Summary
- AI WATCH –
Futureq Pt. 3: Defense in the 21st Century
AGENTIC AI – This technology is the backbone of all the other technologies to follow. Without Agentic AI (AAI), no military can hope to remotely compete with one that has such powers. For this reason alone, nation-states must assure they either have the most powerful, fastest-processing AI agents or be allied with a nation-state that does. This factor alone makes AI as essential to the 21st Century military as gunpowder has been to all militaries for the last six plus centuries.
Currently, militaries are already using agentic AI, with the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine deploying it in major operations. Maven Smart System has been used by the U.S. military, which is a provider of intelligence gathering and targeting-supporting AI agents. That has been succeeded by Agent Network, which was just launched in June of this year.
The latest upgrade is moving towards “agent-to-agent handoffs,” which are currently limited. There are AI agents for every aspect of the military machine, from logistics agents to fire agents. The goal is to allow all of them to talk directly to each other, enabling more rapid “holistic” understanding of the conditions.
Currently, or should I say “allegedly,” there are no agents making fire decisions. A human is behind every lethal action. But the military hopes to develop agents that can make lethal decisions in limited actions a human is observing. That human would also have the power to end the action.
Yet, the U.S. military hopes to have agents capable of making lethal decisions when everything, and everyone else has been destroyed. What the U.S. military claims is that no such agent would choose targets, they would be given the targets to strike.
The desire to keep AI’s lethal decision-making contained is undermined by the threat that competing nation-states will have no such restraint, which might give them a major advantage in the new war reality.
The ability of small-scale players to create their own agentic AIs to run their own weapons systems (and the logistics in delivering those weapons systems to the theater of war) almost guarantees agentic AIs will be given full target-seeking and eliminating powers (if they haven’t already).
One essential aspect of Agentic AI is the ability to run the real in simulation not only before the real occurs, but even during. The general consensus is the AI agent that can’t survive the sim, won’t survive the real. The AI agent that engages with the real without the sim is at a decided major disadvantage to the AI agent that operates with a sim.
The U.S. military has developed Ender’s Foundry, whose 10-year goal is to create a sim that is constantly updated with the real so that AI agents can practice while they’re “fighting.”
At the core of this fight is the speed and data processing power of the core AI that powers the agentic AI. This, again, is why AI is so essential for nation-state sovereignty in the decades to come. It is also why AI is now a 2nd Amendment issue for American citizens.
One new geopolitical reality is this, if your allies are not in on your best AI powers and utilizing them and communicating with them in the same way you do, your whole system is useless unless you fight alone.
This puts a premium on advantaged power forming alliances with lesser powers, and on lesser powers forming alliances with advantaged powers.
It also puts a premium on trust in the alliance, for the advantaged power must share some of its most sensitive technological secrets with its allies, or they won’t be able to effectively integrate with their system.
Democrats’ Fundraisers Are Also Running AI’s Congressional Access Operation– readsludge.com
Democrats’ Fundraisers Are Also Running AI’s Congressional Access Operation– readsludge.com
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EXCERPT:
Democratic fundraising consultants working for Senate campaigns, including those of Sen. Jacky Rosen and Rep. Haley Stevens, also run a nonprofit backed in part by Google and Amazon that has become one of the AI industry’s primary channels for cultivating relationships with the congressional staff overseeing federal AI legislation.
The Innovative Future Collective (IFC), founded by Democratic fundraising consultants Ashley Kennedy and Tonya Fulkerson, has spent the past year flying congressional aides on industry-guided tours of Google, Meta, Amazon, Palantir, Anduril, and other companies at the center of the AI industry’s campaign to shape federal AI policy, including its push to preempt state AI regulation. The nonprofit describes the trips, built around briefings from company policy executives for committee counsels and chiefs of staff overseeing AI legislation, as “educational,” and told Sludge in March that it “does not engage in advocacy.”
Though IFC does not disclose its donors, two companies whose executives regularly participate in its congressional programs, Google and Amazon, have identified IFC among the political and policy organizations they fund in their own public political-engagement disclosures.
Kennedy and Fulkerson own Fulkerson Kennedy & Company (FK&Co.), a political fundraising firm that has been paid nearly $3 million this election cycle for fundraising consulting services by Democratic campaigns and committees, according to Federal Election Commission records. Its clients include Sens. Chris Coons, Jacky Rosen, and Martin Heinrich; Reps. Chris Pappas and Haley Stevens, who are running for open Senate seats; and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. IFC’s first federal tax filing, covering 2025, shows the nonprofit paid $179,079 back to FK&Co. for “management, staffing, and fundraising services.”
