Artificial intelligence was the focus of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce’s latest luncheon September 18 at the Sheraton Austin Georgetown Hotel. Will Hurd – a former politician and AI expert — joined KVUE news anchor Bryan Mays for a Q&A about AI and its future implementation. Mr. Hurd spoke in a free flowing manner about how AI has affected his everyday life, warfare and the importance of AI being taught in schools.
Mr. Hurd is chief strategy officer for Chaos Industries, a defense technology company. He previously served nine years in the CIA, represented Texas’ 23rd Congressional District from 2015 to 2021, and ran for president in the 2024 Republican primary. He has also served on advisory boards for OpenAI, Palantir Technologies, the Center for European Policy Analysis and In-Q-Tel. Introducing him, Chamber President Shontel Mays said Mr. Hurd “shapes the intersection of technology, national security and public policy.”
Mr. Hurd said the U.S. must adopt AI in government functions, both to streamline processes like passport renewals and to strengthen national defense.
“The Chinese government is trying to surpass the United States of America,” he said. “I spent 25 years connected to the national security space.”
He noted that China now requires AI education for students starting at age 6. He warned that slow adoption of AI in U.S. schools and government could create security risks, since “the bad guys are using.” With the rapidly evolving labor market, students today need to know how to use these tools, he said.
“People think, ‘Oh, this AI is going to make us dumber.’ No, it’s not. It’s actually going to lead to higher order effects, because we have the opportunity to start asking bigger and harder questions,” he said.
Drawing from his CIA experience as a recruiter, he said he often needed baseline knowledge in technical areas such as nuclear weapons to form questions to ask candidates. He said AI can help, and that process can be allied to different fields, including education. At Chaos Industries, he said, AI-powered defense radars and autonomous drones are already in use. He cited examples of Ukraine and Israel deploying AI against adversaries.
During his time in Congress, Mr. Hurd co-authored bills to expand WiFi access in rural Texas, warning that a lack of internet would put students at a disadvantage. He said large tech companies could help build infrastructure so all children have access to tools like ChatGPT. He explained in seventh grade, he learned to type using a typewriter. Now, he is facing AI — and can only speculate where else that can take him.
“My grandma used to say she went from horse and buggy to man on the moon,” he said. “We have to make sure that we’re preparing our kids and our grandkids for jobs that don’t exist. The pace of change is actually hyperbolic— meaning it approaches, it’s going to approach infinity at a certain period of time. We have to rewire our brains on how to adapt to these things. The way we operate today is not the way we’re going to operate in three years, let alone five or 10 years.”
Before ChatGPT was made available to the public, he interviewed CEO Sam Altman. Afterward, someone accused him of allowing Mr. Altman to spout off about things that wouldn’t be possible.
“Nobody thought that ChatGPT was possible in November of 2020,” he said. “What we have to do as individuals, as business owners as elected officials is embrace this and be ready for this technological change that has sort of revolutionized every industry. And it starts by making sure our kids have access to this tool and know how to use it.”
He noted that ChatGPT was adopted by the public faster than any other tool. A week after it was released, 10 million users had already utilized the platform.
“Technological innovation is not asking for permission,” he said. “It’s coming. It’s here already, and we have to be ready for it.” Mr. Hurd added that his assistant recently used AI to plan his upcoming business trip to London and Lithuania. After the 30-minute panel, he left immediately for another speaking engagement, according to Mr. Mays.