The Interconnect – Details, episodes & analysis

Stanford Emerging Technology Review Faculty Council Member Mark Horowitz and CFR’s technologist-in-residence Sebastian Elbaum discuss where chip manufacturing is heading, how hardware advances are powering the new artificial intelligence (AI) era, and what the United States should prioritize in order to sustain its leadership in this crucial domain.

Guest: Mark Horowitz, chair of the Electrical Engineering Department at Stanford University

Guest: Sebastian Elbaum, the Technologist in Residence at the Council on Foreign Relations

Host: Martin Giles, Managing Editor of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review

Read the 2025 Stanford Emerging Technology Review at https://setr.stanford.edu/

How do we connect science and engineering labs with Washington and the world of business? From the Council on Foreign Relations and the Stanford Emerging Technology Review this is The Interconnect, a new podcast discussing emerging technologies and their foreign policy implications.

In this episode of The Interconnect, Stanford mechanical engineering professor Allison Okamura and OpenAI’s Kevin Weil discuss how artificial intelligence will transform modern robotics, where more capable robots will have a significant impact on the economy, and why the United States still lags behind China, Germany, and other countries in deploying robots in manufacturing.

Guest: Allison Okamura, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow and Science Fellow at the Hoover Institution

Guest: Kevin Weil, Chief Product Officer of OpenAI and member at the Council on Foreign Relations

Host: Martin Giles, Managing Editor of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review

Read the 2025 Stanford Emerging Technology Review at https://setr.stanford.edu/

In this episode of The Interconnect, Stanford University Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Simone D’Amico and CFR’s Space Task Force Project Director Esther Brimmer discuss how private companies are driving innovation in orbit, the new moon race that’s underway, and how increased commercial and military activity raises questions about the responsible use of space.

Guest: Simone D’Amico, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University and a science fellow at the Hoover Institution

Guest: Esther Brimmer, the James H. Binger senior fellow in global governance at the Council on Foreign Relations and project director for CFR’s Space Task Force

Host: Martin Giles, managing editor of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review

Read the 2025 Stanford Emerging Technology Review at https://setr.stanford.edu/ 

Read CFR’s 2025 Space Task Force Report, Securing Space: A Plan for U.S. Action

In this episode of The Interconnect, Stanford University Professor of Bioengineering Drew Endy and CFR Senior Fellow for Global Health Luciana Borio discuss the future of U.S. biomanufacturing and how biotechnology innovations—including bioluminescent plants and next-gen vaccines—are becoming more a part of daily life.

Guest: Drew Endy, associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution

Guest: Luciana Borio, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations

Host: Martin Giles, managing editor of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review

Read the 2025 Stanford Emerging Technology Review at https://setr.stanford.edu/

In this episode of The Interconnect, Stanford’s Amy Zegart and Herb Lin join the Council on Foreign Relations’ Adam Segal and Kat Duffy in a discussion about some of the most critical factors that influence the evolution of emerging technologies, the relative advantages of democracies and autocracies in developing frontier tech, and the central importance of talent and public and private investment in driving America's innovation ecosystem.

Guest: Amy Zegart, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and co-chair of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review

Guest: Dr. Herb Lin, Hank J. Holland Fellow in Cyber Policy and Security at the Hoover Institution and editor in chief of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review

Guest: Adam Segal, Ira A. Lipman chair in emerging technologies and national security and director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations 

Guest: Kat Duffy, senior fellow for digital and cyberspace policy at the Council on Foreign Relations

Host: Martin Giles, managing editor of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review

Read the 2025 Stanford Emerging Technology Review at https://setr.stanford.edu/