SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " Intelligence " 1,936 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Mental Health in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
The research findings encourage us to pay attention to our own well-being and our relationship with digital tools when using artificial intelligence.
Germany’s Political Tailspin: Your Weekly SPIEGEL Recap
It might be tempting to dismiss the results of last Sunday’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt, in which the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party raked in 43.8 percent of the vote, as a rather unimportant extremist blip in a state that hardly anyone can find on the map. And you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong to do so. The state’s population – around 2.1 million – is a mere 2.5 percent of the German total. And while the state capital of Magdeburg was once the political heart of the Holy Roman Empire back when Otto the Great used to hang out there (more than a millenium … no … milennium … nope … millennium ago), it is today something of a backwater, albeit one with a ginormous cathedral in its center. We wanted to briefly interrupt this week’s newsletter to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of our subscribers, both new and old. And to remind you all that a free subscription gets you access to this newsletter every Saturday. A paid subscription, by contrast, gets you one DER SPIEGEL article every weekday, delivered to your inbox. We strive to select pieces that both demonstrate what Europe’s leading newsmagazine has to offer and provide an international audience – namely, you – with an insight into how Germany and Europe view the world. If you haven’t already signed up for a paid subscription, please consider doing so if you can. Our Substack channel relies entirely on reader support and we are excited to continue offering you the best of DER SPIEGEL. Subscribe But even beyond the fact that a huge percentage of the voters in the state decided to place an X next to a party with an ideological lineage that runs rather directly back to the right-wing extremist soup out of which the Nazi Party was born, the results are a perfect example of a phenomenon that has been plaguing German elections in recent years: the lack of an obvious path to a majority. Call it the Balkanization of German politics. There are a number of developments driving the phenomenon, but for the purposes of this newsletter, here are two of the most salient: Persistent voter frustration with the country’s two (former) big-tent parties – the Christian Democrats (CDU) on the center-right (17.2 percent in Saxony-Anhalt last Sunday) and the Social Democrats (SPD) on the center-left (9.3 percent). The presence of parties on the far left (Left Party), the populist left (the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance – BSW) and the far right (AfD) with which mainstream parties are reluctant to form coalitions. So what happens now? Stories of the Week A Lack of Leadership The answer for many people in the country, and particularly within the CDU, is clear: pin (some of) the blame on Chancellor Friedrich Merz. According to a survey taken directly after the election in Saxony-Anhalt, 88 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that if the federal government in Berlin were doing a better job, the AfD wouldn’t be as strong. And it is true that the predominant impression of the federal government ever since Merz was sworn in on May 6, 2025, is one of ineffectiveness and bickering. His rather unique combination of bumbling-plus-bravado has also not exactly endeared him to the German public. Indeed, his standing in the country is so shaky that his popularity – according to recent polls – has now dropped even below the historic lows associated with his predecessor Olaf Scholz. The situation is such that the CDU even opted to keep him largely out of the campaign ahead of the Saxony-Anhalt vote. And since then, dissatisfied rumblings within the CDU have grown louder. DER SPIEGEL’s Swantje Karich notes that the problems with the CDU go much deeper than Merz. “The center-right has a trust problem. At a press appearance following the devastating election result in Saxony-Anhalt, Friedrich Merz said that the party wanted to ‘reach people more effectively’ through ‘emotional engagement.’ It sounded as though he were announcing a political program. On the basis of that statement, it is difficult to take his empathy seriously.” “The Chancellor’s chastened appearance did, at least, reveal where he stands: with his back to the wall. Elections will be held in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania next week, and the CDU could fare even worse there. The party is polling at between 8 and 10 percent in the state.” “What is at stake is the political tradition that has lent stability to the Federal Republic since 1945: a democratic conservatism that understands what must be preserved, but also how to embrace progress and openness to the world. If the Union continues along its current path, it risks becoming politically irrelevant after the 2029 federal election – and Germany could soon find itself with a government of the far right.” The Trumpification of Political Debate? It is often said in Germany that to understand the political and social trends that will soon be dominant in Europe, one need only look across the Atlantic to the United States. When it comes to political debate, that has certainly proven true. Donald Trump understood early on that triggering mouth-foaming outrage among Democrats is an ideal way to both generate headlines and to secure loyalty among supporters. And he realized that far more quickly than the left side of the political spectrum understood that simply ignoring the old man might be the best recipe. To be sure, there have been signs recently that the US president may be over-relying on the strategy. Earlier this week, in an apparent grandpa-discovers-AI moment, Trump sent out 60 posts in the space of 10 hours, many of them AI-assisted images portraying him as a hero – or showing Iceland as part of the US (outrageous!!!). It was also during that slew of schlock that he explicitly backed the AfD with an “MGGA” post. In Germany, though, the outrage cycle remains in full swing, with much of the focus on those who would dare to vote for the AfD. They are alternately portrayed as being dim-witted, ungrateful, backward, racist or all of the above. That, argues DER SPIEGEL columnist Sabine Rennefanz, is not particularly helpful. “Everywhere on election night, people spoke of a watershed moment, a rupture, a turning point. But what is that supposed to mean in concrete terms? A watershed would imply an interruption, a moment of pause – perhaps even a willingness to rethink and learn. At first, there was little sign of that in the main television panels. Instead, the familiar rituals that had already shaped the election campaign continued: outrage, lecturing and abuse.” “That’s just the tone, one might object. They’re only talk shows. Given that the party’s state branch has been classified by domestic intelligence officials as confirmed right-wing extremist, there are more important problems than hurt feelings on television. Yet although the condescending tone is not the cause of the AfD’s success, it is an expression of the broader mood within the so-called political center – a kind of institutional blindness that too often treats material concerns as a communications problem.” “People have a pretty good sense of whether you like them – whether you approach them with curiosity or merely study, lecture and manage them as a problem group. They notice whether you genuinely want to understand their fears and pain, or whether you are simply waiting for the chance to correct them. They can also tell whether someone still has the energy to change things, or whether they have barricaded themselves behind platitudes and empty phrases.” “Anyone who wants an egalitarian democratic society cannot promise equality only to those whose language, tastes and moral convictions they share. They must also acknowledge the wounds, resentments and fears of those whose political conclusions they consider wrong. Acknowledging them does not mean agreeing with them. But a democracy that communicates with almost half its citizens only through warnings and labels gives up on political debate before it has even begun. An atmosphere must be created in which people can express their opinions without fearing that they will be canceled. We are currently a long way from that.” East-West? One of the clear undercurrents in the election last Sunday was, of course, Germany’s ongoing east-west divide, particularly as it pertains to the success of the AfD. Historically, the party has been far stronger in the former East German states than in former West German states. The fact that this generalization no longer reliably holds is certainly one of the primary concerns that many have about the party’s growth. And yet, there is still a distinct flavor of “stupid easterners, they don’t understand democracy” to the coverage. In the weeks before the vote, there was even a rather interesting back-and-forth in Germany’s culture pages about how ungrateful eastern Germans allegedly are for being pulled out of their pre-reunification backwardness and into the light of the West. DER SPIEGEL’s Jochen-Martin Gutsch has had enough. “Ten years ago, in 2016, elections were also held in Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD won more than 20 percent, which at the time rightly provoked outrage and incomprehension in western Germany. Today, in 2026, the AfD is also polling at around 20 percent in western German states, but this no longer provokes outrage and incomprehension. Instead, it is now regarded as proof of democratic conviction and civilizational resistance. After all, in the east, it’s 40 percent!” “This allows people to continue feeling morally superior to the East, but the wiser course would be to admit: if something doesn’t happen soon, the West will turn AfD-blue too. Or bluish.” “But will anything happen? The truly depressing thing about election night was not so much the AfD leaders intoxicated by their own success. It was the representatives of the other parties, who once again said that they were utterly shocked, needed some time to digest the result and would, of course, not simply return to business as usual. The SPD, a former big-tent party, celebrated its ‘stable’ result of 9.3 percent. Congratulations!” “For 10 years, the AfD has gone from one electoral success to the next. And still, the established parties remain ‘shocked’ and scratch their heads in astonishment. How long can they keep being shocked? Friedrich Merz says he may need to communicate his reform ideas in a more ‘emotional’ way. So the CDU’s political professionals sit down together after the election, mull over a strategy, and in the end come up with this: Fritz, try to be a little more relaxed, charismatic and emotional – or something. Beyond that: no political plan, no defiance, no promise of a future. That is frightening.” What was good, what was bad for democracy? Good: Voter turnout in Saxony-Anhalt was 77.8 percent, the highest ever recorded in the state. Whatever one thinks of the result, that figure is encouraging. Democracy needs citizens to take an interest. Bad: Although a strong AfD result had been expected in Saxony-Anhalt, many politicians from the mainstream parties – including in Berlin – appeared confused, helpless and overwhelmed in their initial reactions. That is not how they will win back voters’ trust. Last Week’s Highlights: 🗳️ Meet the Germans Who Voted for the AfD: Why would voters in a country like Germany, with its Nazi past, vote for a right-wing party? It’s a question only an editor in Berlin could come up with. On the ground, the view is different. 