US Bipartisan Stop Rogue AI Act and AI Kill Switch Act introduced amid AI extinction warnings – Digital Watch Observatory– news.google.com
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AI GOVERNANCE
Trump, AI Tech Leaders Promise to be Responsible
President Trump held an AI summit at the White House where he and tech leaders from Elon Musk to Mark Zuckerberg agreed to self-govern their roll-out of AI.
The President has held that holding back AI will allow China to dominate us, and that includes militarily. The move appears intended to ward off any legislative efforts to limit AI. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-AR) appeared to cosign the agreement, claiming “The super intelligence providers are committed to building trust as they help us build the future.”
Trump, Tech Leaders Sign White House Accord on ‘Super Intelligence’ › American Greatness– amgreatness.com
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EXCERPT:
President Donald Trump and some of the world’s most prominent technology executives signed the White House Accord on Super Intelligence on Tuesday, establishing voluntary standards aimed at oversight, transparency and accountability as the industry rapidly develops advanced technology.
The agreement came the same day Trump signed an executive order officially rebranding artificial intelligence as “Super Intelligence.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled the accord outside the West Wing alongside executives including xAI’s Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang. The announcement followed a private luncheon attended by Trump, Johnson, Cabinet officials and technology leaders.
“The super intelligence providers are committed to building trust as they help us build the future,” Johnson said, adding that the executives were prepared to “take accountability and ownership.”
Johnson described the agreement as a voluntary statement of principles establishing expectations for “robust internal controls and layers of internal and external review.” He said Congress and the White House would continue working to guide the industry’s development in a safe manner.
Trump compared the accord to a constitution and praised the executives for coming together.
“They love our country, they love the world,” Trump said. “And they came together, and they did something … it’s almost like a constitution in a way.”
Top AI and tech firms sign ‘morally binding’ accord to ‘self-police’ development after meeting at White House– www.euronews.com
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EXCERPT:
US President Donald Trump said that he and a large group of leaders of artificial intelligence companies signed a voluntary accord on Tuesday that will include internal and external reviews during a meeting aimed at addressing Americans’ fears about the technology and its risks on humanity.
“I think I’m seeing tremendous self-policing. And they understand that they have to self-police,” Trump told reporters during an impromptu press conference outside the West Wing.
Trump and US House Speaker Mike Johnson met with leading executives from top tech and AI firms at the White House that are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to build out AI infrastructure, including data centres in communities across the country, which have sparked grassroots, bipartisan opposition.
The accord was signed by Trump, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, X and xAI – now part of SpaceX.
The accord, which Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social, late on Tuesday, opened the door to future regulation but focused on four voluntary steps for the companies to take.
It said the companies would implement “robust internal controls,” partner with an “independent external auditor” to assess whether the controls are working, and establish a committee within each company’s board of directors to evaluate reports from internal and external auditors.
President Trump to Sign Executive Order Renaming AI, Says “Self-Regulation” Is Important – C-SPAN
President Trump to Sign Executive Order Renaming AI, Says “Self-Regulation” Is Important – C-SPAN– news.google.com
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EXCERPT:
America’s ‘AI czar’ could revolutionize our form of government– www.theblaze.com
America’s ‘AI czar’ could revolutionize our form of government– www.theblaze.com
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EXCERPT:
Donald Trump is considering a small handful of candidates for “AI czar” — notionally, a Cabinet-level role overseeing the industry, the technology, and something the president is calling, perhaps in the spirit of Space Force, the “AI Force.”
Trump has not specified much beyond that. Nobody rumored to be under consideration seems especially eager for the job.
Perhaps we don’t need someone with the power of a czar to rule AI. Perhaps we need someone with the authority of a saint to counsel us about it.
Plenty of reasons suggest themselves.
Not quite everything is computer. Many crucial components of America’s good working order still require special and undivided attention of their own. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is no longer being considered because of the importance of his current role. The logic is arguably the same for White House science and technology adviser Michael Kratsios and other potential candidates.
And, as the untimely demise of Czar Nicholas II and his family at the hands of the communists reminds us, a czar invested with enough power and authority can swiftly become a scapegoat or blood sacrifice of the highest order.
