The CCP's War on American AI - Guest: Sam Lyman

On this episode of The Dossier Podcast, we have Brian Chau on the show. He’s the CEO of the newly launched Effort.News, which Chau argues is a genuinely new model for investigative journalism. We talk about the stories sitting untouched for years — what Chau calls “crowns laying in the gutter” — simply because nobody wants to comb through millions of pages of grant tables, financial disclosures, and legal filings. Where most outlets have tried to use AI to write, Chau says that’s backwards: the models are still poor writers, so Effort.News writes everything by hand and uses AI purely as a reading and pattern-finding engine. We also discuss the broader trends in the AI field and the politics infiltrating the space, including current doomer/safetyist world, and the business factions and ideologues currently clashing over who gets to control the future.You can find Effort.news here and follow Brian on X @brianchau57. Get full access to The Dossier at www.dossier.today/subscribe

Today we are chatting with Nathan Leamer, Executive Director of Build American AI and a longtime fixture in DC’s tech-policy circles, for a rapid-fire tour through the fights shaping America’s AI buildout. We dig into “Humans First,” a self-styled conservative anti-AI group that Leamer has been researching — an operation incorporated in San Francisco, seeded by Center for AI Safety money, and staffed by “Pause AI” activists, yet positioning itself as grassroots and right-coded ahead of a wave of planned data center protests. Against the backdrop of China’s rapidly advancing models, we discuss how sabotaging domestic data center construction is exactly the wrong move at exactly the wrong moment.From there the conversation turns to the economics and politics of the buildout itself: the tens of thousands of construction jobs tied to a single facility, the comparison to 1950s interstate highway spending, and why so much of this investment is landing in rural Virginia, Ohio, Texas, and Florida rather than Silicon Valley. We also work through why skepticism of AI runs deep on the right — from distrust of Big Tech’s politics to fears of a surveillance state — while arguing the “AI will destroy jobs” narrative keeps failing to materialize, pointing to a fresh wave of American entrepreneurship instead. Follow Nathan Leamer on XGet The Dossier Podcast on SpotifyApple Podcast Get full access to The Dossier at www.dossier.today/subscribe

In this episode of The Dossier Podcast, I sit down with Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at the Capital Research Center, to unpack one of the most sophisticated astroturf operations targeting the American right today. Parker contributed to a viral exposé of Humans First, an activist group masquerading as a grassroots conservative outfit while pushing to halt the construction of American technological infrastructure nationwide. We reveal how left-wing Silicon Valley money, Effective Altruism networks, and longtime Democratic donors like Dustin Moskovitz are laundering their degrowth agenda through conservative-sounding branding. From hidden ties to the far-left Action Network, to a UK-based X account and articles of incorporation linking straight back to the Center for AI Safety, the operation is a textbook case of influence laundering designed to manufacture opposition to critical American infrastructure.We also dive deeper into the broader ecosystem of astroturf “local news” outfits like Courier Newsroom, the parallels to decades of anti-nuclear fearmongering, and how bad information is being funneled into populist circles to stall progress on AI, energy, and national competitiveness. Parker shares sharp insights on how to uncover these networks and why conservatives must stay vigilant against foreign and domestic actors hijacking legitimate concerns. A must-listen for anyone serious about separating real grassroots sentiment from coordinated deception.Check out the Capital Research Center hereFind Parker on X at @ParkerThayer Get full access to The Dossier at www.dossier.today/subscribe

Today on the pod, we had a great chat with The Daily Signal’s Tony Kinnett to unpack the strange new fault line splitting the American right over AI and data centers. Kinnett, a former science teacher turned commentator, argues that the anti-data center backlash sweeping parts of the conservative movement is a mix of genuine local grievances (ugly warehouses, uneven infrastructure spending) and a manufactured hysteria that mirrors anti-nuclear panic from decades past — right down to borrowing AOC-style “dirty water jar” theatrics. He traces the deeper split back to a Tucker Carlson/Bernie Sanders-style populism that wants to freeze technology in place, versus what he calls the true American conservative tradition: pioneering, innovating, and building rather than preserving obsolete industries out of nostalgia.From there, the conversation ranges widely. We both make the case that the real global contest isn’t left vs. right but the American model vs. the Chinese model, with Europe cast as a cautionary tale of a continent too regulation-happy and risk-averse to compete. Get full access to The Dossier at www.dossier.today/subscribe