🟦 How the AfD Wants to Expand Its Power Across Germany: The far-right AfD is planning to decimate public broadcasting in Saxony-Anhalt, revamp education and install extremists in positions of power. And it is eyeing victory on the national stage as well. 🕯️ The Continuing Reverberations of September 11: It was a generational shock, and the consequences can still be felt today - from massive surveillance and significant increases in presidential power to violent excesses at ICE. 🤝 “For Europe, Canada Is the Preferred Partner in Trans-Atlantic Relations”: In an interview with DER SPIEGEL, Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne discusses his country’s failed trade deal with the US and why Canada is looking to Europe. 🏛️ The True Historical Roots of the AfD: During the Weimar Republic in the 1920s, there were numerous parties on the extreme right espousing “Germany first” nationalism. The Nazis may not be the best comparison for today’s AfD. 🌊 AfD in a Landslide: Merz Is the Wrong Leader for Germany: The right-wing Alternative for Germany won in a landslide in Saxony-Anhalt state elections on Sunday. What does that mean for the country at large? Thank you for your continued support and have a wonderful week! Subscribe Share Leave a comment Your SPIEGEL Substack Team Compiled and edited by Charles Hawley
Apple’s always-listening watch features test eavesdropping laws
Apple Inc.'s new always-listening artificial intelligence features for the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 could put eavesdropping laws to the test, according to legal experts.
Apple Watch Audio Intelligence: 4 New Features Available On The Series 12 And Ultra 4
Apple Watch's Audio Intelligence is getting a significant number of new features for the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 aimed at making your life easier.
AI has changed the calculus for computer-science students, and schools that hope to teach them
Faced with the risk that artificial intelligence will drain the job market, some of Canada’s young coders are changing tack at university
Catherine Thorbecke: You don't have to trust Chinese AI
When DeepSeek’s reasoning model burst onto the scene last year and put Chinese artificial intelligence on the global map, the internet responded by probing its views on Taiwan or Tiananmen
The politics and possibilities of ‘AI could kill us all’
I found myself fielding a lot of questions from folks who don’t usually talk much about AI this week. They were mostly along the lines of “do you think AI is going to kill us all?” or “how worried should I be about this human extinction stuff?” Motivating this wave of existential anxiety was the highly dramatic resignation of now-former Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon, who quit his job while publicly sharing his concerns about safety practices at the leading AI companies. More specifically, he declared that almost everyone at OpenAI and Anthropic, the leading AI labs, believes that there’s a decent chance the AI systems they’re producing could “kill us all” by the end of the decade, and the companies aren’t “acting responsibly.” Other AI safety researchers, including those still employed at Anthropic and OpenAI, all confirmed that yes, Coxon is correct, they’re all worried that their company’s products might prove fatal for the entire human race as well. Two more AI employees quit and joined the chorus. Now, the warning shot has been covered everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to Fox News to WIRED to the Guardian. I understand why all this sounds scary, but my response to those who have asked, has generally been: No, you don’t need to worry that AI will kill go rogue and kill us all. But that does not mean we shouldn’t worry, period. Far from it. The companies building AI products are now among the wealthiest and most powerful entities in the world. And they very much are building enormous engines of mass surveillance, extraction, and automation. They can and have allowed their AI systems to carry out felony hacks of other companies, provided the government with autonomously generated kill lists, and sold enterprise technology to firms around the world that is explicitly intended to replace jobs. But “AI” has done these things not because they have all-powerful minds of their own but, ultimately, because people have programmed, calibrated, and directed them to. In other words, it’s not AI we need to worry the most about. It’s the people and corporations working to profit from and gain power by deploying it. The technology is sophisticated, sure, and, especially in cybersecurity contexts, potentially disruptive to plenty of existing systems. But if we want to stop this predatory, profiteering, and extractive form of AI—and it’s worth noting that at this point, most people do—we absolutely can. A quick note/plea: I can only do all of this with the support of readers like you, so if you find value in independent, critical tech journalism and analysis, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. I want to keep as much of this un-paywalled as absolutely possible, and I need your support to do so. Many thanks to all who continue to chip in, it’s very much appreciated. Onward. Subscribe First, some context: AI industry folks like Coxon have been discussing the prospect that AI will destroy humanity for years. Even before the beginning of the AI boom, many working in the industry, from the executive staff to the rank and file researchers, have obsessed over ‘x-risk’, or the possibility that AI will become sentient or semi-sentient and move one way or another to exterminate humanity. This is ostensibly why Elon Musk bankrolled OpenAI in the first place, and is the grounds for his lawsuit alleging OpenAI betrayed its charter by abandoning its nonprofit status to become a commercial enterprise. Many AI engineers and startup founders have calculated their own personal p(doom), or the probability that the tech product they are working on will initiate an actual humanity-extinguishing apocalypse. 10-25% p(doom)s are pretty common. (I wrote about a long weekend I spent among these folks at one of their top conferences here, to give you an idea of their ideas and belief systems.) Sam Altman himself drove the narrative of the imminent rise of a super-powerful AI, or artificial general intelligence, to prominence by declaring that the technology he was building posed an existential risk to humanity. This idea is in other words baked into the DNA of modern AI companies and into the products they engineer. It’s also why the industry is routinely accused, by myself and others, of “doom marketing,” ie, using such proclamations and framings to impart the sheer power of the technology behind your product onto investors, partners, consumers, and the state. Some ambient understanding of this tendency may have helped prevent the press from repeating the claim every time one of the x-risk folks made it over the years, including when they quit their jobs at AI companies while doing so. Yet Coxon’s AI x-risk alarm has broken containment, as they say, and has exposed the idea to the mainstream media once again. This has happened, I think, for a number of reasons. First, when AI CEOs were going around saying AI might kill everyone in 2023, their companies were well-capitalized, but not nearly to the extent they are today. They were more easily dismissed as eccentric geeks of the sort that Silicon Valley is supposed to produce. Now, not only do their products have much greater market saturation, but people are more aware of a) the often unethical ways the executives and companies comport themselves b) the other adverse impacts of AI that have already arrived, and c) the physical cost of building these systems, particularly when it comes to data centers. Finally, toss in the constant stream of headlines in 2026 about AI models going rogue or potentially upending the world’s infrastructure. [ ](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/with-the-backlash-to-data-centers) [ With the backlash to data centers, Flock and AI glasses, a mass opposition to big tech is underway. Silicon Valley is in denial. ](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/with-the-backlash-to-data-centers) Brian Merchant · Aug 27 [ Read full story ](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/with-the-backlash-to-data-centers) As a result, general sentiment was already overwhelmingly skeptical of AI and its overlords, so the table was pretty well set for someone to come along and say ‘just a reminder, the companies that are building the product that promises to take your job and leave a data center in your neighborhood also think that it might exterminate the human race’ and get a strong reaction from the media and the public. The question is: Should we understand this stuff as hype, strategically fanned to feed already swelling valuations? Is it doom marketing? Genuine cause for alarm that the infrastructure that undergirds modern life is facing a novel threat vector? Or reason to be sincerely worried that AI companies are amassing too much power, and that their products are genuinely dangerous? The answer, I’m afraid, is “yes.” Let me try to untangle all of this a bit, because arguments over how to navigate this moment are extremely heated right now, as they are essentially arguments over how to approach the politics of AI at a moment where there may be a unique opening for action. Those sympathetic to AI alignment concerns and x risk arguments—which increasingly includes a faction on the left who want to shut down AI over safety concerns—argue that people who dismiss AI as all hype have their heads in the sand. Meanwhile, critics of the x-risk narrative—which I might note includes a cadre of investors and tech folks on the right, too—argue that it is hype and can be used to further inflate valuations or for pursuing