Publications

CSET produces evidence-driven analysis in a variety of forms, from informative graphics and translations to expert testimony and published reports. Our key areas of inquiry are the foundations of artificial intelligence — such as talent, data and computational power — as well as how AI can be used in cybersecurity and other national security settings. We also do research on the policy tools that can be used to shape AI’s development and use, and on biotechnology.

Annual Report

CSET at Five

Center for Security and Emerging Technology
| March 2024

In honor of CSET’s fifth birthday, this annual report is a look at CSET’s successes in 2023 and over the course of the past five years. It explores CSET’s different lines of research and cross-cutting projects, and spotlights some of its most impactful research products.

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Analysis

A New Institutional Approach to Research Security in the United States

Melissa Flagg Zachary Arnold
| January 2021

U.S. research security requires trust and collaboration between those conducting R&D and the federal government. Most R&D takes place in the private sector, outside of government authority and control, and researchers are wary of federal government or law enforcement involvement in their work. Despite these challenges, as adversaries work to extract science, technology, data and know-how from the United States, the U.S. government is pursuing an ambitious research security initiative. In order to secure the 78 percent of U.S. R&D funded outside the government, authors Melissa Flagg and Zachary Arnold propose a new, public-private research security clearinghouse, with leadership from academia, business, philanthropy, and government and a presence in the most active R&D hubs across the United States.

Analysis

AI and the Future of Cyber Competition

Wyatt Hoffman
| January 2021

As states turn to AI to gain an edge in cyber competition, it will change the cat-and-mouse game between cyber attackers and defenders. Embracing machine learning systems for cyber defense could drive more aggressive and destabilizing engagements between states. Wyatt Hoffman writes that cyber competition already has the ingredients needed for escalation to real-world violence, even if these ingredients have yet to come together in the right conditions.

See our original translation of a 2014 PRC document describing the types of permits and certifications Chinese companies need to bid for military contracts.

See our original translation of a 2007 PRC document from the predecessor office of China's State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

See our original translation of a 2007 document from the predecessor office of the PRC State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

See our original translation of a National Development and Reform Commission Press Conference from October 2020.

See our original translation of a 2012 document from the PRC State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

Analysis

Mapping U.S. Multinationals’ Global AI R&D Activity

Roxanne Heston Remco Zwetsloot
| December 2020

Many factors influence where U.S. tech multinational corporations decide to conduct their global artificial intelligence research and development (R&D). Company AI labs are spread all over the world, especially in North America, Europe and Asia. But in contrast to AI labs, most company AI staff remain concentrated in the United States. Roxanne Heston and Remco Zwetsloot explain where these companies conduct AI R&D, why they select particular locations, and how they establish their presence there. The report is accompanied by a new open-source dataset of more than 60 AI R&D labs run by these companies worldwide.

See our original translation of a 2010 PRC regulation, meant to increase private investors' role in the Chinese economy.

See our original translation of a study by a PRC government cybersecurity center that analyzes the structure of China's complement of cybersecurity and IT security professionals.