AEI's weekly digest of top commentary and scholarship on the issues that matter most
AEI This Week
AEI's weekly digest of top commentary and scholarship on the issues that matter most
WINNING THE FUTURE
China’s Challenge to American AI Leadership
December 6, 2025
Artificial intelligence has become one of the primary arenas of technological competition between the United States and China. On December 2, Chris Miller assessed ([link removed] ) how the US and China compare on computing power, brain power, and electric power—the “three key inputs to AI leadership”—in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy.
us-china-ai ([link removed] )
In October 2025, the Trump administration proposed a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” that attempted to address serious challenges including viewpoint diversity, educational quality, and cost in American colleges and universities. In a new series of eight reports, AEI education scholars and outside experts led by Frederick M. Hess are showing ([link removed] ) how the compact’s eight priorities could be turned into durable reforms from Congress and the states.
Universities should not wait for federal action to address the erosion of pluralism on campus—they should seize the opportunity to win back the public’s trust with their own constructive, internal reforms. AEI Center for the Future of the American University (CFAU) Codirector Benjamin Storey and CFAU affiliate Jon Shields make the case ([link removed] ) for incorporating conservative thought into college curricula.
Diverging generational attitudes only heighten the importance of preserving free expression and viewpoint diversity in schools and more broadly across American life. In an AEI Survey Center on American Life (SCAL) report based on a new survey of more than 5,000 adults, SCAL Director Daniel A. Cox and Kelsey Eyre Hammond analyze ([link removed] ) how younger Americans’ increasing emphasis on individuality and self-expression is challenging shared understandings of right and wrong.
On December 2, AEI Press published the latest volume in our “America at 250” book series: Slavery, Equality, and the American Revolution, edited by Yuval Levin, Adam J. White, and John Yoo. The book features contributions from Randy E. Barnett, Kurt T. Lash, Lucas E. Morel, Justin Driver, and AEI Nonresident Senior Fellow Diana Schaub on how the Revolution both perpetuated slavery and created the conditions for its abolition. Order a copy here ([link removed] ) and read the full text on AEI’s “America at 250” website ([link removed] ) .
Stranded by the Safety Net:
How to Fix the Benefit Cliff Problem
Many US safety-net programs feature benefit cliffs: situations where increased earnings trigger an abrupt reduction or loss of government benefits that outweigh new employment income. These cliffs create a poverty trap by financially penalizing upward mobility. In a new AEI report, Angela Rachidi, Matt Weidinger, and coauthors provide ([link removed] ) a roadmap for policymakers to address benefit cliffs and reduce work disincentives in federal welfare programs. They identify both single program reforms that state and federal administrators can advance along with more comprehensive changes, guided by the principle that safety-net benefits should promote work and marriage, remain temporary and targeted for able-bodied adults, and be fiscally responsible. Their recommendations provide a clear path to ensure low-income households can purse the American Dream.
More from AEI
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
The Sabotage of Secretary Hegseth’s Acquisition Reform Initiative ([link removed] )
William C. Greenwalt | Breaking Defense
A Dishonorable Strike ([link removed] )
Jack Goldsmith | Executive Functions
Medicine in the Age of Social Justice ([link removed] )
Sally Satel | Heterodox STEM
Making the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit a Success ([link removed] )
Daniel Buck and Anna Low | AEI's Conservative Education Reform Network
Ethics of Automation and Artificial Intelligence in Health Care Delivery ([link removed] )
Brian J. Miller et al. | Social Science Research Network
PODCASTS AND VIDEOS
Digital Currency as a Network ([link removed] )
Shane Tews et al. | Explain to Shane
Gerrymania ([link removed] )
Jay Cost and Sean Trende | Stubborn Things
Alpha School ([link removed] )
Nat Malkus and MacKenzie Price | The Report Card with Nat Malkus
Why Are We Letting China Steal All Our Secrets? David Shedd Explains. ([link removed] )
Danielle Pletka et al. | What the Hell Is Going On?
Securing the Transatlantic Trade Relationship ([link removed] )
Michael R. Strain | AEI event
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
The most powerful factions on the left and right today—both sides of the populist coin—start with the belief that we are in stagnation or decline, blame the usual targets, pronounce their favored policies, and then search for statistics to make their case. But for anyone who cares about workers rather than expanding their audience, that approach is counterproductive.
—Scott Winship ([link removed] )
Ensure delivery ([link removed] ) | Subscribe ([link removed] )
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Robert Doar, President
1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036
202.862.5800 | www.aei.org ([link removed] )
Unsubscribe from the link below ([link removed] )
Facebook ([link removed] )
X ([link removed] )
LinkedIn ([link removed] )
YouTube ([link removed] )
Instagram ([link removed] )
Podcast Logo New_Gray ([link removed] )
Donate to AEI ([link removed] ) in support of defending and promoting freedom, opportunity, and enterprise.
This message is for:
[email protected] | ([link removed] ) Manage preferences or Unsubscribe ([link removed] )