regulatory capture. The challenge is that many feel that dismissing AI as just hype or purely marketing also diminishes the urgency of taking on the AI industry as the novel and threat to labor, civil society, and the public sphere it is; others that by accepting the industry’s own terms, we imbue it with undue power and enable it. But let’s be clear: Declarations that AI is so powerful it might end the world are a kind of marketing, and anyone who says otherwise is just as off base as those who say that’s all that it is. If you don’t think that these sub-trillion dollar companies have higher-ups who noticed that when their founders talked about super-powerful dangerous AI they got spikes in media interest and phone calls from investors, or that those founders didn’t notice that themselves, and lean into certain narratives to advantage their products, then I don’t know what to tell you. Not all marketing is a Pepsi ad campaign with a celebrity spokesperson. Yet confronting the AI industry should certainly be considered an urgent project. Do I share the x-riskers’ fear that out-of-control, super-intelligent AI agents might end the world? I do not. I’ve read a good deal of AI extinction literature over the last couple of years and I have not come across a credible, step-by-step documentation of how exactly AI might move from self-recursively improving AI to killing every single human on the planet. Most of what I’ve read seems predicated on a sort of reverse Ian Malcolmian logic: Eventually, it becomes smart enough and AI, uh, finds a way (to exterminate humanity). Are the AI companies also overstating and dramatizing what their products can do? Yes, pretty much all the time. They’re in a knife fight for market share and are trying to win customers and government contracts before their investors come knocking. And yet. They have concentrated enormous amounts of compute, have extensive data collection and surveillance capacities, have inserted themselves into the state in numerous capacities, including military kill chains, and they are being run by egomaniacal billionaires who are rushing to monopolize an entire new market. The way I think about their most recent frightening-seeming exploits is not as a “swarm of rogue AI agents building a new civilization” or whatever, but as corporations with a hitherto-unimaginable amount of compute at their disposal recklessly experimenting with automation programs, completely unafraid of any repercussions because we have been unwilling or unable to impose any on them. So I think we should welcome any newfound imperative to hold them accountable. I also think that ultimately, the AI critics, Pause AI folks, leftists, doomers, effective altruists, and, honestly, most of the public, want a lot of the same things: legitimate checks and limits on AI companies’ power, actual transparency into what the companies are doing, and for more of AI to be under public control. (Ultimately, a lot of what animates the x-risk fears are rooted in just that: a fear of losing control.) How we move towards all this, exactly, is the question of the day, and while there’s much to be argued over in terms of building a viable political platform to challenge the AI industry’s power, I do want to cast a vote against one particular approach. Not to pick on Chris here, as there are a lot of folks out there proposing stuff like this, and the policy ideas actually stem from AI safety groups. But not only would this be challenging to land politically (I can already hear the ‘China will beat us to AGI’ calls) and all but unworkable in practice, this approach is a) far too limiting, b) fails to address the current harms caused by AI and c) would likely only wind up serving Anthropic and OpenAI; it’s what regulatory capture looks like in action. Full model transparency is the floor for what should be on offer here. If these companies believe their products will kill us, the very least we deserve is to know how. It’s in the public interest. I would also argue we might get a lot of the way to stopping any currently envisioned robot apocalypse simply by forcing AI companies to assume liability, and to submit to the full brunt of the law. If Sam Altman were liable to be charged with a felony for approving the hack on Hugging Face1, if Google was forced to pay defamation fines each time it published a false and injurious AI Overviews, these companies might suddenly find cause to restrain their models’ output, and we might hear less about rogue AI. We would need to introduce new frameworks and available tools for tracking automated lawbreaking, to be sure, but I’d wager that little would frighten the AI companies more than actually being held accountable for what their products enable. To that end, Illinois has passed an AI liability law, which the industry fought tooth and nail, and Florida is considering one. The next steps would be towards moving AI under public control; again, it’s only reasonable, since everyone, not just AI insiders, should get a say over how a technology whose developers say might kill us is developed and deployed. Dismantling the whole industrial project as currently structured should be on the table, too, pending democratic input. But that’s for another post. For now, suffice to say that while I won’t be losing any sleep about an AI-enabled extinction event, Mr. Coxon and co. have given us an opportunity to underscore the urgency of the clear and present damage AI companies are doing, the extreme power they wield and the extent to which they hold themselves unaccountable, and the abundance of political capital there is out there for taking them on. Subscribe 1 Purely speculative! I do not know if he did or not.
OpenAI's software targeted another site before Hugging Face
The new report adds to concerns that advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models may be difficult for humans to control.
Prosecutor brought in to lead investigation of Trump foes tells AP that he has resigned
An ally of President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has resigned from his post leading a Justice Department investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against the Republican president.
California breaks ground with first AI and social media laws curbing teenage use in the nation
California is enacting strict regulations on artificial intelligence and social media companies, with many of the bills meant to mitigate harm to teenagers.
CIA declassifies intel warnings to White House prior to 9/11 attack
The now-infamous warning to then-President Bill Clinton was tucked at the bottom of a presidential intelligence brief delivered on September 10, 1998: A group associated with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden “may fly an explosive-packed airplane into a US city.”
Senators from both parties question OpenAI on breach of AI startup Hugging Face
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., launched an investigation Thursday into OpenAI for its artificial intelligence system hacking into another AI company on its own.
Wilmington health tech founder launches new venture
Several years after launching his health tech startup Artemis Immersive, founder Adam Isley is setting his sights on new horizons. Co-founded in 2023 by husband-and-wife Adam Isley and Kaylan Barbrey, along with Matthew Raffa and Bill Blakesley, Artemis Immersive began as a spatial medtech company that created digital renderings of medical scans for viewing in augmented reality (AR). Isley said the firm, which won an NC Tech award in the Biotech + HealthTech Innovation category last year, has raised $1.2 million in total in seed funding since launching. Isley has since created a new venture, Research and Me, building on the Artemis platform. Like Artemis Immersive’s core software, VoxScan, Research and Me combines health data with artificial intelligence in a 3D interactive environment to help patients better understand health outcomes and provide integrative wellness support. While the Artemis product is no longer Isley’s primary focus, he said the company’s technology and ambitions have evolved into different ventures, like Research and Me. "It's a different venture building on the Artemis platform, and there'll probably be more,” Isley said. He added, "I was very disappointed in the quality of the information available to general patients about their healthcare... I wanted to give patients more and a better plate of choices." Research and Me is still in its beta phase, Isley said, with usability testing ongoing in partnership with the firm’s partner, Medicap Pharmacy and Wellness Center, owned by Barbrey. "As someone who's kind of dedicated their life to working in healthcare, I've tried to bring this spirit and passion to it,” he said, “and a lot of the resources that we'll be providing are free — like a base level of free care for any patients, or medical education if they've got specific conditions." Isley describes Research and Me as a “patient-first” platform designed to securely store and pseudonymize health data and use AI and medical literature to generate insights. The insights are presented in an interactive 3D environment for patients and providers to explore conditions, treatments and wellness plans together. "It's almost like a democratization of understanding medical information," Isley said. "We take a whole bunch of clinical data, we take a whole bunch of peer‑reviewed, published studies on PubMed, and we try to turn them into chunks of information that normal humans can understand." Like VoxScan, the Research and Me platform lets users interact with 3D anatomical models for visualization. The platform provides a space for tracking, notes and insights. The platform also supports video conferencing, Isley said, allowing providers or coaches to examine models and data together. "We wanted to create a safe environment where you can start to learn and experiment with new features about your health, using agents to do that,” Isley said. While Research and Me is in beta-phase testing with Medicap Pharmacy, Isley said he envisions the platform serving a wellness-oriented community, working with sports performance clinics and hormone optimization. Isley, who is working towards a wellness-coach board certification, also plans to offer functional wellness consults through the platform. Long‑term, Isley says he wants the platform to embody an “integrative health practitioner” approach, “connecting experts of different fields and specializations in a way that they can make a greater impact in people's lives.” “For people in the state of North Carolina, it's already a win,” Isley said of the Medicap rollout, noting that partner clinics get “immediate resources for learning about their health and wellness conditions… out of the box.” Isley plans to launch Research and Me’s provider portal in 2028 and begin pursuing integrations with larger systems, he said.
