AI Regulation Can Wait—But Education Reform Can’t - State Senator Julian Bradley

State Senator Julian Bradley joins Matt Kirchner for a wide-ranging conversation on how policymakers should be thinking about AI, energy, and education. Bradley explains why his committee chose not to recommend regulation of AI, how this move differs from other states, and how artificial intelligence could help solve workforce shortages in critical sectors like healthcare, public safety, and manufacturing.

The conversation also explores the future of nuclear energy as a clean, scalable power source—especially as data centers and advanced industries drive up demand. Bradley shares his push for small modular reactors and the bipartisan momentum behind nuclear innovation. Finally, the two dive into K-12 education, taking on literacy rates, school choice, and why high schools need a complete overhaul to actually prepare students for life after graduation. Whether you’re an educator, policymaker, or industry leader, this episode offers practical insights into the policy decisions shaping our future workforce.

In this episode:

• Why one state senator believes not regulating AI may be the smartest move
• How artificial intelligence could help solve labor shortages from childcare to healthcare
• What policymakers are missing about nuclear energy—and why that’s about to change
• Why our current education system is setting students up to fail, and what to do instead
• How a wrestling ring, a mother’s wisdom, and a literacy-first mindset shaped a political career

3 Big Takeaways from this Episode:

1. Regulating artificial intelligence requires caution, context, and a long-term view: Senator Bradley led a legislative study committee on the regulation of AI and ultimately chose not to recommend new regulation, citing the risk of stifling innovation and creating barriers for businesses. Drawing on testimony from sectors like healthcare, public safety, and education, the committee focused instead on building a knowledge base for future legislative action—prioritizing flexibility over rushed policymaking.
2. Meeting future energy demand will require bold thinking and bipartisan cooperation: With AI, data centers, and industry driving massive increases in power needs, Bradley is pushing Wisconsin to embrace nuclear energy as a scalable, clean solution. He outlines current efforts to support small modular reactors, prepare regulatory frameworks, and position the state as a leader in 21st-century energy policy.
3. Education reform must focus on real-world readiness, from literacy to life skills: Bradley calls for a complete overhaul of high school—moving away from rigid grade levels toward personalized, career-connected learning. He also stresses that without strong literacy skills, students can’t access opportunity, and that solving academic gaps early is essential to preparing engaged citizens and a capable workforce.

Resources in this Episode:

Learn more about Senator Julian Bradley

Learn about the work of the 2024 Legislative Council Study Committee on the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence

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Transcript

Matt Kirchner: 0:00

Matt, welcome into The TechEd Podcast. I am your host. Matt Kirchner, I had the honor, and I mean it sincerely, the honor last year of serving in my home state of Wisconsin on the joint legislative Study Committee on the regulation of artificial intelligence. We're going to get into that and many other things with today's guest. He is an iconic politician and figure here in the state of Wisconsin and beyond. We're going to learn not just about what he's doing politically, but how he got to where he is. Fascinating. Back Story has Senator Julian Bradley from the great state of Wisconsin Senator. Such an honor to have you here. Thanks for coming into the studio. Hey, thank you so much for having me excited to do the podcast. Yeah, super, super excited. You're a high energy guy. You've got great stories, you've got a great background, and I know we're going to have an absolutely great time. So as I suggested in the intro, really interesting background. What inspires a guy like Julian Bradley to get into politics in the first place. Yeah.

Julian Bradley: 1:03

So growing up, my mom was very involved, and one of the things that she would frequently do is take me along for for, like, door knocking and involved politically. You're saying they're very involved in politics and in policy making and influencing. So we would go around and we would have, they would do house parties, you know, back in like, the early and mid 80s, okay, there would frequently be house parties where you go around and you're supporting whichever candidate. My mom was a staunch Democrat. I

Matt Kirchner: 1:30

went to house parties back then, but they had nothing to do with politics, and

Julian Bradley: 1:34

so that's what they would do. And my mom took me along for the ride, and really started to pique my interest. She was very involved, very community minded, engaged, and she always told me that it was my responsibility to do the same. Yeah, awesome. As I grew up and I got older, I got more involved in my own journey towards politics, different political party than my mother, for sure, that happens, that does happen, and I was glad to be able to do that. But one of the things that really led me to going from being like a volunteer and an advocate for candidates to jumping in to the ring, if you will, literacy, okay? First and foremost, yeah. I mean, I grew up living well below the poverty line, okay. And I think where the boats, by the way, geographic. So I was born in Baltimore, okay? And then I spent the first 11 years of life in Lexington Park, which is in Southern Maryland. So got it. Then we moved here to the great state of Wisconsin, over in the La Crosse area when you were still young, yeah. Okay, yep, at the end of fifth grade. Okay, got it. And so for me, the biggest difference between where I am today and where some of the people that I grew up with where they are, and some of them my childhood best friends no longer alive. Sorry, thank you. It's the fact that my mom focused on making sure I could read. We grew up again, well below the poverty line. I hate to use the word poor, but I hear you. That's why I repeat that line. But sure, it was such a big deal to be able to read and not just look at a word and recognize it, right, but comprehend its meaning, yep. And to know that through comprehension, my current circumstance is not what my future circumstance has to be interesting, and that's what really kind of like, woke my mind up, and my mom reminded me constantly that, yes, we're not doing too well right now, but doesn't have to be that way awesome. You know, you can fight through that. You can work through it and things like that. And as I got older and I realized, I believe that message wasn't getting to everybody. Not everybody had a mom like that, pushing, yeah, right, right. And so that's what drew me in. And so we need to make some real changes. And I want to be involved in this, because if we're going to seriously address poverty, if we're going to seriously address crime, then we have to seriously address literacy. Absolutely. You grow up in poverty, your whole world's like a 12 block radius, right? I've read to kids down in the City of Milwaukee that don't know there's a body of water anywhere near right? Isn't that crazy? You just can't imagine that because their whole world is such a small area. But as soon as you open up the mind, as soon as you get into comprehension, and you realize that maybe the path your parents took, or your friends are taking, or other family members are taking, towards crime, isn't what you have to do. There is a whole nother world, and it's available to you. Yep, that changes outcomes. We can't get to everybody right, because there's always there's choice, right, for sure, but we can open up minds and give people more choices, and that's what brought me in. It's literacy first and foremost. Yeah, that's how we can attack crime, that's how we can attack poverty, and that's why I do what I do.

