What CSIS Wadhwani AI Center does
The CSIS Wadhwani AI Center is a research and policy program within the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) focused on how artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies intersect with national security, geopolitics, economic competitiveness, and global governance.
Since its establishment in 2023, the center has positioned itself as a high-impact source of AI policy analysis for U.S. government officials and international partners, including work delivered through congressional testimony, private briefings, and published reports.
Programmatically, the center runs research and convenings that map AI governance and regulation, the geopolitics of advanced technology (including semiconductor export-control and economic-security questions), and the national-security/defense implications of AI and autonomy.
Leadership currently rests with Aalok Mehta, who became director in November 2025; he oversees the center’s projects and research across a range of AI-policy topics.
A signature public-facing format is CSIS’s “AI Policy Podcast,” which is hosted by the Wadhwani AI Center director and covers regulation, economic impacts, national security, geopolitics, and related AI-policy topics.