Technology

Trump’s science and tech man lays out White House’s global AI strategy

Published

1 month ago

February 25, 2026

Trump’s science and tech man lays out White House’s global AI strategy

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U.S. policy is often reported through announcements, personalities and regulatory skirmishes. Far less attention is paid to the economic mechanisms that actually move structures and determine outcomes.

To understand how the White House is organizing a multipronged strategy for AI adoption and export, and how its pieces are meant to work together in practice, I had an exclusive sit down with Michael Kratsios, assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Tanvi Ratna: The fundamental issue you speak about at the summit is the widening AI adoption gap between the developed and developing world. What makes that a concern for the White House right now?

Michael Kratsios: The divergence in AI adoption between developed and developing countries is growing every day. We see the world in two broad categories, and different tools are needed for each.

Developing countries are at risk of falling behind at a fundamental inflection point. That is why we urge them to prioritize AI adoption in sectors that deliver concrete benefits: healthcare, education, energy infrastructure, agriculture, and citizen-facing government services.

Michael Kratsios testifies before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee’s Subcommittee on Science, Manufacturing, and Competitiveness on Capitol Hill on Sept. 10, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

For too long, countries seeking development support faced a false choice. We believe the American AI Exports Program offers a different path: trusted best-in-class technology, financing to overcome adoption barriers, and deployment support, so governments can learn how and where to use these tools.

America remains the undisputed leader in AI, from GPUs to data centers to frontier models and applications. That leadership brings with it a responsibility to share the foundations of a new era of innovation. We stand ready to work with partners around the world so creativity, freedom and prosperity shape today’s technological revolution.

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Tanvi Ratna: A lot of governments say they want AI leadership. Your delegation came in talking about real AI sovereignty, rejecting global governance, and launching an export program with multiple prongs. What is fundamentally different about this approach, and how should countries understand the system you’re building?

Michael Kratsios: The hope of the United States is that the pursuit of real AI sovereignty, the adoption and deployment of sovereign infrastructure, sovereign data, sovereign models and sovereign policies within national borders and under national control, will become an occasion for bilateral diplomacy, international development, and global economic dynamism. The American AI Exports Program exists to make that happen.

Real AI sovereignty means owning and using best-in-class technology for the benefit of your people, and charting your national destiny in the midst of global transformations. We urge nations to focus on strategic autonomy alongside rapid AI adoption rather than aiming for full self-sufficiency. AI adoption cannot lead to a brighter future if it is subject to bureaucracies and centralized control.

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We deeply believe that the best pathway for the developing world to fully realize the untold benefits of AI is through the adoption of the American AI stack. The American AI stack has the best chips, the best models and the best applications in the world, and that is what countries ultimately need to deploy AI effectively.

Tanvi Ratna: When you say the American AI stack, are you talking about selling products, or shaping the foundation on which countries build while keeping sensitive data under national control?

Michael Kratsios: Working with the American AI stack allows nations to build on the best technologies in the world while keeping sensitive data within their borders. Independent partners are critical to unlocking the prosperity AI adoption can deliver. That is why the president launched the American AI Exports Program.

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American companies can build large, independent AI infrastructure with secure and robust supply chains that minimize backdoor risk. They build it, and it belongs to the country deploying it.

Michael Kratsios, assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, speaks at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Feb. 21, 2026.

Tanvi Ratna: If this is an adoption strategy, then cost and complexity become the bottlenecks. Your public remarks emphasize financing and deployment sophistication as the two biggest hurdles for developing countries. How are you actually removing those barriers?

Michael Kratsios: Developing countries face two major obstacles to AI adoption. One is financing. The AI stack is expensive. Through the energy and material demands of its infrastructure, it brings the digital transformation of our world back into physical reality. Data centers, semiconductors, power production all require real labor and real resources.

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The second barrier is a deficit in the technical sophistication needed to deploy AI tools effectively. To address this, we announced a U.S. government-wide suite of support initiatives to facilitate global adoption of trusted AI systems, create a competitive and interoperable AI ecosystem, and advance the American AI Exports Program in both developed and developing partner nations.

Tanvi Ratna: Spell out that suite. What are the prongs, capital, integration, standards, execution, and which agencies are being activated?

