Sometimes it helps me to write by thinking about how a radio broadcaster or television presenter would deliver the information, so I'm your host, Blake Montgomery. Today in tech news: questions hover over the automation of labor in the worker-strapped US healthcare system; and drones proliferate in a new conflict: India v Pakistan, both armed with nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, in contrast to a thoughtful and robust conversation, the US is taking the opposite tack. Legend has it that Alexander the Great was presented with a knot in a rope tying a cart to a stake. So complex were its twistings that no man had been able to untie it of the hundreds who had tried. Alexander silently drew his sword and sliced the knot in two.

In the largest gathering of 2026 gubernatorial candidates to date, seven Democrats vying to lead California courted labor leaders on Monday, vowing to support pro-union agreements on housing and infrastructure projects, regulation of artificial intelligence, and government funding for university research. Throughout most of the hourlong event, the hundreds of union members inside the Sacramento hotel ballroom embraced the pro-labor pledges and speeches that dominated the candidates' remarks, though some boos rose from the crowd when former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa strayed from the other Democrats on stage. Villaraigosa was the only candidate to raise objections when asked if he would support providing state unemployment benefits to striking workers, saying it would depend on the nature and length of the labor action. Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023 vetoed a bill that would have provided that coverage, saying it would make the state's unemployment trust fund "vulnerable to insolvency." The Monday night event was part of a legislative conference held by the California Federation of Labor Unions and the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, two of the most influential labor organizations in the state capital.

With the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump pursuing its "America First" policy, Japan needs to produce its own artificial intelligence technology for defense purposes as cutting-edge AI could become a tool for political leverage, the CEO of a much-hyped Japanese AI startup said Tuesday. Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, Sakana AI CEO David Ha said that as U.S. foreign policy becomes more U.S.-centric, AI services could serve as "a bargaining chip for countries." "Especially in defense and cybersecurity, AI is becoming a core part of this technology. So Japan should have its own know-how and capabilities to produce the AI systems it needs to run them," said Ha, who founded Sakana AI in 2023 and has raised some 30 billion ( 203 million) from investors including Nvidia.

Former President Donald Trump is embarking this week on a high-stakes tour of the Persian Gulf region, targeting business deals and strategic partnerships with three oil-rich nations: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. The trip marks Trump's first major foreign visit of his new term and comes as nuclear negotiations with Iran drag on and as war continues between Israel and the Palestinian terror organization, Hamas, in the Gaza Strip. While business is the official focus, the backdrop is anything but calm. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the mission as part of Trump's broader vision that "extremism is defeated [through] commerce and cultural exchanges." Under President Joe Biden, U.S. relations with Gulf states cooled, particularly after Biden vowed to make Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a "pariah" over the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Trump administration is considering a deal that could send hundreds of thousands of U.S.-designed artificial intelligence chips to G42, an Emirati A.I. firm that the U.S. government has scrutinized in the past for its ties to China, three people familiar with the discussions said. The negotiations, which are ongoing, highlight a major shift in U.S. tech policy ahead of President Trump's visit to the Persian Gulf states this week. The talks have also created tension inside the Trump administration between tech- and business-minded leaders who want to close a deal before Mr. Trump's trip and national security officials who worry that the technology could be misused by the Emiratis. The Trump administration has embraced cutting direct deals for A.I. chips with officials from the Middle East, as it looks to strengthen U.S. ties in the region, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the negotiations are ongoing. The approach marks a break from the Biden administration, which had rejected similar A.I. chip sales over fears that they could give autocratic governments with strong ties to China an edge over the United States in developing the most cutting-edge A.I. models in coming years.

The report's findings are advisory, but they could be influential in upcoming court cases on the subject. In firing Dr. Hayden, The White House cited the Library's DEI initiatives. Cornell H. Winston, the President of the American Association of Law Libraries, issued a statement to AALL members on Monday saying he was "deeply concerned" by the firings of Perlmutter and Dr. Hayden, though this letter did not mention the AI report specifically. President Trump has pledged to take a business-friendly approach to artificial intelligence, and he issued two executive orders in April to promote the United States' leadership in the AI industry. Rather than waiting to release a final version of the report and promoting its release, the office instead quietly released a "pre-publication version" of the report on Friday.

United States President Donald Trump will undertake a three-day tour of the Gulf for his first state visit since retaking office in January. The trip begins in Saudi Arabia, followed by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. It marks Trump's second foreign visit as president after he attended Pope Francis's funeral in Rome in April. Trump will fly out of the US on Monday and start his trip in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Tuesday. He is expected to attend a Gulf summit in the city on Wednesday, visit Qatar later that day and conclude his visit in the UAE on Thursday.

The debate over the risks and harms of artificial intelligence often focuses on what governments can or should do. However, just as important are the choices that AI researchers themselves make. This week, in Singapore, more than 100 scientists from around the world proposed guidelines for how researchers should approach making AI more "trustworthy, reliable, and secure." The recommendations come at a time when the giants of generative AI, such as OpenAI and Google, have increasingly reduced disclosures about their AI models, so the public knows less and less about how the work is conducted. The guidelines grew out of an exchange among the scholars last month in Singapore, in conjunction with one of the most prestigious conferences on AI, the International Conference on Learning Representations -- the first time a major AI conference has taken place in Asia.

OutKick writer Mary Katharine Ham and Democratic strategist Kevin Walling join'MediaBuzz' to discuss the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope in history, and the U.S. trade deal with the U.K. Pope Leo XIV wrapped up his first meeting with Vatican-accredited journalists Monday morning. More than 1,000 members of the media were assembled to hear his remarks, according to the New York Times. Some of them even took their children. The gathering took place in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, Vatican Media reported. There, the pontiff "thanked reporters in Italian for their tireless work over these intense few weeks."

As President Trump tours the Middle East this week, governments that are flush with oil wealth will be focused on a different treasure, found in America's Silicon Valley. Artificial intelligence chips, which are made by U.S. companies like Nvidia and AMD, are highly coveted by governments across the Middle East. Leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates want to pour billions of dollars into the construction of data centers to put their countries at the forefront of a new technology heralded for its power to disrupt businesses and create trillions of dollars in economic value. The Gulf States have plenty of energy and cash to build data centers, which house the supercomputers that run A.I. systems. But they need U.S. government approval to buy the American-designed chips to power them.