Analytics and Data Science News for the Week of September 11; Updates from Alteryx, OpenAI, University of Cincinnati & More
Solutions Review Executive Editor Tim King curated this list of notable analytics and data science news for the week of September 11, 2026. Keeping tabs on all the most relevant analytics and data science news can be a time-consuming task. As a result, our editorial team aims to provide a summary of the top headlines […]
CGTN and TV BRICS joint segment on BRICS' science and tech cooperation
Science and technology are emerging as key drivers of cooperation among BRICS countries, spanning artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, 5G and space technology. As leaders gather in New Delhi for the 18th BRICS Summit, CGTN and TV BRICS examine
What Is Emotional Intelligence? The Research Behind EQ, and What the Science Actually Says
What Is Emotional Intelligence? The Research Behind EQ, and What the Science Actually Says
As banks' AI use evolves, core truths about the business still apply
Artificial intelligence tools will certainly change the way the banking industry operates, but they won't eliminate the need to build your business on a firm foundation of care for employees, customers and shareholders.
Clemson's AI Essentials for Business helps leaders turn AI potential into practical strategy
Artificial intelligence is becoming part of everyday business, but for many leaders, understanding where it can create real value remains a challenge.
Anthropic reports it blocked potential bioweapons research
Anthropic intervened in multiple attempts by scientists and other actors who were using its models to help develop biological weapons, the artificial intelligence research company said in a report released
Alliance Entertainment Q4 Earnings Call Highlights
Alliance Entertainment (NASDAQ:AENT) reported fiscal 2026 revenue growth, wider gross margins and higher adjusted EBITDA, as demand for physical music, premium home entertainment and collectibles increased. The company also outlined investments in automation, artificial intelligence, authentication
Experts examine ethical risks of using AI in public health
Artificial intelligence (AI) holds profound potential to reshape public health. Although its application accelerates threat detection and targeted interventions, the rapid deployment has outpaced the regulatory, validation, and equity safeguards standard to traditional health interventions.
Minogue's blueprint promises audits, tax cuts and a net-zero repeal
Sept. 10, 2026.....From using artificial intelligence to reduce the state's notorious traffic to canceling the midcentury net-zero emissions commitment and temporarily suspending the state gas tax when pump prices climb,
Anomaly Insights, Inova Health partner on AI-powered RCM
Artificial intelligence-powered payer intelligence startup Anomaly Insights announced Thursday a collaboration with Inova Health to improve payment outcomes and support revenue management operation | Through the partnership, Anomaly will provide Inova with additional data and analytics to evaluate payer behavior and payment outcomes.
Apple Watch Series 12 Hands-On: New Sensing System, Health Features And Audio Intelligence
There was a lot more new stuff than expected.
NASA, IBM Launch AI Foundation Model for Lunar Science
NASA is bringing artificial intelligence to the study of the Moon, helping researchers transform how they analyze the Moon’s surface. In an ongoing
Students in Asia extend lead over a flagging US as AI reshapes education
High-school students across Asia are pulling ahead of their Western peers, an annual global assessment indicates, as artificial intelligence spurs a worldwide race for talent and reshapes how young people learn.
Wonders of science: Prof. Greene talks about Big Bang to AI
Could AI help solve mysteries that have challenged physicists for generations? CGTN's Tian Wei sits down with Brian Greene to explore the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and fundamental science. A Columbia University professor of
Viewpoint: Unlocking Europe’s wildfire data
Europe is already investing in the science, technology and infrastructure needed to understand, prevent and fight wildfires. Copernicus provides satellite-based Earth observation and environmental information, while the European Forest Fire Information System provides information on fire danger and forest fires across Europe. Weather and climate systems add forecasts of heat, drought, wind and humidity; historical fire databases show where fires have occurred; and researchers generate increasingly detailed knowledge about fuels, fire behaviour, forecasting, modelling and risk management. Meanwhile, new European research projects are adding digital twins and other tools to this growing ecosystem.However, these data do not necessarily sit together, nor are they necessarily described, structured or governed in ways that allow them to be used together. Much of the information is public, but some is commercially held. Some is sensitive. Some is subject to legal, security or operational restrictions. Even when data can be legally accessed, different systems may use different formats, terminology and rules.Europe therefore faces an unusual paradox: we have vast amounts of relevant information to respond to the wildfire challenge, but not the means to bring it together. For example, a wildfire researcher or emergency service might need to ask whether a particular combination of vegetation, drought, wind and topography has historically been associated with rapid fire spread. The relevant information may exist in several institutions, using different systems and subject to different conditions of access.The challenge is to conduct an authorised analysis that interacts with these sources, combines the results and respects the rules imposed by each data custodian.An important part of the answer can be found in the Fair principles, the idea that data should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. Developed more than a decade ago, these principles have become a central reference point for modern data stewardship, making it easier for people and machines to find data, understand what it means and determine whether it can be reused.Readability by machines is essential, since AI systems will be key to meeting the data challenge. Bring analysis to the dataThe proposition is not to give an AI system unrestricted access to sensitive databases. Quite the opposite. The goal is to make it possible for approved algorithms to go to the data, rather than requiring sensitive data or large datasets to be copied to wherever the analysis happens.Imagine an analysis asking a series of questions of different data stations. At one station it might examine weather and climate data; at another, historical fire records; at another, experimental measurements of fire behaviour. The algorithm does not need to download everything. It can operate within the environment permitted by each data custodian and return only the results that the rules allow to leave.This is sometimes described as data visiting, and related approaches already exist in areas such as federated analysis and federated learning.Sensitive data should therefore not be treated as a free-for-all for machines. This requires appropriate governance at multiple levels. Access needs to be authenticated and authorised. The purpose of an analysis should be defined. The code or model being run should be controlled. Data custodians should be able to specify what can be queried and what results can leave their environment. Activities should be auditable and human oversight should remain where the consequences require it.In other words, the objective is not to trust AI with the data. It is to design systems in which AI never has more access than it needs.As open as possible, as closed as necessaryFair data should also not be confused with open data. Some wildfire data should be openly available. Other information may legitimately need to remain restricted because it concerns critical infrastructure, security, commercial interests, privacy or operational capabilities. The principle should be: as open as possible, as closed as necessary.The important point is that restricted data should not automatically become unusable data. If machines can discover what information exists, understand its meaning, establish where it came from and determine the conditions under which it can be used, authorised analyses can potentially be carried out without the underlying data ever leaving the environment in which it is protected.Restricted data can still be Fair and machine-actionable.This is also an important question of data sovereignty. European institutions should not have to surrender control of their data to a handful of technology platforms in order to benefit from AI. Nor does Europe need to start again by building one giant repository for every piece of wildfire information. The better approach is to connect what already exists.This is the principle behind emerging approaches such as Tryangle, developed through the Leiden Initiative for Fair and Equitable Science. Rather than creating another centralised data warehouse, the approach seeks to provide an interoperable layer through which approved algorithms can visit distributed data sources while respecting the rules of their custodians.In this way, a data station can remain where it is. Its custodians can retain control. Existing databases and applications do not have to be abandoned. What changes is their ability to communicate with other systems through common, machine-readable descriptions, access rules and interoperability mechanisms.But approaches like this need data that meets the Fair principles. Only then can an interoperable ecosystem safely begin to turn fragmented information into collective intelligence.Data infrastructure is wildfire infrastructureThe implications of this approach are entirely practical. Firefighters could gain better intelligence about local and evolving risks. Land managers could test prevention strategies using more comprehensive information about fuels, weather and past fires. Researchers could compare evidence across ecosystems without repeatedly moving huge datasets between institutions. Smaller regions and resource-constrained teams could access analytical capabilities without having to build large data infrastructures themselves.Europe is already investing heavily in satellites, databases, research programmes, forecasting systems and scientific expertise. The question is whether we will connect those investments well enough to turn them into actionable intelligence.That requires policymakers and funders to treat data infrastructure as seriously as physical infrastructure. Data generated or supported through European public funding should be Fair, verifiable and machine actionable by design, wherever legally and ethically possible.Related articlesData Corner: Europe’s burning need for wildfire mitigation researchClimate monitoring must remain a global enterprise, experts sayIn practice, that means funding not only the production of data, but also the infrastructure that makes data usable across systems: metadata, provenance, interoperability, access mechanisms and governance. Where data must remain restricted, we should ensure that it can still be securely discovered, verified and used for authorised analysis.Initiatives such as the European Open Science Cloud offer an existing framework through which these principles can be put into practice. What is needed now is to accelerate implementation and make them a standard part of how Europe funds and builds research and innovation systems.We do not need another generation of disconnected databases. The data is already there. The opportunity is to make it work together, securely, responsibly and quickly enough to help prevent the next fire, rather than simply document the last one.Jean-Claude Burgelman is professor emeritus at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and editor-in-chief at Frontiers Policy Lab. For more than 20 years he held leading roles in research and innovation policy at the European Commission.
