E139: America’s Tech Strategy w/ Qasar Younis, Sen. Jack Reed, and Josh Wolfe

"Upstream" with Erik Torenberg

This week, we’re featuring a panel discussion from the 2025 Hill and Valley Forum with Josh Wolfe (Lux Capital), Senator Jack Reed (RI), and Qasar Younis, Founder and CEO, Applied Intuition They address talent attraction and retention, China's espionage and surveillance state, immigration policies, dual-use technologies, and the challenges and strategies in defense innovation and data security in AI and autonomous vehicles.

—

📰 Be notified early when Turpentine's drops new publication: https://www.turpentine.co/exclusiveaccess
—
RECOMMENDED PODCASTS:
🎙️The Hill & Valley
The Hill & Valley podcast gives you an insider's look into tech and government, hearing from founders and operators of generational tech companies, elected representatives and policymakers, and more.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/39s4MCyt1pOTQ8FjOAS4mi
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hill-valley/id1692653857
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HillValleyForum

—
SPONSORS:
☁️ Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is a single platform for your infrastructure, database, application development, and AI needs. OCI has four to eight times the bandwidth of other clouds and offers one consistent price. Oracle is offering to cut your cloud bill in half. See if your company qualifies at https://oracle.com/turpentine

💥 Head to Squad to access global engineering without the headache and at a fraction of the cost: head to https://choosesquad.com/ and mention “Turpentine” to skip the waitlist.

—
LINKS:
The Hill & Valley Forum: https://www.thehillandvalleyforum.com/
The Hill & Valley Forum 2025 Agenda: https://x.com/zebulgar/status/1915128911274668364

—
X / TWITTER:
@SenJackReed
@qasar
@wolfejosh
@turpentinemedia

—
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE EPISODE:

• Josh Wolfe interviews Qasar Younis (CEO of Applied Intuition) and Senator Jack Reed about dual-use technologies.
• Applied Intuition provides AI technology to moving machines with 18 of the top 20 global automakers using their systems.
• The company works in both commercial and defense sectors.
• Senator Reed notes adversaries like China can acquire equipment and repurpose it in novel ways.
• Qasar emphasizes building competitive products while remaining vigilant about adversaries who don't play by the same rules.
• Key policy levers include resources, human capital, academic partnerships, and faster deployment of innovations.
• Chinese espionage is a concern, but policies should address adversaries without discouraging overall immigration of talent.
• Qasar describes China's intense surveillance state that monitors all payments, movements, and activities.
• Senator Reed expresses concern about data accumulation without sufficient guardrails.
• Qasar argues for a middle ground between China's surveillance state and Europe's restrictive GDPR regulations.
• After visiting China, Qasar observed fewer foreigners than before and believes companies are leaving due to overwhelming surveillance.
• Qasar predicts in AI, like in mobile technology, value will be captured primarily by large players, both companies and countries.
• Autonomy is where "AI meets the warfighter" and the US is still lagging in adopting this technology.
• Increasing bureaucracy won't help the US compete; instead, having senior officials with AI experience will improve implementation.