Michael Kratsios: We unveiled a new set of initiatives across the federal government supporting the American AI Exports Program, which was launched by executive order last July.

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The first new initiative within it is the National Champions Initiative. It is designed to include the leading technology companies of partner countries directly into the American AI stack. We want the best technologies from all our partners and allies to be part of that ecosystem wherever the American AI stack goes.

The second is a full suite of financing and funding opportunities. We are mobilizing support through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the Export Import Bank, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and a new World Bank fund, with additional programs launched by Treasury and other parts of the U.S. government. The message is simple: this is serious. Every possible financing avenue is being brought to bear.

The third is the creation of the U.S. Tech Corps. It is a reimagining of how the Peace Corps can make an impact in the modern era. We are seeking Americans with technical backgrounds who can help deploy American technology abroad, because there is no better tool to drive economic development, health improvements, and quality of life gains than AI.

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And finally, we believe one of the fastest ways to drive global adoption is through standards, particularly as the next wave of innovation centers on AI agents. How those agents communicate and coordinate their actions will benefit from unified standards, which is why NIST has launched a dedicated initiative.

Tanvi Ratna: The National Champions Initiative is easy to misunderstand. Critics hear American stack and assume dependency. Your framing suggests the opposite, integrating partner champions so countries do not have to choose between importing the stack and building domestic capability. Is that the point?

Michael Kratsios: Exactly. To integrate partner nation companies with the American AI stack and ensure that no country has to choose between completing the stack and developing domestic AI, we established the National Champions Initiative. Partners need the opportunity to build native technology industries, and facilitating that is a core part of the exports program.

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Tanvi Ratna: You have also criticized previous U.S. approaches to AI diffusion for restricting partners. What did that get wrong strategically?

Michael Kratsios: The previous approach treated partners as second-tier actors with significant restrictions on access to advanced technology. That was a lose-lose AI diplomacy strategy. It cut off partners from the best technology and limited American companies from competing globally.

Under President Trump, the United States is rethinking how it advances international development and how technology can deliver lasting impact. We believe both developed and developing countries can build sovereign AI capability if given the chance.

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Tanvi Ratna: Let’s talk about the Tech Corps, because it would be easy to dismiss it as a feel-good addition. In your model, it sounds like an execution layer. What would these teams actually do on the ground?

Michael Kratsios: These will be like Peace Corps volunteers, except the focus is on technology. We are looking for people with technical backgrounds who want to help implement AI solutions.

If a country wants to improve agriculture through precision farming, apply AI to healthcare systems to improve hospital efficiency, or modernize digital public services, American technologists through the Tech Corps and the Peace Corps will be able to support those efforts.

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A lot of young people today care deeply about real-world impact. What is special about this moment is that the United States has incredible technology, the best chips, models, and applications, and we are being more deliberate about sharing it.

Tanvi Ratna: You put unusual emphasis on AI agents and interoperability. Why does the White House see standards as a strategic lever now?

Michael Kratsios: The next wave of AI innovation over the next year or two will center on agents. How those agents communicate and orchestrate their actions would benefit greatly from unified standards. NIST has launched an initiative to develop standards for agents, so these systems can interoperate securely and effectively.

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Tanvi Ratna: You also linked this export architecture to supply chains, from chips to data centers to power and minerals. Where does Pax Silica fit? Is it the hard backbone complement to the adoption layer?

Michael Kratsios: Pax Silica is a broader alliance focused on supply chain challenges that the United States and many partner nations have faced. It is a small, select group of countries working together to alleviate these challenges. India is a tremendous addition.

AI adoption depends on secure physical inputs. The AI stack is tangible: data centers, semiconductors, power generation. Pax Silica helps address those vulnerabilities while the exports program accelerates adoption. They are complementary.

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Tanvi Ratna: Since India hosted the summit and joined Pax Silica, what role do you see for India within this strategy?

Michael Kratsios: India is a technology powerhouse. It graduates an incredible number of engineers, has deep domestic talent, and is building strong products and applications. We look forward to working with them.

India has long been a strong partner in how the United States shares technology abroad. Our major hyperscalers have data centers and research operations here and employ large numbers of Indian engineers. We believe many Indian companies can ultimately become part of the American AI stack.

Tanvi Ratna: When critics frame this as being about China, you resist that characterization. How does the administration view competition?

