Publications: Daniel Castro

With the right infrastructure and vision, the United States can become a global leader in AI-enabled diplomacy. The State Department should seize this moment—not just to experiment with AI and increase organizational efficiency, but to embed AI at the core of how it conducts diplomacy in the 21st century.

The magnitude of the total fines against U.S. companies is extraordinary. To put the amount in perspective, it is roughly the same as the GDP of Fiji. It could cover the cost of sending five rovers to explore Mars. It would be enough to build two new football stadiums in Washington, DC. It could even pay for every household in America to buy six dozen eggs.

The Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act (FADPA) would let U.S. courts block access to foreign piracy sites that profit off stolen American content, aligning the U.S. with over 40 countries that already take similar action. Despite critics' claims of censorship, the bill targets only sites primarily designed for copyright theft, offering a lawful, narrow solution to a billion-dollar problem.

A reasonable compromise on federal data privacy should protect and promote innovation by minimizing compliance costs and restrictions on data use, as well as address concrete privacy harms, improve transparency requirements, and strengthen oversight and enforcement.

Congress should craft federal privacy legislation that protects consumers without undermining the responsible use of data that drives innovation, supports small businesses, and fuels economic growth. A balanced approach—emphasizing clear rules, transparency, and compliance over punitive enforcement—will safeguard privacy while preserving data’s value to society.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon proposed eliminating the Department of Education by cutting federal bureaucracy to empower state-led innovation, but true transformation in American education requires a national commitment to investing in AI-driven personalized learning.

The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has aggressively downsized the federal workforce. To maintain essential services with fewer staff, the administration must embrace digital transformation, leveraging AI, automation, and self-service portals to improve efficiency and modernize government operations.

A well-calibrated approach that prevents Chinese companies like Shein and Temu from exploiting loopholes while incentivizing compliance and supporting vetted sellers on U.S. platforms would best serve U.S. economic and strategic interests.

Recent developments, including DeepSeek’s notable successes, have cast doubt on the effectiveness of the U.S. export control policy and show how U.S. firms may ultimately pay the price unless the Trump administration takes a new approach.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez excoriated social media companies for a litany of harms in his Davos keynote, and above all for “harming the liberal order and the democratic system.” But the most startling thing was his proposed solution: radical reforms that would fundamentally curtail digital freedoms online.