Applications

Chinese Start-Up Lands Reusable Rocket for the First Time

The New York Times
| August 19, 2026

CSET’s Kathleen Curlee shared her expert insight in an article published by The New York Times. The article examines how Chinese aerospace companies are making progress toward reusable rockets, potentially lowering launch costs and helping China compete with U.S. companies like SpaceX in the global space market.

Despite decades of reform efforts, the federal government’s Authorization to Operate (ATO) process is a major barrier to delivering secure systems to warfighters at speed. This report examines why past ATO reforms have fallen short of their intent, and offers recommendations to getting leading American technology into the hands of warfighters faster and securely.

CSET’s Helen Toner shared her expert insight in an article published by TIME. The article examines the race to automate AI research and the possibility that AI systems could increasingly accelerate their own development, raising concerns about how quickly AI progress may advance and whether researchers and policymakers can keep pace.

CSET’s Sam Bresnick shared his expert insight in an op-ed published by Barron’s. In his piece, he examines how the Trump administration’s AI strategy could affect U.S. competitiveness with China, particularly as the administration seeks to promote AI and semiconductor exports while addressing national security concerns.

CSET’s Kathleen Curlee shared her expert insight in an interview with NPR. The segment examines SpaceX’s first quarterly earnings report since its IPO, investor concerns about the company’s valuation, and questions surrounding its ability to deliver on its ambitious long-term plans.

CSET’s Helen Toner shared her expert insight in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s 7.30. The interview examines growing concerns that AI capabilities are advancing faster than the safeguards needed to keep them safe, following new research showing frontier AI models engaging in deceptive and harmful behavior during testing.

CSET’s Sam Bresnick shared his expert insight in an article published by Fortune. The article examines how uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration’s AI governance, combined with the lower cost and flexibility of Chinese AI models, is influencing businesses’ decisions and raising concerns about U.S. competitiveness and national security.

Assessing Sovereign AI: A Two-Pronged Framework

Julie George
| August 4, 2026

This piece offers a two-pronged framework for assessing sovereign AI based on why states pursue it and how they do so. Five country case studies trace the distinct pathways the United States, China, France, India, and Singapore have each taken toward sovereign AI.

CSET’s Helen Toner shared her expert insight in an op-ed published by Fortune. The article examines how an AI-driven cyberattack on Hugging Face highlights a major blind spot in current AI policy and argues that oversight must expand beyond pre-release testing to address risks from advanced AI systems used internally by companies.

CSET’s Sam Bresnick and Fanny Chao shared their expert analysis in an op-ed published by War on the Rocks. The article examines Taiwan’s challenges in adopting artificial intelligence for military applications, highlighting how the gap between Taiwan’s world-leading semiconductor industry and its limited military AI readiness could affect its ability to deter Chinese aggression and future collaboration with partners.