Trump dismisses growing concerns about rapid AI development
NBC News Clone summarizes the latest on: Rcrd120269 - Politics and Government | NBC News Clone. This article is rewritten and presented in a simplified tone for a better reader experience.
Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama urged Democrats to prioritize developing a plan around artificial intelligence, and Sen. Chuck Schumer calls for an all-Senate briefing.
What to know today
- AI CONCERNS: President Donald Trump dismissed concerns about reining in the development of artificial intelligence on social media today, continuing his defense of the rapid spread of data centers even as industry leaders caution about the need to slow down the advancement of the technology.
- MAIL-IN BALLOTS: The Supreme Court tonight blocked a U.S. Postal Service regulation concerning mail-in ballots from going into effect, dealing a major blow to Trump's efforts to exert federal control over state-run elections.
- MCCONNELL RETURNS: Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., returned to the Senate tonight after a more than three-month absence.
- NEWSOM AND HARRIS: California Gov. Gavin Newsom made a surprise announcement that he won’t launch a 2028 White House bid if former Vice President Kamala Harris decides to run again.
House Democratic leaders to vote 'present' on tabling Trump impeachment resolution from Rep. Al Green
House Democratic leaders say they will vote “present” on a Republican motion to table Rep. Al Green’s Trump impeachment resolution.
Green, D-Texas, introduced his impeachment resolution under the privileges of the House today, forcing a vote on it this week. The vote schedule Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., released tonight indicated that Republicans will move to table or kill the impeachment resolution.
Democratic leaders said in a news release that they will vote present, meaning they will register that they are in the chamber but decline to support or oppose the measure.
"Impeachment is a sacred constitutional vehicle designed to hold a corrupt executive accountable for abuse of power, breaking the law and violating the public trust," House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California said in a joint statement. "The effort traditionally requires a comprehensive investigative process, the collection and review of thousands of documents, an exacting scrutiny of the facts, the examination of dozens of key witnesses, Congressional hearings, sustained public organizing and the marshaling of the forces of democracy to build a broad national consensus."
"None of that serious work has been done, with the Republican majority focused solely on rubber stamping Donald Trump’s extreme agenda," they said of Green's resolution. "Accordingly, we will again vote 'present' on the motion to table the impeachment resolution as we continue our fight to make life more affordable for everyday Americans, while committing to holding the crooks accountable using every tool available to us beginning on day one."
Donald Trump Jr. acknowledges Russian oligarch with ties to Putin hosted his lavish island wedding celebration
Donald Trump Jr. and his wife, Bettina Trump, acknowledged today that a Russian oligarch with ties to President Vladimir Putin paid for their lavish Caribbean island post-wedding celebration in May.
ProPublica reported that Umar Kremlev paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in wedding-related expenses for the newlyweds and dozens of guests for festivities on a private island in the Bahamas that started a day after the ceremony. The festivities included a fireworks show, which ProPublica reported Kremlev also paid for.
“Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding. It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful,” according to a post on Bettina Trump’s Instagram page, which was signed “Don & Bettina.”
Schumer and Padilla send letter to DHS over whistleblower allegations that officers broke state law in search for voter fraud
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said today in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security that they received a whistleblower disclosure that claimed DHS staff members were using “highly questionable data and methods to identify purported unlawful voters.”
Schumer and Padilla wrote that according to the whistleblower, DHS and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services leadership directed personnel to undertake a so-called Unlawful Voter Initiative.
Rebecca Noble / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
“DHS materials admit these investigations will include naturalized U.S. citizens, some of whom will have federal law enforcement records created against them,” they wrote.
They added that employees from the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate, a division of USCIS, “are expressing concern that they are being directed to take actions that are against the law and Department policy, which will harm Americans.”
The senators said the whistleblower allegations include federal workers’ accessing sensitive voter information in violation of state law “potentially thousands of times”; imposing demanding quotas that translate to agents’ investigating 40 subjects a day, at a rate of roughly 12 minutes per subject; and using data of “dubious origins,” which they said was compiled with “supplemental magic.”