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Michael Kratsios: We do not see this as being about any one competitor. This is about the fact that the United States has the best AI technology in the world, and many countries want it in their ecosystems. We are excited to share it and build mutually beneficial partnerships globally.

Tanvi Ratna is a policy analyst and engineer with a decade of experience in statecraft at the intersection of geopolitics, economics, and technology. She has worked on Capitol Hill, at EY, at CoinDesk and others, shaping policy across sectors from manufacturing to AI. Follow her takes on statecraft on X and Substack.

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Technology

Now the FAA says gamers are the answer to its air traffic controller shortage

Published

2 hours ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

Now the FAA says gamers are the answer to its air traffic controller shortage

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has struggled for years to have enough air traffic controllers to address shortages, with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) saying in January that the number of people in the job in the US has declined by around 6 percent “in the last decade.” Now the Trump administration is rolling out a recruiting campaign targeting gamers ahead of the opening of the annual air traffic control hiring window on April 17th.

Even with the campaign, getting qualified individuals through training and into the role may still be a challenge: according to the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), the FAA is facing “considerable challenges with training, including a shortage of qualified instructors, training capacity limitations, an outdated curriculum, and high training failure rates.”

An FAA video full of clips of things like Madden NFL, Fortnite, League of Legends esports, and the Xbox One stinger from commercials promises an average salary of $155,000 per year after three years and says that “you’ve been training for this.”

In a press release, the FAA says that air traffic controllers said in exit interviews that gaming was an influence on “their ability to think quickly, stay focused, and manage complexity.” The FAA’s website about the application process encourages applicants to “level up” their career. However, the Trump administration isn’t the first to target gamers for the role; according to The New York Times, the Biden administration launched a “Level Up” recruiting push in 2021, encouraging gamers as well as women and members of minority groups to become air traffic controllers.

Getting more air traffic controllers has been a focus for Sean Duffy, President Trump’s secretary of transportation, and he announced a plan to “supercharge” hiring shortly after he was sworn in for the job last year. That campaign closed in March 2025 and “attracted more than 10,000 applications,” resulting in about 600 trainees entering the Controller Training Academy, the OIG says. And the GAO says that some attrition during the air traffic controller hiring process “may be preventable,” noting that the hiring process can be “difficult to navigate” and that applicants may have already accepted other jobs by the time they get an employment offer.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union representing air traffic controllers, “welcomes innovative approaches to expanding the candidate pool,” including “outreach to individuals with high-level aptitude skills such as gamers,” according to a statement from NATCA president Nick Daniels.

Technology

Google search led to a costly scam call

Published

2 hours ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

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You book a flight. You reschedule. Then you try to handle travel insurance quickly so you can move on with your day. That’s exactly what happened to Rosette. She was trying to reach Allianz, a large travel insurance company that many airlines direct customers to after booking.

Within seconds, she was talking to a scammer who sounded completely legitimate. Here’s how she described it:

“I Googled Allianz and clicked on the phone number. It was answered within 1 second. . . . It was NOT Allianz I was speaking to. They have my Citicard number and my date of birth. . . . When I questioned it, he said ‘I will not charge your card’ and disconnected.”
— Rosette

That realization hits hard. Suddenly, you start replaying everything in your head. Maybe you thought you knew what to look for. Still, the frustration sets in fast. Here’s the truth: This happens every day to smart, careful people. And the scams keep getting more convincing.

TECH GIANTS UNITE TO FIGHT ONLINE SCAMS

Fake phone numbers in search results are fueling a surge in travel insurance scams targeting unsuspecting callers. (Yuliya Taba/Getty Images)

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How this fake travel insurance phone scam works

This is known as a search result scam, and it is one of the fastest-growing fraud tactics right now.

Here’s the typical playbook:

You search for a company like a travel insurance provider, airline or your bank
A fake phone number appears at the top of the results or in an ad
You call and reach a professional-sounding call center
The scammer acts helpful, fast and confident
They ask for payment details or personal information

In Rosette’s case, there were several clear signs once you step back:

The call was answered instantly
The pricing felt unusually high
The email came from a fake domain
The agent pushed for authorization

Once she questioned it, the scammer disconnected. That’s classic behavior.