In this episode of the Dossier Podcast, Jordan sits down with Yadin Soffer, the founder and CEO of Traysar, a defense startup building autonomous machinery for the subterranean battlefield.Soffer traces the company's origins to the aftermath of October 7th, when he teamed up with co-founder Asher Katz—a founding member of the IDF's tunnel-detection unit—and an ex–SpaceX and Boring Company engineer to tackle a domain the West has long treated as an afterthought. Underground warfare, the most ancient form of combat, has become one of the most neglected and consequential frontiers in modern defense: as drones turn the skies and surface into contested, lethal environments, adversaries from Iran to China are burrowing their most critical assets deeper than ever, and the recent B-2 strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities exposed just how hard those targets are to reach. Soffer walks through Traysar’s two newly unveiled systems, while arguing that the U.S. needs to treat "sub-T" as its own warfighting domain, complete with dedicated budgets, before its rivals seize the advantage beneath our feet. Get full access to The Dossier at www.dossier.today/subscribe

The podcast is offcially back, and today I’m sitting down with Sam Lyman, the head of research at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and a guy who’s had a front-row seat to some of the most consequential debates happening in Washington right now. Sam most recently served as a senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Bessent, and before that he was at Riot Platforms helping build out a one-gigawatt data center in Corsicana, Texas — an experience that taught him firsthand how astroturfed opposition to American infrastructure actually works on the ground.We’re going to get into Sam’s new white paper, which traces a pretty alarming web of Chinese state media, CCP-aligned nonprofits like the Singham Network, and foreign billionaires who are pouring money into the campaign to slow down American AI and block data center build-out across the country. We’ll talk about how that influence is making its way into legislation (including the Bernie–AOC data center moratorium) what’s really at stake in the US-China AI race, and why Sam describes data centers as the “enriched uranium” of this generation’s defining technological competition. Follow Sam Lyman on X: https://x.com/SamLyman33The Bitcoin Policy Institute whitepaper: https://www.btcpolicy.org/articles/foreign-influence-in-the-campaign-against-american-ai Get full access to The Dossier at www.dossier.today/subscribe

Today on The Dossier Podcast, we had the privilege of having a wide ranging conversation with the one and only Noor Bin Ladin.As a woman who possesses the most controversial last name of the 21st century (Osama was her uncle), Noor describes herself as a “freedom loving Americanophile and patriot at heart.”Today, Noor is a Switzerland-based journalist and commentator, focusing on the global ruling class and its efforts to impose its agenda upon humanity.On The Dossier Podcast, we discussed Noor’s recent reporting from the World Economic Forum’s 2024 gathering in Davos. We also talked about the long history of the anti-human agenda, and what to look out for as the 2024 elections come around.For more from Noor, Sign up for her Substack! Get full access to The Dossier at www.dossier.today/subscribe

Today on The Dossier Podcast, our guest is Josh Abbotoy, a managing partner at New Founding.We discussed his bold efforts to build and invest in companies and communities on the basis of American ideals, ones that can resist the appeal of the DEI/ESG behemoth.We also talked about his Ridge Runner project, an ambitious proof of concept beginning in Appalachia for building pioneering communities between people and families with shared values.It was a really fun conversation and I think you will get a lot out of it.Follow The Dossier Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, and any of your favorite podcasting apps. Get full access to The Dossier at www.dossier.today/subscribe

Today on The Dossier Podcast, we sat down with John William Sherrod, a longtime Apple watcher and enthusiast. Far from a progressive corporate stenographer for Silicon Valley, he reports and commentates on the tech world from a self-described right wing/libertarian perspective.John and I discussed the hype behind Apple’s new “spatial computing” device, along with a lot of other topics related to the technology and politics of Silicon Valley.Follow The Dossier Podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, and any of your favorite podcasting apps.You can follow John’s work at his Substack Your Apple Update below: Get full access to The Dossier at www.dossier.today/subscribe

The Dossier Podcast is back by popular demand! If you want to listen to just the audio, you can find The Dossier Podcast on your favorite podcasting app!Today we have a good one for you.Julio Rosas, the author of Mostly Peaceful on Substack, just spent the day reporting on the tense situation on the Texas-Mexico border, as the Texas Guard continues to build up defensive measures to keep out illegal immigrants.I highly recommend you follow Julio’s work below: Get full access to The Dossier at www.dossier.today/subscribe