The letter was addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and USCIS Director Joseph Edlow.
In response to a request for comment, DHS denied that the investigations were "rushed or untrained."
"These investigative efforts are conducted diligently and professionally," a DHS spokesperson said this evening.
Schumer and Padilla called on DHS and USCIS to provide answers about what they intended to do with the data, to stop the initiative and to eliminate records created from it.
The whistleblower disclosure, which was anonymous, was attached to a letter addressed to Padilla from the whistleblower’s lawyers, Norm Eisen and Stephen Jonas of the Democracy Defenders Fund.
Trump shares video of ceiling partially collapsing at Kennedy Center
Trump today shared security video of the ceiling at the Kennedy Center partially collapsing ahead of a vote tomorrow weighing whether to again add Trump’s name to the center and potentially close it.
Trump shared a screenshot after a post on X by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who called for the building to be “closed and reconstructed” and urged a “major fundraising effort ... to cover the Kennedy Center’s operating expenses.”
“Only President Trump can deliver the renovation on time and on budget, and only President Trump can raise the money to keep the Center out of bankruptcy,” Lutnick wrote.
The debris fell from the ceiling the day after massive storms rolled through Washington.
The debate over adding Trump’s name to the center has been at the heart of a prolonged court battle, in which a federal judge ruled that his name must be removed. The Trump-appointed board voted later to add Trump's name through a different strategy, and Justice Department lawyers suggested in a court filing that the center may have to be demolished if his name is not attached to it.
Mitch McConnell returns to the Senate after three-month absence
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., arrives for a vote at the Capitol today. Finn Gomez / Getty Images
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., returned to the Senate tonight and cast his vote after a more than three-month absence.
“Today, I’ll cast my first Senate vote since I took a bad fall back in June. I’m really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues,” McConnell wrote in a statement today.
He later voted to advance the nomination of Matthew Byrne to be a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Ohio.
McConnell said his recovery had been “a long and frustrating process,” adding that it had been complicated by “lingering effects of childhood polio.”
Gavin Newsom says he won’t run for president in 2028 if Kamala Harris does
California Gov. Gavin Newsom made a surprise announcement that he won’t launch a 2028 White House bid if former Vice President Kamala Harris decides to run again.
“I wouldn’t run if she ran,” Newsom told CNN in an interview that aired this evening.
Newsom said running against Harris, a fellow California Democrat who was the state’s attorney general before she became a senator, would be an electoral “gift” for everybody else.
“They’d enjoy the hell out of it. Mutual assured destruction. It services no greater good. Why would I do this if I wasn’t trying to serve some greater good? There would be no upside whatsoever,” said Newsom, who has been considering a White House run.
Trump nominates singer Lee Greenwood's wife to be U.S. ambassador to Barbados
Trump today nominated Kimberly Payne Greenwood, who is married to “God Bless the USA” singer Lee Greenwood, to be U.S. ambassador to Barbados.
Lee Greenwood is a frequent performer at Trump events, most recently singing before Trump came onstage both nights at the 2026 Republican midterm convention in Dallas.
He shared the news in a post on X, saying his heart was “overflowing with pride.”
Kimberly Payne Greenwood thanked Trump for the nomination in an Instagram post, saying she was “incredibly grateful, deeply humbled, and ready to serve.”
The post requires Senate confirmation.
Supreme Court says Trump can’t enforce new mail-in ballot regulation
A person places their mail-in ballot. Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images file
Casting a decisive blow against Trump’s hopes of exercising federal control over the midterm elections, the Supreme Court tonight prevented a U.S. Postal Service regulation concerning mail-in ballots from going into effect.
The court in a brief order rejected an emergency application the Trump administration filed seeking to block a lower court ruling that said the regulation was most likely unlawful. The court appeared to be divided 7-2, with two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissenting.
