Sen. Rounds, Anthropic leaders talk AI’s future at South Dakota Mines

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds joined executives from Anthropic Friday for a campus-only conversation at South Dakota Mines on the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence. The noon discussion in the Surbeck Center Beck Ballroom brought together students, faculty, alumni and staff with Rounds and Anthropic’s head of federal affairs Anthony Cimino and technical member Dylan Shields.

The question and answers session zeroed in on the potential impacts of AI integration on the environment, health care and education, the workforce and global economy, and even national security.

Rounds, co-chair of the bipartisan Senate AI Caucus, told KOTA Territory News in an exclusive one-on-one that his interest in AI-driven healthcare is personal. His late wife Jean’s battle with cancer showed him how cutting-edge technology saves lives—noting treatment that targeted her brain tumors hadn’t existed two years earlier.

“This impacts every family in America. For me, it meant that quality of life could be improved if we take advantage of these new technologies as quickly as possible.” Rounds said, “But for the American people—regardless of whether they’re on Medicare, or Medicaid, or if they’re on private insurance—should have access to these new technologies. And once those start to become available, then I think the American people will say ‘there is a real value to what artificial intelligence can do in terms of our quality of life.’”

On staying competitive as a world superpower, Rounds said slowing U.S. AI research would only hand adversaries the lead:

“They’re not going to stop developing artificial intelligence. China is moving very rapidly in regard to the integration of artificial intelligence; air, land and sea but also space and cyberspace. And if we just simply decided we wanted to slow down our artificial intelligence research and development... It doesn’t mean that they’re going to stop. It means that they will begin to take the lead.”

On generative AI, Rounds said Congress must protect intellectual property for artists, researchers and creators:

“It’s one of the advantages that we have over China right now—is that we protect patents and copyrights from artificial intelligence simply using it, claiming it, but not providing reimbursement or recognizing the value of what the human brain can do in terms of new ideas.”

Rounds and Cimino continue the conversation Saturday at 10 a.m., keynoting the public 4M Expo in the Beck Ballroom.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2026 KOTA. All rights reserved.