New wave of healthcare fraud enforcement
In past years, federal and state authorities typically initiated healthcare fraud investigations based on whistleblower complaints and audits. While that still occurs, the model is changing. Federal enforcement agencies are increasingly using sophisticated data analytics, artificial intelligence, and coordinated investigative efforts to identify potential fraud. The Department of Justice (DOJ),…
Apple shares more details about Apple Intelligence usage limits and terms
Apple today published a new support article that provides more detail on Apple Intelligence usage terms, limits, and restrictions.
Three All-New 'Audio Intelligence' Features Arrive With Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4
Apple today announced "Audio Intelligence," a new suite of Apple Intelligence-powered features for the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 that use the built-in microphone to help users catch missed moments in conversation and stay aware of important sounds.
Read the Apple document explaining how new listening features still protect your privacy
Will you be using Audio Intelligence?
Apple Unveils the iPhone Duo, a Foldable Phone That Costs $1,999
At the company’s annual September product event, Apple also demonstrated its work on artificial intelligence and other new devices.
Héctor Socas, astrophysicist: ‘If a more advanced civilization contacted us, they should be more afraid of us than we are of them’
Artificial intelligence, extraterrestrial life, the climate crisis, the future of work and global governance. This science communicator uses the lens of science to tackle a much broader question: what kind of civilization do we want to be?
Apple's revamped Health app will calculate your 'health age' and readiness score
The update uses Apple Intelligence to make better sense of your health data.
Apple unveils Watch Series 12 and Watch Ultra 4 with an AI upgrade that can recap your day
Most notably, Apple is taking aim at the growing wave of AI wearables with new "Audio Intelligence" features that let you rewind moments and remember details from daily conversations.
Americans prefer getting bitten by a mosquito or stubbing their toe than today’s politics
Respondents still prefer today’s politics over billionaires, telemarketers, health insurance companies, artificial intelligence, Elon Musk and root canals.
ARPA-H to invest $62 million to develop FDA-authorized AI to help treat heart failure
ARPA-H, the government agency that funds cutting edge health research, plans to commit $62.7 million to develop artificial intelligence bots that direct
Will it kill off humanity? Computer scientists and politicians wrestle with risks of AI
Alarming warnings from industry insiders increase pressure for curbs on artificial superintelligence
Will it kill off humanity? Computer scientists and politicians wrestle with risks of AI
Alarming warnings from industry insiders increase pressure for curbs on artificial superintelligence
CobbleStone® Announces Four Business Solutions Director John O'Brien as Featured Speaker at User Conference 2026
/PRNewswire/ -- CobbleStone Software, a recognized leader in contract lifecycle management (CLM) and contract artificial intelligence, is pleased to announce...
Gracenote Expands AI Product Roadmap with Sports MCP Server, Entertainment SLM and Agents
/PRNewswire/ -- Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, today unveiled the next phase of its AI product roadmap. Anchored by its Video Model...
EverTrue Acquires Aidentified's Philanthropy Business, Securing Exclusive Data Rights to Advance AI-Powered Fundraising
/PRNewswire/ -- EverTrue, the philanthropy-first intelligence platform for fundraising teams, today announced an exclusive partnership with Aidentified, a data...
H1 acquires Defacto Health to expand provider network intelligence
H1 has acquired Defacto Health, a healthcare data company focused on provider network intelligence, in a move to expand its offerings for health plans and strengthen its healthcare data assets. | H1 has acquired Defacto Health, a healthcare data company focused on provider network intelligence, in a move to expand its offerings for health plans and strengthen its healthcare data assets.
Turning information into action to strengthen health emergency preparedness in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
WHO and partners advance a new regional All-Hazards Public Health Intelligence (PHI) Network to connect information, anticipate risks and support faster, more coordinated action during health emergencies9 September...
Film and TV Portrayals of A.I. Go Beyond Science Fiction
Plots involving some kind of artificial intelligence are even part of soap operas. Here’s how they’ve evolved over the decades.
‘Fat b*tches’: Videos reveal the extent of GOP candidate’s crude sexual remarks
Brandon Herrera repeatedly made vulgar sexual statements and derogatory comments about the appearance and intelligence of women, CNN found.
Slime Molds and a double Ig Nobel Prize winner and a big, great science adventure
” ‘This is dangerous’: slime moulds and the bitter debate over the nature of intelligence — Scientists are battling over whether supposedly simple organisms should be considered ‘intelligent’…
Allegheny County Council proposes bill that could regulate AI use in political campaign materials
Members of Allegheny County Council on Tuesday introduced a bill that would require political candidates to disclose their use of artificial intelligence in campaign materials, an effort aimed at preventing voters from being misled by AI-generative content. If passed, the ordinance would establish disclosure requirements for AI-generated campaign content used
Why General AI Coding Assistants Fall Short in Science
Generic AI coding assistants struggle with scientific workflows. Rolv v3 adds reproducibility, biomedical intelligence, HPC execution, and visual DAGs.
Roundup: Using AI to better integrate virtual modalities into care delivery
Artificial intelligence enhancements in telehealth aim to bolster care continuity while virtual nursing extends bedside care. Also, Zocdoc integrates with Google Gemini to book appointments while Sword Health is set to acquire Headspace's parent company.
Harvard, MIT scholars head north as Carney offers millions
Canada is investing $362 million to lure 64 top global scholars, including dozens from Harvard, MIT and other elite U.S. universities, to advance research in health and artificial intelligence.
OpenAI Says It Has Cracked One of Math’s ‘Millennium Problems’
The company’s announcement is the most dramatic sign yet that artificial intelligence is fundamentally transforming the field of higher mathematics.
Nevada SBDC bringing hands-on AI training to Reno small businesses
Reno entrepreneurs will get a chance to explore practical ways artificial intelligence can help their businesses.
Former Kane Realty COO launches AI-powered real estate consulting firm
Bonner Gaylord and David Shaner co-founded Grounded Intelligence to help Triangle commercial real estate firms implement AI tools for competitive advantage.
Auburn launches new AI course for business leaders in Birmingham
As AI (artificial intelligence) becomes increasingly integrated into our everyday lives, it's transforming everything from the way we search for information
Memorial Hermann Health System Clinicians Use Epic's AI Tool to Help Patients Better Understand Test Results
/PRNewswire/ -- Clinicians at Memorial Hermann Health System (MHHS) are using a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool built directly into Epic to help patients...