The measure would have imposed requirements on states for sending out mail-in ballots to voters. Typically, the Postal Service has no such role.
Implementing those significant changes just weeks before the election would most likely have caused major problems, and advocates feared it would make it harder for millions of Americans to cast their ballots.
Trump reveals photo of new White House helipad
Trump today posted a photo of the new helipad on the White House South Lawn, another one of his renovation projects to the building.
He called it the first picture taken of the new helipad, which he said was “made of carved granite in shades of Black and White.”
“It was completed ahead of schedule, under budget and, again, though expensive, was a Gift to America!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, without disclosing the price tag attached to the project.
“It is an Honor, ‘in my spare time,’ to bring back the Beauty and Magnificence of the White House, to levels it has never seen before, not even after its construction in 1792,” he added.
Texas landowners sue Trump administration over border, Big Bend construction
A group of private landowners in western and southwestern Texas sued today to stop the Trump administration from building border walls, barriers and roads through their properties.
A border wall protest sign on a state road that leads into Big Bend National Park in southern Texas. Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP via Getty Images file
The group includes some property owners and local residents who were up in arms a couple of years ago demanding better enforcement along the border and criticizing the Biden administration for spikes in immigrant border crossings.
Vance says Democrats are the party of 'anti-white discrimination'
Vance said at a political rally in Kansas this afternoon that Democrats are the party of "anti-white" discrimination but offered no examples to support his assertion.
Vance made the comment at a MAGA Inc. event in Kansas as he described the choice voters have in November. He said that he would love to be dealing with "reasonable Democrats" in Washington and that it's not the Democratic Party of Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton.
"This, today, is the party in Washington, D.C., congressional Democrats: They are the party of race quotas. They’re the party of anti-white discrimination rather than colorblind equality. They’re the party of lifting up people and tearing people down based on skin color," he said.
Vance in Kansas today. Mark Schiefelbein / Pool via Getty Images
He continued, "They’re the party of lifting up people and tearing people down based on skin color, whereas you know what we believe in this room: Whether you’re white or black, whether you’re rich or poor, we want every single American child to succeed, because every single American is a child of God and a fellow citizen in our country."
The Trump administration has taken aim at diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the country, including dismantling related policies and practices across the federal government.
Speaker Mike Johnson says Trump will convene meeting with AI leaders
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said today that he expects Trump to “summon” AI platform leaders for a “deliberate discussion about the responsibility of the companies to maintain safety and what role, if any, the government has to play in that.”
“I think the president is going to summon everyone together, probably at the White House,” Johnson told reporters as he walked back to his office in the Capitol. “I expect that happens at the end of this week or early next week. That hasn’t been scheduled yet, but it’s in process.”
A source familiar with the situation told NBC News that a meeting between Trump and AI leaders is in “in the works” but that no timing has been nailed down yet.
Johnson also reiterated his comments yesterday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that the U.S. has to maintain an edge over China with regard to AI.
Asked whether the rise of AI is a threat to American society, Johnson said it was not.
“No,” he said. “I think we harness the AI technology and we keep America with the edge on this. And that would be good for everybody around the world, but certainly Americans.”
AI CEOs have called for a “slowdown” of AI, while former President Barack Obama advised Democrats to build an agenda around the topic. Trump today called concerns over AI a “hoax” and said the only guardrail needed is a "high IQ" president.
U.S. gas prices hit record high; Fed poised to raise interest rates
The national average for a gallon of gas is now $4.32, with the price of diesel at a record-shattering $6.23. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is set to meet Wednesday, and it is expected to raise interest rates for the first time since 2023. NBC News’ Brian Cheung joins the "TODAY" show to break it all down.
Vance gives false impression that Biden administration didn't address fraud in Covid-era loan program
Vice President JD Vance gave the false impression in remarks today that the Biden administration didn't address fraud within Covid-era loan programs as he touted an effort by the Trump administration to respond to that fraud.
