This Is Donald Trump's AI Brain Trust "It's not an argument with two sides, it's an argument with 10 sides," one senior administration official tells WIRED about how US AI policy is being shaped. As China's open-weight AI models become increasingly powerful, the Trump administration is relying on a small group of officials to decide whether and what restrictions should be imposed. The group is scattered across several departments and agencies in Washington--and they all have differing views on the best way to keep the US ahead in the race against China. "It's not an argument with two sides, it's an argument with ten sides," one senior White House official tells WIRED about the state of affairs. With little interagency coordination in the administration, policy will almost certainly end up being set by the people with the most influence with the president.

Trump's 50 percent Canada tariffs: What to know US President Donald Trump's administration has said it will expand a voluntary pledge seeking to shield consumers from the energy costs of the rapid expansion of data centres, mostly used by artificial intelligence companies. The White House announced on Thursday that it would add state governors and electricity companies to the agreement, first announced with tech and AI firms in March. But the US administration stopped short of any enforceable protections. The pledge is a "public commitment that hyperscalers, AI companies, and the utilities and data-center developers behind them will build, bring, or buy every kilowatt their facilities need -- and cover every dollar of the infrastructure that delivers it". It says consumers would not foot the bill for AI's energy needs.

China's Moonshot AI stole from Anthropic, Trump tech adviser says A White House adviser has accused China's Moonshot AI of a large scale effort to steal the capabilities of top US artificial intelligence (AI) models. US President Donald Trump's Science and Technology adviser Michael Kratsios said Moonshot AI carried out the campaign through what is known as distillation - when a weaker AI model extracts answers from a stronger one. Moonshot also gained access to restricted cutting-edge Nvidia servers to train its models, Kratsios said in a social post, external on Wednesday. The BBC has contacted Moonshot, the Chinese embassy in Washington, Anthropic, the White House, and Nvidia for comment. Kratsios said on X that the US government has information that Moonshot AI distilled capabilities from Anthropic's Fable AI for the development of its K3 model.

There's a debate going on in the Trump administration over how to handle increasingly powerful Chinese AI models. The Trump administration is split over how to respond to the rapid rise of China's leading AI models, according to multiple people familiar with deliberations. The debate is broadly divided between parts of the White House, which has pushed for stricter controls on Chinese AI that may soon rival the most powerful US models, and the Commerce Department, which has viewed those restrictions as unworkable. The conundrum has become the latest flash point for the administration over AI, after China's Moonshot AI lab last week released its Kimi K3 model that rivals the top US models from Anthropic and OpenAI . In recent days, senior White House officials have discussed possible measures to stop China's AI labs from developing their models by training them on US models, a practice known as distillation, the people say.

Follow this section to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW? Smart Alerts: Get notified about major news as it happens. Follow this tag to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW?

The FDA Says It Didn't Apologize to Supplier Linked to Diarrhea Outbreak, Actually The agency stressed that the July 17 voluntary recall from Taylor Farms still stands. The supplier has been linked to the ongoing cyclospora outbreak. In the middle of a diarrhea shitstorm, the Food and Drug Administration and lettuce supplier Taylor Farms appear to be facing off in a passive aggressive battle of technicalities. On July 17, the California-based company issued a voluntary recall on iceberg lettuce sourced from Central Mexico. The recall came after people across at least five states were sickened with cyclosporiasis, a parasitic infection that causes explosive diarrhea.

Follow this section to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW? Smart Alerts: Get notified about major news as it happens. Follow this tag to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW?

Conspiracy Theorists Think Trump's Speech Paves the Path to the Insurrection Act Election deniers have spent years promoting the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. They believe Donald Trump's speech finally proves them right. President Donald Trump's much-hyped speech promising huge revelations about interference in the 2020 election failed to deliver. On Thursday night, the president made sweeping claims about interference by China and cover-ups by the " deep state," and repeated debunked claims about noncitizens voting . He pointed to a document drop on the White House website as proof, though the files didn't contain evidence to back up his assertions.

Follow this section to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW? Smart Alerts: Get notified about major news as it happens. The D.C. Brief Open follow modal Personalized Content Follow this tag to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW?

Here's Why Anthropic Is Pushing States to Regulate AI Faster The company endorsed landmark AI transparency laws in California and New York last year, but its head of US state and local policy says they may already be outdated. Anthropic threw its support behind the first wave of frontier AI safety laws in the United States last year, securing new transparency requirements in California and New York that much of Silicon Valley fought against, arguing they would stifle the AI boom . But Anthropic says those laws may already be outdated, and the company is now pushing states to adopt even tougher regulations. "The transparency-focused safety bills of 2025 were a really important start, but as the capabilities of AI systems continue to advance quickly--the policy responses need to match," Cesar Fernandez, Anthropic's head of US state and local government relations, told WIRED in an interview. "We think that transparency and self reporting are no longer sufficient safety measures for the most powerful AI systems."