I didn't come to AI through computer science. My entry point has always been power, people, and politics. Technology isn't just about innovation—it's about who controls the levers of power in the 21st century.

I was born in Nepal, a country that, within my own mother's lifetime, remained largely untouched by modern infrastructure. My mother was born in a village at the foot of the Himalayas, where life had remained unchanged for centuries — no electricity, no running water, no modern infrastructure. Yet, within a generation, I — her daughter, a child of the 1990s—was raised in a world transformed by technology.

I watched firsthand as technology compressed time and space—a society that had lived in the pre-modern world for centuries was suddenly catapulted into the digital age. That experience fundamentally shaped my worldview. It made me realize that technology isn't just an incremental force—it's the ultimate accelerant, breaking down barriers to opportunity, knowledge, and economic growth with breathtaking speed.

Politics to Power

I spent the first decade of my career immersed in geopolitics and policy, navigating some of the defining crises of the 2010s—the Eurozone's financial meltdown, the global migration crisis, the rise of digital platforms, and the seismic shifts in global power dynamics.

By the early 2010s, while most were still focused on social media and smartphones, I saw something far more consequential emerging: AI's transformative potential. This wasn't just another technology cycle—it was the defining force of the next industrial age, with implications that would dwarf everything that came before it.

I realized something that now seems obvious but was then largely overlooked: AI wasn't just about automation or efficiency—it was about who controls the next wave of economic and political power.

And so, I pivoted. I started working directly with the technologists building this future—exploring AI's trajectory from the inside.

At first, I saw AI through the lens of threat. I was naturally drawn to AI's potential for weaponization—its capacity to destabilize societies, manipulate narratives, and erode trust in institutions. This led me to write my first book, Deepfakes, which examined how AI-generated synthetic media could be deployed for disinformation, deception, and asymmetric warfare.

But as I moved deeper into the AI space, I began to see that I was missing the bigger story. AI wasn't just a tool for manipulation — it was something much more profound. It was about power itself.

And more than that, AI wasn't just a threat—it was perhaps humanity's greatest opportunity. While policymakers were still debating social media regulation, AI was already reshaping science and human creativity. Moreover, if AI is truly on a trajectory toward ever-expanding intelligence—with timelines collapsing from decades to years—then the question is not just how it disrupts industries or nations, but what it means for humanity.

Some believe this will lead to an era of boundless intelligence and unimaginable progress. Others worry that AI could become a destabilizing force, even an existential risk. I think both views can be true simultaneously—and that's what makes this moment so pivotal.

What I do know is that this is no longer just a technological story—it's the most important geopolitical narrative of our time, a story about power, people, and the future of intelligence itself.

Industrial Intelligence

This is what I explore in Industrial Intelligence—the mega-shift happening right now as AI transitions from a research frontier to an industrial force reshaping global power, economics, and the human experience.

While many still see AI as ChatGPT, I see the trillion-dollar infrastructure race unfolding between global powers. I see the semiconductor battles, the energy grids being built, and the realignment of global alliances around technological supremacy. I see how nations that control this new form of intelligence will dictate the terms of the next century.

This is about how intelligence itself is becoming a resource—and what happens when it is industrialized at scale by those who understand its true value. Far from the utopian promises of AI's early champions, we're entering an intensely competitive era where advanced AI capabilities will determine which nations lead and which follow.

I don't pretend to have all the answers. But I believe this is the most consequential conversation of our time—one that will define the next century of civilization.

The pristine laboratories where AI researchers dream of digital abundance will inevitably give way to the gritty reality of geopolitical competition. The most promising technology of our age—one that could genuinely elevate humanity—is being conscripted into the oldest game on earth: ruthless competition.

Join me as this new era of Industrial Intelligence unfolds.

The stakes couldn't be higher.