Vance said at an event in Kansas City, Missouri, that he remembers that when he was a senator, he heard about thousands of fraud cases stemming from the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, which were Small Business Administration loans provided during the Covid pandemic.
"At the time, Joe Biden was the president of the United States, and I remember thinking people talked about it as if it were an act of God, something that could not be prevented, something that could not be dealt with, and yet we find out that under President Trump’s leadership, all you really need is an administration empowered to go after the fraud," he said.
In response to a reporter's question, Vance said it was an "open secret" that the PPP was "rife with fraud." Vance said he recalls speaking to his fellow Republican senator from Ohio, Jon Husted, about it at the time, and Vance said he was "exasperated that the federal government wasn’t taking the fraud more seriously."
"And of course, this was early on in the Biden administration, so everybody knew what was going on. Everybody knew people were skimming off the top. It’s just the federal government wasn’t doing anything to stop it. Now the federal government is doing something to stop it," he said.
The Justice Department under Biden, however, did prosecute fraud related to those Covid programs. In 2023, it announced that it had brought criminal charges against 371 defendants for offenses related to more than $836 million in alleged Covid fraud.
The SBA’s inspector general under Biden found that much of the fraud actually occurred during the first Trump administration, which is when the PPP was created.
Vance's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
DHS watchdog finds immigrants were held at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in outdoor cages the size of phone booths
Some immigrants detained at Florida’s now-shuttered “Alligator Alcatraz” were confined in outdoor cages only slightly larger than telephone booths for more than an hour at a time, according to a new report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general.
The watchdog report marks the first time a government agency has confirmed the existence of the cramped cages at the South Florida Detention Facility. Amnesty International found in a report published in December, based on interviews with detainees and a tour of the facility, that the cages were used to punish detainees and said they amounted to torture, sparking a congressional probe.
Dept. of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General
10-year Treasury yield tops 5% as oil surges and diesel hits new all-time high
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield topped 5% today for the first time since 202, as the price of oil surged and the nationwide average for diesel fuel prices hit an all-time high.
The price movements came after Saudi Arabia shut a critical pipeline and talks about the future of the Strait of Hormuz were postponed.
The international oil benchmark, Brent crude, surged to more than $109 per barrel, while U.S. crude oil nearly hit $105.
The East-West Pipeline, a key route for energy supplies, became even more critical because of the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz, where vessel traffic has barely reached double digits in recent days.
DiGenova subpoenaed former CIA Director John Brennan just before resignation
A Trump loyalist who resigned from the Justice Department last week signed a subpoena seeking testimony from former CIA Director John Brennan just before his departure, Brennan’s lawyer told a court today.
Joe diGenova signed a subpoena Wednesday aimed at compelling Brennan to testify before a federal grand jury sitting in Fort Piece, Florida, attorney Ken Wainstein wrote in a declaration.
After Wainstein reached out to diGenova on Thursday upon accepting service of the subpoena, diGenova wrote that he would “arrange counsel” to speak with them. Brennan’s testimony was preliminarily set for Oct. 15.
DiGenova resigned later Thursday after having texted with Wainstein.
On Friday, Wainstein said, 2020 election denier Kurt Olsen — now part of the prosecutorial team in the Southern District of Florida — told Brennan’s team that there were multiple “viable” grand jury investigations, “including a ‘far-reaching’ investigation in Fort Pierce that includes ‘issues at Mar-a-Lago and beyond’ into whether President Trump had his civil rights violated.”
Another investigation is running out of Washington, D.C., looking into Brennan’s statements before Congress, Olsen confirmed.
“Mr. Olsen explained that Director Brennan was a ‘target’ of the narrower investigation, and the investigation for which he was now being subpoenaed was the ‘more wide-ranging conspiracy,’ as to which our client was a ‘subject.’ However, he explained that the narrower investigation was ‘still viable,’ and that the issues in the narrower investigation might also be part of the larger investigation, such as being overt acts,” Wainstein wrote.