Which brings us to the momentous possibilities unsealed simply by creating a high office called AI czar.
Polls show most Americans think democracy is doing poorly. For a growing share across the political spectrum, that is not necessarily a bad thing.
AI POLITICS
Trump launches government chatbot, urging a wary public not to fear AI– www.washingtonpost.com
Trump launches government chatbot, urging a wary public not to fear AI– www.washingtonpost.com
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EXCERPT:
After weeks of Washington being gripped by a new wave of fear about artificial intelligence gone awry, the Trump administration took a sharply different stance Tuesday, seeking to convince a skeptical public that the nation is instead about to embark on a tech-powered “golden age.”
Democrats create an AI panic and then falsely promise solutions– www.americanthinker.com
Democrats create an AI panic and then falsely promise solutions– www.americanthinker.com
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EXCERPT:
Democrats have been so good at handling everything they focus on, so I know they can come up with sensible ways to implement AI.
It is surprising that the Biden-Harris administration and other Democrats didn’t solve this program while they were in office because Biden put Kamala in charge of the issue in 2023. Back then, Kamala led a meeting with tech leaders in 2023 to address the issue because the vigorous and sharp Biden needed to lighten his busy schedule:
Kamala is now lecturing Trump about what he must do to control China and handle AI. Kamala’s brilliance and expertise on the issue can be summed up in her statement introducing the issue:
“I think the first part of this issue that should be articulated is AI is kind of a fancy thing,” Harris said. “First of all, it’s two letters. It means artificial intelligence, but ultimately what it is is it’s about machine learning.”
Obama Pushing to Make AI Doomerism a Centerpiece of Democrat Agenda– gellerreport.com
Obama Pushing to Make AI Doomerism a Centerpiece of Democrat Agenda– gellerreport.com
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EXCERPT:
Barack Hussein Obama told Democrats: They badly need to grab hold of the debate over artificial intelligence and impeding its progress a central pillar of their agenda.
Of course he did. There is one infallible rule in 211st century American politics – anything the Democrats are behind and pushing, is disastrous for America. Every time.
Thus: The sudden pressing of the “panic” button by talking heads on the left. New York Times: Former President Barack Obama warned during a recent private fund-raising event that artificial intelligence technology could be “dangerous” if not properly managed, as he implored Democrats to aggressively develop political and governing agendas to prioritize the issue in the coming years. In his remarks on Thursday, which have not been previously reported, Mr. Obama urged Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the House minority leader, to assemble a clear framework for a public conversation about A.I. policy, should Democrats win back the House in the midterm elections, according to a partial transcript provided by Mr. Obama’s office (New York Times).
Politico adds: Obama said AI development would be “one of my central agendas” if he were running for president, throwing down a gauntlet as the shadow 2028 Democratic primary debate responded to the AI leaders’ calls (Politico).
Make no mistake, Communist China is not slowing down and they are making huge gain using American (much of it stolen) technology. Why would we deliberately handicap ourselves while Communist China races ahead, weaponizing artificial intelligence for military power, mass surveillance, cyberwarfare and global domination?
House Democrats Target Data Center Tax Breaks as Trump Pushes AI Expansion › American Greatness– amgreatness.com
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EXCERPT:
House Democrats are moving to prevent data centers from receiving certain federal tax incentives, obstructing the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Reps. Kristen McDonald Rivet, D-Mich., and Don Davis, D-N.C., introduced legislation Wednesday that would exclude data centers from specified federal investment incentives. The proposal has support from 21 additional House Democrats, according to information released with the legislation.
The opposition comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has made expanding American AI infrastructure a national priority. Trump signed an executive order in July 2025 directing federal agencies to accelerate permitting for qualifying data center projects and identifying potential financial support including loans, grants and tax incentives.
The White House’s AI Action Plan also calls for streamlining permits for data centers, semiconductor plants and supporting energy infrastructure as part of an effort to strengthen U.S. competitiveness in artificial intelligence.
Democrats behind the new legislation argue that federal incentives should not subsidize large technology companies while households face concerns about utility bills and other living expenses.
Democrats Reject Unanimous Consent Request on Data Centers– www.dailysignal.com
Democrats Reject Unanimous Consent Request on Data Centers– www.dailysignal.com
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EXCERPT:
Congress had a chance to address concerns about data centers felt by residents across the country, though that effort was stymied last Thursday by Democrats’ rejection of a unanimous consent request brought by Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio.