Matt Kirchner: 4:24

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I grew up in suburban Milwaukee, WAU Tosa, an upper middle class family, fair to say, but spent a ton of time. The church that we went to was on 48th and Nash, and also life guarded on Ninth and brown here in the City of Milwaukee. And so the exposure that I got early in my life, to your point, really, in a lot of cases, people that had their whole life ahead of them, but didn't recognize necessarily what was possible. I was blessed with two parents that set a great example for me through my entire life. He set expectations, you know, and I didn't always meet them, and I got the you know, I felt the result of that when I didn't meet them. But you take for granted sometimes, if you have a mother like you did, maybe. You didn't take it for granted, but I certainly did. You have a mother like you did, that was setting these expectations. That was saying, all right, this is the opportunity. And yeah, we might not be in the perfect place now, but that doesn't mean that you can't figure out a way to get to where that perfect place could be. Not that we ever get to the perfect place, but you're making tremendous progress, and a lot of that was through I'll be honest with you, Senator, we've had other senators on the podcast, both federally and at the state level. You're the first professional wrestler, I think that we've had join us on The TechEd Podcast. So tell us a little bit about that, this whole decision you made about how you could support your family and create a lifestyle and a future for yourself that's obviously led you to the position of a senator here in the great state of Wisconsin. Talk about that journey a

Julian Bradley: 5:37

bit. Yeah, happy to I'm shocked. I'm the first pro wrestler. I thought it was natural to be the last, I promise, not always like, you know, grow up, graduate high school, become a pro wrestler, run for Senate. I thought that was involved in the tech sector, what have you. Exactly No. So, you know, I was always a fan of wrestling, always a huge fan of wrestling. And, you know, I graduated high school in 99 in the mid 90s, student loans and the availability weren't what they are today. Certainly, yep. And I knew I wanted to go to college. I knew that for sure I was going to be the first to do that in my family. I wanted to do that. But around like 9596 I started looking and thinking, Okay, I'm gonna have to get a job, and I'm gonna have to pay for things, right, right? And I'm a big dude. And I started thinking, Man, I wonder if I could do this. Wrestling was getting super popular, yeah. And so I started making calls back to the east coast to wrestling schools. And I found one that said, Yeah, graduate high school and come on

Matt Kirchner: 6:28

out. So there are wrestling schools. There are Yes. Okay, yeah, absolutely, yeah. And

Julian Bradley: 6:32

so the biggest school that I went to, the name that everybody really recognizes, was run by the ANA, why he family, which is the rocks family, okay, AFI. Ana, why he who passed away last year, okay, ran WX, W, wild smo, and Training Center, I was broken in by a guy named Captain Rick Adams. He kind of gave me my start, yeah, then, obviously, after the wild snow, and kind of polished me up and got me ready, put me on TV. And do you just get in, or do you have to apply? Or how does that process there's, there's a whole process, right? Like, it's very physical and physically demanding. So there's an entire training regimen. They give you a little try out, and then they say, Okay, let's see what you can do. Okay? And you have to earn back. Then you had to earn the right to even step foot in the ring. So you pay a bunch of dues and, and I don't just mean financially, I mean, you know, you're carrying people's bags. You're putting a ring up by yourself. You're tearing it down by yourself, carrying it up and down the stairs. There's a lot that goes into before you get a chance to actually wrestle. And I had a blast. But, you know, I had an absolute blast. I wouldn't say I was able to support my family. That was the goal. Okay? So the whole goal was, I'm gonna go be a pro wrestler, I'm gonna make a million dollars, right? And buy my mom a house. I have a whole plan. Didn't really work out that way, but I had a lot of fun, and I learned a lot of lessons, and I prepared me for politics, right? Because in wrestling, just like in politics, sometimes people view you as a good guy or bad. Yeah, right. So it makes it kind of an easier transition, but it's a lot of fun,

Matt Kirchner: 7:50

very, very cool. So then, when I was in your office a month or so ago, and you've got this gigantic belt, right, hanging on the wall, tell me what that I want. I meant to ask you what that is when we were together. What is that?

Julian Bradley: 7:58

So that was the first title that I ever won, okay, 20 years old, I won my first Heavyweight Championship. I won the belt twice, and after it got retired, I reached out and I said, Can I have it? And I said, No, so can I buy it? Yeah. And so I was able to buy the belt and and now it's displayed. It's just a cool reminder that I I did something cool as a kid. You know, I had a passion. I knew I liked it. I was able to to accomplish it. It was a lot of fun, and I, ultimately, I got inducted into the WxW wrestling Hall of Fame, wow, which was pretty cool thing. I didn't get to the WrestleMania to perform, but I still was able to achieve some level of success, and I just made a lot of great friends and great relationships, had a lot of fun and provided a whole lot of entertainment to people, yeah, to portray a bad guy. And that was, that was pretty fun, yeah, for sure. And your wrestling name was. Before I give you the answer of what the name was, let's set the stage. Because everybody goes, where'd that come from? All right? So Chris Farley, right? Everybody knows Chris Farley, especially here in Wisconsin. So he did the SNL sketch with Patrick Swayze, where they were at Chippendale, right, yeah. And so everybody that character was hilarious, right? Well, I saw that one day, and I go, I want to do that character. That's awesome. So that was my wrestling character. And I even took the name Chris, but I spelled it differently, guys. So my wrestling name was hot chocolate, Chris, crude. Oh, cool, Chris. And crude with Ks, because there was an old school wrestler, ravishing. Rick, rude. Okay, so I took the rude, added a K to that, and I took the Chris from Chris Farley, who was my inspiration. Yeah, awesome. And just created a hilarious character. He was technically the bad guy, but it was comic relief. That was my role. I

Matt Kirchner: 9:23

had no idea that that was the inspiration for the name. So that's and it's interesting. We had Eric Newman. He's a executive producer in Hollywood on Netflix. He did zero day with Robert De Niro. Just came out painkiller with Matthew Broderick. He did Griselda. He did Narcos. And we talked all about his experience in Hollywood, and one of the first movies, one of the first films that he did as a producer, was with David Spade and Chris Farley. And actually talked on the podcast about what a sweet guy Chris was, and obviously gone way too soon. And by total coincidence, last night, I had a Chris Farley conversation. I was at Marquette University in my alma mater, and we were talking Chris, of course. Went to Marquette for several years, and so we were talking about the crossover that some of the folks had with Chris Farley. Interestingly enough, the topic of the conversation last night, I sat on a panel about artificial intelligence, in that case, in business and human resources. And you and I have had all these conversations about AI, our audience should know that I was honored, as I mentioned in the introduction, to serve on the joint legislative Study Committee on the regulation of artificial intelligence. You were the chair of that committee, and thank you first of all for nominating me. It was such a great opportunity, and we learned so much. Talk a little bit about the work of that committee before we get into some of the details on AI. And by the way, I'm going to take right now the greatest credit in the history of broadcasting for segwaying from professional wrestling to artificial intelligence, right? So we got there and tell us about the study committee. Yeah, well