NBC News reported in March that the Justice Department was stepping up its investigation into Brennan, and it reported in May that the FBI was conducting interviews with current and former CIA officers as part of the investigation.
DiGenova told NBC News on Friday that a specific event sparked his departure but wouldn’t go into details about the matter.
“Everybody was in their lane, and then some lanes got crossed, and then I decided to leave,” he said.
After diGenova’s departure, the investigation is being run by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jason Reding Quiñones, with support from Main Justice, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Brennan’s team, citing reports of the Trump administration’s widespread use of Signal to conduct official government business, is seeking an injunction to force the government to preserve communications about the Brennan case.
“Director Brennan seeks nothing more than to ensure that the government does what it is already obliged to do — preserve all records and communications relevant to the government’s preordained decision to investigate and prosecute him,” his team wrote in a filing last month.
Brennan’s team also notified the court of another federal court’s order that found that the government had violated the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and did “not dispute that high-level officials at DHS and FEMA used the Signal messaging app on their personal cell phones for government business and then deleted those messages.”
Attorneys for Brennan and the government will be in court at 1:30 p.m. for a hearing in the case.
Stocks tumble after AI leaders warn the industry should slow down
Stocks tumbled this morning, led by tech stocks, after leading artificial intelligence CEOs called for slowing down the pace of developing the revolutionary technology.
In early trading, the Nasdaq 100 index, which tracks the 100 largest nonfinancial companies traded on the Nasdaq exchange, sold off by 1.3%. The broader Nasdaq Composite index fell 0.9%, and the S&P 500 fell 0.6%.
NYC leads lawsuit against Trump administration's plan to expand ‘public charge’ test for green cards
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that New York City is leading a coalition of mostly Democratic local governments across 22 states and the District of Columbia in suing the Trump administration over a planned Department of Homeland Security regulation that would expand the power immigration officials have to deny green cards and visas to applicants based on their use or potential use public benefits.
The new "public charge" rule is scheduled to go into effect on Friday. But in the lawsuit filed today, the plaintiffs are seeking to stop the policy from being enforced.
In a statement, government leaders from cities serving as plaintiffs decried the "massive chilling effect" the new rule would caused across immigrant communities by discouraging many of them from accessing benefits and services for which they or their relatives may be legally eligible.
In a press conference this morning, Mamdani was joined by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading a separate lawsuit over the rule.
According to the legal challenge from James, more than 1.3 million people would be affected by the policy, including U.S. citizen children of immigrant parents.
“As households forgo their legal access to benefits — such as preventative healthcare, nutritional assistance, and school lunch — public health, local economies, public education, and public safety will suffer," James and the Attorneys General of 22 other states and D.C. stated in the suit. "The Final Rule will increase the prevalence of disease, drive up the costs of medical care, and increase poverty.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson criticized the coalition of governments that brought the suit.
"Let’s get this straight, sanctuary states are terrified they will lose federal funds because hundreds of thousands of illegals and noncitizens might remove themselves from American welfare programs," the spokesperson's statement said. "We’re shaking in our boots over this supposedly terrible outcome. This is the ideological contortion required by left-wing leaders to justify their defrauding of the American taxpayer at the hands of illegal criminals.”
Kennedy Center's board to vote tomorrow on renaming and potential closure of the institution
The Kennedy Center's board of trustees plans to vote tomorrow on two resolutions related to renaming and temporarily closing the institution, according to documents filed as part of a lawsuit by ex-officio board member Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio.
One of the proposals argues that the historic culture and arts center risks financial collapse if Trump’s name isn’t added to the facade. A federal judge had previously removed the president’s name from the building.
