In 1943, a new town appeared in the mountains of northern New Mexico. It didn’t show up on any maps. Families arrived by train under code names. Scientists were issued ration books and cover stories. Children went to school behind fences, while their parents worked on a secret project that would change the world. The town was Los Alamos. It was the home of the Manhattan Project.

Built almost overnight, Los Alamos became the center of America's effort to develop a technology with unprecedented power: the atomic bomb. Its existence demanded total secrecy, centralized control, and infrastructure that had never existed before. Protecting the work happening inside required surveillance. Working groups were separated. Scientists and their families lived in government-run housing. All communication with the outside world was tightly monitored.

Today, calls for a “Manhattan Project for AI” echo from Washington, D.C., to Silicon Valley. The comparison isn’t just [...]

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Outline:

(02:21) A Level of Security Never Seen Before

(04:37) How It's Built

(06:35) Who Builds It

(10:18) How It's Deployed

(11:28) The Fork in the Road

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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