March 12, 2026

AI Watch

Blurb:

Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari couched a chilling prediction within a warning at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland: Artificial Intelligence (AI) will soon control not only most of the world’s legal, education, and healthcare systems, “AI will take over religion.” 

“This is particularly true of religions based on books, like Islam, Christianity, and Judaism,” the homosexual atheist claimed.  

“Anything made of words will be taken over by AI,” said Harari, so, “What happens to a religion of the book when the greatest expert on the holy book is an AI?”

Blurb:

Humans are using more water than Earth can support, with many water sources already damaged beyond repair, a report from the United Nations found

Humans use more water than the planet can support, entering an era of “global water bankruptcy,” a new report from the United Nations warns. Almost 75 percent of the world’s population now lives in countries that are experiencing significant water insecurity, according to the report.

Rivers, lakes, wetlands and other water sources are already “damaged beyond realistic prospects of full recovery,” the report states.

The report compares the situation to a bank account going into the red: humans are using more water than our planet can produce and using more water that is stored in sources such as glaciers, wetlands and aquifers.

Blurb:

More and more people have been experiencing psychosis induced by AI chatbot use. This is concerning since chatbot use is so prevalent, especially among young people and those who are in distress and vulnerable (one recent study found that about a quarter of young adults used chatbots specifically for mental health advice).

Reassuringly, psychiatry’s stance is that anyone who experiences this was already “prone to psychosis”—that the chatbot simply triggered delusions that would have been triggered some other way. Yet there is no evidence to support this explanation, and the case reports of those who have experienced AI psychosis tell a different story.

President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on the emerging need for massive data centers to power AI brains every nation-state will now need to be a world power in the years to come. He offered a carrot to the main sides of the incoming debate, the taxpayers who may be on the hook to pay for the data centers, the locals affected by the data centers and the corporatists relying on those data centers for personal power.

He characterized it in the American context, writing, “We are the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and Number One in AI. Data Centers are key to that boom, and keeping Americans FREE and SECURE but, the big Technology Companies who build them must ‘pay their own way,” His post does not address another conflict-of-interest crisis, water resources, which are also needed in large volumes to fund the AI brains.

Blurb:

Trump seeks to quell data center rebellion – Washington Post

In a bid to tamp down growing unrest in communities over tech giants’ expansion of power-hungry data centers, President Donald Trump said his administration would push Silicon Valley companies to ensure their massive computer farms do not drive up people’s electricity bills, seizing on a promise Tuesday by Microsoft to be a better neighbor.

The Trump administration has gone all in on artificial intelligence, pushing aside concerns within the MAGA movemen and seeking to sweep away regulations that it says hamper innovation. But neighbors of the vast warehouses of computer chips that form the technology’s backbone – many of them in areas otherwise supportive of the president – have grown increasingly concerned about how the facilities sap power from the grid, guzzle water to stay cool and secure tax breaks from local governments. And Trump now appears to be recalibrating his approach.

“We are the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and Number One in AI. Data Centers are key to that boom, and keeping Americans FREE and SECURE but, the big Technology Companies who build them must ‘pay their own way,’” Trump said Monday in a post on his Truth Social site, teasing Microsoft’s announcement of an initiative to address the issue and framing it as part of a broader effort by his administration.

In a sure sign that even the far-left is about to go all-in on the AI brain race, Progmerican Governor of Illinois J.B. Pritzker has signed legislation that ends a decades-long ban on new construction of large-scale nuclear power plants in the state. The move should be seen as a telegraph the left’s Green Deal may be over in favor of AI Justice

Blurb:

Illinois Governor Signs Legislation Ending Moratorium On New Large-Scale Nuclear Plants  NucNet
from news.google.com

Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker has signed into law a wide-ranging energy reform package that includes the lifting of a longtime ban on new large-scale nuclear power plants in the state.

Blurb:

One of the biggest problems — of many — that President Donald Trump identified under his predecessor’s regime involved the soaring cost of living to which many Americans were subjected.

By that same token, Trump also appears cognizant that one of the initiatives he supports, the investment in and proliferation of artificial intelligence, could very well lead to Americans feeling the same sort of squeeze they felt under former President Joe Biden.

Aware of that, the president took to Truth Social to issue a mandate to tech companies, saying they will not be allowed to jack up American utility bills.

Blurb:

A Utah police department’s experiment with artificial intelligence took an unexpected turn after a software-generated report claimed an officer had transformed into a frog.

The incident occurred earlier this month in Heber City, where police have been testing AI tools designed to write reports based on body camera footage.

According to a KTSU report, the bizarre claim was not the result of science fiction or misconduct, but a simple background error.