“The Center is seeking to appropriately recognize and acknowledge President Trump for his well timed proffer of fiscal rescue,” the resolution says. “The Board understands that without such appropriate recognition it is unlikely that President Trump will provide the fundamental oversight of the renovation of the main building and lead the fiscal rescue of the Center.”
The board will consider 10 different naming options for the Kennedy Center, all of which includes Trump’s name.
That resolution also would require “that the main building of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts shall be closed to patrons forthwith,” and for programming to continue at the REACH, a facility on the campus of the Kennedy Center that is physically separate from the main building.
A federal judge has also previously blocked the center from closing.
Another proposed resolution states that the Delta Consulting Group, which has assessed the center's renovation plans, and the center's own executive director "consider the main building to be unsafe for continued occupancy, and anticipate further risk to the public and employees if the building is not immediately closed and renovations begun.”
Trump says Ukraine and Russia have agreed to not hit energy targets amid record diesel prices
Trump said Ukraine and Russia have agreed not to hit energy targets as diesel prices hit record highs.
"Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise!" he wrote on Truth Social. "The World’s Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran."
Diesel prices have been affected by both the wars in Iran and Ukraine.
Last week, the average cost of diesel in the U.S. hit $6 per gallon for the first time, a 60% increase since the war in Iran began. The average cost of diesel now sits at $6.23 per gallon.
Over the weekend, Trump blamed the rising diesel prices on Ukraine and called on that country's president not to strike diesel infrastructure in Russia.
Trump says AI doesn’t need guardrails, only a ‘high IQ’ president
President Donald Trump rejected the idea of placing guardrails on artificial intelligence, saying in a Truth Social post today that the only control needed is “a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!”
In the same post, the president appeared to hint at the government pursuing criminal or regulatory penalties against AI companies after industry insiders warned of potentially catastrophic dangers posed by the rapidly evolving technology.
China dismisses AI slowdown calls and blasts ‘fearmongering’ from U.S. tech leaders
Urgent calls for a slowdown in the development of artificial intelligence may cite a grave threat to humanity, but China says the warnings are instead aimed at slowing its progress as America’s rival superpower.
Beijing today dismissed the intervention from U.S. tech leaders as “fearmongering” and part of a “Cold War playbook.”
It’s the latest sign that competition between the two countries could outweigh mounting safety concerns, after Trump also rebuffed the warnings from industry leaders and said his focus was on beating China on AI.
Progressive groups launch campaign for an AOC and Ro Khanna presidential run
Two progressive groups made a call today for their favored candidates — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ro Khanna of California — to make a 2028 White House run.
The groups, Progressive Democrats of America and RootsAction, said they intend to launch a campaign right after the November midterms to push each of them to make a run for president and unveiled the RunRoRunAOC.org site this morning.
Khanna has already made some overtures about a potential 2028 run, having hired key staff, including some who had worked previously for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna. Getty Images
Ocasio Cortez, however, is still weighing whether to mount a Senate run or seek the Democratic nomination.
“As the prospective field comes into view, it’s crucial to have a strong progressive at the top of the Democratic ticket in 2028,” the two groups said in a joint statement. “Most of the Democrats whose names now crowd the field have been war enablers, go-slow reformers or status quo protectors. AOC and Khanna, meanwhile, have shown a willingness to blaze unusual and much-needed trails on Capitol Hill beyond the constraints of the Democratic Party establishment and bipartisan corporatism.”
Both groups have pushed progressive candidates in the past, and in 2022, RootsAction launched the “Don’t Run Joe” campaign calling for former President Joe Biden not to seek re-election.
Dire warnings about AI shock Congress, but action is unlikely before the election
In September 2023, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman and other billionaire tech titans huddled with senators in the Capitol to discuss what Musk called the “civilizational risk” posed by artificial intelligence.
Three years later, those tech titans have all deepened their investments in AI, and Congress still has not passed any comprehensive legislation to rein in or create guardrails for the fast-moving technology. Even after countless committee hearings on AI and the formation of various commissions and task forces to study it, there’s not even any consensus in the House or Senate about how to tackle the issue.
