Bill Walton - The AI Race, China, and the Bond Market

Bill Walton returns to Hearts of Oak to discuss the AI safety debate after Anthropic’s leadership warned that advanced systems could pose a serious risk to humanity within a decade. He argues that heavy federal regulation would entrench the biggest players, squeeze open-source development, and slow innovation, while the U.S.–China race makes a simple pause unrealistic because AI is dual-use. Bill then turns to what he sees as the more immediate threat: rising long-term Treasury yields, global government debt, and the limits of taxing, borrowing, or inflating the problem away. The conversation closes on crypto, quantum computing, financial surveillance, Europe’s safety-first regulation, and why risk-taking and free speech matter more than trying to make everything “safe.” Bill Walton is a former Chairman and CEO of a $10 billion NYSE-traded investment company, a successful investor, renaissance man and the host of The Bill Walton Show. After decades in finance, private equity and as an entrepreneur and CEO, he now writes and speaks about the intersection of finance, policy, and culture. Bill has served at senior levels across business, government, and the arts—ranging from Vice Chairman of CPAC and President of the Council for National Policy, to President of the National Symphony Orchestra; and National Trustee and Finance Advisor to the National Gallery of Art Trustees and Chairman of the Kelley (Indiana) School of Business. Other national board service includes Heritage, AEI, Wolf Trap, and the National Venture Capital Association. Earlier in his career, Walton served in the U.S. Army at the Pentagon, headed strategic planning for a major commercial bank, worked in mergers and acquisitions at Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb, and later advised CBS founder William S. Paley.  As a feature film producer, two of Bill’s films screened at the Cannes and Tribeca Film Festivals. In 2016-2017 he led President Trump’s 2016 Financial Agency Transition Teams.  He attended public schools in Indiana and is now a private investor.    Connect with Bill Walton  The Bill Walton Show | Money Culture Power The Bill Walton Show | Substack The Bill Walton Show Podcast Series – Apple Podcasts The Bill Walton Show - YouTube   Connect with Hearts of Oak... 𝕏                         [x.com/HeartsofOakUK](../../HeartsofOakUK%20) WEBSITE            heartsofoak.org/ PODCASTS        heartsofoak.podbean.com/ SOCIAL MEDIA  heartsofoak.org/connect/ SHOP                  heartsofoak.org/shop/ \*Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast. Check out his art theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com and follow him on 𝕏 x.com/TheBoschFawstin