Technology revolutionizes the way we live, unlocking greater knowledge, enhancing our capabilities, and creating new opportunities. But insecure, negligent, or exploitative technological advancements are threatening global security and stability as we speak.
Welcome to TechnologIST Talks, a new podcast brought to you by the Institute for Security and Technology. We're bringing conversations on these emerging security challenges—and the ideas to tackle them—to the forefront.
In this season of TechnologIST Talks, we're focusing on the race to accelerate innovation in technologies of national strategic importance. We’re in an era where government is no longer the sole force driving technology-enabled economic growth; private industry plays an essential role in shaping technology for the future. To secure tomorrow, the public and private sectors must come together to advance technologies that will benefit society and contribute to global stability.
We will sit down with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and policymakers to learn about the real-world challenges they face in accelerating innovation across biotech, quantum, energy, and other critical technology areas. We’ll get their takes on the policies that help or hinder their progress, and discuss where they see things heading.
Dr. Margaret Mitchell discusses the future of agentic AI, machine learning ethics, and safe AI development with host Philip Reiner in an insightful interview.
16 Jan 2025TRANSCRIPT
Looking Back and Looking Ahead: Deep Dive on the New Cybersecurity Executive Order
“This is the capstone project that really takes and leverages all of the lessons learned that have come out of the administration’s long, ongoing efforts.” - Carole House
In this bonus episode of TechnologIST Talks, Chief Security Officer Megan Stifel and Chief Trust Officer Steve Kelly are joined by Carole House, Special Advisor for Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Policy at the National Security Council. As a member of the lead office responsible for drafting the Biden administration’s final Executive Order on cybersecurity, Carole breaks down the EO’s goals, how we got here, and her hopes for the next administration.
19 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT
The Offense-Defense Balance
“The way that we are using AI today and conceive of using AI today is very different than the way it's actually going to get deployed. And this is true of every technology we've ever harnessed, whether it was fire or electricity.” - Heather Adkins
In a special episode of TechnologIST Talks, CEO Philip Reiner hosts Heather Adkins, a 22-year Google veteran and founding member of the Google Security Team. She shares her take on the current threat landscape, where the U.S. government and the private sector might align, and more.
18 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT
A Transatlantic Perspective on Quantum Tech
“Five years ago, I wanted to come back to the passion of my life, quantum physics, and use my corporate finance background to actually commercialize it. Because now it has come to a phase where you can actually commercialize quantum tech, quantum computing, we founded Terra Quantum.” - Markus Pflitsch
Host Megan Stifel welcomes Markus Pflitsch. Formerly in the financial services sector, Markus transitioned back into the quantum space in 2019. He details his path to becoming CEO and founder of a leading quantum company, his unique take on the quantum ecosystem, and the differences in the funding environments in Europe and the United States.
12 Dec 2024
The Future is Quantum
“Really, if we start at sort of the base level, like fundamental scientific challenges, those were solved a long time ago. There's no fundamental scientific issue that gets in our way.” - Stefan Leichenauer
IST CSO Megan Stifel interviews Stefan Leichenauer, a member of the inaugural team at SandboxAQ with experience in both AI and quantum science. Stefan explains his journey from academia to private industry, SandboxAQ’s origins within Alphabet, and where quantum science is going next.
5 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT
The Cleantech Boom
“The cheapest, most effective, lowest-energy way of doing carbon removal is not putting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the first place.” – Dr. Alex Gagnon
IST Chief Trust Officer Steve Kelly speaks with Dr. Alex Gagnon, co-founder and CEO of Banyu Carbon and an associate professor at the University of Washington School of Oceanology. They discuss the transformative potential of direct ocean capture in carbon dioxide removal and explore the ecosystem of partnerships needed to scale cleantech solutions.
3 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT
Not Just Science for the Sake of Science
“There is something very special about Silicon Valley that has transpired to other places in the United States. It's the knowledge on how to build and nurture small companies. And it's not just a question of access to capital. It's the ecosystem, of course, the people who work at these companies, but also the legal support, the financial support, and then the community.” - Dr. Alain Harrus
IST's Steve Kelly sits down with Dr. Alain Harris, a global expert in energy technology and innovation with over 30 years of experience in the field. Alain discusses the unique attributes of the U.S. innovation ecosystem that position our entrepreneurs for success, the role of Silicon Valley and other U.S. hubs, and challenges and opportunities in the Chinese entrepreneurial landscape.
14 Nov 2024
The Deep Tech Renaissance
“We cannot expect to do things exactly the same way and catch up. We will not. What we do have right now is a renaissance in a couple of areas like machine learning, in robotics and automation, that are allowing us to maybe leapfrog past the conventional ways of doing things and go to a different level.” - Dr. Manish Kothari
In this episode, IST CEO Philip Reiner sits down with founder and deep tech investor Manish Kothari to explore challenges and opportunities in the deep tech ecosystem and how AI and automation are revolutionizing biotech, quantum, and other critical technology areas.
12 Nov 2024TRANSCRIPT
Why Venture Capital Is Indispensable for U.S. Industrial Strategy
“In theory, we have these massive interventions that have really drilled down into a set of core technologies that will lead the fourth industrial revolution, the future of economic competitiveness and military capability... I would say in the weeds, however, what we've discovered is we've made good first steps, but connecting the dots between, okay, we've made this intervention, how does that tie trade policy to R&D to what is actually going to be consumed? Are we writing the contracts for many of these deep technology areas?” - Pavneet Singh
In this first episode of TechnologIST Talks, IST CEO Philip Reiner sits down with Michael Brown and Pavneet Singh to discuss how venture capital could help build critical technologies essential for national security, economic prosperity and global leadership.
30 Oct 2024TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to TechnologIST Talks
Technology revolutionizes the way we live, unlocking greater knowledge, enhancing our capabilities, and creating new opportunities. But insecure, negligent, or exploitative technological advancements are threatening global security and stability as we speak.
Welcome to TechnologIST Talks, a new podcast brought to you by the Institute for Security and Technology. We're bringing conversations on these emerging security challenges—and the ideas to tackle them—to the forefront.
Inside a recent episode
The Coming Age of Agentic AI
Published 29 May 2025 · Transcript excerpt
[…] I definitely first started diving into AI agents with a perspective that this was just hype because it was a time for some new exciting thing to happen. And chat GPT had been around for like two years. There's always these cycles. So it was sort of like, what's the next big thing? And that corresponded to when AI agents first started really flourishing in discussions, coming out in products, that kind of thing. But actually AI agents are a significant step forward in language model developments in particular, but there's also been sort of a stream of work on autonomous vehicles and that kind of thing, which also have these sort of agent capabilities. […]
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