That failure has been spotlighted in recent days as a trio of AI researchers at top companies dropped a bombshell, saying they had left their jobs over concerns that AI systems could spiral out of control and end humanity. Jacob Coxon, who resigned from Anthropic, wrote on X: “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
Schumer calls for a Senate briefing with administration officials to address AI
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., this morning called for a Senate briefing with top administration officials to "address the serious risks posed by uninhibited AI development and lack of action to stop China’s development of the technology," his office announced in a news release.
“Warning bells are ringing louder than they ever have — and the Trump administration is looking the other way," Schumer said in a statement. "Well, if they won’t hold themselves accountable, we will. And if Trump does not act, Congress must."
Schumer called for the administration to address testing for frontier AI models, controls on U.S. technology exports to China and plans to defend against AI-enabled cyberattacks.
Last week, AI concerns exploded into the open as industry insiders raised alarm over potential imminent dangers posed by the rapidly developing technology.
Yesterday, on "Meet the Press," former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned that congressional proposals for guardrails like an AI "kill switch" could be outpaced.
In a separate "Meet the Press" interview, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called for guardrails and safety measures, but said that "we can’t rush in and have Congress do something that would be detrimental to national security."
Trump said yesterday that the U.S. can implement guardrails, but argued that the U.S. was leading China on AI.
"We’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way, because whoever wins AI wins," he told reporters.
Anthropic whistleblower says Congress should let AI companies police themselves until a regulatory body is established
Former Anthropic AI researcher Jacob Coxon yesterday called for Congress to allow the nation’s leading frontier AI labs to regulate themselves, while lawmakers come up with a long-term regulatory framework for slowing the pace of AI development.
“My personal opinion would be to insist and allow that the current labs regulate themselves. I do think that the people running the labs, especially their recent communications, are completely genuine. They would like to slow themselves down,” Coxon told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
He added that current legislation that’s been introduced in Congress, including the framework for a national “kill switch” if AI starts to exceed the bounds of human control, will quickly be outpaced.
NBC News
Second federal judge freezes Trump mail ballot order with Supreme Court poised to weigh in
A federal judge late yesterday ordered that the U.S. Postal Service not implement Trump’s executive order limiting mail balloting, adding another obstacle to the administration’s effort to rewrite election rules as the Supreme Court is poised to weigh in on the matter.
The nation’s highest court already is considering the administration’s appeal of an order by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani in Boston prohibiting the postal service from enforcing its new rule on mail voting before this year’s midterm elections.
Obama says Democrats should have a ‘very clear plan’ on AI policy
Former President Barack Obama urged Democrats to prioritize developing a plan around artificial intelligence, saying that’s what he would be doing if he were running for president in 2028.
In remarks at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser Thursday, Obama said that while he was neither an “accelerationist” nor a “doomer,” the AI bell is not one that could be unrung, and that Democrats ought to flesh out an agenda on the topic.
Speaker Johnson says Congress could work with Trump to deliver $5,000 payments to Americans but there are no guarantees
House Speaker Mike Johnson said yesterday that Congress would “work through” Trump’s promise to give $5,000 to American adults if Republicans keep the House and Senate after the midterm elections, but he did not commit to ensuring the president’s proposal was executed.
“I commit that Congress will work through it and find consensus on that, like I have to do everything else,” Johnson said, when asked whether he would commit to carrying out Trump’s promise.
Trump calls on Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian diesel fuel, citing a global shortage
Trump yesterday called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure used to produce and distribute diesel, saying the attacks are causing a global shortage. He spoke after diesel prices in the U.S. hit a record Friday, soaring past $6 a gallon on average.
Ukraine has for months been targeting Russia’s oil and gas industry with long-range strikes, prompting fuel rationing across the country and causing Moscow to ban diesel exports in July, removing supplies from the already tight global market.
