Washington and Silicon Valley are at loggerheads over the Pentagon's use of artificial intelligence while America's adversaries probe our critical infrastructure for vulnerabilities and war expands in the Middle East. The question is no longer whether AI will shape national security, but whether the institutions meant to safeguard us are prepared for the task. Government moves slowly. Industry moves fast. Neither can close the gap alone.
The United States is in the midst of a period of rapid technological change that has huge implications for our economic strength, national security, and the health of our democracy. Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum computing, and other emerging technologies will shape our lives, careers, health, national competitiveness, and how our children learn. These forces will help determine whether America continues to lead or falls behind.
I am a physicist. In science, you learn to take evidence seriously and to prepare for risks before they become crises. That mindset matters now, because the national conversation about technology has become polarized at precisely the moment when we need practical problem-solving.
The loudest voices on AI represent the poles of unbridled enthusiasm and fearful doomerism, while the space for expert-informed debate and consensus-building shrinks. That fits a pattern of many pressing challenges, where the most extreme views are amplified and the interests of too many Americans get lost in the shouting. I've begun to think of a key set of constituents left out of so many of these debates as belonging to a triple middle: the economic middle and working class worried about jobs and the cost of living, the political middle exhausted by caustic ideological warfare, and the geographic middle that powers American manufacturing and agriculture. If innovation is going to strengthen our country rather than divide it, all Americans – not just those at the top, but the voices among the middle and the marginalized – must have a stake in the benefits of emerging technology as well as trust in safeguards to prevent unintended harms.
This is where philanthropy and civil society have a unique, powerful, and necessary role to play. Independent institutions bring expertise not beholden to either government or industry and perspectives that can bridge divides neither sector can close alone.
The Hewlett Foundation, where I serve as president, was founded in the long tradition of American generosity by an engineer and entrepreneur who had an abiding faith in the possibility of progress and a commitment to the wellbeing of people and communities. This organization has long prized experimentation, pragmatism, and a forward-looking approach. Grounded in our founder's values, we believe that impact is greatest when decisions and accountability rest with those with the most relevant knowledge. To that end, we have initiated a set of charitable grants focused on maximizing the public benefits of emerging technologies while proactively mitigating their risks.
Security in the age of AI is not a concern limited to tech companies or federal agencies. And it no longer lives in the realm of science fiction. Much of America's critical infrastructure is highly distributed and deeply vulnerable, and its protection is dangerously under-resourced. The escalating power of AI multiplies the risks to our critical infrastructure just as we confront adversaries who have proven they can exploit them. A robust approach is required to head off potential crises affecting everyday life: AI tools could be used today to take over hospitals, destroy crucial power grids, cripple air traffic control systems, or commandeer thousands of traffic lights. The result could be debilitating impacts on people's lives.
I see these challenges not as a reason for panic, but as a call to action: We need leaders across sectors to work together to protect essential systems before failures become more common and more catastrophic.
Philanthropy can support the development of new tools to help communities defend their critical infrastructure, strengthen the information ecosystem against hostile manipulation, and protect digital identity. This work can deliver tangible benefits: Critical infrastructure hardened against attack and resilient to natural disasters; better security for bank accounts and medical records; and a shared confidence that AI is meeting human needs and helping to drive pro-social progress.
To contribute to this effort, Hewlett has begun making a set of new grants, including to Stanford's Hoover Institution and Vanderbilt University's Institute of National Security. This work focuses on preventing strategic technological surprise and building defenses against a large-scale cyberattack by hostile foreign actors targeting American companies and consumers. These Hewlett investments reflect our commitment to fostering practical, non-ideological problem-solving. Similar coordination is needed for quickly emerging biosynthesis tools, where AI is accelerating discovery faster than current safety systems can keep up. We are all for rapid medical advances and breakthrough cures, but no one wants to live in a world where a hostile actor can cook up smallpox in a desktop lab.
America has led every major technological era of the modern age, helping usher in significant discoveries that have benefited communities both here and around the world. Whether it continues to lead will depend not only on breakthroughs in labs, but on whether innovation earns public trust and delivers broad benefits. Philanthropy, with its long-term focus and commitment to charitable good, can do much to help.
The question is not whether innovation will move forward, but whether we unite and prepare together. That is the vital work of building a safe, innovative, and future-ready America.
Amber D. Miller is President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
