Goto

Collaborating Authors

 journalism


Using AI to Plan Backcountry Trips Is Getting People Into Big Trouble

Mother Jones

"I think they kind of turned their brains off." Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. By the time the three hikers called for help from a rocky face on Mount Shasta in Northern California, they'd made a series of bad decisions. They didn't bring enough food, and they'd overestimated their fitness. Instead of turning back in late afternoon when they hadn't yet reached the top, they summited at 7:30 p.m. and had to descend in the dark.


Politicians Attack Data Centers While Profiting from their Construction

Mother Jones

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are raking in millions from the AI boom. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. During an October 15 debate debate between Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson, a curiously apologetic heckler piped up. "Senator Collins, I'm so sorry to interrupt, but I'm terrified," the person shouted. "This is obviously one of Troy's supporters," Collins said.


Slop, Ass, Cringe: MAGA Flops Abroad and Flails at Home

Mother Jones

On the latest "Stress Test": Is this really Trump's closing message? With the midterms less than a week away, the closing stretch of the campaign is full of bad omens for MAGA abroad and peak weirdness at home. In Serbia and Brazil, Trump allies suffered stinging and surprising defeats driven in part by energized voter turnout. An anti-corruption youth movement spearheaded the surge in Serbia, while Brazil saw a dramatic comeback for President Luiz Inรกcio Lula da Silva, who defeated staunch Trump ally Flรกvio Bolsonaro. "Both of the losing candidates, Bolsonaro in Brazil and Vuฤiฤ‡ in Serbia, wrapped themselves around Donald Trump," co-host David Corn says on this episode of . "So we see in Serbia and Hungary authoritarian figures who try to emulate and ride the Trump wave being tossed out of office. And in [South America], where we've seen a right-wing tide they beat it back" in Brazil. There's a growing sense that voters worldwide are fed up with government grift. As David puts it: "Corruption seems to be the point of the spear." Meanwhile, the Israeli election--where the final results are still uncertain--also was something of a referendum on Trump, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempting to retain power by promoting his close ties to Trump. Back home, former President Barack Obama and Trump were each on the campaign trail in closing sprints. Obama is getting spicy, hitting Trump on his tacky taste and alleged corruption. Trump, meanwhile, has been obsessively commenting on physical anatomy--specifically "asses"--in one of the stranger closing arguments in modern American political history. "This has to be, like, the definition of being off message," co-host Garrison Hayes observes. Trump's fixation on rear-ends extended to rapper Nicki Minaj, who appeared at a rally, where Trump asked her to stand and extolled her derriere, fueling the silly rumor she might be named press secretary after the brief tenure of Katie "Half a Scaramucci" Zacharia."It For Garrison, the gambit is all-too familiar: "Here we are in the closing moments of this midterm election, and the way that the Trump administration has decided to utilize a Black person in order to, I imagine, appeal to Black voters is offensive.


Anthropic's Founders Pledged to Donate Most of Their Stock. Their IPO Tells Another Story.

Mother Jones

The AI giant's new filing calls the promise a "revocable," nonbinding "expression" that depends on market conditions. Dario Amodei, co-founder and CEO of Anthropic, speaks at the Viva Technology conference in Paris, France, May 22, 2024. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. The AI giant Anthropic disclosed its initial public offering filing with the SEC on Monday in what is expected to become one of the largest stock debuts in history. The offering is set to take place around the middle of November.


Mystery Ohio news site boosting Ramaswamy's Amy Acton ad tied to California GOP non-profit

Los Angeles Times

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. Mystery Ohio news site boosting Ramaswamy's Amy Acton ad tied to California GOP non-profit President Trump listens as gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks Oct. 12 at a campaign rally at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search.


Banks Are Struggling to Protect Customers From Their Own AI Agents

Mother Jones

Some AI tools now make financial decisions on their own, bankers say--raising frightening security risks. A robot catches a falling $100 bill during an Are You Faster Than a Robot? Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Leading US banks have reportedly found unapproved AI agents operating inside customer accounts on users' behalf, sometimes acting independent of their instructions. In response, many institutions are resorting to blocking the tools or rethinking their security policies.


Anna Paulina Luna's Husband Owns 10 Percent of Drone Startup That Got 37 Million in Pentagon Deals

Mother Jones

"Americans deserve a Congress that works for them, not for special interests or personal portfolios," the Florida Republican said in 2025. Then the federal contracts started rolling in. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. "Americans deserve a Congress that works for them, not for special interests or personal portfolios," Luna said in a press release, explaining the procedural move called a discharge petition. Her legislative maneuver didn't succeed in getting the Restore Trust in Congress Act to the House floor for a vote; it didn't receive enough signatures.


AI Helped Find a Critical Bug Affecting Huge Swathes of the Internet

Mother Jones

It's the most startling cybersecurity vulnerability found by AI yet. It won't be the last. Some sites were affected by similar outages today when they were taken offline after a critical cybersecurity vulnerability was announced. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Newly announced vulnerabilities could affect broad swathes of the internet after being discovered by teams of cybersecurity professionals--with heavy AI assistance.


One SpaceX Share Per Child: The New AI PR Strategy

Mother Jones

Anthropic and Elon Musk's SpaceX have committed billions of dollars in stocks to benefit the public all while dodging accountability. The Hyperloop track failed to materialize and was dismantled in 2022. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Elon Musk's SpaceX and AI giant Anthropic have said they will give billions of dollars in shares to the public as general sentiment around the technology's economic and societal consequences continues to plummet. "Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America," Musk posted on X on Monday.


Women Trust AI Less Than Men--But No One's Asking Them

Mother Jones

Men are disproportionately likely to be approached as AI experts, Harvard researchers found. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. As our tech overlords continue pumping more resources into AI development and innovation-- responsibly, of course --they're facing a massive trust gap: the people they want to use the tech keep asking who the technology is actually for. Is it for those who clamor for a surveillance state? Is it meant to help us compete with other nations?