“Like any other technical industry right now that's starting to realize the power of what these (AI) tools can do, the customers, some of them don't know what they don't know, and so they don't realize what it can bring to them.” - Dick Wilkinson
Hey there!
Are you going to be in Washington, D.C. next week? Next week ViaSatellite is hosting its annual SatShow at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, just north of Mount Vernon Square. It’s a veritable who’s-who of the satellite industry all under one roof.
If your answer is “Why, yes. I am.” Come meet me and the Milky Way Economy team! We’ll be at City Tap House talking space and comparing notes with you about SatShow ‘23.
What’s in this week’s episode
In the past five years, the U.S. Government has inked more than a billion dollars in contracts to develop and utilize the computer-based technology artificial intelligence, or AI, according to a Brookings Institution report. While it’s not surprising that the Department of Defense inked about 87 percent of these contracts, it is a space company that has won the greatest number, not the maker of ChatGPT, OpenAI.
This week’s episode unpacks just what AI is, so listeners have a foundational understanding of just what this tool is, before exploring its role in the future of space, the space business, and defense. If you really want to go deep, read this from the late John McCarthy, a father of AI: “What is Artificial Intelligence”.
Who’s on this week’s episode
George Pullen, Chief Economist, Milky Way Economy
Gabriel DeVille, Space Market Analyst and Consultant, Euroconsult
Dick Wilkinson, Co-Founder and CTO, Proof Labs
Dan Brunski, Co-Founder and CTO, True Anomaly
Where you can get this week’s episode
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What I’m going to be reading
Everyone in the commercial space and space policy tribes is waiting with bated breath for the Biden Administration’s FY 2024 budget request, which is expected to drop on Thursday. That day and through the weekend, there are going to be a lot of stories on the topline numbers without substance. That will come on Monday, March 13, when the administration will transmit the budget “justification books”, a.k.a. “j-books”. The podcast will focus on this once both the budget request and the j-books are available.
Here’s something you should read
The U.S. Space Force may be evolving. Read the below “C-Note” from the Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance “Salty” Saltzman before reading this March 7 story from Theresa Hitchens of Breaking Defense.
Ad Astra!
Laura