Why this phone scam is so easy to fall for

This is not sloppy fraud. It’s polished, fast and designed to catch you when you are distracted. Here’s why it works so well:

1) You trust search results

Most people assume search results are safe. Scammers exploit that trust with fake listings and ads.

2) Timing creates pressure

You are often dealing with travel changes, delays or deadlines. That lowers your guard.

3) They sound legitimate

These are not obvious scammers. Many operate scripted call centers with trained agents.

4) They move fast

Answering within seconds creates the illusion that you reached the right company.

SSA IMPERSONATION SCAMS ARE GETTING MORE PERSONAL

A quick Google search led one woman to a convincing scam call center posing as a legitimate insurer. (golibo/Getty Images)

What information did the scammer actually get?

In Rosette’s situation, the scammer obtained:

Credit card number
Date of birth

That combination matters. Even without an immediate charge, scammers often:

Test small transactions later
Attempt identity-based fraud
Sell your data to other criminals

This is why you should treat it as a compromised card situation, even if nothing has been charged yet.

What this means to you

This type of scam does not rely on hacking your device. It relies on tricking you into calling the wrong number. That means anyone can fall for it.

You could be booking travel, fixing a billing issue or calling tech support. One wrong click puts you in direct contact with a scammer who already sounds like the real company.

The danger is not just the initial call. It is what happens next if your information is reused or shared.

How to protect yourself from fake phone scams

Here’s how to protect yourself from this exact scenario moving forward:

1) Never trust phone numbers from search results

Always go directly to the company’s official website and find the contact page there.

2) Use the number on your card or confirmation email

These are far more reliable than anything you find through a quick search.

3) Watch for instant answers and pressure

Real companies rarely answer instantly and push for immediate payment details.

WHY THAT $4 CHARGE ON YOUR STATEMENT COULD BE FRAUD

A traveler searching for Allianz support reached a scammer instead, exposing personal and financial information in seconds. (fizkes/Getty Images)

4) Check the email domain carefully

If it does not match the official company domain, it is a red flag.

5) Replace compromised cards immediately

Do not wait for fraud to appear. Request a new card number right away.

6) Turn on real-time alerts

Enable transaction alerts so you can catch suspicious activity early.

7) Freeze your credit if personal data is exposed

This adds a strong layer of protection against identity theft.

8) Consider identity theft protection

If your personal information was exposed, identity theft protection can monitor your identity, alert you to suspicious activity and help you respond quickly if something goes wrong. See my tips and best picks on Best Identity Theft Protection at Cyberguy.com.

9) Remove your personal data from public databases

Data broker sites collect and sell your personal details. Removing your information reduces the chances scammers can find and target you again. Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.

What Rosette did right

It’s important to call this, out because it matters.

She questioned the pricing
She challenged the caller
She stopped before a charge went through
She contacted her bank quickly

Those steps significantly reduced the damage. This could have gone much further.

Kurt’s key takeaways

Scams like this are not about being careless. They are about being human. You were trying to solve a problem quickly. The scammer was ready for that exact moment. The biggest takeaway is simple: Slow down when money or personal information is involved. Even a few extra seconds to verify a phone number can make all the difference. And if something feels off, trust that instinct.

If you needed to call your bank or airline right now, would you trust the first number you see online? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Technology

Microsoft starts removing Copilot buttons from Windows 11 apps

Published

14 hours ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

Microsoft starts removing Copilot buttons from Windows 11 apps

Microsoft is starting to remove “unnecessary” Copilot buttons from its Windows 11 apps. In the latest version of the Notepad app for Windows Insiders, Microsoft has removed the Copilot button in favor of a “writing tools” menu. The Copilot button in the Snipping Tool app also no longer appears when you select an area to capture.

The change is part of “reducing unnecessary Copilot entry points, starting with apps like Snipping Tool, Photos, Widgets and Notepad,” that Microsoft promised to complete as part of its broader plan to fix Windows 11. While Copilot buttons are being removed, it looks like the underlying AI features are here to stay, though.

The Copilot button has been removed from Notepad, but the writing tools replacement still uses AI-powered features and looks like the identical menu of options that existed before. I still think these features are largely unnecessary in what’s supposed to be a lightweight text app, but removing the superfluous Copilot branding is a good first step.