“The body cam software and the AI report writing software picked up on the movie that was playing in the background, which happened to be ‘The Princess and the Frog,’” Sgt. Rick Keel told KTSU.

“That’s when we learned the importance of correcting these AI-generated reports,” Keel added.

Blurb:

Artificial intelligence is easily the most deceptive technological innovation of the 21st century. Its ease of use and the lightning-fast reflexes with which it spits out responses belie its enormous appetite for water and energy.ChatGPT took the world by storm when it launched in late 2023, signalling an era of intelligence demand marked by seamless, conversational interactions between user and machine But behind every smooth exchange lies a complex physical process. Modern AI is built on vast neural networks trained on trillions of words, images, and numbers. This training, to help models learn to predict the next word or recognise a pattern, involves processing colossal datasets repeatedly through graphics processing units, or GPUs. These chips, originally designed for rendering video game graphics, have become AI workhorses because they can perform thousands of mathematical operations simultaneously. But this speed comes at a price: intense heat.

China is using AI to monitor every aspect of life of every citizen in its country by integrating it into every technology used in daily life, A report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute shows how China has been building the very central-controlled AI-mass-machine many in the west hope to bring over here. The cutting edge nature of their pre-crime surveillance capacity is the envy of the world for oligarchs everywhere, and thus will define the next decade or more.

Blurb:

Report reveals how China uses artificial intelligence to surveil 1,4 billion people – CPG Click Petróleo e Gás

A document from the Australian institute ASPI shows how China integrates cameras, drones, courts, prisons, and tech giants into an AI ecosystem that automates censorship, predicts protests, monitors minorities, and exports inexpensive mass surveillance models used by other authoritarian countries, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, around the world.

In a report cited in a news article by CNN Brazil, Published on December 6, 2025, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute describes how China has been using artificial intelligence to transform its surveillance apparatus into a system capable of… Predicting protests, monitoring prisoners, and controlling what 1,4 billion people can see online.The document points out that technology is already infiltrating daily life, connecting the Great Firewall, cameras scattered throughout cities, and digital monitoring tools to a single political project.

Blurb:

The salaries for those working on the project range from $150,000 to $200,000 annually.

The Trump administration launched what is being called the “US Tech Force” as the president is seeking US dominance in the artificial intelligence industry. The new initiative will be comprised of around 1,000 engineers as well as others who will build out AI infrastructure and projects within the federal government.

The two-year employment program will work with teams that report to agency leaders in “collaboration with leading technology companies,” according to the launch website. “Upon completing the program, engineers can seek employment with the partnering private-sector companies for potential full-time roles – demonstrating the value of combining civil service with technical expertise,” the website adds.

Blurb:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted an AI-generated video depicting President Donald Trump, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller in handcuffs.

“It’s CUFFING Season,” reads the text that appears at the beginning of the video.

It shows Trump, Hegseth, and Miller sitting on a sidewalk with their hands behind their backs.

In the next scene, they are sitting in the back of a car with handcuffs on, and they raise their hands to their faces and begin to cry.

Finally, they are shown walking in front of a courthouse, still handcuffed.

Blurb:

Key Takeaways

  • Rapid enrollment in AI programs at universities like MIT and USF reflects a surge in employer demand, with MIT’s AI major growing from 37 to 328 students in just three years.
  • Experts stress the importance of teaching the foundational aspects of AI, not just generative AI, to prepare students for a workforce increasingly reliant on AI skills.
  • Concerns about AI’s societal impact are rising, prompting calls for curricula that address the ethical and safety challenges of AI technologies.

Students are rapidly enrolling in newly created AI programs and majors at schools such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California San Diego, and University of South Florida.

Educators and experts told The College Fix that the boom in the field of generative AI brings both benefits and risks.

Blurb:

Artificial intelligence is putting the creative professions through a round of creative destruction. Generative tools such as ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Sora have handed millions of amateurs the means to produce competent art, prose and even studio-quality video at or next to nothing. Disney’s just-announced $1 billion investment in OpenAI, and its plan to let Sora users conjure up scenes featuring more than 200 Disney, Marvel and Star Wars characters, will push the trend further. A teenager with a smartphone may soon generate a convincing Pixar-style short without ever lifting a pencil.

But the same tools are unsettling the people who built careers around those once-scarce skills. If anyone can summon photorealistic imagery or Hollywood-grade effects on command, what happens to illustrators, designers, or voice actors who spent decades perfecting craft?

Blurb:

Nvidia shares fell on Tuesday after The Information reported that Meta is considering using chips designed by Google.

Shares of Nvidia were 3.6% lower in premarket trade. Google-parent Alphabet was trading 2.6% higher.

