How can the U.S. government and its allies make effective use of artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) and other emerging technologies? Our research in this area examines AI-enabled emerging technologies relevant to national security, opportunities and challenges for adoption and application, and opportunities for alliances in the development and deployment of AI-enabled systems.

Analysis

Big Tech in Taiwan

Sam Bresnick

| July 2025

This report examines how 17 leading U.S. technology companies are economically and operationally entangled with Taiwan. By mapping investments, R&D efforts, data centers, and supply chains, it sheds light on how these ties could influence corporate behavior in a future conflict with China, and what risks and incentives may shape...

Analysis

AI System-to-Model Innovation

Jonah Schiestle and Andrew Imbrie

| July 2025

System-to-model innovation is an emerging innovation pathway in artificial intelligence that has driven progress in several prominent areas over the last decade. System-level innovations advance with the diffusion of AI and expand the base of contributors to leading-edge progress in the field. Countries that can identify and harness system-level innovations...

Analysis

AI on the Edge of Space

Christopher Huynh

| June 2025

The accelerating commercialization of satellites and launch technologies means space is now more congested, contested, and operationally limited than ever. This drives an imperative to leverage emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence to observe, orient, protect, and if needed, for defense. This report surveys the technology landscape to understand how...

The Future of Drones in Ukraine II: A Report from the NATO-Ukraine Defense Innovators Forum

Kyle Miller

| October 16, 2024

This blog describes key takeaways from the NATO-Ukraine Defense Innovators Forum, held in Krakow, Poland in June 2024. It overviews changing concepts of operation, battlefield realities, and technological aspirations and innovations in Ukraine, with a focus on uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and counter-UAV systems. It builds upon CSET’s previous blog...

Building a Data Collection Pipeline: Insights from a CSET Internship

Jordan Monts

| September 12, 2024

This blog post recounts the development of a Python-based data collection pipeline project completed in the summer of 2024 by CSET inaugural intern Jordan Monts. During his project research and work, he used the Requests and BeautifulSoup libraries to create a two-part system to gather and process web data, support...

An Analysis of China’s AI Governance Proposals

Hipolito Calero

| September 12, 2024

This blog post analyzes five major Chinese AI governance proposals, focusing on the key actors specified in each proposal. We find that older proposals lack specificity when identifying AI governance actors. Recent proposals, on the other hand, assign roles and responsibilities to a defined set of actors. The findings from...

Emelia Probasco

Senior Fellow

Kathleen Curlee

Research Analyst

Owen Daniels

Associate Director of Analysis and Andrew W. Marshall Fellow

Sam Bresnick

Research Fellow and Andrew W. Marshall Fellow

In their op-ed in Newsweek, Jack Corrigan and Sam Bresnick discuss the recent release of DeepSeek's AI model, R1, which has surprised the global tech industry by matching the performance of leading U.S. models at a lower cost. This development challenges the assumption that restricting China's access to advanced chips would significantly hinder its AI progress.

In her Washington Post op-ed, Emelia Probasco shared her expert insights in an op-ed published by The Washington Post. In her piece, she discusses the strategic partnership between defense company Anduril and OpenAI to develop anti-drone technology for the U.S. military.

In a KCBS Radio segment that explores the rapid rise of AI in the defense industry, Emelia Probasco provides her expert insight.

In their op-ed featured in Breaking Defense, CSET's Sam Bresnick and Emelia Probasco provide their expert analysis on the involvement of US tech giants in conflicts, such as the Ukraine war, and raise important questions about their role and potential entanglements in future conflicts, particularly those involving Taiwan.

In an article published by the Associated Press exploring the rivalry between the U.S. and China in military planning, particularly focusing on a new form of warfare utilizing swarms of air and sea drones equipped with artificial intelligence (AI), CSET's Margarita Konaev offers her expert insight.

CSET's Sam Bresnick discussed Chinese military capabilities with the South China Morning Post.