The Breakthrough Problem: Can government innovate without creating bigger risks?

What happens when technology moves faster than government can govern it? AI is transforming biological research by accelerating drug discovery, protein design and pandemic preparedness in ways that weren’t possible just a few years ago. But that same acceleration can create new security and public health risks. On this episode of Fed Thread, Hayley Severance, deputy VP of the Nuclear Threat Initiative’s biosecurity program lays out the high-stakes balancing act facing government: How do you protect the public without regulating new capabilities so aggressively that you choke off potentially lifesaving innovation? And the terrifying flipside of what happens when government waits too long to act? From AI-designed drugs to biosecurity safeguards, plus a cautionary lesson from the history of gene therapy, this is a conversation about how innovation and responsibility are indelibly intertwined, and how federal employees can check that they’re threading that needle. If you’re part of a federal program that walks that tightrope regularly, don’t miss this Fed Thread episode. Sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.