Husted, who faces a special election in November, introduced the Ratepayer Protection Act in July to protect ratepayers from having to foot the bill for data centers.
“The Ratepayer Protection Act would require state utility regulators to consider standards, ensuring that large-load customers pay the full, incremental cost of the infrastructure needed to serve them,” Husted said from the Senate floor. “The Ratepayer Protection Act rests on a principle every American understands: Pay your own way,” he added.
As he highlighted the increase in data centers in the next five years, Husted said lawmakers “need to protect American ratepayers from footing the bill.”
“So, as we look to build the future, we must follow some basic principles of fairness,” he said. “The company that is creating enormous new demands for electricity should pay the costs required to serve them.”
He also called attention to costs, which are expected to be a major factor in the upcoming midterms.
“Working families, small businesses, and senior citizens should not open up their electric bills and discover the pain for the power infrastructure needed by some large tech company in the world or in their neighborhood,” Husted said. The senator also touted how his bill will lead to more savings. “Most importantly, it will help the American people keep more of what they earn.”
Polarized America united around one issue: the data centers powering the stock market and the biggest tech boom in decades – Fortune
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Most GOP politicians now talk negatively about data centers, data shows– www.washingtonpost.com
Most GOP politicians now talk negatively about data centers, data shows– www.washingtonpost.com
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EXCERPT:
Sen. Jon Husted once promoted data centers as all upside for his state of Ohio. “Data centers are essential to our digital lives,” the Republican said in 2024, praising a planned Google project that he claimed would establish “central Ohio as an important tech hub in America.”
Trump says voters who oppose data centers will ‘kill the Golden Goose’– www.washingtonpost.com
Trump says voters who oppose data centers will ‘kill the Golden Goose’– www.washingtonpost.com
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EXCERPT:
President Donald Trump attacked voters who oppose data centers Monday morning, warning that they will have only themselves to blame if they “kill the Golden Goose.”
Trump escalated his defense of data centers as polls show Americans from both political parties are increasingly opposed to the server farms central to the artificial intelligence boom. Some Republicans running for office this year have broken with Trump and grown increasingly critical of data centers in response to the groundswell of public opposition.
Data Centers, Not American Rule of Law, Center of Midterms
The central issue in a majority of contested U.S. House and Senate Races is becoming Data Centers. At a time when one party, the Democratic Party, is looking to convert America to the Progressive State, Americans are more concerned over data centers than losing their constitutional rights.
Republicans find themselves on the losing end of this issue with one candidate, Senator John Husted of Ohio, reflecting the new Republican strategy, join the fight against the data centers. He said “They’ve earned that backlash. They haven’t been as forthcoming about the benefits that will come in terms of local jobs and construction worker jobs and reduced property taxes, and they haven’t offered things like paying the energy bills for local communities, for the power plants they build.”
AI DATA CENTERS
AI Data Center Boom Creates Blue-Collar Jobs Amid Backlash – The Tech Buzz
AI Data Center Boom Creates Blue-Collar Jobs Amid Backlash – The Tech Buzz– news.google.com
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Google covering costs for data center, as consumers pay for ‘part of it’: Entergy– www.washingtonexaminer.com
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EXCERPT:
Google has committed to covering the costs to build a new solar and battery facility that will generate energy for one of its new data centers in Arkansas, though regular consumers are also footing the bill for part of the power plant’s construction.
The new data center in West Memphis, Arkansas, is set to be powered by a massive solar and battery facility called the Steel River Energy Center, commonly known as Cypress Solar. And according to Entergy, the utility responsible for building, owning, and operating the power plant, Google is paying the full cost for that power.
The tech giant’s financial commitments were called into question this summer, after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette claimed it had obtained documents which said Google would only pay for a third of the cost needed to construct Cypress Solar.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Entergy CEO Drew Marsh insisted that those estimates were incorrect.
“They’re paying the full amount,” Marsh said of Google. “There was some unfortunate math in there, but we got all that straightened out and corrected.”
Data Centers Are About To Burn More US Natural Gas Than Almost Every Country On Earth– dailycaller.com
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EXCERPT:
American data centers are on track to consume more natural gas than nearly every country in the world within the next decade as the artificial intelligence boom drives electricity demand higher, according to a new BloombergNEF outlook.
