AI crashes Washington’s biggest party weekend

A week before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend, Tammy Haddad was buried in guest lists. For 31 years running, the Washington media maven has hosted a famous Saturday garden brunch, a tony affair whose coveted invites go to prominent journalists, elected officials and Hollywood stars. (“People have gotten married from attending my brunch!”)

But at that moment, she was trying to get a pair of Meta smart glasses to play Beyoncé.

Haddad is skilled at placing herself at the center of the conversations that grip Washington; a TV news veteran and event organizer with a vast Rolodex of people plugged into any given policy or political debate. And over the past year, she’s plunged into Washington’s latest obsession: artificial intelligence. She’s formed a group called the Washington AI Network, launched an AI-focused podcast and become the social fixer for embassy staffers, corporate executives and D.C. power players looking to tap into the moment’s hottest technology.

“My signature is now T-AI-M-M-Y, but I actually haven't changed my name yet legally,” Haddad joked last week while walking around the 140-year-old Dupont Circle home, once occupied by Teddy Roosevelt, where her network hosts events. “But the lawyers are working on it, and I'll get back to you on that.”

Why has Haddad gone full AI? “You know, you’ve got to ride the wave.”

In 2023, AI was a high-tech novelty. In 2024, it will be crashing into Official Washington’s busiest social weekend. Haddad hosted an AI luncheon on Friday with guest Joelle Pineau, the vice president of AI research at Meta, the event’s sponsor. (Haddad’s gatherings are typically sponsored and run through her events and production company, Haddad Media.)

Time magazine planned an AI-focused panel and reception Friday at the posh Hay-Adams hotel. And that was after a tech-focused party held Thursday night at the Irish ambassador’s residence.

“There's also a lot of business that gets done,” Haddad said of the weekend. “And I hope all the AI people are coming in some way, shape or form so they can all talk to each other. And honestly, my hope is for policy. Don't you want policy?”

Listen to the full interview with Haddad on POLITICO Tech, available on Apple and Spotify.

AI has gripped Washington’s policy circles in the past year. The Hill has held numerous listening sessions and hearings, leading to a growing list of proposed bills. Every federal agency — whether by choice or White House decree — is bracing for its impact. And in any given week, it’s the topic of at least one think tank panel or fireside chat.

But the conversation has spilled into after-hours Washington, event organizers say, because the policy crowd recognizes AI is a fast-moving technology with consequences they don’t yet understand. And they’re eager to get to know the newly influential figures from government, industry and academia who can offer the best answers.

Some of the soirees do have a clear policy focus. Over at the French Embassy, Ambassador Laurent Bili recently hosted a private dinner where guests discussed AI’s impact on elections over plates of scallops, caviar and veal filet mignon.

Back in October, British Ambassador Karen Pierce opened her newly renovated residence for an AI-focused reception (which included a live taping of the POLITICO Tech podcast) ahead of the U.K.’s big AI safety summit, and has since hosted smaller gatherings as part of efforts to market the U.K. as an AI hot spot.

“Diplomatic events and engagement have been an integral tool to engage the U.S. system on a broad range of AI issues,” Pierce said, noting the U.S. and U.K. have forged an alliance on AI safety in recent months.

The talk at these gatherings, as with most AI conversations, ranges from bright eyed to fatalistic. No one really knows where AI is headed, so it comes with a degree of choose-your-own adventure. But it has delivered up some social surprises, too.

“I mean, honestly, at Washington AI Network events, I've met people that are making chips and this is my favorite thing, right? This is like the party trick now. ‘My chip is going to be so much more powerful, my Nvidia chip!’ ‘My chip is going to be five times … ” It's like a drinking game,” Haddad said.

Haddad says the inspiration for her network came out of the AI listening sessions that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer kicked off last year. They brought no shortage of tech luminaries to town, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, for private talks about AI risks and how to regulate them.

“What was the real purpose? The purpose was to have senators focus on it. To have the staffs [focus on it] and bring them together,” Haddad said. “So, we’re like the nighttime version of that.”

Washington’s social set has been through tech crazes before. The rise of the internet and then social media saw the likes of Google and Facebook sponsor their first major Washington mixers over a decade ago. Indeed, many of these social gatherings are propelled by an influx of money from companies, some outside the tech sector, eager to hitch their brand to the hottest technology — and also keep pulse on coming regulation by mingling with policymakers.

“What used to be the tech industry's issues are now everyone's issues, no matter what part of the economy or society you're in,” said Gideon Lett, the chief growth officer at BSA|The Software Alliance. “And now, AI is just the dominant conversation.”

“It feels like this is the moment and everyone wants to make sure they're not missing the moment,” adds Nicole Mortier, a lobbyist and former Hill staffer who’s spent 15 years in tech policy circles.

Mortier chairs the Global Women’s Innovation Network, a bipartisan professional group, whose members gather twice a month for off-the-record dinners with lawmakers — recent guests include Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) and Reps. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) and Laurel Lee (R-Fla.). While AI itself is not entirely new, Mortier said “what is new and what matters is the policy conversations.”

“If you're not talking about AI, I don't know what you're talking about,” she said.

On a recent Friday evening, public affairs consultant and former Republican strategist Juleanna Glover opened her home to a dinner discussion on AI in education. It was the kind of chatter that the night’s featured guest, The AI Education Project CEO Alex Katron, said he’s tried to get going for years.

“I tried to do dinners like this before and … at the time it was being treated like crypto or NFTs, just like an overhyped technology that's really just the domain of people in Silicon Valley,” Katron said. “But things are very different now. The AI gatherings are the place to be.”

Daniella Cheslow and Annie Rees contributed to this report.

CLARIFICATION: This report has been clarified to reflect that Juleanna Glover no longer works as a Republican strategist.