Who We Are
CSET staff come from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, bringing extensive experience from the highest levels of government, industry and academia to inform research at the intersection of technology and statecraft. We are committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and intellectual curiosity.
As a non-partisan organization, we produce rigorous, evidence-based, cross-functional analysis on emerging technology issues. We seek to expose our assumptions, follow the data and serve as trusted advisors to national security policymakers. Our data scientists collaborate closely with analysts to gather, process and interpret data at scale, including foreign-language and technical materials from diverse sources.
Members of our team are challenged with meaningful work, offered ongoing opportunities for professional development and learning, and contribute to a collegial and engaging environment where they can thrive.
What We Do
Our research covers several, sometimes intersecting, lines of inquiry:
Artificial Intelligence:
- Standards and Testing: Studying AI accidents and approaches to AI safety, standards, testing, evaluation, verification and validation to help understand when AI systems work well, when they fail, and how to predict and prevent these failures within security-relevant contexts.
- Drivers of National Competitiveness in AI: Assessing the state of the United States’ AI innovation base via analyses of domestic workforce, AI talent flows and immigration, investment, trade policy, education systems, and other factors.
- Cybersecurity and AI: Examining how advances in AI may alter the dynamics of cyber operations and how the security of AI systems affects their safe and trusted development, fielding and operations.
- National Security Applications of AI: Exploring how the U.S. government can effectively use AI, including autonomous systems, while mitigating risks and maintaining strategic cooperation with military allies.
Artificial Intelligence and Beyond:
From the outset in early 2019, we planned to focus primarily on AI in CSET’s first two years. We have since identified methodologies that enable comparisons across countries and among other emerging technologies. In 2022 and beyond, we expect this facet of our work to continue growing:
- National and Regional Comparisons: Evaluating how the performance of the United States, its allies, and strategic competitors compare across a broad variety of technological innovation measures, including patents, PhDs granted, and investment. Recent research focuses on India and Indonesia.
- China’s Science & Technology Ecosystem: Assessing China’s efforts to stimulate research and development, promote scientific progress, and drive technological innovation, as revealed by official Chinese policies and documents.
- Essential Technology Supply Chains: Developing robust models of vital technological supply chains and policy levers necessary to secure them against supply shocks. This research has primarily focused on semiconductors and their manufacture.
- Biotechnology: Analyzing trends in biotechnologies to help government and society harness its potential to promote health and protect the environment while preventing its misuse.
CSET’s unique analytic approach is supported by our Data Science team and our significant data holdings include nearly 60 analysis-ready datasets, offering unprecedented coverage of the scientific landscape, including nearly 240 million scholarly documents and more than 55 million patents, bolstered by novel methods to classify these documents for analytic purposes. The team also creates data visualizations to highlight CSET research findings with graphic aids, including trackers, maps and other data-rich graphics.
We translate significant foreign-language documents on AI into English. In addition to supporting CSET research, we offer this service to others upon request.
We disseminate our research through a variety of means, including public events, social media, media outreach, congressional testimony and a biweekly newsletter.
We engage with the broader Georgetown University community via the Tech and Society Initiative and collaboration with GU students and faculty.
Learn More
Find out more about our team, our public service fellows, and how to join us when openings are available.
CSET is supported by grants from Open Philanthropy, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and the Public Interest Technology University Network.
