#773: Open Source AI Is Non-Negotiable with Conner Brown

**Conner Brown** (0:07)
You've had a dynamic where money has become freer than free. When you talk about a Fed just going nuts, all the central banks going nuts.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:16)
So it's all acting like safe haven. I believe that in a world where central bankers are tripping over themselves to devalue their currency, Bitcoin wins. In the world of fiat currencies, Bitcoin is the victor.

**Conner Brown** (0:29)
I mean, that's part of the bold case for Bitcoin.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:31)
If you're not paying attention, you probably should be.

**Marty Bent** (0:36)
DC, it's easy to get to from Philadelphia. I think I want to be here a lot more.

**Conner Brown** (0:39)
We need you here, Marty. Do you? We need you here in the trenches. Yeah, we've got PubKey now.
We've got the office set up. We need more Marty Bent. We need RIPs all the time in DC.

**Marty Bent** (0:50)
I prefer them in person, as you know.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:52)
Yeah.

**Marty Bent** (0:52)
We've only ever recorded in person.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:53)
Yes.

**Marty Bent** (0:54)
This is the third time now.

**Conner Brown** (0:55)
As is tradition.

**Marty Bent** (0:55)
We didn't wait, what was it, five and eight years between the second and third, like we did with the first and second.

**Conner Brown** (1:01)
Right. We're going to keep these recurring basis.
A lot's going to be happening in DC. DC is going to be the new up and coming important city, I think.

**Marty Bent** (1:09)
Yeah.

**Conner Brown** (1:09)
Everyone likes to talk about Austin and Miami. But this is where a lot of stuff is going to happen over the next five, 10 years with all the technology changes. Like DC is going to be the true city to be in, I think, in the coming years.

**Marty Bent** (1:24)
That's why I told you this last time I was here. I've been to the city more times in the last six months than I was in the first 34 years of my life.

**Conner Brown** (1:32)
Yeah. I mean, I'm not saying it's a great thing. I would prefer it not be the place that the magic is happening. And then but just with the way things are headed.
Yeah, I do unfortunately think it's important that we're here.

**Marty Bent** (1:45)
Yes.
A couple of things on the agenda today. We're going to talk about AI, not only the policy implications around AI, but actually implementing it in our businesses, particularly at BPI and what you guys have been up to. I think it's very fitting that we're meeting today because you guys launched the Q2 report of what BPI has been up to this year. So I think starting there and going through all the policy efforts that you guys have been pushing forward and the wins and maybe losses or neutral victories you guys may have.

**Conner Brown** (2:18)
Yeah, gosh, so much stuff going on. But I think at the corner of it, it's just this technology continues to improve, whether it be both with Bitcoin and AI. And that is just speeding up the pace of change. We're seeing it in our organization. We're seeing it in what we're being tasked with in different meetings and stuff. And so it's really it's been a lot. So yesterday we released what we did over just the past three months, and it's crazy. I was reading through it and I just couldn't believe how much we got accomplished in three months. And, you know, people say like AI is going to like replace all our jobs and stuff. And like everyone I know is working harder than they ever have before, because suddenly all of these sort of stray ideas that you're like, I don't have the people or time to do that. You can actually just roll up your sleeves and do it with like an afternoon. And so, yeah, it has been sort of overwhelming. We've been doing a lot of new international work. We've been doing lots of new research that we're able to build out much deeper than we had been previously. So yeah, it's been a whirlwind really since I joined. We last spoke when I first joined BPI.
And just the change in the organization since then has been crazy, crazy.
And we're really excited for what it means for the next five years of what we'd be able to build here in DC. Yeah.

**Marty Bent** (3:45)
Well, let's start internationally. Yeah. Taiwan.
How did that happen?

**Conner Brown** (3:49)
So Taiwan, this is a perfect example. We had an idea for a research paper. One of our fellow we said, hey, Jake, you have a background in DOD. Would you be interested in doing a paper on Taiwan's cash reserve? Why diversifying into Bitcoin would make sense for them? And he was excited for it.