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Strategic AI Systems Competition

Deployment. Capital. Infrastructure. Alliances.

  • Artificial intelligence is no longer a software race.
  • It is a systems race.
  • The decisive question of this decade is not who builds the most advanced model — but who can finance, power, regulate, and deploy trusted AI systems at national and allied scale.
  • Mark R. Kennedy writes and speaks at the intersection of AI deployment, capital markets, energy infrastructure, sovereign strategy, and alliance coordination.
  • He serves as Director of the Development Research Institute at NYU and leads the Wahba Initiative for Strategic Competition, convening senior leaders across government, finance, technology, and energy to address AI stack deployment in a fragmented world.
  • His work focuses on one central challenge:
  • Can democracies deploy at scale — and sustain strategic advantage — in the age of AI?

CORE AREAS

AI Strategy

  • The AI Stack — compute, capital, energy, governance, and deployment architecture.
  • Industrial policy, export controls, and allied scaling of trusted AI ecosystems.
  • 👉 Explore AI Strategy →

Strategic Competition

  • System-level rivalry between democratic and authoritarian models.
  • Technology fragmentation, capital flows, and alliance alignment in a two-bloc world.
  • 👉 Explore Strategic Competition →

Capital & Infrastructure

Security & Alliances

RECENT WORK

SPEAKING

  • Mark Kennedy delivers executive-level briefings to corporate boards, financial institutions, infrastructure investors, global forums, and policymakers.
  • His flagship address:
  • The AI Stack: Who Will Deploy the Future — and Who Will Stall
  • 👉 Learn More About Speaking →

ABOUT

  • Former Fortune 100 executive.
  • Former U.S. Congressman.
  • Former president of two flagship public research universities.
  • Now focused on strategic AI systems competition and democratic performance in the age of industrial-scale technology.
  • 👉 Full Biography →

AVAILABILITY

  • Based in Washington, DC
  • Engaging globally
  • Select advisory and speaking engagements annually
  • Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.