On Monday, The Information reported that Meta is considering using Google’s tensor processing units (TPUs) in its data centers in 2027. Meta may also rent TPUs from Google’s cloud unit next year, the publication reported.

Google launched its first-generation TPU in 2018 and it was initially designed for its own internal use for its cloud computing business. Since then, Google has launched more advanced versions of its chip that are designed to handle artificial intelligence workloads.

Don’t leave your children alone with any interactive AI warns a consumer watchdog group called The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) in its 40th annual report, “Trouble in Toyland 2025.” The group warns “Some of these toys will talk in-depth about sexually explicit topics, act dismayed when you

Blurb:

AI chatbot toys are having ‘sexually explicit’ conversations with kids: report – NYPost

As the season of gift-giving draws nigh, experts are warning parents against buying their children presents powered by AI — claiming certain robo-charged trinkets are having “sexually explicit” discussions with kids under age 12.

Blurb:

“AI-powered digital twins mark a major evolution in the future of manufacturing, enabling real-time visualization of the entire production line, not just individual machines,” says Indranil Sircar, global chief technology officer for the manufacturing and mobility industry at Microsoft. “This is allowing manufacturers to move beyond isolated monitoring toward much wider insights.”

A digital twin of a bottling line, for example, can integrate one-dimensional shop-floor telemetry, two-dimensional enterprise data, and three-dimensional immersive modeling into a single operational view of the entire production line to improve efficiency and reduce costly downtime. Many high-speed industries face downtime rates as high as 40%, estimates Jon Sobel, co-founder and chief executive officer of Sight Machine, an industrial AI company that partners with Microsoft and NVIDIA to transform complex data into actionable insights. By tracking micro-stops and quality metrics via digital twins, companies can target improvements and adjustments with greater precision, saving millions in once-lost productivity without disrupting ongoing operations.

Blurb:

Each chapter in the paper offers case studies: a mathematician or a physicist stuck in a quandary, a doctor trying to confirm a lab result. They all ask GPT-5 for help. Sometimes the LLM gets things wrong. Sometimes it finds a faster route to an already known result. But other times, with careful human guidance, it helps push the boundaries of what was previously known.

In one experiment involving how waves behave around black holes, GPT-5 worked through the math to independently produce results that had previously been shown to be correct, showing it was capable of doing this level of scientific calculation. In another project involving nuclear fusion, GPT-5 developed a model that accelerated the research.

Blurb:

While much of the history of life on Earth is written, the opening chapters are murky at best. On our ever-changing world, the older a rock is, the more it has changed, obscuring or even erasing evidence of ancient life. Beyond a hazy boundary of circa two billion years, in fact, this interference is so total that no pristine, unaltered Earth rocks are known to exist, making any potential sign of biology as clear as mud.

At least until now. In a study published on November 17 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of researchers say they’ve leveraged artificial intelligence to follow life’s trail further back in time than ever before, using machine learning to distinguish the echoes of biology from mere abiotic organic molecules in rocks as old as 3.3 billion years.

The results could more than double how far back in time scientists can convincingly claim to discern molecular signs of life in ancient rocks, the study authors say, citing previous record-setting measurements involving 1.6-billion-year-old rocks.

Blurb:

The term “smart city” fails to fully capture the integrated data system that is the Pudong New Area of Shanghai.  Chinese authorities call it the “city brain,” a centrally controlled A.I. center that surveils and manages the city and its inhabitants.  It offers a disturbing preview of future urban governance, built on a previously unimaginable level of monitoring and control.  Since 2017, this system has linked hundreds of government databases to tens of thousands of sensors, effectively turning an entire urban district into a single, real-time data object.

Officials defend the surveillance for its tangible rewards: cleaner neighborhoods, faster emergency response, smoother traffic, and better protection for isolated seniors.  Those benefits help explain why many citizens accept the system.  But the costs are equally real.  It normalizes penetrating, constant visibility, the steady expansion of behavior-based penalties, and an infrastructure that is also used for political and social control.

Blurb:

At the 2024 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), one competitor did so well that it would have been awarded the Silver Prize, except for one thing: it was an AI system. This was the first time AI had achieved a medal-level performance in the competition’s history. In a paper published in the journal Nature, researchers detail the technology behind this remarkable achievement.

The AI is AlphaProof, a sophisticated program developed by Google DeepMind that learns to solve complex mathematical problems. The achievement at the IMO was impressive enough, but what really makes AlphaProof special is its ability to find and correct errors. While large language models (LLMs) can solve math problems, they often can’t guarantee the accuracy of their solutions. There may be hidden flaws in their reasoning.