Ben Buchanan — The Bitter Struggle: Superintelligence, Superpowers, and the Fate of the World - with Cecilia Kang

Ben Buchanan presents *The Bitter Struggle: Superintelligence, Superpowers, and the Fate of the World*, his urgent examination of the global race to develop and control artificial intelligence. Drawing on his experience as the first White House Special Advisor for AI, Buchanan argues that the United States and its democratic allies must achieve leadership in AI while confronting the difficult trade-offs between security and liberty, speed and caution, and power and principle.

Buchanan will discuss the book with Cecilia Kang, an award-winning technology reporter for *The New York Times*. The conversation explores the geopolitical stakes of advanced AI, the Biden administration’s efforts to shape AI policy, the technology’s potential to transform global power, and the internal conflicts democracies will face as they deploy it.

When: Thursday, November 19, 2026, at 7:00 p.m.

Showtimes: The event begins at 7:00 p.m.

Venue: Politics and Prose at The Wharf, 610 Water St SW, Washington, DC 20024.

Tickets: Free admission.

Seating: Seating is first come, first served.

Speakers: Ben Buchanan in conversation with Cecilia Kang.

About Ben Buchanan: Buchanan served as the Biden administration’s first White House Special Advisor for AI, where he led the development and implementation of its AI policy. He is the author of four books, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, and an advisor to Anthropic.

About Cecilia Kang: Kang is an award-winning technology reporter at *The New York Times*. She co-wrote *An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination* with Sheera Frenkel.

Discussion: The event focuses on *The Bitter Struggle*, which Buchanan wrote with Tantum Collins, a former Director for Technology and National Security. The book draws on experiences in White House briefing rooms, the Situation Room, the Oval Office, semiconductor facilities in Taiwan, and large-scale American data centers to examine AI strategy, the competition with China, and the consequences of democratic choices about the technology.

Accessibility: To request accommodations or ask about accessibility, email events@politics-prose.com, ideally at least one week before the event. Requests made closer to the event will also be considered.