Julian Bradley: 10:46

done. So the study committee, the conversation started happening around the Capitol that we wanted to have one, and you nailed the title. It was regarding the regulation of artificial intelligence. And as soon as I heard that, I got nervous, because I said, Well, look at what the 3c states are doing, right? You look at California, Colorado and Connecticut, they've already there's a lot of issues going on with the laws that they were passing. And so we reached out and said, I would really like to chair this committee, okay? And the reason I wanted to chair it is because I knew I wasn't going to pass any laws out of it. So frequently, these Study Committee, these study committees, come together and they pump out a bunch of bills, right? And I was afraid that would happen with this one, right? And so that was my plan from day one. It was to make sure we don't follow in their steps. Let's learn from what they've done. And we did that was the goal. So that's why I did it. That's why it was a long summer. It was a very busy summer. Was we got to travel the whole state, right? We brought in stakeholders from everywhere, all across our state. Rather than just positioning ourselves in the Capitol and having people come to us, we went to them. Healthcare, public safety, education, absolutely, because we had to learn if we're going to actually be active learners. We can't just do it. When people can drive to Madison Exactly, we have to go to where they are. And that was my goal with the committee, to open it up and to build a foundation so that future legislatures can look at this information and go, ah, we did hear about that. They did study that, right? Here's why they didn't take action, or here's some areas they thought we could take action in the future, right? That was my goal, and I think Mission accomplished, yeah, well, there's

Matt Kirchner: 12:15

no question about it. I actually, I joined you when you reported out to the legislative committee and talked a little bit about the results of the study and the fact that we all that we ultimately did not recommend any regulation. Why even going into it? Is it so important that we are really careful about the guard rails that we create around AI and both ways, right? I mean, because there's concerns. I mean, you could get there's all these dystopian theories and these scary stories that you hear about what could happen, right? So we're certainly not saying that there isn't some risk there. Why was it so important at a state level to you that we not regulate

Julian Bradley: 12:46

it? We need artificial intelligence. We have a population problem. And that population problem is we don't have enough people, right? There are job shortages in every industry. I've literally met with daycare providers and funeral home directors, yeah, from cradle to Yeah, literally, and they are short everywhere in between as well. We need artificial intelligence to help make up for where we don't have people. And in order to get that to happen, we have to make sure that we're not over regulating, right? Because once a law gets passed and we start over regulating, it is really difficult to undo that, right? So let's take our time. Let's make sure we know what we're doing. There are other states that have rushed a little too far ahead. We don't want to stifle innovation, right? We want to be the cradle of innovation. So let's let people come in here and then take care of some of the issues that you talked about, that we talked about as a committee as well, right? Consumer Protection, data, privacy, all of those things are vitally important, but we can take care of them one at a time without sweeping blanket regulation that stops everything from happening. So let's

Matt Kirchner: 13:48

look at the other side of the spectrum. You mentioned the 3c states, and some of the most poignant testimony that I remember hearing was when the folks from Colorado joined us and talked about the legislation that had been passed, the regulations that they do have. What are some of the challenges that we saw in individual states that had decided to regulate AI, and in the process of talking about that, I think it'll become apparent to the audience why it's so important that we're really careful about what we do there. Yeah,

Julian Bradley: 14:11

so I think one of the biggest pieces, especially when it comes to state regulation, is the fact that you're asking companies to have a different plan for each state, right? A lot of those things really should be addressed at the federal level. For sure. If I had to pick one big thing, that's it, yeah. I mean, even from Colorado alone, it was. Now we can't do things here in Colorado, so we'll have a 49 state plan and then a one state specific. They're not going to do it that way. Instead, they're just not going to do Colorado, yep, right? And so they're going to leave those states in the dust. They're going to fall behind, and they're not going to be ready for their workforce, they're not going to be ready for their constituency, and they're going to fall behind. And nobody wants to be able to do that. Nobody wants to be have to do that, right? We've got to avoid that, and that was our goal,

Matt Kirchner: 14:51

absolutely and so, and I think you make the perfect point. You think about a company that's thinking about doing business in a specific state, and if you've got all these different rules every. State has a different rule, then you probably have to comply with every all 50 states. Right? You think about sales taxes in a business, right? If I'm, if I'm doing business in a state and I've got nexus with that state, I've got to have 50 different rules for my 50 different states. But if there's one or two states that are doing it, the easy solution for a company is to just say, All right, well, we don't need that state. We'll concentrate on the other 48 or 48 or 49 and the folks that end up suffering are the people in that state that would have otherwise benefited from the presence of that company there. So along the way, and we ultimately didn't recommend any legislation, but we learned a ton of really cool stuff, right? I mean, I remember conversations about public safety and and preventing things like school shootings, the hearing on health care, in particular, Dr Brian Kay, who's a former guest on the podcast from Rogers behavioral health, came in and gave some great testimony about AI and mental health. What were some of the things that you heard over the course of those hearings? And they were, these were hours long hearings, right? We would sit sometimes for three or four hours and hear testimony. Are there a few things Senator, that stand out to you that's like, wow, I didn't realize that, or that's a really interesting understanding that came out of the work that

Julian Bradley: 16:02

we did. Yeah, so you nailed the first in public safety, and some of the things that are tied to public safety or thing I never thought of, yeah, I never thought of what could be done. And I know it's being piloted right now. Right walkshaw Tech College is going through and piloting the school shooting stuff and that, I mean, that could be a game changer. That's awesome,

Matt Kirchner: 16:17

and I didn't realize that so rich Brian house, who's also been a guest on the podcast, his institution is piloting that technology, yes, huh, that's

Julian Bradley: 16:24

they're leading on this. And so just learning about that and learning other ways that public safety and law enforcement are impacted by artificial intelligence, right? That was a big eye opener. Healthcare, yep, and the way that we can become more efficient, and the fears that people had to alleviating those fears, because I was one of those people as well that would go, Well, how do I know when I'm actually talking to a person versus a bot? Yeah, we have doctors because we need that personal touch. A doctor looks at you and and knows, oh, that doesn't look right, right? As you know, artificial intelligence might say, oh, that's fine. And hearing the fail safes that they've built in to make sure those things don't happen was great. It was good to hear that there's still a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure that it stays that way, right, but learning all of the different ways that healthcare can be impacted, because mostly people think about manufacturing and automation and things like that, and those are huge. But I was familiar with those coming in right into the hearings, learning public safety and healthcare. Those are the two biggest that I they just blew me away. Yeah,

Matt Kirchner: 17:24

absolutely. And those were my two big takeaways as well. I participated in the education one, virtually, and in that part of it, obviously, given the work that we do is really, really near and dear to us, and so so many applications in education as well. But your leadership on that committee was absolutely phenomenal. I know I took a tremendous amount of your time. We learned a lot. We learned a lot about things we need to be concerned about, but also reasons for optimism. As you look to the future senator and you think about whether it's government, whether you think it's about the businesses that are in your district or your constituents, what gives you the most reason for optimism, and what are some of those exciting things that are happening in the world of AI, yeah,

