Discover how the global landscape of STEM graduates is shifting, potentially reshaping the future of innovation and education worldwide. This blog post analyzes recent education data from the countries with the most graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. For each of the top eleven countries by number of STEM graduates, we present the total number of STEM graduates as well as STEM graduates as a percentage of total graduates in 2020.

There’s a lot to digest in the October 30 White House’s AI Executive Order. Our tracker is a useful starting point to identify key provisions and monitor the government’s progress against specific milestones, but grappling with the substance is an entirely different matter. This blog post, focusing on Section 4 of the EO (“Developing Guidelines, Standards, and Best Practices for AI Safety and Security”), is the first in a series that summarizes interesting provisions, shares some of our initial reactions, and highlights some of CSET’s research that may help the USG tackle the EO.

This trip report covers the major takeaways from the Future of Drones in Ukraine conference, co-hosted by the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit and Ukraine’s Brave1. It gives an overview of how drones are being deployed in Ukraine, the pace and scale of technological and operational innovation for inexpensive and commercially-available drones, and the future outlook for scaling in Ukraine but also with the U.S. Replicator initiative.

On October 30, 2023, the Biden administration released its long-awaited Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. CSET has broken down the EO, focusing on specific government deliverables. Our EO Provision and Timeline tracker lists which agencies are responsible for actioning EO provisions and their deadlines.

The use of the word “trustworthy” in relation to AI has sparked debate among policymakers and experts alike. This blog post explores different understandings of trustworthy AI among international actors, as well as challenges in establishing an international trustworthy AI consensus.

On September 19, 2023, one of us had the opportunity to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight, chaired by Senator Maggie Hassan. Members of the subcommittee asked for an actionable plan for the U.S. government (USG) to address concerns about emerging technologies, like AI, synthetic biology and genetic engineering, and quantum technologies. This blog post endeavors to summarize near term policy recommendations based on CSET research as well as our best guesses about what is needed to address emerging concerns about these technologies.

On September 8, 2023, Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) released their Bipartisan Framework on AI Legislation. The framework includes many ideas and recommendations that CSET research has highlighted over the past four years. This blog post highlights some of the most relevant reports and CSET’s perspective on the framework’s elements.

The Replicator effort by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is intended to overcome some of the military challenges posed by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). This blog post intends to both identify tradeoffs for the Department to consider as it charts the path for Replicator, and to provide a sense for the state of industry readiness to support.

Recent announcements from both Pentagon and Congressional leaders offer significant opportunity for rapidly delivering autonomous systems technology at-scale for U.S. Warfighters well into the future. Dr. Jaret Riddick, CSET Senior Fellow and former Principal Director for Autonomy in USD(R&E) offers his perspective on DOD’s Replicator Initiative and recent legislative proposals about DOD autonomy.

Universities can build more inclusive computer science programs by addressing the reasons that students may be deterred from pursuing the field. This blog post explores some of those reasons, features of CS education that cause them, and provides recommendations on how to design learning experiences that are safer and more exploratory for everyone.