Since the mid-2000s, China has consistently graduated more STEM PhDs than the United States, a key indicator of a country’s future competitiveness in STEM fields. This paper explores the data on STEM PhD graduation rates and projects their growth over the next five years, during which the gap between China and the United States is expected to increase significantly.

To what extent does China’s cultivation of talent in cybersecurity and AI matter in terms of competitiveness with other countries? Right now, it seems to have an edge: China’s 11 World-Class Cybersecurity Schools offer more classes on artificial intelligence and machine learning than do the 20 U.S. universities certified as Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations. This policy brief recommends tracking 13 research grants from the National Science Foundation that attempt to integrate AI into cybersecurity curricula.

AI technologies will likely alter great power competitions in foundational ways, changing both how nations create power and their motives for wielding it against one another. This paper is a first step toward thinking more expansively about AI & national power and seeking pragmatic insights for long-term U.S. competition with authoritarian governments.

Artificial intelligence is said to be transforming the global economy and society in what some dub the “fourth industrial revolution.” This data brief analyzes media representations of AI and the alignments, or misalignments, with job postings that include the AI-related skills needed to make AI a practical reality. This potential distortion is important as the U.S. Congress places an increasing emphasis on AI. If government funds are shifted away from other areas of science and technology, based partly on the representations that leaders and the public are exposed to in the media, it is important to understand how those representations align with real jobs across the country.

Diana Gehlhaus and Ilya Rahkovsky's CSET issue brief "U.S. AI Workforce" shows a lack of evidence to suggest there is an AI talent gap in the United States.

CSET Research Fellows Remco Zwetsloot and Zachary Arnold argue against the banning of Chinese STEM students from the United States and outline how rejecting foreign talent hampers U.S. innovation.

Using research by CSET and the National Security Commission on AI, United States Senators Gary Peters and John Thune introduced the AI Scholarship-for-Service Act to help strengthen the U.S. AI workforce by providing scholarships for students interested in AI.

U.S. policymakers need to understand the landscape of artificial intelligence talent and investment as AI becomes increasingly important to national and economic security. This knowledge is critical as leaders develop new alliances and work to curb China’s growing influence. As an initial effort, an earlier CSET report, “AI Hubs in the United States,” examined the domestic AI ecosystem by mapping where U.S. AI talent is produced, where it is concentrated, and where AI private equity funding goes. Given the global nature of the AI ecosystem and the importance of international talent flows, this paper looks for the centers of AI talent and investment in regions and countries that are key U.S. partners: Europe and the CANZUK countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom).

CSET partnered with the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence to discuss the findings and recommendations of the commissions final report, released in early March.

CSET Research Analyst Dakota Cary discusses the differences in work culture between cybersecurity workers in China and the United States.