Julian Bradley: 17:58

I am not a scientist, and I'm not a computer scientist, so I can't accurately predict a lot of those things, but as a policy maker, yeah, and as somebody that's always looking to the future, you know, the Wisconsin motto is forward, right? And that's what I'm always looking to and I don't think you can look forward without including AI for sure, again, we have a population shortage problem, and artificial intelligence is going to help us continue to provide the services that people expect without an additional in hopefully increased price as we continue to swap people, because that's what's happening. Companies are losing people as they're bouncing around. For sure, that's normal, that's part of a market, but we're seeing less services, and we're seeing higher prices. AI can help backfill that and maybe even make it better, right? I think there's a lot of optimism for that as we begin to move forward. We haven't even scratched the surface of what we can do yet, and I think that's super exciting. I don't think we have to worry as much about the Terminator and all of the things that everybody seems to like to talk about when they think of AI. There are certainly concerns. But I think we have the best and the brightest people making sure those concerns are adequately addressed, because they're in it for the right reasons, for sure, right they're trying to solve a problem. And as long as we continue to focus on solving and addressing problems and and using this as the tool that it's meant to be, there's nowhere but up to go. And that's super exciting for now, absolutely. So

Matt Kirchner: 19:20

you mentioned data security earlier, is one of the concerns that we need to at least be concerned about, maybe the Terminator world, not something we need to worry about. But when you think about concerns related to AI, are there other things that are on your radar where we say, you know, we need to be at least cognizant of this potential risk so that we can avoid it if we see it coming? Yeah, it's

Julian Bradley: 19:37

the human touch aspect, making sure that in law enforcement and in healthcare, things that are very, very personalized and that have humongous life or death impacts, that we have somebody that's at least looking over the reports and looking over the feedback that they get. And we talked about those in both of those hearings too, because again, I had a lot of questions and concerns, and it was great to hear that as they're piloting and trying things to see how. How it works, right? Nothing goes forward without human eyes getting in there, touching it and reviewing it. And I said, Okay, that's great. So that's reassuring. Sure. That's very, very comforting,

Matt Kirchner: 20:10

absolutely. And so we were together in the hearing when you, when you did your report out and share the recommendations of the committee. What are some of the things have you heard anything privately from members of the legislature in terms of, hey, we really appreciate the direction you took on this, or maybe you could have done things a little bit differently. What kind of feedback have you gotten behind the scenes?

Julian Bradley: 20:28

It's been a little bit of a mixed bag. A lot of people are very happy we didn't rush into anything. But there were certainly people that said, Well, why wouldn't we? Right? That's, isn't that our job? We're lawmakers. Should we be making laws around this? And I said, Well, this is a study committee, right? Our job is to study first, right, and determine whether or not we needed to make the law. We determined we didn't, sure. It's been a mixed bag. I think people, I think there are more outside people that were surprised we didn't, and people more traditionalists, because again, these committees usually pump out quite a few bills and quite a few pieces of legislation, right? So I think there was a lot of just surprise that we didn't do that, sure, but I stand on that. I'm proud of the fact that we didn't. I had conversations with every member of the committee, one on one, and shared this is my vision, and if it changes during the process,

Matt Kirchner: 21:12

right? Happy to have hearings. Right? That's the goal, to learn, to learn. You got it. If there

Julian Bradley: 21:17

had been something that the committee agreed that we should have pumped out, we would have insurance. That's something I'm super proud of, is that we did have ongoing conversations, and at no point did a majority of the committee come together and say, Actually, we should do this bill. In fact, we had some Bill ideas come up, right? But nothing even to date, has come forward, because it's not time yet. It's not ready yet. We're still studying, sure, and that's the goal. We actually accomplished the goal of a study committee, right? He studied, yeah,

Matt Kirchner: 21:43

and studied, and the tremendous amounts of findings, right? So in as much as there wasn't a recommendation to regulate, we gathered a ton of information. All the hearings were public, of course, and some folks can go online and actually watch the hearings as they take place. I think those are all still out there. So they are so very transparent process, of course, as it should be at the state level. I think another example of how Wisconsin is leading on artificial intelligence. You know, we talk about a lot of the things happening here at Microsoft with their huge investment just southeast of your district and in Mount Pleasant Wisconsin,$3.3 billion data center. Mary snap, who is the Vice President of Strategy for Microsoft, joined us on the podcast to talk about that huge investment, bunches of things flowing out of that. We've got the AI co Innovation Lab at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, some great things going on at the University of Wisconsin, stout, where we held one of our hearings. As a matter of fact, we had Jill Enos from Titletown tech partnership between Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers on not long ago, talking about the great things happening in AI here in the state of Wisconsin. And I feel like another way in which we're leading and we actually got credit from some of these other states was thank goodness that you're taking the time to really be thoughtful about this, in fact. And going back to the conversation with the folks in Colorado, they were like, they started out with credit to the state of Wisconsin for actually studying this and thinking about it before they just asked their state legislature to come up with some regulation around artificial intelligence. So we really are in many ways leading here in the state of Wisconsin, because of that, because of the advancement of AI, because of things like data centers. We've got challenges we've got to face too. I mean, in the world of AI, consumes tremendous amount of energy. I'm a huge fan of mid journey, which is an AI platform that can create an image of anything that you dream of, right? You just tell it, this is what I want to look at, and it'll give you four images of something that nobody on earth has ever seen before, just using AI and coming up with a depiction of what it is that you imagined in your head and managed to put into words. But folks don't realize every single AI generated image requires the same amount of power as it does to charge your smartphone from zero to 100% right? I mean, the tremendous amount of energy just for that. And then you think about how much energy is the same to train one LLM is the same amount of energy that would be consumed by 133 homes here in the United States. And so tremendous amounts of energy, I know that is driving, and this is a key interest for you, thoughts about how do we create and how do we generate the energy that we need to generate, and do it in a clean, environmentally responsible way, and so on. And certainly, outside looking in, for me, nuclear is a huge opportunity, right? So let's get into that. And I know this is a fascination for you. It is a little bit about nuclear, how you got interested in it, what aspects of it, because there's a lot of things happening, from fission to fusion to small modular reactors and so on. Talk about that a little bit. Yeah,

Julian Bradley: 24:26

so I appreciate you bringing that up. I chair the utilities technology and Tourism Committee, and it's time. That's an

Matt Kirchner: 24:32

interesting combination. It's a very interesting technology and tourism, right? That's a natural as

