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.

President Biden’s parting condemnation of what he called the “tech-industrial complex” underscored how deeply entrenched demonization of the tech industry has become among policymakers—a stance they must change to ensure America remains globally competitive.

Last October, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) proposed a sweeping set of remedies in response to an earlier court ruling that Google violated antitrust laws with its search business. While most attention has focused on the potential partial breakup of Google—the DOJ has proposed the divesture of the Chrome web browser and the Android mobile operating system—the proposed remedies would also have significant implications for U.S. competitiveness in AI.

Join ITIF's Center for Data Innovation and Public First for a timely discussion of new polling data exploring how U.S. public sentiment toward AI is evolving. The conversation will unpack where Americans see promise or peril, how their views have shifted over the past year, and what these perspectives mean for lawmakers, business leaders, and the future of AI policy.

Daniel Castro delivers a keynote speech on global cooperation around monitoring AI incidents at the ZGC Forum in Beijing, China.

Daniel Castro hosts a workshop on AI policy with thought leaders at the Atlas Network Latin America Liberty Forum in Rio de Janeiro.

Watch now for a panel discussion on the proposed AI export control framework’s implications for U.S. competitiveness, the global AI ecosystem, and national security. Panelists will discuss the risks of the proposed approach, explore alternative policy strategies, and discuss the path forward to balance economic, security, and foreign policy objectives.

Daniel Castro speaks at a webinar on the national and international policies shaping data management and use hosted by EMPOWER, a research programme sponsored by Science Foundation Ireland.

Daniel Castro speaks about the impact of emerging technologies on national security and the economy at the Margalla Dialogue in Islamabad, hosted by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI).

Daniel Castro presents on the impact of AI on cybersecurity at an event hosted by Dar America in Casablanca.

Daniel Castro speaks about policies around the use of AI in the U.S. education system at a conference hosted by the Digital Development Agency (ADD) in Morocco.

Daniel Castro speaks about how to address cybersecurity risks from AI at a talk hosted by the School of Information Sciences (ESI) in Rabat, Morocco.

Daniel Castro presents about the safe and responsible use of AI in education at the conference "Bridging the Skills Gap: AI Solutions for Zimbabwe's Education to Workforce Pipeline."

Daniel Castro moderates a panel about IT modernization in the defense and intelligence communities at the 8th Annual Intel IT Modernization Summit hosted by the Defense Strategies Institute.

Daniel Castro speaks about AI's impact on electricity consumption at the Capital Goods Virtual Conference 2024.