Natural gas consumption used to generate electricity for U.S. data centers is projected to increase by 15 billion cubic feet per day through 2035, according to BloombergNEF. The projection accounts for the possibility that many data center projects currently planned across the country will never be built.
“In short, the resource base and producer response are sufficient, but the mix would shift toward higher-cost dry-gas drilling, supporting moderately higher gas and electricity prices than a high-oil-price, high-associated-gas world,” Stuart Turley, president and CEO of the Sandstone Group and host of the Energy News Beat podcast, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Data Center Boom Could Supercharge Blackouts Nationwide By 2030, Pennsylvania Regulators Warn– dailycaller.com
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EXCERPT:
America’s AI gold rush could soon drive the nation’s largest power grid to blackouts.
Pennsylvania regulators warn that power-hungry facilities are arriving faster than new generation. Pennsylvania could experience as many as 13 loss-of-load events per year by 2030 if more data centers connect than currently anticipated and no new plants come online, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PAPUC) Chairman Stephen DeFrank warned.
DeFrank’s statements are based on a recent PAPUC analysis assessing electricity within the state.
“Pennsylvania is at an energy crossroads,” DeFrank said in a press release. “Data center development brings significant opportunities, but that growth cannot come at the expense of the families and businesses that already depend on reliable and affordable electric service.”
The PAPUC-commissioned analysis found that data centers are a major driver of the tightening power supply across PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest regional transmission organization. Electricity demand is rising as older power plants shut down and new generation struggles to come online quickly enough, according to the report, which was prepared by Synapse Energy Economics and other consultants.
The analysis modeled several possible futures for the grid. Under its baseline scenario, which uses PJM’s 2026 electricity demand forecast, the grid could experience the equivalent of about 5.9 instances every 10 years in which electricity supply falls short of demand by 2030, according to the report. Researchers said the increase was mainly driven by the large amount of new electricity demand expected from data centers.
- AI DATA CENTERS – JULY – The Data Centers are becoming a political liability wherever the state lacks totalitarian power. In America, the data center push continues, but increasing numbers of jurisdictions are moving to either outright ban or restrict data center development. New York State has already banned them.
AI DATA CENTERS -AUGUST – President Trump has his finger on the pulse of the new geopolitical reality, even if he is unable, due to strategic reasons, to clearly articulate them. He is operating with a clear understanding of the necessity of winning the AI War with China and the EU Bloc, fundamentally (with the EU block being the only other viable center of power in contrast to the China bloc and the US bloc).
His strategic inability to articulate the AI War to the American people is not what’s behind his tone deafness regarding AI data centers. He is tone-deaf in terms of their real impacts on American communities. We concede there is progressive and foreign agit prop overhyping the impact of AI centers on communities, but they have a lot of truth to exploit as well.
We also question the speed and the scale the President is pushing for in building this infrastructure. It is a questionable strategy to go all-in too fast on massively expensive and resource-demanding machines that could quickly be outdated.
He is fighting an overwhelming anti AI data center tide. AI Data centers are becoming central political issues at all levels of government, from local to national. From Texas to Pennsylvania, governments are moving to ban or restrict AI data center development.
Conservatives are now openly joining the “winning” team. But not all conservatives. Some conservatives are hoping to sell the jobs the AI Data Centers produce, but this promise would mean nothing if outside corporations simply import their high-level staff and leave minimal career flourishing opportunities for the locals.
Taylor Budowich, president of the Innovation Council, is behind such a sales pitch. He exclaimed, “I think part of the problem is actually the premise, which is we’re thinking about it in political terms. I’m a believer of the Reaganism, good policy makes good politics. So the question should be what’s good policy here?
“I think good policy is not a single shovel should go in the ground, not a single slab of concrete should be laid, if there’s a data center that’s taking from the community. These data centers, this industry, shouldn’t be draining our communities, it should be feeding our communities.”
The idea here is to create agreements that assure local flourishing as a result of these Data Centers, not just outside expert importing.
Good policy is not good government when great power is the prize to be won or lost by “playing the government game.”
Budowich is either naïve or simply content marketing. Either way, it is not a serious proposal to turn the tide against what we even consider an overblown response to the threat of AI data centers, though hardly a completely unwarranted one.
