Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips joins Energy Secretary Chris Wright, other top officials and tech leaders at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to explore how the Trump administration’s push for nuclear energy could drive U.S. energy independence and fuel the AI revolution. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.
Chapter 1: What is the focus of the Trump administration's nuclear policy?
As part of their efforts to increase domestic energy production, the Trump administration is pushing for a nuclear renaissance that will power AI and other technologies.
In this episode, we visit a nuclear laboratory with the U.S. Energy Secretary, lawmakers, and the co-founder of OpenAI.
I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Sunday, May 18th, and this is a weekend edition of Morning Wire. Here to discuss the Trump administration's nuclear renaissance is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips. So Cabot, you recently joined the energy secretary and others at a historic nuclear laboratory. We're going to get to that visit. But first, big picture.
Chapter 2: What is the significance of Oak Ridge National Laboratory?
What are the president's plans for nuclear energy?
Chapter 3: How is nuclear energy linked to America's energy independence?
Yeah, for decades now, we've heard lawmakers say that nuclear energy is the future, but for decades, it's been just that, the future. But if the Trump administration has their way, nuclear energy will very much be in the present.
The president's made clear that he views it as crucial for making America energy independent and importantly, powering the AI revolution, which will require far more energy than we currently have access to as a country. And in his first hundred days or so in office, President Trump has already taken significant steps to revamp this industry.
To learn more about those efforts, I spent the day with Energy Secretary Chris Wright at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in East Tennessee. Now, most folks are probably familiar with Oak Ridge because of its role in the Manhattan Project back in World War II. But today, it is a massive research facility leading the way on American nuclear development.
Have a listen to what Secretary Wright had to say there about the Trump administration's efforts. Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the site of uranium enrichment for the Manhattan Project. And now, over 80 years later, it's the site of a new technological leap, one that could decide America's position in the world. The enemy is China. Their weapon? Digital warfare.
To counter this threat, President Trump's Energy Secretary Chris Wright and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman have gathered America's brightest scientific minds together to accelerate scientific innovation using Oak Ridge's supercomputer, Frontier. So with China's threat growing, I've been sent here to ask, what's at stake? America loses the digital arms race.
Standing outside the Thousand Scientist AI Jam, I spoke with OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman about why this gathering is significant. All right, tell us about the Scientist AI Jam, the Thousand Scientist AI Jam.
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Chapter 4: What role does AI play in advancing nuclear technology?
This is such an exciting day for us and I think for Oak Ridge and the scientists at the National Labs because we're bringing together our AI with the work that they are doing. And so 1,000 scientists are exploring how to use artificial intelligence to accelerate their work.
And I've been talking to a number of them, some people who are using it to advance nuclear fusion research, to come up with novel designs that would normally take weeks to do that they can do very fast. I'm talking to people using it for biology and various other kinds of research.
Chapter 5: Who are the key figures in the AI Jam event at Oak Ridge?
Chapter 6: What are the implications of the digital arms race?
And I've been talking to a number of them, some people who are using it to advance nuclear fusion research, to come up with novel designs that would normally take weeks to do that they can do very fast. I'm talking to people using it for biology and various other kinds of research.
We heard the Energy Secretary talk about this new Manhattan Project.
The Manhattan Project, critical to winning World War II.
How nuclear energy is going to power the work that you're doing at OpenAI and the work that others are doing in the space as well.
Today, we're leading the next generation of computing and artificial intelligence. Why nuclear?
Why is it important for your space?
Well, historically, I think over the past couple of years, the U.S. energy grid has not grown very much. That is something that President Trump and Secretary Wright, they are actually very enthusiastic about increasing the supply of energy because it is necessary for such energy intensive manufacturing processes is what we do.
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Chapter 7: How is nuclear energy integral to future AI advancements?
The thing that you should think of AI is doing is manufacturing energy into intelligence. And one of the things about AI is that it not only is something that consumes energy, but it actually can unlock more energy. It can increase efficiencies. President Trump has been talking about the need to unleash AI.
What do you make of his stance on AI and the future of the technology?
Well, I think President Trump is very forward looking on what is necessary in order for America to continue to lead on this technology. It's very clear at this point that AI is something that can benefit everyone. I think it's going to be the most important economic driver of the future.
And so in order to make the most of that opportunity, which we have such an amazing opportunity because America has been the leader in AI, we are the leader in it now. And I think that through public private partnership, for example, the event that we're at today where the national labs are using this technology to accelerate.
And so I think that there is just so much energy and willpower from President Trump, from the secretary and from others in order to have America lead on this technology. On China, why is it so important that the US is leading the way ahead of China in this, what folks are calling arms race?
Well, artificial intelligence is going to improve everyone's lives to help people do more of what they want to do. And that is such a fundamentally American thing, right? That being an innovator leading the way. The reason that it's so important for us to invest in this is because it's going to help increase our economy and help it be so that we can continue to be a leader on the world stage.
And according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the stakes couldn't be higher. You've used this phrase, the new Manhattan Project. What does that mean and what are the stakes?
In the Manhattan Project, it was critical that we developed an atomic bomb before Nazi Germany did. Think of the world today if they had led and had an atomic bomb before we did. The world would be unrecognizable. AI has been around for a long time, but it's hitting critical mass now.
In the next few years, AI is going to change our world, not just economically, but in science and also in national defense. China is working aggressively at AI. If they got a meaningful lead on us in AI, It will be a different world in the future. We have to lead and win the AI race, just like we did Manhattan Project. This is Manhattan Project 2.
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