Jacob Helberg is leading the State Department's efforts to secure critical supply chains and win the global AI race. How is the U.S. shifting from dependency on China to building new partnerships around energy, minerals, and infrastructure? Which economies will grow fastest in the AI era? Who will be left behind? And how will this impact geopolitics?
We discuss these timely topics with Jacob, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment. A tech policy veteran who worked at Google and Palantir before serving on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Jacob was confirmed last fall to help execute the administration’s economic statecraft agenda. He's the author of "The Wires of War: Technology and the Global Struggle for Power."
We begin our conversation with Jacob’s mission at the State Department and the launch of Pax Silica: a new US-led economic security coalition to secure supply chains and help America dominate in AI innovation. We dive into Jacob's recent deal in the Philippines to build an AI-native industrial hub, and explore the contrast with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Next, Jacob makes the bull case for AI drawing on lessons from history: the PC revolution displaced 3.5 million jobs, he explains, but created 19 million more with the advent of the software industry! Finally, he explains why principled, positive-sum diplomacy is delivering results where old models failed, and how the AI revolution is transforming the global balance of power.
00:00 Episode intro
02:30 Historic deal with Philippines
05:25 Jacob's background
07:30 Why is Europe falling behind?
13:00 The asymmetric power of tech
15:35 Jacob responds to AI doomers & skeptics
19:15 Global Competition: China, AI, and Diverging Growth
21:45 What is Pax Silica?
23:45 New Global Order in AI age
29:30 Is China pushing back?
31:45 Optimism for the future