Julian Bradley: 24:37

chaired by a former professional wrestler. It all got together very well, but nuclear it's time. It's beyond time, right? There's a lot of work that needs to be done, regulatory work at the federal level, so that states can begin moving forward. We're trying to take some steps here in Wisconsin, myself and Representative Dave Steffen just passed a resolution passed out of the Senate already with overwhelmingly bipartisan support. Awesome, stating. Wisconsin is ready to move forward with nuclear energy. Awesome, right? We're so far behind. And where we could be Wisconsin. We are net importers of energy, yeah. So if we want to get our rates under control, if we want to be able to power these data centers and be a hub, which we do, we want everybody to come to Wisconsin, right, then we've got to get our energy consumption and our generation under control, right? We've got to figure out how to hit consumption. We've got to generate enough to be able to do so, and that's where nuclear comes in. I like to joke, and I am a scientist because I have a political science degree, but I'm not a scientist on some of these other things, right? But as I've continued to learn, I know SMRs are very exciting. We're open to everything right now the state of Wisconsin. We've got to get to that point. We're trying to pass a bill right now about a siting study. Okay, coming up. We're trying to get a summit here. What is the citing study? So getting in and determining what we can do, where we can do it, how we can bring nuclear and get some stuff up and running. Okay? So we're trying to get that figured out now, as well as having a summit. So getting people to come together. What is it going to take? What barriers can the state remove so that when the Feds open things up, or when the opportunity arises, we can jump? We don't want to wait, we don't want to wait for everybody else to do it. Let's be as proactive as humanly possible, because that's how we're going to continue to attract business. That's how we're going to be able to lower rates, and that's how we're going to be able to be as responsible as we need to be when it comes to energy, sure.

Matt Kirchner: 26:22

So let me ask a couple follow up questions. The first one that occurs to me is, so as you mentioned that the resolution that you, that you brought to the states and I passed with the, you know, overwhelming bipartisan support, you didn't say unanimous. So that means that there's my liars there. Yeah, the people that are concerned about that, what are they saying? Somebody that would vote against a resolution like that? What would be the reason? Yeah, only

Julian Bradley: 26:41

one person spoke against. So there were five, we have 33 members. There were five no votes, if I'm remembering correctly, and only one person spoke against, okay? And he just said, it just still not safe, I think was his concern. And there's a lot of that to still overcome, sure, right? There's a lot of stigma, there's a lot of perception right around nuclear but overall, in general, if you 10 years ago, I don't think you would have gotten a bipartisan resolution. For sure. Today, we think the governor, who's a Democrat, is willing to work with us on, how can we open Wisconsin up? Because I think everybody recognizes two things about energy here. One, as net importers, we have to be all of the above, right? We need everything. It gets really cold here in the winter. It's cold here today, right? Exactly. It gets really cold here in the winter, and it gets really hot in the summer. So we've got to be able to have energy that makes sure that all of our citizens are safe Absolutely. So we need all of the above, which includes nuclear number two, it's environmentally you know, it's clean, right? Exactly, it checks that box for sure. The reactor that we have right now is providing energy for over a million homes at Point Beach or yeah, that's all we have right now in the state of Wisconsin. Imagine, right? Imagine if we're able to grow that portfolio a little bit more, for sure, what additional energy we can provide. And again, if we're trying to attract more data centers, right, we're trying to attract more business, people are going to go, okay, but what's it going to look like? Because I need to turn the lights on for

Matt Kirchner: 28:02

sure. So this resolution goes through the sentence, then go to the to the other half of the legislatures that

Julian Bradley: 28:07

Yes, yep, the assembly on it at some point, and I anticipated it's going to be wildly bipartisan as well. Okay, it's a statement, yeah, and that's what the resolution is. It's just a statement, so that everybody knows sure that not only are we talking about it internally, but we're serious? Yeah, we want to send up the bat signal, if you will, yeah, to everybody out there that says Wisconsin is serious about nuclear. Sure help us along the way, because we need to hear from the experts, just like I was able to attract you and many other experts to come in and help us with. Ai, right? We need that help on nuclear. Because I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I am somebody that can help the experts, sure, as we try to advance policy that'll open it up.

Matt Kirchner: 28:47

So for those of us, and I'm a little bit older than you are, but maybe more than a little bit, but live through Three Mile Island, or remember Chernobyl, right? And that's immediately what you think about like, right? I mean, those areas, Chernobyl still hasn't recovered, right? And it's certainly way better than it was. You know, shortly after the after the event, what do you say to those folks, has the technology changed? Are there reasons to be more optimistic about the safety of nuclear than maybe we had in the past?

Julian Bradley: 29:10

Yeah, I think you nailed it. It's the technology has just changed so much, and we've learned from those right, those accidents, those horrible situations, right? Have led to a lot of changes and a lot of learning the tsunami and people having to make changes after what happened in Japan. I just was had a conversation about this and how it's impacted how the nuclear plants are built and and the redundancies, even if they're nowhere near a body of water, they all still have to comply to certain things, because this is serious stuff, sure, right? And so we're taking the opportunity to learn to adapt and to try to avoid something like that in the future. So I think it's time that we give it a shot. We hear to go that's been my conversation. Is anything fully safe? No, right? We've learned that. But it is the job of the experts to make it as safe as humanly possible, and for us to make sure that we provide enough regulation at a state. Level to ensure the safety of our citizens,

Matt Kirchner: 30:02

absolutely. So as you look at those technologies and the advancements of technology, obviously, nuclear now is fission technology. Have you looked at Fusion at all? Yeah, I've

Julian Bradley: 30:11

had some conversations. Again, it's quite a bit outside my scope, but I've had conversations. Everybody's excited on both sides, right? And I'm just excited to get nuclear here in the state of Wisconsin?

Matt Kirchner: 30:22

Sure, absolutely. And excited for the future of really, all of our commerce here. And to your point, if we can get to the point where we're not even a net exporter, but we can where we can generate our own energy needs right here in the state that just continues to fuel growth, that's going to continue to fuel advancements in technology, and to do it in a clean way. So to your earlier point, it is the cleanest way we really have right now of generating energy, the worst version of it, and still a significant part of the year still burns wood to heat their homes and to prepare their food. That's about the least efficient. And then you can move on, move up through whether it's oil and fossil fuels or natural gas or alternative energy. And I mean, of all those nuclear is the one when done safely, that has the least environmental impact, and everybody should be able to agree on so super, super excited about what the future holds in the world of nuclear. Excited about what the future holds in the state of Wisconsin. From an education standpoint, Senator, I know this is a key interest of yours as well. I spend all of my time now in the technical and STEM education space. We say we're securing the American Dream for the next generation of STEM and workforce, 10. Workforce talent. I've yet to have a guest on the podcast or meet anybody else, for that matter, in the in the United States that says, you know, that's a really bad idea. Let's not secure the American Dream for the next generation. Everybody agrees on that. But to do that, we really have to focus on our education sector. And we started earlier in our discussion, talking about how the environment in which you grow up, and the example, then the expectations and opportunities that your parents create for you huge, huge impact on what your opportunities are. I'm a big believer, having grown up in an environment where I've had blessings in my life that a lot of young people didn't have, that we've got this obligation to try and create those opportunities for as many Americans, and in this case, as many Wisconsinites as possible. Talk a little bit about your thoughts on education. How are we doing here in the state of Wisconsin? What do we need to do better?

