Puck News hosted its latest Power Breakfast at the Riggs Hotel on Thursday morning, September 18, with chief Washington correspondent Leigh Ann Caldwell in conversation with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN). The wide-ranging Q&A—featured in Puck’s The Best & The Brightest—spanned free speech in media, crypto legislation, and the path to avoiding a shutdown. 

SPOTTED: Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Kristin Smith, Jon Kelly, Dave Grimaldi, Mary Streett, Lee Brennen, Ben Cantrell, Jonathan Cousimano, Yemisi Egbewole, Riley Kilburg, Rachel Green, Ian McKendry, Colin Moneymaker, Lila Nieves-Lee, Amy Roberti, Kristin Sharp, Liz Gough, Alex Bigler, Tina Anthony, and Ali Hattamer.

On free speech and media censorship

Emmer, in the wake of the political fallout from Charlie Kirk’s assassination, criticized network decisions to cut and edit political interviews:

“We don’t need somebody at CBS deciding that they’re going to edit a presidential candidate’s interview because she can’t put a sentence together and she doesn’t make any sense… Regardless of your political persuasion, you would want that.”

On cryptocurrency legislation

Calling digital assets a “nonpartisan” issue, Emmer pushed back on efforts to frame crypto as partisan:

“This is not about Republicans. This is not about Democrats. This is about Americans and what’s best for our country… This is the number one thing in terms of the golden age of digital assets that [the president] is going to be responsible for creating.”

He noted younger voters, ages 18–40, see crypto as their issue, and warned against politicians using it as a wedge.

On avoiding a government shutdown

With government funding again on the line, Emmer stressed pragmatism:

“The animals in the watering hole tend to look at each other differently as the water recedes… We’ve been figuring out how to get through it.”

He pointed to bipartisan progress on appropriations bills and said Speaker Mike Johnson will push a short-term continuing resolution to buy seven more weeks.

Since launching in May, Puck’s salon series has hosted Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN), Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN). Each conversation draws a curated crowd of administration officials, Hill insiders, and business leaders, with insights appearing in Caldwell’s must-read newsletter The Best & The Brightest and on Puck’s Powers That Be podcast.

The Washington AI Network hosted a power breakfast and podcast taping at the House at 1229, where Tammy Haddad interviewed Nvidia’s Deepu Talla. 

Washington, D.C. — In the latest episode of the Washington AI Network Podcast, host Tammy Haddad sat down with Deepu Talla, NVIDIA’s Vice President of Robotics and Edge AI, to dive deep into the future of physical AI and its potential to reshape industries from robotics to manufacturing.

Recorded live at The House at 1229 in Washington, D.C. on September 8, the conversation shed light on how AI breakthroughs—from general-purpose models to next-generation simulation—are rapidly transforming robotics. But Talla was quick to point out that these innovations are just the beginning, and their impact is poised to revolutionize U.S. manufacturing in the coming decades.

The Unique Challenges of Physical AI

Talla highlighted the inherent difficulties of working with physical AI, emphasizing the high safety and accuracy standards needed when robots interact with the real world. “The physical world is extremely challenging,” Talla noted. “The safety needs, the accuracy that’s needed in order to be safe is extremely high.” For decades, robots were relegated to simple, high-volume tasks—mainly in controlled environments like factories.

But the future, Talla believes, lies in empowering robots to take on tasks in small and medium enterprises—where labor shortages and dangerous jobs have long been a significant barrier. “The technology to solve these difficult problems did not exist, until very recently,” he added, pointing to recent breakthroughs as key drivers of change.

The “ChatGPT Effect” for Robotics

A particularly exciting development in this space, according to Talla, is the potential to create a “ChatGPT for the physical world.” He noted, “Can you believe it? ChatGPT is not even three years old. Can you imagine the world before ChatGPT? The whole world is on a similar quest for ‘can we create a ChatGPT for the physical world?’”

This analogy underscores the power of general-purpose AI models—like the one driving language processing in ChatGPT—and their potential to be adapted for robotics, creating machines that can perform a wide array of tasks in an intelligent, adaptable way.

Closing the “Sim-to-Real” Gap with AI and Synthetic Data

Talla also pointed to simulation as a game-changer in the development of robotics. Historically, testing robots in real-world environments was too costly and unsafe. “It’s not fast, it’s not safe, it’s too expensive to build and test robots in the physical world,” he said. But simulation technology has improved dramatically, helping bridge the sim-to-real gap.

In tandem, synthetic data generation—the use of AI to create vast quantities of realistic training data—has emerged as a key enabler. Talla explained, “Can we use AI itself… to create a thousand times more data or a million times more data? The hope with all of this is the more data you create, the better the data, then you can train this general-purpose brain.”

