demand for this showing up most clearly?

Michelle Giuda We launched and developed the Tech Diplomacy Academy just over a year ago. The goal there is to educate and train the U.S. and all of our allies on the fundamentals of tech diplomacy. That means understanding a basic vocabulary around emerging tech, like AI and quantum and cyber and space and 6G, and to be able to understand the strategic implications on our economic prosperity as well as our national security. And so we’re unlocking it, as you said, we’re making it free so that the U.S. government, allied governments, companies and civil society can be educated at scale and with the speed necessary to understand and have the know-how around tech diplomacy and make sure that they can put that into practice to shape the future. To your question about where we’re seeing the most demand for it right now, it’s because of the rapid pace of innovation on artificial intelligence. So we’re hearing about it every day, and it’s a throughline in almost any industry. It’s a throughline in almost any country that we’re talking to. We currently have more than 30 countries that are already using the Tech Diplomacy Academy to upskill on the fundamentals of technology, what it means for industry and what it means for national security and allied collaboration. So we want to unleash that even further, because tech is advancing too fast. National security and geopolitical dynamics are moving so fast that we want the academy to be able to educate with the speed necessary to help the U.S. and all of our allies.

Terry Gerton Tech is a big umbrella term. And in your last answer, you rattled off a long list of things that fall under that umbrella: AI, semiconductors, quantum space, advanced network, 6G. Before we can have diplomacy around these, it seems like we need to be able to figure out our own governance models. Are there spaces in the technology sector that you think pose the biggest governance gaps right now?

Michelle Giuda You bring up a good point. When we talk about tech, it’s not hair dryers, and it’s not some of the basic tech that we’re using in our daily lives today. It’s emerging and critical technologies and specifically, I think the latest is 22, that the United States has identified over the last couple of administrations that are going to impact our national security. So we’re focused on those critical and emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence and like 6G. These are all emerging and we’re figuring out what kind of role they play in our national security. And when it comes to governance, we hear — whether we’re working with the U.S. State Department or the U.S. Commerce Department, who are already training, whether we are talking to partners across NATO who are also using the Tech Diplomacy Academy to upscale, or partners in Taiwan and Japan and Australia — AI is very top of mind. As I said, because it’s a throughline in so many parts of our national safety, whether it’s defense or commercial implications. We’re hearing about artificial intelligence, spectrum and 6G, because that also has to do with what many call the AI stack. Then, also, the energy component. How are we going to have the amount of energy needed in order to fuel the AI revolution, to make sure that the United States is the global capital of AI? And what are some of the advanced technologies that we can use in order to turbocharge that energy independence? And so those are often what we’re hearing from not only the U.S. government, but many partners around the world.

Terry Gerton I’m speaking with Michelle Giuda. She’s CEO of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue. Michelle, you mentioned that you have 30 countries participating in this. You are also working with a number of elements already in the federal government — State, Commerce, NATO. What have you seen in the early rounds of this Tech Diplomacy Academy that are shaping how you’re going to construct it for the future when your enrollment is likely to double or triple or grow exponentially?

Michelle Giuda That’s the hope. We want to make sure we’re educating at scale in order to meet the moment. The way that we designed the Tech Diplomacy Academy is it’s all online. That was based on what we are hearing from many partners in government, and especially when we’re working with diplomats and commercial officers that are posted in 180 missions overseas. Or if you think about the Department of War and so many Americans that are serving the U.S. government, but they’re overseas. It is hard to come back to Washington, D.C. for five days of training when you’re supposed to be out in the field doing your role in advancing America’s mission. So we made it online. It’s the best practices in online education so that it’s asynchronous. And whether you’re posted in Croatia or you are in Washington, D.C., you can access the curriculum when it’s most convenient for you. Our goal is to help learn and use best practices and online education in order to do that. Increasingly, as we’re working with a lot of allies, they’re raising their hands to do more in-depth workshops, whether it’s in D.C. — or we just did something in Rome a couple months ago with our Italian partners — to do in-depth work. So the online education at the Tech Diplomacy Academy is a great primer series. It’ll lay the foundation for a fundamental vocabulary in critical technologies and their implications. Then we’re hearing from our government partners in particular for us to come out and do in-depth workshops on some specific topics. AI, of course, is really important, and we’re bringing some of the best and the leading researchers and professors from Purdue University out in order to help them dive deeper.

Terry Gerton It strikes me that a lot of the most difficult challenges in this space aren’t technical. They are cultural, political, even organizational. So where do you see the biggest gaps or disconnects between the technologists and the policymakers? And when you find those, how do you design content in the curriculum to help close those gaps?

Michelle Giuda You’re so right. The biggest challenge is that policymakers and implementers speak a different language than engineers. And our goal with the Tech Diplomacy Academy is to bridge that gap and give them a common language around the technology, and then how that technology can be adopted quickly and at scale in order to advance American and allied interests. And so the biggest gap is that language difference, which we’re bridging. Also, it’s less about the technology and more about how do we get it adopted quickly? And so the White House and the United States now is focused on advancing the American AI Action Plan, as one example. We’ve developed great frontier models and artificial intelligence, we have the world’s leading chips and so the imperative for us there isn’t to innovate. We’ve done the innovation and we’ll keep doing the innovation. The goal is how do you get that exported to our allies and partners around the world quickly with trusted partners? That is a key pillar of the AI action plan. So we’re helping to bridge that gap, the adoption gap, getting American tech and trusted allied tech adopted in countries across the world to advance our interests.

Terry Gerton And now that you’ve made this available to everybody, who do you hope takes the opportunity to enroll?

Michelle Giuda Well, I hope all of your listeners take the opportunity to enroll. They can go to techdiplomacyacademy.org. The State Department is already using it, Commerce, NATO, we want more allies. But in Washington D.C., our hope is every member of Congress, every member of their staff on Capitol Hill — we hear often, you know, you have committees and staff for so many members trying to keep up with changes in the latest semiconductor chip, cybersecurity, not just 5G, but 6G, space, biotech. It is so hard to keep up with all of these things when you’re also trying to develop and implement policy. And so our goal is to make that know-how and education as easy as possible for all members of the U.S. federal government, so they’ve got that basic vocabulary and they can go out and make and implement the best policy possible to advance American interests.

Terry Gerton Should private citizens who aren’t even affiliated with the government consider this opportunity?

Michelle Giuda Yes, absolutely. And that’s why we want to make it open and available to everyone. Government is really important and that’s where we’re starting because we hear the most demand, but we also have a lot of industry using the Tech Diplomacy Academy and actually creating courses. We did a course with Deloitte on navigating the strategic technology landscape for businesses. How are they doing that? So they’re advancing business interests and national security at the same time. And then our goal is for all of civil society, because all of civil society needs to be able to shape the trajectory of technology in our lives and in our national security. It’s not just a job for Washington decision-makers and industry. It’s our job as American citizens to play a role in shaping that. And that’s why we’ve made the Tech Diplomacy Academy open to everyone.

Terry Gerton So as you get five years down the road, for example, what do you want to look back on and say, yes, this was a success? How will you know?

Michelle Giuda Oh, millions of users and a request from our federal government users and companies and students across the world asking for more — for more curriculum, more educational content for them to be able to solve problems and advance the interests of the United States and all of our allies. So high demand for even more would be a great signal.

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