Julian Bradley: 32:08

Yeah, we need to do a lot of things better, literacy and math in a major way. We're too far behind. The gap for black students is the lowest. It's the worst.

Matt Kirchner: 32:15

Yeah, schools, yeah. I mean, this is so undeniable. The data is there. Yeah, our outcomes are

Julian Bradley: 32:20

just unacceptable, period. And there's no level of success that's even in being talked about. It's like, well, we can get to 50% 50% is not enough. Yeah, that's nowhere near enough. We have to do better, and we have to commit to it. Look, I'm a super fiscal conservative. Sure, I want to spend not a penny more than it costs to run our government right, but I also don't want to spend a penny less than it costs to actively, effectively and efficiently run our government? Sure. So that means we have to continue to invest in education. That doesn't just mean throwing everything into public schools, right? We have to diversify how we're doing that. If private schools are doing well, then we need to continue to fund that. We I'm a big supporter of school choice, sure. I believe school choice continues to help people. When you have a student that's stuck in a failing school. Giving that parent and that student a lifeline is a responsible thing to do for sure. School choice was born here in Wisconsin. It was, indeed, it was bipartisan. Yeah, exactly. I think we have to remember that, and today it's bipartisan. Again, we saw that after the pandemic. We owe it to the students in schools today, I did. You mentioned it earlier. As I got older, I realized I did take my mom for granted as she was preparing me for the future. Because I had no idea. I had nothing to compare it to, right? I thought every house in my block was having the same conversations, and they were just making different choices. But as you get older, you realize that there are parents that maybe don't know where to go or what to do. They maybe did not have a life where they saw the rest of the world, which is why the cycle continues. That's why schools are so important, right? To have somebody else that can help the parents, right? When you think of education, it's got to be a partnership parents and educators and students. For sure, everybody has to be part of this, and the community has to be invested. We lived on public assistance off and on throughout my childhood, and at one point, you know, I asked my mom, why not? Why were we on public assistance? But why is the government giving us money? Because, you know, as a kid, you start to have some awareness of your situation versus other people. Absolutely and naturally being inquisitive, I just I couldn't understand what's the incentive. And my mom put it in a way that has stuck with me forever. And she said, Honey, the community is investing in you. They're not investing in me anymore. They're investing in you. So it's your job to finish school, get an education, and then pay it back with interest. Fascinating. And

Matt Kirchner: 34:37

I've what a wise thing for her to say, that's beautiful. Yeah, it was incredible,

Julian Bradley: 34:41

and it's impacted. It's why I'm where I am today. I still don't like to pay taxes, but it's why I do it right, right? And we need that to be the message that continues to spread through education. That's why literacy is so important. That's why comprehension is so important, and that's why it's got to be a top priority, if not the top priority. Sure, if. We want to make sure that we have good citizens, regardless of what industry they go into, and what they do for work, in the workforce, and all of those things will come later, right? Just good citizens. Yep, then we have to have great education. No question. I believe that's the beginning for us. We've got to do better. 31% some, you know, there are schools in Milwaukee that are single digit percent that are proficient, right, in reading and math, those students are all being set up for failure, right? It's unacceptable, it is so we've got to continue to change. It's unethical. It is unethical, and we've changed. We passed a big literacy bill last year, right? That's changing how reading is being taught. That's a great first step, but we have a lot more to do. So let's

Matt Kirchner: 35:38

talk about MPs, right? So, I mean, you mentioned the the results, and we've got other challenges in the state of Wisconsin and but I grew up in and around the city, had a lot of friends that went to MPs schools growing up, still no kids that are in that in that program. And there's and there's certainly some shining examples of students that are doing well in MPs, and shining examples Milwaukee Public Schools, and shining examples of schools that are doing really, really well. I had somebody asked me, we were actually on vacation with five couples from the state of Wisconsin three or four weeks ago, and they said, if you were given free reign over that school district and could do anything that you wanted, what would you do to improve outcomes in Milwaukee Public Schools? I'm gonna ask you the same question, Senator, if somebody put you in there and they said, you can do, you know, whatever constraints you're concerned about, whatever you know, bargaining units, whatever union, whatever administration, whatever student challenges. Knowing that we're, you know, we're pulling into that district a group of students that probably don't have the same opportunities coming into school that maybe you get in other parts of the state. What are a couple things you would do in MPs if you could change anything? Yeah,

Julian Bradley: 36:40

so I'd introduce competition in any way possible. And by introducing competition, I don't just mean, you know, school choice, but I mean in the classroom, right? Teachers competing to get the best grades for their students, sure, qualifying for better wages. Yep, right. Like it is in the private sector, sure, if you if you do well at your job, you make more money. Yep, right. Sure, we would get and become way more outcome driven. That's something that I think is missing right now. Students aren't being held back right on a regular basis, so they're failing forward. If you can't read by third grade, right? You're in a whole lot of trouble up to third grade, he learned to read from third grade, from fourth grade, beyond, you're reading to learn, right?

Matt Kirchner: 37:23

And that's interesting, and we're put that on your I didn't. Okay, that's good. We're passing

Julian Bradley: 37:27

students out of third grade that can't read. Well, how can they possibly succeed? So we've got to put more incentives on not just testing. All testing does is show us it's a reflection of where we are today, right? It's like any other survey. Okay, so here's where we are. Got it. How do we improve that? Sure, and we've got to do more. We've got to raise standards, not lower all. We've got to set clear expectations, and we have to be serious about it. We have to stick to it. We can't just say, well, it's taking too long, or I'm not seeing instant results. So maybe we should change something. Right? Let's create a plan. We can be adaptable, we can be flexible, but we've got to create a real plan, and so that would be the first thing I would do. They have so many problems in MPs, it's nearly impossible to address it all, but there are so many great, dedicated teachers, too. And I don't want to just call out all the issues, because there are real, awesome professionals, 100% who are doing this for all the right reasons, and they're just running into roadblocks. They get lumped in with everybody else too, and I don't want them to think that they're the problem, because they're definitely not. There are other resources that are necessary, and I want to be part of providing those so I get to do whatever I want. We're introducing competition. We're introducing incentives, because we've got to do it's what we would do if we had, we're trying to attract business. Yep, right. We introduce incentives, tax breaks, etc. So let's introduce competition. Let's open up school choice so that you can take your child the money's following your kid everywhere you want to go, and in the public schools if you're one of those great teachers that continues to do awesome, let's, let's recognize you Sure. Let's make you qualify for a bump in pay so that other teachers go, You know what? I really want to try to do that and understanding. And you mentioned it, and I talked about it a little bit as well, and every student has the home environment right to help facilitate growth in education. So how can we overcome that? Would become the next piece. I've been to some private schools where they bring parents in and they say you have to be part of this in order for your child to attend the school. It's difficult to require that in public schools, for sure, but that doesn't mean we can't encourage it. 100% doesn't mean we can't create the programs that make that happen and put pressure on parents to be more engaged in their child's education. So those are just a few of the things I would do. And, you know, if we can save one extra kid right by just doing those things, and it was successful,

