“Engaging the People’s Republic of China in a dialogue is perhaps the most dramatic and far reaching decision undertaken by the Nixon administration,” as noted in a new volume of the U.S. State Department’s official Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series devoted to that topic.
A 1972 NSC memorandum for Henry Kissinger published in the new volume expressed concern about efforts by the Federation of American Scientists and its then-President Jeremy J. Stone to promote scientific exchange with China.
“The Chinese, by encouraging Stone, are effectively undercutting the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the PRC, a group we have recommended to Peking,” complained NSC staffer John H. Holdridge in his August 28, 1972 memo to Kissinger (see document 248).
With thoughtful policy action, it is still possible to build systems that are fair, transparent, and accountable, and to earn the public trust that will ultimately determine AI’s future. We hope policymakers are ready to act.
Procurement is not merely an administrative function—it is how AI enters government and the first line of defense for responsible AI in the public sector.
Responsible AI starts with who is in the data, who is at the table, whose needs shape the outcome, and who is responsible when it falls short.
There is no question this is a Big Deal. If you are a university or research lab, or aspire to work in one, or are simply an enthusiast of federally-funded research, what’s next will matter.