The Rise of Humanoid Robots

One of Talla’s most compelling predictions was the rise of humanoid robots. “It’s quite likely that humanoids will be the largest opportunity for humanity,” he remarked. Given that human-centered design has shaped infrastructure for centuries, humanoid robots make perfect sense as a general-purpose AI form factor. “Humanoids provide us the best opportunity to create that general-purpose brain,” Talla said, revealing his excitement for the potential of humanoid robots to operate seamlessly in human-built environments.

U.S.-China Robotics Race and the Future of Manufacturing

The conversation also touched on the increasingly competitive landscape of robotics between the U.S. and China. Talla emphasized that both nations are pushing ahead aggressively, but U.S. reshoring policies and AI-driven robotics are giving American manufacturers a unique advantage.

“The golden age of manufacturing for the United States has started,” Talla declared. “With the policy of reshoring manufacturing and with robotics solving the ultimate problem of small and medium general-purpose robotics… I genuinely believe it’s going to completely change the trajectory of how United States manufacturing happens in the next 20 years.”

This shift is particularly significant for smaller businesses that had previously been unable to afford automation. Thanks to advances in robotics, these companies will now be able to tap into AI-driven manufacturing solutions, making the U.S. manufacturing sector more competitive and efficient.

Energy Efficiency: The Next Frontier for AI

As Talla discussed, energy efficiency is the final frontier in AI development. “Power, energy is relatively fixed… Which means if that’s the constraint, it’s all about what’s the max performance at the lowest cost that you can deliver in that energy budget,” he said. NVIDIA is focused on pushing the boundaries of what’s possible within these energy constraints, highlighting the massive leap in compute power over the past decade. “Within the same energy… a million times more compute has been delivered in the last 10 years,” he shared.

Human-Robot Collaboration in the Future

Looking ahead, Talla painted an exciting picture of human-robot collaboration. “What’s easy for humans to do is hard for robots… What’s easy for robots to do is hard for humans,” he said. In the future, he believes, humans and robots will work side by side, with robots taking on tasks that are too dangerous or repetitive for humans, while humans provide the higher-level reasoning and adaptability that robots still lack.

“Every human in the future will be teaching or instructing or working alongside robots, and the more intelligent the robots become, the more you can trust them to do jobs that you don’t want to do,” he said, offering a glimpse into a future of collaborative, intelligent machines.

Looking Ahead to GTC D.C.

Before signing off, Talla teased NVIDIA’s GTC D.C. conference in October, promising a sneak peek at the future of robotics. “I’m a hundred percent sure we are bringing many robots to the [Washington Convention Center’s] expo hall at GTC D.C., including for manufacturing,” he said, leaving listeners eager to see what’s next for AI-driven robotics.

SPOTTED: Irish Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Machalagh Carr, Reggie Love, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Cecilia Kang, Ashley Callen, Helen Toner, Shane Tews, Maryam Mujica, John Rizzo, Ashley Lerner, Shailagh Murray, Kristin Sharp, Marc Gustafson, Ali Nouri, Asad Ramzanali, Yemisi Egbewole, Tyler Kendall, Nathan Bomey, Miranda Nazzaro, Joanna Guy, Katy Balls, Sarah Weinstein, Ruth Berry, Sophie Shulman, Angela Krasnick, Mariel Garcia, Jaisha Wray and Gabriel Coupeau.

August 6, 2025 — Washington AI Network founder Tammy Haddad and Lucid Motors’ Vice President of External Affairs Jessica Nigro hosted a Washington Women Technology Network breakfast conversation at The House at 1229 featuring Wall Street Journal political investigations reporter Josh Dawsey and New York Times White House correspondent Tyler Pager, co-authors of 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.

The authors discussed the reporting behind the book, campaign dynamics in 2024, and the role of authenticity, gender, and media strategy in shaping public perception.

Josh Dawsey described Donald Trump’s media style and influence:

“He [Trump] gets shot… probably a quarter of inch from dying, and his first impulse is to lift his arm up in the air and say Fight. I think there were a lot of people who really dislike Trump or weren’t his biggest fans who thought that was kind of badass. I mean, I think that sort of changed the public perception of him in that moment,” said Dawsey.

Pager reflected on the role of former President Obama and internal challenges facing the Biden campaign:

“Barack Obama… didn’t think Joe Biden should run in 2016. He didn’t think Joe Biden should run in 2020, and he definitely didn’t think Joe Biden should run in 2024 and repeatedly,” said Pager.  “One of the things that the campaign really struggled with was this sort of bifurcated structure where Joe Biden’s closest aides were in the White House, and the campaign was run by people that were not particularly close to the president and were not empowered to run the campaign.”