Matt Kirchner: 39:46

absolutely, you know. And I'm glad you mentioned parents. Huge role for parents. Glad you mentioned teachers. And I agree 100% and as much as in some cases, in discussions like this, we lump all the teachers together, you know, just some shining examples of the way that that educator. Are Changing students lives outside of MPs and inside of MPs. And I think sometimes we don't necessarily appreciate the challenges that a teacher has, especially in this day and age. You know, we I'm working really closely with the school district in western Wisconsin. I was talking to the district administrator, the superintendent of that district, and he said this a couple weeks ago, and it just blew me away. He said, anymore, if we look at like a freshman class in high school, and you walk into a typical classroom that is teaching freshman level, you fill in the blank math, you know, English, history, whatever he said, the comprehension and the reading and academic ability of the students in that individual classroom will span from second grade. So some of them will be reading at a second grade level, and others will be reading at a freshman in college level, in exactly the same classroom. And you think about being a teacher and walking in and simultaneously having to challenge that high flyer that's doing work that at a collegiate level, and also provide support and nurture for that student that is for whatever reason. And some of them through no VA to the students, probably many of them, yeah, you know, at a completely different level. And it really opened my eyes to me. I can't imagine being a teacher and having to work in that environment, which I think speaks to when we get the ones that shine, when we get the ones that have the capability of inspiring students for these crazy outcomes and bringing them from one level to another. And there's so many teachers that do that, do that, let's reward that work absolutely.

Julian Bradley: 41:23

And to your point, I mean, I hear that from teachers all the time, from second grade all the way up to collegiate level. How I think we have to change. It's time to adapt and change what the school looks like, right, right? If you have kids that are performing at our at a high level, let's get them in classes that do that, calling everything, first grade, second grade, third grade, fifth grade. We need to re examine that. It's okay to do that right? We created that system. We can create a new one that fits where we are today. Technology has changed education Exactly. Kids have cell phones all the time. They're constantly reading. They're constantly learning. We need to tap into that more and utilize those tools. And I think there's a lot of ways to do it. We just have to be brave enough and willing totally to break out of the norm and say, This isn't working right. Let's try something, and then as soon as we we nail it, yep, let's scale it. So I'm so glad to hear

Matt Kirchner: 42:17

you say that. You know, I was on this panel last night at Marquette University, and one of the questions that was posed to me is, what is that is, what is education going to look like in the future? And I said a couple things. The first thing, and this isn't original to me. I heard it somewhere else, but it's so true. You walk into the average elementary school now, middle school, and I did. I had the opportunity a few years back to walk through my childhood. Elementary school hadn't been there over 40 years. Went back. It was so it was awesome. You know, smelled exactly the same. You know, all the drinking fountains were in ex I walked into my kindergarten room, and it's like, everything was the same. The cubbies were in the same spot, the, you know, the little carpet. And then it was really cool. And then it occurred to me, it's like, oh my goodness, the whole world has changed. And the school that I went to elementary school 40 plus years ago looks exactly the same. And, oh, by the way, looks exactly the same as it did like post World War Two. That building was built in the 19, think, the late 1920s and so it really gives you a sense for how much the world has changed and how much maybe, in some cases, education hasn't. And what I told the students, these were all human resources students last night and kind of talking about, how are they going to recruit people into their organizations in the future? And I said, What's going to happen in education is that, in the old days, and even now, we go to school to learn, right, sage on the stage, brilliant person that stands up in front of us and lectures for 50 minutes, writes on a board whatever, does demonstrations, and then we go home to practice, right? That's the model. Now. We come to school to learn, and we go home to practice, and when we say practice, we call it homework. I mean we literally put the name home right in what we're doing, and we study for exams at home, and then we come back, and then we, you know, prove competency when we come back to do our exam, and I said, what's gonna happen is that's gonna flip, and home is gonna be the place where we go to learn. There's a reason I can blow 45 minutes on tick tock or YouTube shorts, because it's fun, right? And you just as long. And I flipped through it, and as soon as it loses my interest, boom, I'm on to the next thing that I think is what education looks like. We're going to learn at home that way. You know, as soon as I Okay, I got it, I've got that concept onto the next one, or I need a little bit more time. Let's watch that again. Yeah. And then we're going to come to school of practice, and we're going to do our hands on skills, and we're going to do our interactive you know, let's talk about what we learn. Let's show what we're capable of doing. Let's talk about the meaning of what we just read. And so I think that's the future of education, which, to me, is really, really exciting, but requires a whole different view of education. It

Julian Bradley: 44:34

does. It's super exciting. And it's what's next. Yep, exactly right. It's what's next. We were talking about this during the study committee, but we know that right now, as AI continues to expand, we're trying to get workers in to get caught up and be able to go and then we've got to teach it in college and then get it into the high schools. Right, right? Eventually, we're going to be teaching kids in elementary school, because it's a lot easier to learn and at school. To be so so much a part of their daily lives, right? So why aren't we thinking about that today? Exactly? That should be how we're planning this for the future. Because they're playing with it at home, just as you said, exactly. So let's make sure they can utilize the skills they're learning and then teach them the ones they're missing, right? Schools, especially when we get into high schools, I think high school needs to

Matt Kirchner: 45:20

be completely revamped, yeah, blow it up figuratively. Yeah, start over. I think it