Jensen Huang’s AGI Claim Is A Business Case, Not Settled Fact
Jensen Huang says AGI has arrived, but the claim reflects AI’s business value more than proof of human-level, general-purpose intelligence.
Parakeet Health lands major AI partnership with national dermatology group Qualderm
Parakeet Health landed a major partnership with Qualderm, one of the nation's largest dermatology organizations, as the company looks to apply agentic artificial intelligence to a growing specialty | Parakeet Health landed a major partnership with Qualderm, one of the nation's largest dermatology organizations, as the company looks to apply agentic artificial intelligence to a growing specialty care access problem.
Science ministry to inject $3.49 bl for AI model
South Korea's science ministry plans to invest 4.7 trillion won ($3.49 billion) for a project to develop a homegrown artificial intelligence (AI) model that wil
Science ministry to inject $3.5 bil. to develop frontier AI model
Science ministry plans to invest 4.7 trillion won ($3.49 billion) for a project to develop a homegrown artificial intelligence (AI) model that will...
Top Mathematician Announces New Institute for A.I. Safety
Jacob Tsimerman, a recent recipient of the Fields Medal, believes that higher mathematics can help curb the dangers of runaway artificial intelligence.
Students avoiding AI for schoolwork outscore peers in science, bar one use: OECD
Fifteen-year-olds reporting they never or almost never used artificial intelligence (AI) for schoolwork outscored their AI-using peers in science on nearly every type of task, except for utilizing AI as a general study aid, according to the PISA result conducted by the OECD.
The House Democrat who's making AI regulation her No. 1 priority
Rep. Lori Trahan passed on a bid for leadership to focus on artificial intelligence policy last week
French A.I. Start-Up Mistral Raises $3.5 Billion as Part of Strategy Shift
Mistral is trying to keep pace with American and Chinese rivals while offering customers a European alternative for artificial intelligence.
Military and intelligence officials discuss smaller presence in the Middle East as US looks for another post-9/11 strategy
In offices across the military and in the intelligence community, there have been recent quiet discussions about cutting the number of people and facilities typically stationed in the Middle East if the Trump administration succeeds in ending the Iran conflict, six sources say.
Science Spotlight: AI could be 'pivotal' in eco-innovation for beauty
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies can help beauty companies accelerate eco-innovation from start to finish, aligning efforts to key United Nation sustainability goals. According to a review published in Cleaner Production Letters, however, use of AI to drive sustainable cosmetic innovation remains underexplored. Up until now, the integration of AI into the cosmetics industry has “predominantly focused on personalisation, marketing, and supply chain optimisation,” the researchers...
I coach executives. I'm teaching my kids a skill AI can't replicate.
Pam Manfredo Curtis says emotional intelligence will become more important as AI transforms work. Parents can begin developing it in childhood.
Why scientists are looking to provoke disagreement among AI brain models
When people wanted to create better artificial intelligence, they looked to the brain for inspiration. Now the tables are turning, and researchers are using AI models to better understand the brain. But ...
What if your ‘lizard brain’ never existed? Scientists challenge a 70-year-old theory and uncover the wiring battle that may have shaped human intelligence
For decades, the human brain was like some evolutionary skyscraper: ancient instincts on the bottom, emotions in the middle, and sophisticated reasoning on the top. That’s a good reason why we sometimes feel stuck between impulse and logic.
Security Forces Dismantle Terrorist Cells Southeast of Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Intelligence Ministry announced the dismantling of three operational cells affiliated with terrorist Takfiri groups in southeastern Iran, with nine terrorists arrested and three others killed in clashes with security forces.
Early Data Indicates an A.I.-Generated Drug Could Slow Aging
Artificial intelligence was used to help develop a drug candidate, rentosertib, for a rare lung condition. Its maker says the drug also seems to reduce the biological hallmarks of age.
The core anti-Pangram constituency is phony writers
Welcome to The Closing Argument, our verdict on the news, plus everything The Argument published and appeared in this week. The Verdict, by Kelsey Piper A lot of people hate AI for drowning the internet in slop and displacing human creatives. You might think that these people would be thrilled by a program that can identify and flag AI-generated work. But many people who hate AI also hate Pangram, an impressively accurate AI detector that produces very few false positives, according to high-quality independent research. This loathing found its most recent expression in a bizarre Wired article that amplifies a wide range of false arguments from Pangram skeptics: that AI detectors are racist (they’re not) or ableist (they’re not)1 or don’t work (this one does)2. Rather than starting from the premise that it would be really valuable to have a working AI detector and scrutinizing Pangram to make sure it lives up to that promise, the article starts from the premise that Pangram obviously has bad vibes and sets out to discover why. (One answer: The CEO microwaved lunch during an interview!) Why aren’t writers who resent Pangram more eager to distinguish themselves from posters who are having ChatGPT ghostwrite all their work? There are a few different things at play, but I think one key dynamic is this: These are often the same people. A core constituency for arguments like Wired’s is “writers” who are using AI to write their posts but resent this fact being made public. They stand to lose from AI detectors because AI detectors call them out. Share When Substack announced a partnership with Pangram, a sizable fraction of the platform’s authors rose up in outrage. Some people had experience with other AI detectors that didn’t work, and some felt that AI writing ought to be encouraged — both of which are fair enough. But the fury was fueled by authors passionately insisting that Pangram kept wrongly accusing them on almost every post they published. Pangram can be wrong, especially on short passages. But in the overwhelming majority of cases where Pangram looked at a whole blog post rather than a single paragraph, the program correctly detected work as AI. Even if we can’t be 100% sure in any individual case, we can notice the trend in the aggregate. Wired quotes Sam Illingworth, a professor of critical AI literacy at Edinburgh Napier University, who said, “I don’t think [AI detectors] work. … I think that detectors are prejudiced against certain people.” This spring, he said that he used AI for research and editing; this summer he acknowledged that in addition to research and editing, he also uses it “now and then for a turn of phrase I keep.” Pangram informs us that most of his posts are 100% AI-written (some are mixed AI-and-human) and that 100% AI-written posts started appearing last year. The favorable interpretation is that, as someone whose recent work Pangram consistently mistakes for AI, Illingworth sees Pangram’s flaws firsthand. The unfavorable interpretation is that the tool’s credibility trades off against his own, because its account of who writes his posts is not consistent with his. Illingworth is not alone in insisting the detector does not work. “It’s a Monday night in late July, and I’m pasting my own Substack draft into an AI detector for the first time. Not because I’m worried. Because I’m curious. I wrote every word of it myself, the way I write everything, out loud in my head first, in a rhythm that still carries the accent of a language I learned to think in before I learned to write in this one,” begins one Substack post by an author indignant that Pangram flags her writing as AI. “That’s the part I had to sit with before I could write this.” If you, like me, have worked with AIs a lot, you won’t even need Pangram there. The author of that piece is AI. It is obviously AI! I checked 10 other posts on the blog, and they were also obviously AI! “I have spent 22 years as an award-winning author and essayist. And now this bullshit tool that learned from MY writing is going to accuse me of plagiarism,” popular Substack writer Carlyn Beccia wrote in an anti-Pangram post. “For the last and final time, AI DETECTORS DO NOT WORK.” Here’s what her writing sounded like in 2020: “Most success stories revolve around one person who believed enough in you to say — give it a try. We call these people muses, but they are so much more than that. They are the strong man giants whose shoulders we stand on so we can see the horizon. Throughout the editing process, I am sure my editor felt less like a giant of greatness and more like Atlas with the world on her shoulders.” Pangram says it was 100% human-written. (So were other articles of hers in 2020.) And here’s what it sounds like now: “And then there is the reshuffling, which sounds like paperwork until you remember that empires have always loved paperwork. The Trump regime recently moved special education oversight from the Education Department to HHS. That is not a minor bureaucratic transfer. It changes the frame.”3 Pangram says this is mostly AI. I am not convinced that Pangram is wrong. In my own experience, Pangram is very effective on long texts — if it marks a long essay as AI, the essay was either written by AI or deliberately written to sound like AI. On tweet-length or paragraph-length texts, it’s not perfectly reliable. It seems to work just as well for non-native English speakers as for native speakers. While I have seen dozens of claims of pre-2022 text returning a positive result on Pangram, I have tried repeatedly to corroborate those and have never once succeeded. To be clear, I’m absolutely not saying that complaining about Pangram suggests a writer is a cheat. There are plenty of other concerns. Most are mistakenly premised, such as the false claim that Pangram trains on work you put into it, but others are reasonable: It’s unreliable on sufficiently short text segments; it creates an internet witch-hunt mentality when there are defensible uses of AI; people who are open about their AI use are sometimes blamed, when the only people really doing something wrong are the ones who hide it; and it isn’t perfect, so a single positive result shouldn’t be taken as decisive proof of misconduct. I’m happy to concede that Pangram is imperfect and possible to over-rely