SPOTTED

Luxembourg Ambassador Nicole Bintner-Bakshian, YouTube’s Alexandra Veitch, the Consumer Technology Association’s Tiffany Moore, BBC anchor Sumi Somaskanda, NobleReach Foundation’s Tina Anthony, Omidyar Network’s Govind Shivkumar, Salesforce’s Charlotte Smith, Business Software Alliance CEO Victoria Espinel,  Joanna Guy of Booz Allen Hamilton, Charlotte Rock of the General Catalyst Insitute, Invenergy’s Andrew Wills, Stacy Kerr of Penta, Michael Ahrens of FGS Global, Joiwind Ronen of Ned’s Club, producer Kathy O’Hearn, GM’s Ashley Lerner, and Sydney Snowden, chief of staff to David Urban.

Lucid Motors – the luxury EV tech company – announced on Wednesday the creation of a critical minerals producers collaborative to strengthen the supply chain for American automotive and EV manufacturers. The new group, called MINAC – The Minerals for National Automotive Competitiveness Collaboration – is designed to advance domestic critical mineral production and to strengthen the U.S.-based automotive supply chain.

As part of the launch, Lucid and its partners gathered lawmakers, policymakers, and industry leaders on Wednesday evening for a roundtable reception at the CTA Innovation House featuring remarks from Governor Katie Hobbs (D-AZ), Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK-01), and video remarks from Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-06), whose Congressional district includes Lucid’s 3.85 million sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Casa Grande, Arizona.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), said in a statement, “Arizona is proud to be home to Lucid’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, and I’m glad to see them leading the way in building electric vehicles with American-made materials. This is how we keep the economic benefits of innovation in the United States: by strengthening our supply chains, reducing our reliance on China, and supporting good-paying jobs in Arizona.”

Lucid CEO Marc Winterhoff, commented on the collaborative, “Domestic supply chains strengthen manufacturing resilience, fortify sustainable supply chains, and accelerate job growth. Following in the footsteps of our previous agreements, today we are doubling down on our commitment to powering American innovation and look forward to working with our partners as we built the next generation of automotive manufacturing in the United States.”

The launch event featured Jessica Nigro, Lucid’s head of external affairs, in conversation with executives from MINAC member companies, including Alaska Energy Metals, Graphite One, Electric Metals, and RecycLiCo, to highlight how the collaborative will accelerate the development and procurement of domestic critical mineral resources.

But it’s not just the automotive industry who will benefit from these efforts. Nigro noted, “When it comes to defense and national security, the Pentagon represents only 5% of the demand for domestic critical minerals, so we need private industry, including the EV industry and collaboratives like MINAC, to drive the demand necessary to source domestic critical minerals in the supply chain and to strengthen our national security.”

Following the program, guests enjoyed a networking cocktail reception and walkaround of the company’s all-new Lucid Gravity SUV – marking the Gravity’s first appearance in the District– as well as the award-winning Lucid Air sedan, which has a range of up to 512 miles on a single charge. 

The MINAC announcement comes on the heels of Lucid’s new partnership with Uber and Nuro to create a next-generation premium global robotaxi program created exclusively for the Uber ride-hailing platform. Uber aims to deploy 20,000 Lucid Gravity vehicles equipped with the Nuro Driver™ over six years.

For more information, visit www.LucidMotors.com.

The Washington AI Network hosted its first-ever Speakeasy Thursday night at The House at 1229, drawing a crowd of AI-adjacent policy pros, investors, and technologists for cocktails, karaoke, slushies, and ice cream sandwiches. Guests voted on which AI they use the most and revealed their favorite chatbot prompts. The invite promised “clever cocktails, engaging company, and just the right amount of AI mischief,” and it delivered. Think boozy frozen cocktails, surprise karaoke, and yes, even an ice cream truck parked outside. 

Guests whispered a secret password at the door before slipping into a cool, mood-lit space that brought together policy thinkers, tech insiders, and DC Influencers. The dress code? ‘AI Casual’—relaxed, stylish, and smart. A DJ kept the energy pulsing late into the night as DC’s AI glitterati gathered to escape the sweltering heat wave that had gripped the capital all week. 

The evening came on the heels of the massively successful Inaugural AI Honors Gala hosted by the Washington AI Network on June 3rd, and the crowd was still riding high. It was clear this crew isn’t just celebrating—they’re keeping the momentum going as AI continues to dominate conversations across Washington.

It was a more relaxed midpoint in D.C.’s summer AI swirl—less summit, more speakeasy. Expect more from this growing network as it heads into a high-energy fall.