Our trepidation comes from our skepticism that “good deals” will be cut for locals and good practice will be paid to protect the local environment from poisoning. Our trepidation also comes from our skepticism that these massive machines will long live out their usefulness.
It is possible, as we have suggested in our AI report, that, through IP firewalls, the state could effectively nerf, or cripple, access to AI technology at a global level, assuring the big beasts that tilt the balance of power back towards the large scale remain the “most advanced” AI technology in the world.
While that remains a possibility, we don’t consider that a likely outcome. We suspect garage geniuses are already inventing new methods of storage control, new methods of power generation, new methods of chip manufacturing, all lowering the demand for energy, water, and rare earth minerals.
One thing emerging from nations unable to compete with AI development is competition to become a region’s AI Data Center hub. Mongolia is an ideal nation for AI Data Centers, as it is largely uninhabited. With portable nuclear power, local power sourcing would not be an impediment. It is hoping to become Asia’s AI Data Center hub.
CHINA AI
America Looks to Form No-China-AI Alliance
The United States is looking to head China off at the AI resource path with a pending message to its allies. The U.S. is working on a draft letter that will let its allies know they cannot partner with China’s AI-led group and benefit from America’s AI power. The group, called the World AI Cooperation Organization, appears to be a vessel for China to secure AI resources for its country.
America Looks to Form No-China-AI Alliance
The United States is looking to head China off at the AI resource path with a pending message to its allies. The U.S. is working on a draft letter that will let its allies know they cannot partner with China’s AI-led group and benefit from America’s AI power. The group, called the World AI Cooperation Organization, appears to be a vessel for China to secure AI resources for its country.
US Drafts Warning to Allies: Join China-Led AI Group and Risk Exclusion – bloomingbit– news.google.com
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EXCERPT:
- The US is preparing a draft letter telling allies to choose between the US and China in artificial intelligence (AI).
- The US said countries that join the China-led World AI Cooperation Organization could be excluded from US-centered cooperation on AI, semiconductors and critical-mineral supply chains.
- Pax Silica, which includes South Korea, Japan and Australia, is drawing attention alongside the move, and the US appears to be trying to block China from securing resources for advanced AI development.
US’ new science strategy tightens China-linked research ties at universities – ThePrint
US’ new science strategy tightens China-linked research ties at universities – ThePrint
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Clamping down: China tightens exit rules– www.france24.com
Clamping down: China tightens exit rules– www.france24.com
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EXCERPT:
In a document published on July 31, China‘s State Council announced that, in order to “preserve national sovereignty and interests”, border control officials could require travellers to provide additional information and documents about their reasons for travelling.
Those who provide false documents or statements could be prohibited from entering or leaving the country. Chinese nationals who have “acquired travel documents by deceit” or have been involved in “exiting or entering the country illegally” could face an exit ban of between six months and three years in addition to existing punishments, according to the new rules.
The ban can also apply to citizens who have “participated in illegal activities” or “threatened national security and interests” while abroad.
The new articles also state that Chinese citizens can be prohibited from leaving the country if they “violate” regulations on the import and export of technology, and if these violations endanger China’s “industrial or technological security”.
Chipmaker sues Pentagon over ‘Chinese military company’ designation – Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
Chipmaker sues Pentagon over ‘Chinese military company’ designation – Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
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China says Anthropic has a disease, American AI companies can’t dictate rules for rest of the world – India Today– news.google.com
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US Says Alibaba, DeepSeek Have ‘Systematically’ Siphoned AI Models – Deccan Chronicle
US Says Alibaba, DeepSeek Have ‘Systematically’ Siphoned AI Models – Deccan Chronicle
China is working on developing an AI-run robot army equipped with humanoid “soldiers” with AI brains. Reuters is claiming that an investigation of their procurement records reveal the army is already being built. They claimed they reviewed “more than 100 Chinese military procurement notices, academic studies, patents, official publications, government records and defense-company materials.” This led them to conclude China is building an AI robot army.
China Is Actively Preparing a Humanoid Robot Army for Future Battlegrounds › American Greatness– amgreatness.com
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EXCERPT:
China is aggressively developing an AI-driven, highly advanced military robotics program that could see automated humanoid robots for active combat roles on future battlefields.
