America's First AI Election? Plus Sella Nevo on Securing Model Weights

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This week, Aalok is joined by Chris Gorin, associate fellow at the Wadhwani AI Center and the newest co-host on the AI Policy Podcast, for a recap of Tuesday’s midterm elections. They discuss how AI influenced voters at the polls and the potential for AI regulation in the new Congress. Aalok then sits down with Sella Nevo to discuss threats to frontier AI labs, securing model weights, and his work on SL5.

Guests:

Sella Nevo, Director, RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology

Timestamps: 

0:00 Intro

1:49 Chris intro

4:06 Midterms roundup

9:46 How data center measures could impact AI development

11:55 Exit polls and the potential for new AI regulation in Congress

18:23 Google restricts search for schools that disable AI

22:37 Sella intro

25:19 Why securing model weights matters

31:44 Threat vectors and real-world attacks

36:19 How frontier lab security has evolved over time

38:49 AI for cyber defense vs. offense

45:22 Security Levels 1–5 (SL1–SL5) explained

51:46 Where frontier labs stand today and obstacles to SL5

58:50 AI agents, containment breaches and sovereign AI

1:03:41 Security risks of embedded evaluators

1:06:26 Sella's predictions and biggest worries

1:10:30 Policy prescriptions

Additional Reading:

NBC News 2026 Exit Polls: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-elections/exit-polls

Saudi National Arrested For Installing Surreptitious Audio Recording Device At OpenAI In San Francisco (U.S. Attorney’s Office): https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/saudi-national-arrested-installing-surreptitious-audio-recording-device-openai-san

How an AI start-up founded by ex-DOGE staffers broke into Anthropic (The Washington Post): https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/10/26/researchers-cybersecurity-start-up-cathedral-got-inside-anthropic/

“Securing AI Model Weights” by Sella Nevo, Dan Lahav, Ajay Karpur, Yogev Bar-On, Henry Alexander Bradley, Jeff Alstott (RAND): https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2849-1.html  

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