SPOTTED: Attendees included Jake Denton, Pierson Furnish, Adam Branch,  Miriam Vogel, Max  Fenkell, Ashley Callen, Mary Kozeny, Mitchell Rivard, Govind Shivkumar, Emma Mears, Cristobal Alex, Josh Dawsey, Joanna Guy, John Rizzo, Rachel Green Horn, Jack Kinney, James Perry Adams, Helen and Joe Milby, Meridith McGraw, Sylvia Varnham O’Reagan, Jonathan Clifford, Dan Meyers, Kevin Latek, John McCarthy, TW Arrighi, Shannon Ricchetti, Liz Johnson, Martin Stanley, Michael Falcone, Kevin Cirilli, Pierson Furnish and Sydney Snowden.

Jacob Helberg is just days away from confirmation as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, but most people in Washington know him for his famous Hill & Valley Forum conference, as co-host Teresa Carlson, president of the General Catalyst Institute, noted in her remarks.

Meridian International Center, in partnership with the General Catalyst Institute, hosted Mr. Helberg for a lively and well-attended reception Tuesday evening at Ned’s Club in downtown D.C. to celebrate. The event quickly turned into a standing-room-only affair, drawing a VIP crowd of diplomats, tech founders, investors, national security insiders and top White House brass. The guest list in part reflected Helberg’s unique positioning at the nexus of technology, global markets, and policy.

Helberg, a longtime figure in both national security and technology sectors, has built a reputation for bridging public and private efforts to address complex global challenges. His background includes senior roles focused on innovation, economic strategy, and critical infrastructure—experience many see as vital for the evolving demands of the Under Secretary role.

Though Helberg’s Senate confirmation hearing is imminent, last night’s gathering was a clear sign of the enthusiasm surrounding his nomination and the expectations for his future impact.

Backed by General Catalyst Institute’s growing commitment to health and defense innovation, the evening was equal parts celebration and scene—an elegant mix of policy talk, industry chatter, and early-summer energy as guests lingered well past sundown.

SPOTTED: Belgian Ambassador Frédéric Bernard, Luxembourg Ambassador Nicole Bintner-Bakshian, Dutch Ambassador Birgitta Tazelaar, Latvian Ambassador Elita Kuzma, Greek Ambassador Ekaterini Nassika, Filipino Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez, Liechtenstein Ambassador Georg Sparber, UK Deputy Ambassador James Roscoe, Maryam Mujica, Stuart and Gwen Holliday, Brandon Beach, Helen Milby, Joe Bartlett, Michael Kratsios, Yehuda Kaploun, Paolo Zampolli, Ivan Kanapathy, Nick Clemens, Elena Hernandez, Jason Geske, Stewart Barber, Tammy Haddad, Heather Podesta, Anita McBride, Mary Brady, Ashley Callen, Craig Carbone, Jake Denton, Joel Gardner, Karalee Geis, Jimmy Loomis, Parker Magid, James Rockas and Brendan Shields.

Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Chief Deputy Whip and a leading Democratic voice on climate and technology, headlined Puck’s Power Breakfast on Thursday morning, hosted by Puck News CEO Jon Kelly at the Hay-Adams Hotel.

In an interview with Puck’s Chief Washington Correspondent Leigh Ann Caldwell, Senator Brian Schatz discussed a broad range of issues, including the Senate’s evolving approach to artificial intelligence and the future of federal climate investments. He also addressed the recent unrest in Los Angeles, connecting the protests to wider national debates over policing and public governance. The conversation also touched on whether Congress can reclaim authority from the White House—and if Democrats may be overreaching on the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

With his growing influence inside the Democratic leadership circle, Schatz offered perspective on caucus dynamics, legislative strategy, and the challenges of governing in a narrowly divided Senate. The breakfast drew a curated group of policymakers, journalists, and strategists for a lively discussion that mirrored the format’s signature style—intimate, substantive, and high-level.

The Puck Power Breakfast series continues to solidify its role as a premier venue for timely conversations with Washington’s power players, blending journalism, access, and insight at a moment when all three are in high demand.

Spotted: Sarah Personette, Reema Dodin, Sara Fischer, Mike Smith, Olivia Igbokwe, Helen Milby, Sarah Milby, Maryam Mujica, Jacob Freedman, David Reid, Nick Carr, Tony Samp, Marianna Sotomayor, Alex Tureman, Asad Ramzanali, Michael Hacker, Keenan Austin Reed, Lisa Allen, Antony Lynch, Tizzy Brown, Scott Sloofman, Alex Wirth and Kevin Walling.