China’s Top Spy Chief Warns A.I. Is a Threat to Party Rule – The New York Times
China’s Top Spy Chief Warns A.I. Is a Threat to Party Rule – The New York Times
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China warns against AI ‘fear-mongering’ as US tech leaders call for slower development – Anadolu Ajansı– news.google.com
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Xi Jinping says US, China have ‘responsibility to ensure AI development under human control’ – Hindustan Times– news.google.com
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Ex-DOD Director Urges US Investment, New Data Center Strategy to Keep Pace With China – Military.com
Ex-DOD Director Urges US Investment, New Data Center Strategy to Keep Pace With China – Military.com
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China and US agree to establish AI safety channel, continue trade and military talks – Nine.com.au
China and US agree to establish AI safety channel, continue trade and military talks – Nine.com.au
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Trump says US won’t put brakes on AI following Xi visit, despite calls for international safeguards – WLWT
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AI TOOLS OF ENGAGEMENT
Tools of Engagement – August 2026
Dependence on Superpower AI for your development, and even your own AI processing power, brings with it the risk we see for Afghanistan, the loss of sovereign, or self-stewarding power. In the case of Afghanistan, this has been their struggle for centuries.
For you, the rise of AI means two things, learning how to work without AI tools, or learning how to effectively use AI tools. For most, the latter is more realistic than the former. For those in the latter group, we recommend you make it a regular habit to utilize multiple AI agents, including open-source AI agents. This will prevent you from becoming too attached or dependent on one AI “voice.” It will also get you overall better results, especially with research.
We utilize multiple AIs during our research process, asking each one the same probing question.
For Afghanistan, their lack of sovereignty will be born from their dependence on a superpower to secure their lands and develop their mineral prizes. For you, AI dependence, especially on superpower AI, is risking becoming propagandized by those same tools.
Here are resources to help you prepare for a world with AI without becoming AI’s tool:
- How to Use AI Without Becoming Dependent on It – Ogbonnaijeoma – Medium
- How to Use AI Without Becoming Stupid – Cedric Chin
- How to Get the Most Out of AI – Without Letting It Think for You – Tharin Pillay – Time
- SOCIAL MEDIA WATCH –
– JULY – The assault on an open worldwide social media is well underway. This month, those efforts have only expanded. The favorite tools of control are digital taxation, the levying of fines, requirements to monitor misinformation, “hate speech,” and digital ID to keep children off the internet. The UK looks to force midnight digital curfews on teens from 16-17, with sweeping bans for children under 16.
The push to ban children from social media is a trojan horse almost everyone sees is about censorship and control of internet access by the state. In the name of saving the children, the state will require regular digital ID verification of every user on the internet, not matter their age, to assure they’re not really under 16.
Canada, South Korea, the UAE, and France have joined a growing list of nations using child social media bans to smuggle in social media state control and monitoring.
So far, we haven’t seen a great push by countries to build their own national-serving social media platforms (such as China has done long ago), but the pressure on global social media companies will soon drive them out of more aggressive states.
The UK hopes to be one of those states, with X in its crosshairs above all others.
The UK’s attempt to push YouTube to bury independent creators in favor of state-corporate media threatens to further accelerate the potential death, or at least effective neutering, of the global internet.
President Trump is testing the bounds of the Presidency as a social media commodity.
From our Bellwether report:
President Trump’s Truth Social announced plans to offer corporations the opportunity to see the most influential Truth Social posters’ posts a few seconds before everyone else does. The offer is available only for institutional clients, specifically banks, hedge funds, and high-frequency traders. You pay for a few seconds of insider trading.
The ethicality of the decision is being questioned across the political sphere, never mind the legality of it. The question is, is this not simply selling Presidential influence? The product is the Presidential power, not Trump’s wisdom.
The interim CEO, Kevin McGurn, said, “Markets are already reacting to Truth Social posts. The Truth API will provide direct, licensed access to the platform’s most market-moving content, while allowing us to monetize our own assets.”
- SOCIAL MEDIA WATCH – AUGUST – The frontlines of the global social media battle continue to be “child safety” and “misinformation,” with both becoming opportunities of revenue and backdoor means of internet control by government agencies at various scales, from nation-state to local.
Unless there is a massive reversal in trends, we see the potential for the loss of meaningful global digital discourse at a massive scale within the next 10 years. Nation-states and zones like the EU are becoming increasingly zealous of internet control tailored to their particular self-serving interests.