on. If an author’s posts are mostly non-AI and one scans as partially AI, this could be a mistake. It’s also possible to defeat Pangram with intentional effort. If you think we need something more robust and more reliable, fine! But if you don’t like AI and don’t like Pangram, your attitude really ought to be that it’s a shame that our existing tools for AI detection are imperfect, and it’s important to invent better ones. If your stance is instead that AI is evil and so is looking for AI, then ultimately you’re contributing to the sloppification of the internet. You’re making it harder for people who write their own text to distinguish themselves, and providing cover for authors who are definitely not writing their own text. Subscribe Top stories this week, by Kobe Yank-Jacobs Commentators often worry that the decline of reading could mean the decline of liberal democracy — but deliberative governance actually predated widespread literacy. This week, Maibritt Henkel pointed out that many liberal cultures thrive on a culture of raucous, interactive debate, which can happen in-person as easily, if not more so, than in text. Read on, dear reader, to learn more. It may actually cheer you up: [ ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/reading-wont-save-liberalism) [ Reading won’t save liberalism ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/reading-wont-save-liberalism) Maibritt Henkel · Sep 1 [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/reading-wont-save-liberalism) It used to be bad to downplay climate change (if we mean denying its reality). Today, it’s actually good to downplay climate change (if we mean keeping the issue out of political fights so we can make real progress). This counterintuitive view is called “climate hushing,” and contributor Alex Trembath argued that it’s the key to enacting good policy going forward. Get up to speed on the latest in climate politics: [ ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/we-wont-stop-climate-change-by-talking) [ We won’t stop climate change by talking about it ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/we-wont-stop-climate-change-by-talking) Alex Trembath · Sep 2 [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/we-wont-stop-climate-change-by-talking) Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney is standing up for the forces of liberalism against Donald Trump’s assault on our closest ally. So, why is one prominent left-wing commenter attacking Carney? Columnist Matthew Yglesias explains: [ ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-economic-liberty-means-central) [ When "economic liberty" means central planning ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-economic-liberty-means-central) Matthew Yglesias · Aug 31 [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-economic-liberty-means-central) 🌟Abundance Wins of the Week🌟 Shout out to my home state of California, whose legislature passed two housing bills this week. One requires a housing density minimum in transit-oriented areas of the state’s most transit-rich cities (Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, San Diego, and Long Beach). Another bill closes two common loopholes used by third parties to delay housing projects, including an opportunity to challenge maps of a given lot created by the developer after a project has been approved. Shout out to our big-state rival, Texas, where pro-housing SB 785 took effect this week. The new state law requires municipalities to have at least one district permitted for manufactured housing without a special permit. This will promote zoning changes in 44% of municipalities. The company Fervo Energy signed a deal with Google for what is set to be the world’s largest enhanced geothermal facility, proving a technology can work at a scale that could be crucial to a decarbonized, energy-abundant economy. Share Worth watching… This week, forecasting legend Nate Silver joined Jerusalem, Matt, and Jeremiah on a crowded episode of the pod. It was a party. And speaking of parties, our round table debated the factional lines within the Democratic Party: Is it possible to be center-left and also anti-establishment? Watch or listen to find out: The Rio Grande Valley in Texas is one of the areas that swung hardest toward Trump in 2024, but musician Bobby Pulido is running to flip it back. Right now, The Argument/Split Ticket’s model has him running 1.1 points behind his Republican opponent in a district Trump won by 18 points. Tune in to find out how he differs from national Democrats and what he thinks he can to do win this seat. On Thursday, Bernie Sanders was among the first politicians to call for a ban on superintelligence. My guest this week, Andrea Miotti, has been lobbying to ban superintelligence for several years, most recently in the U.K., U.S., and Canada. I asked him how he gets legislators to take speculative risks seriously, and we dug into what plans might look like to actually pass a ban. Listen to learn more: What’s News with The Argument The Argument recommends, by Kobe Yank-Jacobs If we ever lose track of Justin Zuckerman, I’ll have the team split up and check all the movie theaters in the city. I’m shocked (and a little jealous) at how often he gets out to see good cinema. This week, he brings us It Ends, a “horror-ish movie,” which he described as a “Gen Z Waiting for Godot.” I was intrigued before he added that it was “funny, dark and existential” — at which point I was fully locked in. I guess I also had existential themes on the mind this week. One morning, a single line from a poem I read long ago just came to me: “Is death a stretch of time in which a life is just a flash?” The poem is called “From 20,000 Feet” by Heather McHugh. I suggest the version in The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry, which, by tradition, my best friend and I always bring backpacking, extra weight be damned. We’ll stay thematically dark for just one more rec from senior editor John Robert Thomason, whose upcoming trip to Baltimore reminded him to suggest Michael Clune’s memoir White Out (about being addicted to heroin in Baltimore in the 1990s). Ben Lerner’s blurb called it _“_Disturbing, brilliant, hilarious—it’s as if Proust had written Jesus’ Son.” John told me this “seems accurate, with the caveat that I’ve never read Proust.” I, personally, have also shelved Proust until retirement. At this point, I was a little concerned for the team since all of us tossed out such psychologically grim material — maybe we’re all down about the end of summer — but thankfully, at least a few of us were into more upbeat selections. Milan Singh recommended Made In’s 5-quart stainless clad saucier, suggesting he had some fun in the kitchen. Jeremiah Johnson asked if he could recommend yet more Carly Rae Jepsen. Once denied, he offered up Game Changer instead_,_ calling it “the most wildly creative game show, maybe in the entire history of the genre.” Eli Richman mentioned _Lucky, “_a B-tier show with an A-tier cast and an S-tier theme song.” I suppose he was recommending the song, Horns of a Bull. Still, despite these cheerier recs, I couldn’t help but be concerned that we were subconsciously worried about racing toward summer’s end — the end of swim trunks and splashing around. Then a message landed reminding me of the three-day weekend to come. A whole extra day for sunshine. One more swim in the lake. I was grateful this called to mind yet another line from a poem, one by Mary Oliver, the patron saint of every gorgeous summer day (and about whom a documentary is now out). Speaking to God in the poem “Thirst,” she wrote: grant me, in your mercy,a little more time. Love for the earthand love for you are having such a longconversation in my heart. We have merch! We have quarter-zips, keychains, hats, and stickers. Each one is a great conversation starter in its own way. Buy them here. Subscribe More to read: [ The Opening Argument ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/seeing-like-an-elite)[ Seeing like an elite ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/seeing-like-an-elite) Kobe Yank-Jacobs · Sep 4 What do Americans hear when they watch Sen. Bernie Sanders or Vice President JD Vance rail against the elite? Are they thinking of right-wing tech billionaires? Imperious college professors? Liberal magazine writers? [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/seeing-like-an-elite) [ The Weekly Scroll ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/god-is-back-on-the-timeline)[ God is back on the timeline ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/god-is-back-on-the-timeline) Jeremiah Johnson · Sep 5 This week, we’re talking about Substack’s new religious debates, the continuing MAGA influencer scandal, how to retire from YouTube, and aura battles. [ Read full story ](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/god-is-back-on-the-timeline) 1 This was a legitimate thing to worry about, but doesn’t seem to be a problem given the actual technology: Marijke Van Vlasselaer, Filip Van Droogenbroeck, and Bram Spruyt’s 2026 paper looks at whether Pangram is less accurate when evaluating the work of non-native speakers of English. It isn’t. That’s because Pangram isn’t really looking at how “unusual” a piece of writing is but whether it has the characteristic patterns of LLMs. The Wired article makes an odd gesture at a different Pangram-is-racist argument. There were several controversies this summer during which upcoming books were canceled after being discovered to be AI-written: “The three novels mentioned earlier — Shy Girl, Daggermouth, and Call Me, easily publishing’s biggest AI-detection scandals — were all written by writers of color.” But come on! As Zvi Mowshowitz put it: “They were not primarily written by people of color. They were primarily written by AIs.” That’s the whole problem! And as my colleague Jeremiah Johnson recently observed with respect to Cambridge’s Arday scandal, a community being unwilling to call out fraud if it’s perpetuated by people of color is not an anti-racist tendency; it is ultimately quite racist. 2 Many non-Pangram detectors don’t work, but many possible airplane designs also don’t work, and no one considers this a general argument against aviation; the thing that matters is whether any detection works. 3 The phrase “empires have always loved” mysteriously became all the rage in the last few years. See here, here, here, here and here. Before 2025, the only use of that phrase I have been able to find is a single Tweet. The logic of the sentence, too, is incoherent in an AI-characteristic way. “...sounds like paperwork, until you remember that empires have always loved paperwork”? Does remembering that make it sound less like paperwork? It’s a craft-ful sentence, but what is it actually saying??
