MAGA's'Manifest Destiny' Coalition Has Arrived Warring factions of right-wing influencers and MAGA pundits can finally agree on something: American imperialism. For the past few months, some of the most influential figures in MAGA politics have been locked in bitter infighting . But with a new year comes new priorities, and the warring factions are reuniting around a new cause: a new era of American "manifest destiny." Major players, from influencers to politicians, have been arguing over the Trump administration's plans on issues like H-1B visas, Jeffrey Epstein document dumps, AI regulation, Israel's war with Hamas, and even white nationalist Nick Fuentes. But in recent weeks, these feuds have faded into background noise as the US raided Venezuela, arresting president Nicolás Maduro, and, more recently, as President Donald Trump publicly toys with invading Greenland and destroying NATO as we know it.

As cybercrime surges around the world, new research increasingly shows that ransomware is evolving as a result of widely available generative AI tools. In some cases, attackers are using AI to draft more intimidating and coercive ransom notes and conduct more effective extortion attacks. But cybercriminals' use of generative AI is rapidly becoming more sophisticated. Researchers from the generative AI company Anthropic today revealed that attackers are leaning on generative AI more heavily--sometimes entirely--to develop actual malware and offer ransomware services to other cybercriminals. Ransomware criminals have recently been identified using Anthropic's large language model Claude and its coding-specific model, Claude Code, in the ransomware development process, according to the company's newly released threat intelligence report.

Lady Gaga probably wasn't thinking that a coup would unfold in her greenhouse. Then again, she was cohosting a party there with Sean Parker, the billionaire founder of Napster and first president of Facebook. It was February 2024, and the singer had invited guests to her 22.5 million oceanside estate in Malibu to mark the launch of a skin-care nonprofit. One of the organization's trustees was her boyfriend, whose day job was running the Parker Foundation. In the candlelit space, beside floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the Pacific, Parker's people mingled with Gaga's, nibbling focaccia and branzino alla brace to music from a string quartet (Grammy-winning, of course).

Steve Jobs is 28 years old, and seems a little nervous as he starts his speech to a group of designers gathered under a large tent in Aspen, Colorado. He fiddles with his bow tie and soon removes his suit jacket, dropping it to the floor when he finds no other place to set it down. It is 1983, and he's about to ask designers for their help in improving the look of the coming wave of personal computers. But first he will tell them that those computers will shatter the lives they have led to date. "How many of you are 36 years … older than 36?" he asks.

The compliments start flowing as soon as she answers the video call. "Wow, you so pretty, honey," says the man on the other side of the screen. His video feed shows he's white, with short hair, likely a few years younger than her, and is sitting in front of his camera wearing a plaid shirt. "You're looking different with that beard and stuff gone," the woman says in an American accent as the conversation gets going. The man doesn't miss a beat. "I told you I was going to shave my beard so I will look good."

GEORGE JETSON only works two hours a week. Jane Jetson presses a button to fix her hair. In the animated TV series' dreamy, halcyon world of 2026, basically all chores have been automated. Even Rosey, the family's robotic maid, has better things to do than laundry and dry-cleaning. Both are handled by arms that emerge from walls.

"Vision Pro feels familiar, yet it's entirely new." That's how Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, introduced the company's new computer goggles at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday. The Vision Pro headset, which resembles a glass scuba mask with a fabric head strap, seamlessly blends the real and digital worlds, Cook said. But the product's name, which could just as easily describe a brand of contact-lens solution, hints at a challenge. Familiar yet entirely new, natural but augmented: If goggles really are the future of computing, they will have to overcome a bevy of conflicting sentiments. As you might expect, Apple's product is slick.

While Jamal Khashoggi was being carefully slaughtered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, a (clumsy and not much alike) man was trying out his shoes and clothes. The plan was for the imposter to appear on CCTV cameras while exiting the consulate and walk back to Khashoggi's residence. The plan eventually blew up, because the Turkish intelligence had already bugged the consulate and recorded exactly what had happened. This was one of the first attempts by state actors to manipulate other states (or publics) through CCTV footage. However, recent actions of the Iranian state television have taken this type of information warfare to a different level.

This week, the world changed forever. There are small things that shift all the time. But once in a while, there is a distinct fork in the road. A shift that – once made – charts a new course for the world. I'll get back to ChatGPT shortly.

Using artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance teaching and learning has been a kind of nirvana for education leaders for several years now – a place of perhaps unimagined power that has perpetually seemed just out of grasp. And though it may feel as if it's always just around the next corner, forever one tool or dataset away, one entrepreneur says we're getting closer. In fact, he says we may be close enough to say we've actually arrived at the place where AI products and systems are already showing the return they've promised for so long – personalizing learning for students, yielding rich and actionable data, simplifying teaching practices and, best of all, improving learning outcomes. That positive assessment comes from Ramesh Balan, the founder and CEO of Knomadix – the buzz-worthy AI education company he launched in 2015. And Balan may be worth listening to.