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Emil Michael: The Department of War Is Moving Faster Than Silicon Valley on AI | The a16z Show
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This conversation with Emil Michael, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and acting director of the Defense Innovation Unit, was recorded at the a16z American Dynamism Summit in Washington, D.C. Michael walks through how he inherited a department running 14 undefined technology priorities, cut them to six, and made applied AI number one. He also gives the first detailed account of why commercial AI contracts written under the previous administration created a vendor-lock crisis that put active military operations at risk. Timestamps: 0:00—Introduction 2:50—Why Wartime Speed Matters 5:20—Cutting Priorities to Six 7:22—Applied AI Across Defense 9:17—Commercial Models and Lock-In 14:39—Democratic Oversight and Guardrails 19:30—Fixing Procurement Bureaucracy 22:08—What Startups Must Deliver Read the full transcript here: https://www.a16z.news/s/podcast Resources: Follow Emil Michael on X: https://x.com/USWREMichael Follow David Ulevitch on X: https://x.com/davidu Stay Updated: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends! Find a16z on X: https://twitter.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711 Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures.
Segments Timeline
Introduction
"We're faced with the biggest military buildup in history. We're trending toward artificial general intelligence, a substrate, a layer, something that will touch everything. But we're way behind in AI ..."
Why Wartime Speed Matters
"there. >> Awesome. Well, why don't you talk to us uh a little bit about that? You have been outspoken uh that the Department of War cannot operate at peaceime speed. Um this is kind of like how we tel..."
Cutting Priorities to Six
">> Um, so talk to us a little bit about as you stepped into the role, you are CTO for the Department of War. How do how do you prioritize? How do you take stock of where those priorities are? How do y..."
Applied AI Across Defense
"more about why it's important to have advanced AI capabilities. You know, maybe some people would say, well, we've been really good at, you know, being being a world power without all this AI capabili..."
Commercial Models and Lock-In
"cases. Um so look in the in the last week there has been an incredibly public discussion about commercial AI models being used in the Pentagon including anthropic uh being used inside the department. ..."
Democratic Oversight and Guardrails
"tomorrow. Um so t talk a little bit about the role of democratic oversight elected leadership uh that that sort of guides the process that we have in this country uh for deploying AI capabilities uh f..."
Fixing Procurement Bureaucracy
"serve the government. Um, let's talk about the Department of War. Um, structurally inside things that need to change. Uh, you know, in order to make sure that you have the best capabilities, best tech..."
What Startups Must Deliver
"what what is it that uh that the companies can do better to work with the government to work with you? You know, you've done this Arsenal of Freedom tour. You've visited a bunch of startups. Um but wh..."