Q: What originally drew you to CSET’s work?
When we founded CSET in 2019, there was a real gap in the policy space: decisionmakers needed independent, technically informed, data-driven analysis to guide choices about AI and other emerging technologies. My own background sits at the intersection of technical issues and international affairs, and by 2019 it was clear to me that the importance of AI for national security was only going to grow. The opportunity to help build an organization that brings those perspectives together and produces analysis that policymakers can actually trust and use was incredibly compelling.
Q: What challenges and opportunities does AI present and what does that mean for CSET’s research in the next few years?
On one level, many of the overarching questions CSET set out to address at our founding remain the same. How do we use AI systems in ways that are both effective and secure? How do we build a workforce that can meet the demand for AI expertise? What does responsible global competition in AI look like? And how do these technologies change the security environment we’re operating in?
At the same time, the progress we’ve seen in the past few years both in technical capabilities and real-world adoption has been remarkable. AI debates tend to get polarized into two extremes — for instance, is AI progress stalling, or will we have ‘superintelligence’ this decade? But reality is often somewhere in between, and CSET specializes in figuring out where in the messy middle things are shaking out. One result of how far the technology has come over the past 5-10 years is that, where once you had to choose between analyzing concrete questions about relatively basic AI systems or speculating in the abstract about more advanced future systems, it’s now often possible to do concrete, grounded work on fairly advanced systems that already exist or could be built in the foreseeable future.
Q: What is your vision for CSET? Will there be any changes to the organization’s priorities or focus?
CSET’s mission will remain the same: to provide rigorous, technically informed, and practically useful analysis on the security implications of AI and emerging technologies.
One of the things I value most about CSET is our team. The depth of expertise and the culture of rigor here are outstanding, and I’m excited to keep building on that foundation to ensure our work stays ahead of the curve.
We’ll keep pushing forward on the areas where we can have the most impact — from understanding how the U.S. and its allies can responsibly use AI for national security missions, to examining how the workforce is evolving in the age of AI, to analyzing the global AI landscape with particular attention to China and U.S.–China competition. And as new challenges emerge at the frontiers of AI, we’ll be ready to study those too.
Q: What is one lesson that you’ve learned from working with CSET’s previous Executive Directors that you plan to carry forward into this new role?
One of many things that makes CSET special is that we’re able to contain disagreement — rather than having a house view, different researchers can hold different perspectives, even on hot-button issues. I really respect how Dewey modeled that during his tenure, and will work to maintain that culture of intellectual openness.
Q: What is your best memory from your time at CSET thus far and what are you most looking forward to as Executive Director?
I always love whiteboarding sessions with fellow CSETers, whether they’re about setting organizational priorities, brainstorming new research projects, or nailing down a methodology. I’m looking forward to continuing to collaborate with and learn from the whole team, hopefully often with whiteboards involved.
Helen will assume the role of Interim Executive Director starting September 2, 2025. Read the press release here for more information.