David Shiply Interviews Pratim Datta, PhD from Kent State

AI, Cybersecurity, and Public Policy: Export Controls, Arms Races, and the "New Radium" On Cyber Security Today (Weekend), the host interviews Pratim Datta, a Kent State University professor and former global consultant, about the past six months of AI and public policy as it intersects with cybersecurity. They discuss Anthropic's "Mythos" and "Fable," the marketing-versus-risk debate around autonomous hacking tools, and how the sheer volume of vulnerable code creates a "digitally polluted" environment. The conversation covers whether AI is a consumer product or a weapon, the implications of U.S. export controls (including restrictions affecting foreign nationals), and how model pullbacks may have shaken allies' trust in American tech. They also examine comparisons to radium and nuclear-era unknowns, the OpenAI–Hugging Face incident, the "cathedral vs. bazaar" tension of closed vs. open models, and the broader U.S.–China economic and national security struggle. 00:00 Weekend Show Kickoff 01:15 Meet Prat Dadam 01:59 Policy Whiplash in AI 02:55 Mythos Hype and Fear 06:27 Digital Pollution Problem 07:53 AI Arms Race Begins 09:18 Export Controls Shockwave 14:31 Weapon or Consumer Tech 16:57 New Radium Analogy 21:57 Economics and Trade Wars 23:49 Cathedral Versus Bazaar 25:44 Censorship and Control 27:16 Jurassic Park Chaos 30:27 Hotel California Reality 32:36 Closing Thoughts and Thanks