PayPal layoffs hit Israel as payment giant restructures global operations
The cut will hit the Tel Aviv development center, which develops artificial intelligence systems to analyze transactions in real time, detect fraud, prevent money laundering, and monitor the company’
Bill Gates warns of AI risks at Telluride Film Festival
At a festival built around the human touch, two events confronted the promise and perils of artificial intelligence, as Bill Gates warned “the aliens are here.”
MSU expanding AI curriculum with new minor and course additions
Artificial intelligence has taken the world by storm, and Michigan State University is responding. The university introduced an AI minor, added topics to existing courses and created two brand-new AI classes.
Why Is China Betting Billions on a Secret Science Almost No One Knows? - Futura-Sciences
The Silent Quantum Revolution In the shadows of headline debates about semiconductors and artificial intelligence, a quieter, subtler scientific revolution is underway between global superpowers. In the spring of 2025, China unveiled its ambitious strategy to dominate quantum metrology—the ultra-precise science quietly governing our technological world. This marks a frenetic...
A Whiplash Election Year Enters Its Final Stretch as Trump Holds Wild Cards
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the earliest days of this election cycle, the U.S. wasn't at war with Iran. The East Wing of the White House was still standing and the Kennedy Center wasn't threatened with demolition. Artificial intelligence data centers weren't bipartisan shorthand for the tech sector's ...
China’s $25b microdrama industry faces AI upheaval
The country’s wildly popular microdrama industry is undergoing a dramatic upheaval thanks to artificial intelligence – with a very real human cost.
The mystery behind an audio clip that helped upend a Senate race
Artificial-intelligence tools increasingly allow political actors to fool voters — and help candidates cast doubt on reality.
GOP Lawmakers Discuss Economic Development At W.Va. Chamber Business Summit
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS – The final day of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce 90th Annual Meeting and Business Summit at the Greenbrier wrapped up Friday morning with Republican lawmakers talking about the state’s economic future. House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, moderated a panel discussion with House Judiciary Committee Chairman JB Akers, R-Kanawha; state Sen. […]
AI-generated ads have come to Oakland politics. Accessible solution
Slowly but surely, more campaigns are using videos and songs made with artificial intelligence. We asked local candidates and experts about the implications.
UChicago Social Sciences Took a Stand Against AI and Devices. Why?
By banning artificial intelligence and digital devices in core classes, the University of Chicago's social sciences division aims to limit distractions and maximize participation in small, discussion-based courses.
A More Confident Iran Emerges After Six Months of War With the U.S.
New intelligence reports have assessed that Iran now has a far better understanding of its capabilities and the limits of U.S. power.
Smart ring maker Oura files to go public, pitching investors on AI-driven preventive health
Oura, the smart ring maker and health tracking company, filed to go public on Thursday to fuel its next phase of growth as it aims to build an artificial intelligence-powered health platform. | Oura, the smart ring maker and health tracking company, filed to go public on Thursday to fuel its next phase of growth as it aims to build an artificial intelligence-powered health platform.
The future of AI in healthcare: Moving from hype to business value
Commentary: Artificial intelligence in healthcare is not one story. It is three different stories moving at three different speeds, and that nuance often gets lost in the headlines.
An AI track is being offered for computer science, information systems majors
By Theresa Pratt, Staff Writer Towson University’s Fisher College of Science and Mathematics is offering an artificial intelligence track to undergraduate and graduate computer science majors…
Lawmakers urge Hochul to act on AI tech bills
The bill would require businesses to report certain information to the state Department of Labor breaking down how artificial intelligence is affecting their hiring and employment practices.
Guidelines needed as AI embraced by mental health practices
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are overwhelmingly being used in mental health practices to support administrative tasks, but University of Queensland researchers have found they potentially lack privacy, ...
Scientists Recreated the Long-Lost Chirps of Jurassic Insects. Listen to the Simulated Soundscape of 165 Million Years Ago
With artificial intelligence and careful modeling of fossilized wings, researchers reproduced how some extinct, katydid-like insects might have made noise
CMI boosts medical affairs capabilities with new specialty communications unit
CMI Media Group is adding to its spread of media services through a new specialty communications business that introduces a slate of new cutting-edge marketing tools. | The new business unit is centered on four core capabilities, which includes AI-enhanced scientific intelligence, omnichannel "scientific ecosystems," and more.
Is intelligence really passed down by our parents? What science says today - Futura-Sciences
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” as the saying goes. But is popular belief enough to conclude that intelligence is hereditary? There are plenty of examples of parents who appear to have intellectual abilities that differ from those of their children. That is because other factors, such as...
Apple paying 400% more for iPhone 18 Pro memory, says TrendForce
A new market intelligence report suggests that Apple will be paying four times more for iPhone 18 Pro memory than...
Imaging artificial intelligence vendor Elucid raises $55M
The Boston AI firm touted the “oversubscribed” Series D funding round, which included participation from an unnamed, publicly traded medical technology firm.
AI pinpoints radiology residents’ educational gaps, helping expand personalized training
New research details how artificial intelligence can be harnessed to improve radiology resident education by identifying shortfalls in clinical exposure and reinforcing missed concepts.
Teacher Research Academy connects educators to LLNL science
For nearly 30 years, LLNL has offered Teacher Research Academy (TRA) to middle school, high school and community college teachers looking for unique professional development experiences. At no cost to educators, TRA workshops offer classroom-focused applications of LLNL's groundbreaking science and technology. Over two weeks this summer, four different TRAs were offered as two-day workshops: Understanding Energy Technology, Drone Design & Application, Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Classroom and Data Analytics for STEM Labs using AI. Understanding energy technology This session
Society for Science Announces Top 300 for the 2026 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge
A new generation of STEM stars—tackling air quality, renewable energy, disease risk, artificial intelligence and more—has been named to the…
How Data Reporting Strategy Drives Business Intelligence, Growth
Implementing a robust reporting strategy turns corporate data into actionable insights for strategic decision-making, writes Sergio Hernández.
Money problems may age your brain faster
Persistent financial hardship in early and middle adulthood was linked to poorer thinking skills by the 50s and more signs of brain aging later in life. Researchers say years of chronic stress and financial worry may gradually take a toll on the brain.
Commercial AI cuts pulmonary nodule assessment times by up to 25%
The use of artificial intelligence-enabled software could significantly reduce interpretation times for chest CT scans, experts write in RSNA's Radiology.