America’s AI Action Plan, alongside three companion executive orders, signals more than a policy shift; it redefines how America governs AI and who it expects to lead. Washington has moved from a safety-first posture to an innovation-first mandate. That shift creates significant opportunity, but also sharpens the risks.

In effect, the government has handed the keys to industry. If companies rise to the occasion, they can drive a wave of trustworthy innovation, workforce resilience, and global competitiveness. If not, we risk building AI systems that are fast, but fragile.

This is no longer a question of whether the private sector can lead on trust—it’s whether it will. And without coordinated incentives or clear guardrails, speed may eclipse stewardship.

The costs of inaction are mounting:

• Trust initiatives that fragment rather than unify

• A hollowing out of workforce resilience and training

• A declining U.S. edge in AI interoperability and influence abroad

On July 19, Microsoft disclosed a serious security flaw in SharePoint Server that’s already being exploited in the wild. It allows unauthenticated attackers to run code on your servers, potentially gaining control and spreading deeper into your systems. This is what’s called remote code execution and lateral movement and it means an attacker could move through your environment undetected, compromising sensitive data or even other connected tools.

Patch what you can. Monitor what matters. And start planning today for the incident you hope never happens.

As AI reshapes global power, prosperity, and public trust, I’ve been testing a theory. What if leadership in the AI era isn’t about size, but clarity? What if the countries best positioned to benefit aren’t those with the most compute, but those with the sharpest sense of purpose?

That theory gained strength at the 2024 Global Action Forum, where I engaged with leaders from Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. The conversations were clear: the appetite to lead is there. The question is how.

If you want to understand why regulatory guardrails can supercharge, not stifle, technological innovation, don’t look to theory. Look to cybersecurity. The field is, by definition, mission-critical: cybersecurity keeps our technical infrastructure resilient, protects financial institutions, and allows both individuals and businesses to leverage the internet safely. Cybersecurity methods must evolve quickly, or our critical infrastructure could be at risk.

Welcome to the gray zone of innovation.

Shadow AI is what happens when employees use generative AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, and others) without telling IT or leadership. Sometimes it's to save time, automate grunt work, or just move faster. But like its older cousin shadow IT, shadow AI comes with serious risks.

And it’s not just happening in the margins. It’s everywhere. According to recent surveys, more than 70% of knowledge workers say they use GenAI at work but fewer than 20% say their company has approved it.

If you’re a leader, that means your org likely has more AI use than you think and a lot less control than you need.

What if the next strike isn’t a missile over Tehran but a malware-laced outage in Georgia’s water system, or a ransomware lockout at a hospital in New Mexico?

This weekend’s U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear sites—Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan—escalated tensions. Iran has threatened retaliation and hinted at strangling global oil markets. But much of the response may come not in bombs, but through cyber meansaimed at the systems we count on every day, our water, power, food, and emergency services.

Read the rest on Command Line with Camille and Contact us if you need support preparing for this moment.

“AI tools, when developed and deployed well, can help small businesses manage everything from inventory to customer interactions to product development to content creation. However, the learning curve is steep and the cost to onboard knowledgeable talent is significant when already investing in new or expanded technological capabilities. Without responsible AI adoption — with safety and security as top priorities —- small businesses may not be able to protect their intellectual property, their consumers, or their competitive advantage.”

“This initiative will revolutionize how we develop innovative solutions to safeguard our future. By fostering collaboration across generations, we can create a blueprint for solutions that are not only responsive to the world as it is, but also to the world as the next generation envisions it,” said Stewart Gloster. “We cannot afford to develop solutions that do not center the needs and aspirations of the next generation who will inherit the consequences of our choices, nor can we overlook the innovative potential of a tech-native generation. I am excited to join Girl Security on this journey and see how this work transforms the industry.”

This report outlines an affirmative and representative vision for a Global Majority[1] Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agenda, emphasizing the need for equity[2] and sustainability[3] in AI development and governance. In preparation for the French AI Action Summit, an assortment of Global Majority policymakers and subject matter experts convened at the Global Action Forum, a meeting designed to discuss the current state of AI innovation ecosystems, enablers, and investment infrastructure. This report synthesizes the key insights from the Forum into three high-level recommendations for France’s Special Envoy for Artificial Intelligence overseeing the Action Summit. This includes (1) hosting a Global Majority track at the French AI Action Summit; (2) establishing an AI Investment Infrastructure (AIII) mechanism; and (3) introducing new governance mechanisms to complement the Action Summit’s existing efforts.

Creating new policy around a cutting edge issue like AI is tricky. How can we balance the needs of innovation and regulation. More importantly, how do we sure that not person, or country, is left behind? Former White House official Camille Stewart Gloster joins David Rothkopf to discuss these pressing issues and more on Siliconsciousness podcast.

Information integrity deserves fierce advocacy from governments, the intellectual ingenuity of civil society, and the creative muscle of industry. It should be the next "by design" movement, writes our CEO, Camille Stewart Gloster, in a Tech Policy Press article.

CAS Strategies and Diplomatic Courier hosted the inaugural Global AI Action Forum, a day-long convening gathering principal-level decision makers from 12 Global Majority countries including government officials and leading experts from civil society and industry to coalesce around a policy agenda to inform global AI governance developments for the upcoming French AI Action Summit, scheduled for February 10-11, 2025.