Russ Wilcox | Architect of Convergence

On The Record

Four things you get. Each one has receipts.

Strategy is a claim until it's checkable. Each claim below sits next to something you can verify.

Sees it before the consensus does

Called it first

Surfaced the AMD–Tongfu chip license while Washington was still debating export controls, corrected Brookings' semiconductor analysis in print, and read Beijing's Five-Year Plan before the official translation existed. The calls are dated. They get revisited on the record. You're positioned before it's priced in.

China Brief, April 2026 · The Diplomat, March 2026

Sees it from both sides

Holds both rooms

Briefings inside the Pentagon. The Ambassador's table at the Chinese Embassy, twice. Name another strategist both rooms will seat. That standing produces the read nobody else can have, and a channel that stays open when the official ones freeze.

Pentagon · NSC · State · Senate · UK Commons · track-two engagements

Changes it in the room

Moved the decision

Handed a U.S. Senate office eleven contradictions in its own AI bill. Authored the American Society for AI's formal submission to the White House OSTP on AI regulatory reform. Put written evidence before the UK Parliament on China and the UK economy. Assembled the meeting between a head of state and the Commonwealth's Lieutenant Governor. Rooms decide differently after the briefing.

U.S. Senate · OSTP docket, on the federal record · UK Parliament, CHI0021

Wins it when it's contested

Won the close one

As a campaign strategist: a 662-vote win against a funded incumbent, on a model that called the race at 79% before a door was knocked. When the margin is inches, strategy finds them.

Verified result · quantified, pre-registered

The Edge

Everyone has the summaries. Strategy comes from the source.

模芯云用

mó xīn yún yòng

model · chip · cloud · application

Most strategy is built on a summary of a summary, three layers from the source and weeks late. This practice starts at layer zero, with the primary documents in their original language, so the strategy stands on ground nobody at the table can contest.

一

See the system. Put the whole board on one table, from the filings and incentives to the connections everyone keeps in separate drawers.

二

Find the move. Read what the record predicts, where the opening sits, and which wall is actually a door.

三

Call it in public, first. Predictions go on the record and get revisited there, so the advantage can be checked by anyone.

四

Arm the decision. The people at the table act with the best sight available, and the move stays theirs.

The strategy has an engineering floor. Nineteen years building the systems most strategists only write about.

Published at 17

U.S. Geological Survey from age sixteen. Presented at AGU at seventeen; five peer-reviewed publications before twenty-two.

$30M / year

Built and led the semantic-search system generating thirty million dollars in annual revenue as Lead Data Scientist for a national retailer.

1.2M users

Machine-learning systems in production for fifty-plus Norwegian businesses as Lead Data Scientist in Oslo.

MIT

Advanced certificate in reinforcement learning; guest lectures including MIT's Center for Real Estate, UCLA, Northeastern, and Boston University.

Federal courts

Qualified expert witness on AI in U.S. Federal Courts and California State Courts.

In production now

Machine-learning models live today in electoral, regulatory, and defense applications.

One Question, Four Scales

What does AI do to the connections between records, institutions, nations, and people? One question, answered at every altitude where it matters.

Towns

ArtifexAI

Municipal intelligence. The records a town keeps in silos, unified per parcel, with each claim cited to its source document. Deployed in Massachusetts municipalities.

The company →

Superpowers

The Pacific Divide

Primary-source intelligence on US–China technology competition, read in the original Mandarin. Predictions tracked publicly and revisited on the record.

The newsletter →

Civilization

Horasis

Regular columnist and podcast contributor at the global visions community. Speaking at Horasis Global, Medellín, November 2026.

The essays →

The Whole Argument

The Last Harvest

The book. Why AI is the agricultural revolution in reverse rather than a second industrial one, and what that demands of the people who decide.

The book →

Work With Me

Put me in the room before you make the decision.

Four ways in. The deliverable is a move you can make.

Prevent the blindside · investment & wealth teams

The Pacific Desk Intelligence Subscription

A monthly strategy brief on China technology competition, built from original-language sources and written for capital allocation, plus a quarterly call with your team. Your clients get positioned before the market sees the move.

Start the conversation

Alleviate the live unknown · boards & leadership

Executive Briefing

Ninety minutes, bespoke. Your question, answered from ground nobody in the room can contest, then the strategic read on what it means for your position and what your options are. The room leaves with a move.

Request a briefing

Make the room see · conferences & convenings

Keynotes & Panels

Three signature talks, each one tailored to the room. The US–China board as it actually stands, and what becomes possible for the people in the seats. Three consecutive years on the Davos stage.

Speaking & fees

Optimize the decision · when it can't be wrong

Advisory Engagement

Embedded strategy for a procurement, investment, or policy decision. The full board seen and the options stress-tested, with a recommendation you can defend in front of anyone because its ground is the primary record.

Scope an engagement

Municipal work runs through ArtifexAI, separately. Government and diplomatic engagements are scoped in conversation. A good share of the work never appears on this page. That discretion is part of the engagement.

In Their Words

"Russ is a brilliant technologist and strategic thinker. His analysis makes impacts across industries worldwide. One of the preeminent minds in AI today."

Vice President · Brown Brothers Harriman

"This is brilliant... a burgeoning threat requiring more urgency and an integrated push from government, industry, and the public."

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense

"FASCINATING... Well written and well argued. Of course I love it."

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend · Former Lt. Governor of Maryland

"You also write beautifully."

Master of St Edmund's College · University of Cambridge

Watch the work: Davos, TEDx Boston, Forbes, and the semiconductor lectures are on the speaking page.

Access

The rooms where the work has been delivered.

Pentagon

Briefings on Chinese AI strategy and dual-use technology competition.

"Your insights are timely, sharp, and impactful. You deserve more attention and action."Chief AI Architect · Department of Defense

National Security Council

Briefings on Chinese AI infrastructure strategy.

"Excellent work, very relevant."Deputy Senior Director · NSC

State Department

AI panels and policy consultation, including UN General Assembly week.

"You were the only competent one on that panel."Deputy Assistant Secretary of State

Chinese Embassy

Track-two dialogue, twice hosted. The other room, kept open.

"We look at you as a very promising China researcher in the United States."Senior Counselor · Embassy of the PRC

U.S. Congress

Senate briefings on semiconductors and technology policy.

"The best campaign data I've ever seen."Congressional Staffer

UK House of Commons

Written evidence on the parliamentary record, offered for oral testimony.

"External expertise is the lifeblood of these inquiries."China Specialist · Select Committee Team

Davos

Three consecutive years in the Davos ecosystem; fourteen sessions in 2026, Nigeria House to the MIT events.

"Thank you for how thoughtfully you guided us and for the many tables and houses you so generously opened to us."Delegation Guests · Davos 2026

Town Committees

The same intelligence, brought home to local governments deciding on housing, water, and land.

"If you do not want to hear about AI, just vote."Committee Member · Affordable Housing Committee

When official channels freeze, the unofficial ones decide what happens next, which is why a seat in both rooms is worth more than any single briefing that ever happens inside one of them. It took a decade to earn. It cannot be bought on short notice.

The Through-Line

First-generation. USGS at sixteen. Then the rooms, from Davos to the Pentagon to the Embassy. And the return. The same intelligence, carried back to the town committees deciding on housing, water, and land. What the high rooms teach, the town halls get first.

The full story

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