Chuck Brooks is the president of Brooks Consulting International and one of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Experts.

Artificial intelligence is the defining technology race of the 21st century. It is not only about constructing bigger language models or spending billions on computing infrastructure anymore. It’s about building trust. It will be those governments that can both innovate quickly and also secure their AI systems from cyberattack that will create the future digital economy, national security and the next wave of technology leadership.

This strategic reality is reflected in the White House’s recent executive order on AI innovation and security. Its goals include accelerating AI innovation, enhancing the cybersecurity of federal information systems and allowing for the safe deployment of frontier AI models. More importantly, it recognizes a premise I have preached for years: cybersecurity is no longer a supporting function to digital transformation, but the foundation on which AI innovation rests.