Social media at a time when many nation-states already know the masses are going to be “asked” to make great sacrifices for the good of the whole is fire to the flames they know they are about to fan with their draconian legislation.
Americans support stronger oversight of social media by the state, including regulations to keep children off of it. The polls don’t ask if they support digital ID confirmations with every internet sign-in as a price for that “child safety” measure.
Progressive Britian is still hoping to have such restrictions in place in their proffered Internet “Child Safety” Laws. China accomplished this long ago. Canada is working on similar “solutions” to “protect the children.”
The courts around the world are already delivering child safety “wins” to governments. Meta paid out $1 billion in one child safety lawsuit, and over $16.7 billion in a child addiction settlement. TikTok paid out $400 million in a child privacy settlement. A U.S. Court declared open season on social media companies, denying the lawsuit immunity claims.
Conservatives are in on the power grab, with Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz introducing five bills that require some form of age verification to visit certain sites. Many major sites, like YouTube, are included in that list. One such bill is called “The SCREEN Act.”
A progressive state surrogate, 404media, calls it a “Christian Nationalist Nightmare,” but that might be only because it’s conservative power that is attempting to define the reasons for age verification and not progressive power.
For instance, the website doesn’t seem to object to California’s recent legislative efforts to “ban addictive social media features” to protect teens and children. The actions proposed in progressive states are similar to what Ted Cruz is proposing.
For Americans, this would be considered an overt assault on our Due Process, Freedom of Association, and Freedom from Unreasonable Search and Seizure rights as citizens of a constitutional republic.
New Zealand hopes to join the growing list of nation-states using child safety to monitor citizens’ online usage.
Australia’s first attempt at using Digital ID to keep children off dangerous sites, like TikTok, has already turned out to be a flop, as children have figured out how to keep accessing TikTok despite the government ban. Now the question is, will Australia arrest hundreds of thousands of Australian children for violating the ban?
One story under the radar is the decision by President Trump to sell advance notice of his posts on Truth Social to a select group of high-end investors. On its face it seems patently unconstitutional. We covered this in an earlier Bellwether Report. Now, Truth Social is being sued for selling advance Presidential notice to investors.
Meta Is Losing a $1.4 Trillion Battle Over the Design of Its Apps — and This Is Only the Beginning – finance.biggo.com
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Social Media Bans for Kids: Do They Work? | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org
Social Media Bans for Kids: Do They Work? | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org
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EXCERPT:
Governments are increasingly turning to social media bans to keep minors safe online. But what does early evidence from these legislative changes tell us about how effective they actually are? What would it look like to focus on age-appropriate online spaces and safer design instead? And with AI now being introduced to the conversation, should chatbots face similar regulations?
Josh Tabish joins us for an episode of Explain to Shane to help answer these questions. Josh is currently the senior director for Canada at the Chamber of Progress. He previously served as the director of policy and advocacy at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority and as a Ford Foundation / Media Democracy Fund Technology Exchange Fellow for Fight for the Future. Throughout his career, he has covered domestic and international technology policy issues.
Below is a lightly edited and abridged transcript of our discussion. You can listen to this and other episodes of Explain to Shane on AEI.org and subscribe via your preferred listening platform. If you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review, and tell your friends and colleagues to tune in.
EU announces plan to restrict social media access for children– www.bbc.co.uk
EU announces plan to restrict social media access for children– www.bbc.co.uk
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EXCERPT:
The EU has announced plans to restrict social media access for under-15s across its member states, in a bid to increase wellbeing and tackle online safety.
Under the plans, there would be a gradual approach to children using social media which would include banning under 13s from accessing platforms.
Those aged 13 to 15 would only be able to access platforms for an hour per day via “mini accounts” set up through their parent or guardian’s social media account.
The European Commission said social media companies would need to prove platforms were safe by design or face fines of up to 6% of their global sales. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the move would “put parents back in the driving seat”.
She added the legislation – called the EU Kids Act – would give parents “the tools to help their children navigate a safer world”.
The restrictions would not just affect well-known apps such as TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat but also YouTube and other video sharing platforms as well as AI chatbots and online games.
“Too many children are being exposed too early to an online world they are not ready to navigate – an environment where bullying can follow you home, where every mistake can be recorded forever,” von der Leyen said.
Trump administration warns Labor social media crackdown is ‘censorship’ of Americans’ protected speech – The Guardian
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