Julian Bradley: 45:24

needs to be completely revamped to get kids ready for whatever is next in their lives. It needs to do a better job of not just passing you out. You're an adult now, you're 18. Best of luck. Sorry, we didn't teach you how to balance a checkbook, right? Which, that's a whole nother topic. Economic literacy, yeah, for sure is a real issue, but I think we need to do if you know that you're gonna go into any industry, any vocation, any if you know that already, right? We should be specializing, for sure. We should have relationships that say, okay, you know what you're ready to go. We're gonna put you on this path. Yep, and you could still change your mind, right, right? Because a lot of kids don't know in high school totally, but we've got to introduce them to what's available to them and to what's out there, and that's a great way to do it. You know, you take your gen eds, maybe in the morning, and your whole afternoon is practical, right? You're out, you're trying, you're you're an apprentice, you're interning. It's more hands on, and I think that is how you're going to create a better workforce and a better citizen, somebody that's ready to make that decision when the time comes goes. You know what? I interned here. I was an apprentice. Maybe this isn't for me. Maybe I'll try something else. But now I know who to call. Yep, now I know who to talk to. Totally. Yeah, I graduated. I didn't know who to call or talk to for a lot of these things. And there was the internet was in its infancy, still right? That's available, so let's, let's encourage that and really show people what some of these jobs can do for them, what these careers can have. These aren't just tasks. These are careers and those people

Matt Kirchner: 46:47

want to help. I mean, that's the thing is, I tell people all the time. They're like, well, you know, sometimes I'm a little bit skittish or a little bit cheapish, I should say, about reaching out to some CEO of a company, or a head of HR, or the, you know, this chief engineer, or whatever it's like, if you can get to those people, they want to help you. Right? I never say no to a student. No to a student who says, Can I have 15 minutes? Not once. Happy, always, always happy to do it. You know, there's this effort that I've been involved with, again, in western Wisconsin, you and I've talked about it. It's all around self paced, student centered learning, right? What they're doing is they've got a course, there's a 16 hour course that a student goes through about applied artificial intelligence. So they're learning some of the terminology of AI. They're starting with their smartphone and recognizing that, yes, your smartphone is tracking everything you're doing, sending that information up to, for example, Spotify, which is why Spotify is able to at any moment, play exactly the song you want to hear at that moment, without you having any idea why, because it knows everything about you, starting with that and then saying, Okay, here's how artificial intelligence manifests itself in autonomous vehicles or autonomous mobile robots, or industrial robotics or unmanned aerial vehicles drones, or programming, or coding and so on. And putting the students through these experience on a self paced schedule. So a student needs a little more time, they get to spend a little more time if they want to go faster, they go faster. 45 hours each, 12 experiences all together and creating what they're calling a competency portfolio for that student. So, yeah, it's awesome to have a transcript in a diploma for leaving high school. What do you really know how to do? Right? What are your interests? How can I take the area where you're naturally gifted, and that tends to be the areas where we really enjoy the work that we're doing, and if we're enjoying the work, that tends to be where we excel. How do we figure out what that is? Help you figure that out as a student, and put you on that career pathway that's perfect for you. That's going to be rewarding. So you don't have to look back over your shoulder when you're 40 years old and say, I wish I would have done a B or C.

Julian Bradley: 48:37

I read you talked about how I got into wrestling, right? How I decided I wanted to go do that to try to make some money. There was a quote I heard, and that's literally what led me to wrestling. It's, what do you love to do? Find something you love and get paid to go do it. Yes, right? And I was right. I love wrestling. Wrestling's paying a lot of money right now, right? But we have to help. There's a lot of kids that don't think like that, right, right? I try to mentor my nephews and nieces constantly as they were coming through school. What do you like to do? Just what is it that you like to do? Forget the expectations. What do you like to do? Because this is your life, right? You get one crack at this thing. So what is it you want to do? What makes you wake up and go, All right, let's go do this thing. And that's what I've tried to preach, and that's what I try to do, right, right? Like I knew I wanted to give back. But I also, you know, I worked in broadband for a long time. I worked for CenturyLink century tell lumen, a lot of name changes now, but I worked there for a long time as I tried to figure that out. But I got valuable experience in working in the corporate world, which was something I wanted, for sure, and I had the opportunity to make very good money, but I knew I wanted to be in service. I wanted to give back. I felt a calling to do it and a need to do it. And that's why I'm doing this now, and I want other people to know that. I want other people to realize that you can change things as you go along, you can adapt, you can you can do those things. But if you find the thing you love, stick with it exactly, do it. And we've got to do a better job. You nailed it in high school. You get a diploma and a transcript. Fantastic. Congratulations, right? But what if we prepare. You for exactly. And I don't think we're preparing kids well today. We've got to prepare them for what it's going to look like when they're 19. Yep, not just when they're 18.

Matt Kirchner: 50:08

There's no question. There's examples of schools that are doing it relatively well. But so so far to so much, so much around to cover. And speaking of ground to cover, I feel like we could spend another hour covering ground, right? And sadly, we're kind of rolling into the the end of our time together, Senator, what a fascinating conversation we've had. I do want to post one last question to you before we we wrap up here, and I think it's a perfect segue from what we just talked about, which is your career journey where you ended up following your passions, finding these creative ways to advance your career, to do good, to find yourself in an area where you're performing incredible service to your constituents, to the state of Wisconsin and so on. But we all have things that we maybe wish we learned a little bit earlier, and so we love asking and finishing our podcast with this last question, and it's going all the way back in time, before you're a senator, before you're in broadband, before you're in professional wrestling, and you're 15 year old, you don't have the senator name in front of you. You're Julian Bradley. You've got your whole life in front of you. If you could go back and give that young man one piece of advice, what would it be

Julian Bradley: 51:07

that's always a great question, aside from trying to slip him some lottery numbers, always, that's always the fun by Apple, right? Right? Any number of exactly crypto right? One word, I would tell them, to be confident in whatever it is that you want to do. Just remain confident, because perseverance is the most valuable lesson I've learned. It's probably one of my favorite words. So I would just, especially at 15, that's a real good time. Just hang in there. Persevere and be confident.

Matt Kirchner: 51:39

Perseverance and confidence you've exuded both of those certainly throughout your career, Senator and your time today with us on The TechEd Podcast, I'm confident, by the way, that our audience got a ton out of this episode, talking about education, talking about nuclear, talking about AI, talking about professional wrestling, we covered a tremendous amount of ground with state senator Julian Bradley from my home state of Wisconsin, So happy that he was able to join us on this episode of The TechEd Podcast. While you are wrapping your time up with us, be sure to check out our show notes. We have the best show notes in the business, and so some of the references that we made over the course of this discussion, we'll be sure to link those up in the show notes, check them out and be sure to engage with us on social media, whether that's Facebook, whether it's Instagram, whether it is LinkedIn, Tiktok, wherever you consume your social media, we would love to see you reach out, let us know you're out there. By the way, those show notes that we mentioned, the show notes for the episode, can be found at TechEd podcast.com/bradley that is TechEd podcast.com/b R, A, D, L, E, y, see them there, and we will see you next week on The TechEd Podcast. Thanks for joining us. You.