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Below, we’ve rounded up tech policy news highlights from the week and shared a featured podcast. Thank you for reading—and for being part of VFI!
This Week in Washington
- Wall Street Journal: Lawmakers are introducing a bill to ban DeepSeek’s chatbot application from government-owned devices due to security concerns that the app could provide user information to the Chinese government. The legislation echoes a strategy that Congress used to ban TikTok from government devices.
- StateScoop: The House Committee of Homeland Security held a hearing this week to address the national cybersecurity workforce gap. The hearing also targeted cyber workforce shortage inside the government.
- Broadband Breakfast: Senator Roger Wicker reintroduced a bill that directs the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to develop a national broadband strategy.
Article Summary
- StateScoop: The Consortium for School Networking released a report indicating that last year state legislatures introduced fewer cybersecurity bills affecting educational institutions. The nonprofit views this as an indication of maturity in government policies, rather than a reduction in interest.
- Smithsonian Magazine: Researchers are using new methods of wildfire prediction and detection, including utilizing AI. Machine learning could be used to alert firefighters to the source as well as the possible path of wildfires. These AI models could also train themselves to forecast wildfires at increased speed.
- The Hill: Grubhub says a “security incident” allowed “unauthorized access” to the contact information for an unknown number of drivers and customers. The breach involved a third-party service provider that Grubhub claims they removed from their systems altogether immediately following the breach.
Featured Podcast
- TED Tech
“I assume as society digests this new technology [AI], society will move much faster,” says Sam Altman, CEO and cofounder of OpenAI, “certainly, scientific progress I hope will move much faster.” Learn about AI’s advancements in creativity, its ethical challenges, and strategies for adapting to a changing world in the latest episode from TED Tech. (“ReThinking with Adam Grant: Sam Altman on the future of AI and humanity” – January 31, 2025)