Winning the AI race requires secure models, expanded infrastructure, and policies that foster innovation. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a defining discussion topic for policymakers, board members and executives, and everyday citizens alike. It has also become the focus of strategic competition between the United States and China. In this episode of Three Questions, Paul Saunders sits down with Jamil Jaffer—founder and executive director of the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School—to discuss what it will take for the United States to maintain its technological edge. Their conversation explores the intersection of AI, national security, economic competitiveness, and public policy. 

Jaffer explains why AI has become central to the broader US-China competition, warning that leadership in advanced models will shape everything from economic growth to military capability. He discusses the rapid rise of Chinese AI models—particularly open-weight ones—the security risks they may pose, and the tradeoffs facing American companies between lower-cost alternatives and concerns over intellectual property. The conversation also examines the growing role of AI in cybersecurity, including an attack on Hugging Face that Jaffer points to as an example of the opportunities and risks posed by increasingly capable AI models. Since this conversation was recorded, OpenAI has released additional details about that incident.

The pair also discuss the growing importance of data centers. While they may be unpopular with the American public, expanding computing infrastructure is essential for sustaining American AI leadership. Finally, Saunders and Jaffer consider whether governments can realistically regulate a technology evolving as quickly as AI, concluding that overly prescriptive rules risk slowing innovation while doing little to address future challenges.

Drawing on experience spanning the White House, Congress, the Department of Justice, and the private sector, Jaffer offers perspective on the strategic choices facing the United States as AI reshapes the global balance of power. Most importantly, Jaffer shares why America’s long-standing strengths—innovation, entrepreneurship, and relatively light regulation—remain critical advantages in the AI era. 

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

About the Authors: Paul J. Saunders and Jamil N. Jaffer

Paul J. Saunders is president of the Center for the National Interest and publisher of The National Interest. His expertise spans US foreign and security policy, energy security and climate change, US-Russia relations and Russian foreign policy, and US relations with Japan and South Korea. Saunders is a senior advisor at the Energy Innovation Reform Project, where he served as president from 2019 to 2024. He has been a member of EIRP’s board of directors since 2013 and served as chairman from 2014 to 2019. At EIRP, Saunders has focused on the collision between great-power competition and the energy transition, including issues such as energy security, energy technology competition, and climate policy in a divided world. His recent projects at EIRP have included an assessment of Russia’s evolving role in the global energy system and a study of the linkages between China’s energy, climate, and national security policies.

Jamil N. Jaffer is the founder and executive director of the National Security Institute and the NSI Cyber & Tech Center at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School and, among other things, serves as a member of the Virginia Governor’s AI Task Force.  He previously served in senior national security roles in the Bush Administration, including as Associate Counsel to the President in the White House, and on Capitol Hill at the House Intelligence Committee and at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he served as Chief Counsel and Senior Advisor.  Mr. Jaffer is writing in his personal capacity.

The post Why America’s AI Race Depends on Innovation, Infrastructure, and Smart Policy appeared first on The National Interest.