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The AI Power Trip

What is the AI Power Trip?

The image features a silver meat grinder. Going into the grinder at the top are various culturally symbolic, historical, and fun icons – such as emojis, old statutes, a computer, newspapers, an aeroplane. At the other end of the meat grinder, coming out is a sea of blue and grey icons representing chat bot responses like 'Let me know if this aligns with your vision' in a grey chat bot message symbol.
AGI’s ETA: Delayed (again) due to technical difficulties
Silicon Valley’s pursuit of human-level AI remains elusive, but its power to reshape society is already here.
By Sara Goudarzi
Illustration of power lines standing on the map of the United States against a dark blue background.
By Stephen Bessasparis
Why data center growth forecasts are essential to mitigating their impact on the grid
To plan for the impacts of data centers on the grid, experts can take upfront deposits and analyze a scope of possible futures.
White silhouettes of a UAV, drones, and missiles with red shadows atop a vibrant and chaotic watercolor background. Circuit and target graphics suggest open and hit targets.
By Steven Feldstein
AI targeting systems are coming, but not as fast as many assume
Given the complexity of military AI innovations, many nations will face considerable hurdles in adopting them.
A brightly coloured illustration which can be viewed in any direction. It has many elements to it working together: men in suits around a table, someone in a data centre, big hands controlling the scenes and holding a phone, people in a production line. Motifs such as network diagrams and melting emojis are placed throughout the busy vignettes.
By Allison Stanger
The AI Raj: How tech giants are recolonizing power
Just as the East India Company’s success justified new powers, AI firms seek to leverage technical prowess to assume public functions.
A neural network comes out of the top of an ivory tower, above a crowd of people's heads. Some of them are reaching up to try and take some control and pull the net down to them. Watercolour illustration.
By Suresh Venkatasubramanian
How AI and surveillance capitalism are undermining democracy
The only way data and AI can be used for good is with restrictive controls to prevent damage to democracy.

incoming signals

Smartphone showing an Anthropic announcement page for Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 with update notice suspending access to both AI models.
By Justin Sherman

Why AI models like Claude Fable and Mythos defy traditional export control frameworks

Export controls on intangible, digital goods like software and data have historically fared far worse than export controls on physical goods.
A lobster claw crushing the Earth and a hand holding a smartphone with Moltbook logo on the screen, all against a black background.
By Roman V. Yampolskiy

AI social platforms like Moltbook are potential accelerators of existential risk that should be regulated as critical infrastructure

AI social networks are where agents can compound their capabilities and coordinate at scale—and in which humans can lose control.
A graph showing the state of the internet network in Iran appears on a smartphone screen with a Starlink logo reflected on it.
By Steven Feldstein, Shreya Joshi

Iran’s internet shutdown tells a larger story: Digital repression is on the rise 

Like Iran, governments worldwide rely on internet shutdowns to suppress populations, rig elections and collectively punish their citizens.
By Katie Peek

What experts can learn by tracking AI harms

Experts can identify and address artificial intelligence's weak points using a database tracking the technology’s harms.
By Jeremy Hsu

When it all comes crashing down: The aftermath of the AI boom

AI has buoyed the stock market and a struggling US economy but warning signs indicate a bubble that everyone will pay for when it bursts.
Closeup on H1B visa with blue circuitry
By Jeremy Hsu

How Trump’s new H-1B fee will hurt Silicon Valley and AI startups

The Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications is threatening Silicon Valley’s ability to attract the world’s top talent.
By Frances Mack

America’s AI action plan aims to gut regulation and expand manufacturing

The Trump administration released America’s AI Action Plan, which proposes gutting regulations, expanding AI use, and building data centers.
By Susan D’Agostino

AI is polluting truth in journalism. Here’s how to disrupt the misinformation feedback loop.

AI-enabled misinformation is not merely a failure of facts. Regulation can help slow the supply. But unless we address the demand side—the human hunger for stories that soothe or confirm—we will be fighting a shadow.
US Capitol Building with a tree in the foreground
By Bahar Gholipour

How the striking of a GOP regulatory ban will affect the global artificial intelligence race

The House just voted to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill without a moratorium that would ban states from enforcing AI regulations for 10 years.