Meet the woman behind America's biggest tech decisions 12/30/25

The CNBC Changemakers and Power Players podcast features conversations with leaders shaping the future of business, policy, and culture. In this episode, CNBC's Julia Boorstin talks with Arati Prabhakar, a former White House science and technology advisor and former head of DARPA, the government agency behind many breakthrough technologies. Prabhakar is a first-generation immigrant and the first woman to earn a PhD in applied physics from Caltech. Over her career, she has helped shape major decisions around semiconductors, early mRNA research, artificial intelligence, and national security. She shares her non-linear career path, what it means to lead responsibly in powerful technologies, and why investing in public research — with strong ethical guardrails for AI — matters for the country's future.