This report presents an analytic approach to help U.S. policymakers deconstruct artificial intelligence governance proposals by identifying their underlying assumptions, which are the foundational elements that facilitate the success of a proposal. By applying the approach to five U.S.-based AI governance proposals from industry, academia, and civil society, as well as state and federal government, this report demonstrates how identifying assumptions can help policymakers make informed, flexible decisions about AI under uncertainty.

This report assesses the types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) platforms marketed in the United States and the finances of U.S.-headquartered UAV companies. It finds that most companies develop small UAVs, and only a handful develop more complex military systems. The report also finds that most drone manufacturers are privately held, venture-backed companies, many of which were founded after 2010, and investment activity is concentrated around firms that produce smaller UAVs.

As artificial intelligence systems are deployed and affect more aspects of daily life, effective risk mitigation becomes imperative to prevent harm. This report analyzes AI incidents to improve our understanding of how risks from AI materialize in practice. By identifying six mechanisms of harm, it sheds light on the different pathways to harm, and on the variety of mitigation strategies needed to address them.

This report analyzes over 250 scientific publications that use open language models in ways that require access to model weights and derives a taxonomy of use cases that open weights enable. The authors identified a diverse range of seven open-weight use cases that allow researchers to investigate a wider scope of questions, explore more avenues of experimentation, and implement a larger set of techniques.

Recent U.S.-Gulf AI partnerships represent billions of dollars in strategic technology deals, but they raise critical questions about governance, oversight, and long-term influence. This analysis examines four major AI initiatives with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, discussing critical issues including fragmented oversight, technology diversion, and AI sovereignty. It proposes a framework to transform ad hoc dealmaking into principled, transparent, and rule-bound AI statecraft that advances U.S. interests, strengthens technology relationships with allies and partners, and establishes durable governance mechanisms for U.S. AI deployments abroad.

Organizations looking to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) systems face the challenge of deciphering a myriad of voluntary standards and best practices—requiring time, resources, and expertise that many cannot afford. To address this problem, this report distills over 7,000 recommended practices from 52 reports into a single harmonized framework. Integrating new AI guidance with existing safety and security practices, this work provides a road map for organizations navigating the complex landscape of AI guidance.

China’s efforts to develop AI-related military capabilities have garnered significant interest in the United States. Drawing on 2,857 AI-related defense contract award notices published between January 2023 and December 2024, this report finds that while China’s legacy defense sector players lead AI-related military procurement, an emerging set of nontraditional vendors and research institutions appears to play a consequential role as well.

This report examines lessons from the North Carolina Life Sciences Apprenticeship Consortium for pharmaceutical and biomanufacturing workforce development, and analyzes how apprenticeship programs help address workforce shortages in emerging tech fields. It offers a practical framework with important considerations for designing and launching programs, and serves as a resource for employers, regional leaders, and policymakers seeking to build a more resilient and technically skilled workforce.

This report examines how U.S. leadership in remote sensing, launch, and advanced space technologies has shaped the global space economy and what it will take to sustain that edge. Drawing on CSET’s prior research, the paper explores the role of public investment and technology, the risks of market consolidation, and policy steps to foster innovation, resilience, and national security in an increasingly contested and commercialized space domain.