Saturday, July 18, 2026

Prediction market political betting on insider info spreads in DC; sources: WH lawyers raised alarms over anonymous Polymarket bets on the Iran ceasefire timing (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Prediction market political betting on insider info spreads in DC; sources: WH lawyers raised alarms over anonymous Polymarket bets on the Iran ceasefire timing  —  White House officials are grappling with how deeply political betting has worked itself into fabric of government



How the Trump administration shifted from a "light-touch" approach to AI policy to an interventionist stance that led to restrictions on top AI models in the US (Leo Schwartz/The Information)

Leo Schwartz / The Information:
How the Trump administration shifted from a “light-touch” approach to AI policy to an interventionist stance that led to restrictions on top AI models in the US  —  In January 2025, just three days after entering office for his second term, President Donald Trump signed …



The grassroots group HumansFirst is organizing protests against the "unaccountable" buildout of data centers across 125 US locations on July 18 (Reuters)

Reuters:
The grassroots group HumansFirst is organizing protests against the “unaccountable” buildout of data centers across 125 US locations on July 18  —  Opponents of the rapid buildout of data centers plan to hold protests on Saturday in at least 125 locations across the United States …



A review of Microsoft's 13-inch Surface Laptop shows 8GB of RAM is not enough for a good Windows 11 experience; PC makers have unveiled upcoming 8GB laptops (Antonio G. Di Benedetto/The Verge)

Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge:
A review of Microsoft's 13-inch Surface Laptop shows 8GB of RAM is not enough for a good Windows 11 experience; PC makers have unveiled upcoming 8GB laptops  —  Last year, Microsoft's 13-inch Surface Laptop quickly became one of my favorite thin-and-light Windows notebooks.



Friday, July 17, 2026

San Francisco sends legal notices to Apple and Google demanding they take down 13 AI apps used to make deepfake nude images; Google says it has deleted the apps (Matt Burgess/Wired)

Matt Burgess / Wired:
San Francisco sends legal notices to Apple and Google demanding they take down 13 AI apps used to make deepfake nude images; Google says it has deleted the apps  —  The City Attorney's Office sent the tech giants cease-and-desist letters this week telling them to stop profiting from 13 …



At the World AI Conference, Xi Jinping touts open-source AI, pledges to help the Global South build AI capabilities, and calls unequal AI access an "injustice" (Reuters)

Reuters:
At the World AI Conference, Xi Jinping touts open-source AI, pledges to help the Global South build AI capabilities, and calls unequal AI access an “injustice”  —  Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday cast Beijing as the champion of a new global AI order, using China's premier tech conference …



The Alphabet Workers Union sends a layoff protection petition with 4,500+ signatures to Sundar Pichai, calling for guaranteed severance and buyout options (Sanya Mansoor/The Guardian)

Sanya Mansoor / The Guardian:
The Alphabet Workers Union sends a layoff protection petition with 4,500+ signatures to Sundar Pichai, calling for guaranteed severance and buyout options  —  The petition to Sundar Pichai, the CEO, included more than 4,500 signatures and included calls for buyout options



A look at the narrowing US-China AI gap, as a spate of compelling, low-cost releases makes Chinese AI models increasingly attractive to businesses (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg : A look at the narrowing US-China AI gap, as a spate of compelling, low-cost releases makes Chinese AI models increasingly att...