My new @fastcompany.com story was a fun one to write! It's about veteran filmmaker @arikuschnir.bsky.social's new series of AI-generated infomercials that create 90s-themed “cozy dystopias” rooted in recent political and tech headlines. www.fastcompany.com/91601630/mee...

Meet the guy whose AI infomercials turn tech's grand visions into late-night schlock

Ari Kuschnir’s hyperreal shorts recast Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump, and others as pitchmen for dystopian futures.

fastcompany.com

🚨Huge update today in the Google adtech remedies case! Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema just rejected the DOJ's bid to force Google to divest of its ad tech business. However, she still approved most of the government's proposed behavioral remedies.

scoop: Reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg have been barred from next week's G20 meeting in Asheville, N.C. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/29/b...

Treasury Bars Some Reporters From G20 Finance Meeting (Gift Article)

Specific reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg were not granted credentials to cover the meeting of financial leaders next week in Asheville, N.C.

nytimes.com

OpenAI says it recently banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts used to make AI-generated pro-Russian propaganda for a Russia-linked influence operation. The report, published yesterday, is worth reading to learn about how bad actors use AI to spread disinformation and how it's being detected.

Disrupting a new covert influence campaign from Russia

OpenAI banned Russia-origin accounts using AI to promote a fake Israel-based think tank and a “sovereignty” index praising Russia and criticizing the West.

openai.com

Strange (and sad) reading this article less than a week after finishing Ali Smith's dystopian sci-fi novel "Gliff," which is in part about two kids trying to save a horse destined for the abattoir. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/u...

Under Trump, Protected Wild Horses Are Going to Slaughter

A legal loophole allows the government to sell mustangs on the cheap, stripping them of protections and clearing their path to destruction.

nytimes.com

The evidence is clear: The authoritarian threat is real...and growing. The NYT Autocracy Tracker just upgraded the threat of the Trump administration manipulating the law to stay in power.

Opinion | Trump’s Election Interference Is Eroding American Democracy (Gift Article)

The president is prioritizing his own interests over the national interest.

nytimes.com

Today in @thenation.com: a harrowing piece written from inside the Dilley ICE detention center by Maryam Tahmasebi, a green card holder who's been locked up along with her husband and son for months despite none of them committing any crime. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention

My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months—despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare.

thenation.com

I just vibe-coded a silly little game with Claude based on “Lemmings,” the 90s-era video game I loved as a kid! Last night I had a random idea to make a Lemmings-style game themed with a little social commentary about our society’s relationship with social media.

Trump is weaponizing America’s intel agencies to target U.S. elections. In part 4 of Zeteo’s ‘Start the Steal’ series, @swin24.bsky.social & @justinglawe.bsky.social reveal how Trump has warped the U.S. intel community so that it’s part of his corrupt propaganda machine: zeteo.com/p/how-trump-...

Former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, who has publicly raised concerns regarding US military vulnerabilities and critical munition shortages, is being punished by the Pentagon.

has he made it clear to the guy driving

CNN@cnn.com · last mo.

Over the last few weeks, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine has privately made clear to other top Trump advisers that the US needs to find an off-ramp from the war with Iran, sources say. https://cnn.it/4q3dyLP

The FTC just voted to stop pursuing "disparate impact" claims and no longer treat discrimination itself as an unfair practice. Seems this could make the FTC less likely to challenge AI systems as discriminatory without evidence of intent. (Even if an AI disproportionately harms a protected group.)

Former J6 federal prosecutors are begging senators -- mostly GOPers, but a handful of Dems are in there, too -- to stop confirming election deniers to lifetime federal courts seats. “Please stop poisoning our courts." www.huffpost.com/entry/live-u...

Former J6 Prosecutors Beg Senators To Stop Confirming Election Deniers To Court Seats

huffpost.com

Anyone with access to the Meta and/or Google ad library APIs want to help me with a little reporting project? 🕵️‍♂️ If so, let me know and I’ll share more!

I first saw Glen Hansard play in 2010 soon after I moved to NYC. At the time, I didn’t have any iPhone yet so I can’t find the clip from The Swell Season’s show back then in Prospect Park. Instead, here’s a photo from the last time I saw him: at Radio City in 2023. Thread below for a quick story.

Yesterday’s flight from MSP to JFK made an unexpected stop in Buffalo because of weather in NYC and then delayed overnight. The silver lining? A sunrise walk through Niagara Falls State Park!

DOGE’s freeze of a wildfire-prevention grant—just $10 million—delayed forest-thinning work in Minnesota. Some of the untreated areas are now burning, forcing firefighters to perform overdue prevention work in the middle of an active fire. www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026...

‘We were shovel-ready’: A Minnesota forest hit by DOGE cuts is now ablaze

Officials said losing out on the ability to do vital prevention work at a perilous time for the region hindered them from being as prepared as they could have been.

washingtonpost.com

NUCLEAR CASH President Trump, his family and his circle of advisers have monetized crypto, the predictions markets, the data center boom & rare-earths mining. Now they are seeing there's money to be made in a new vector: The nuclear industry. The NYT takes a look www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/u...

Trump Is Pushing Nuclear Energy, Including Saudi Deal. His Family and Supporters Could Benefit. (Gift Article)

In some cases, no direct line can be drawn from the president’s domestic nuclear agenda to his family or close allies. But they have overlapping business ties that could position them for gains.

nytimes.com

NEWS: Taylor Farms gave *$2 million* to Trump & Republicans as they postponed a rule that could've limited the spread of outbreaks like the ongoing Cyclospora epidemic. And, years ago, the industry *also* successfully lobbied to cut a program that handled ~80% of federal produce pathogen testing.

‘Explosive Diarrhea’: Company Tied to Outbreak Donated to Trump as He Delayed Food Safety Rule

Taylor Farms contributed $2 million to Trump and Republicans as they postponed a rule to help the government limit the spread of foodborne illnesses.

zeteo.com

Curious about all the fuss around Moonshot's new Kimi K3 model? Today's newsletter features a smörgåsbord of takes from various experts about the model, its performance, the politics around open models and what it all means for adoption and competition. www.bigtechnology.com/p/everything...

Everything You Need to Know About Kimi K3, the Latest Model From China to Shake Up AI

Here's how the web reacted to Kimi K3's performance, politics, and how it changes the AI race.

bigtechnology.com

Argentina should probably send the VAR crew from the Egypt match a thank-you card…They wouldn’t still be in the World Cup without them!

NEW: Meta's VP of comms claimed the company's NameTag feature "doesn't exist" in response to recent @wired.com reporting about it. Then Meta's CTO described it in detail on a podcast. Here's my attempt to explain 🫠: wired.com/story/heres-the-truth-about-whether-metas-nametag-face-recognition-exists

Here’s the Truth About Whether Meta’s NameTag Face Recognition Tech ‘Exists’

Since WIRED reported on Meta’s NameTag face recognition system, company executives have made confusing and conflicting remarks about its very existence.

wired.com

“.. The analysts, a husband and wife, told colleagues they did not believe the investigation was justified under FBI and Justice Department policies, the people said, adding that the couple was escorted out of their office ..” @ms.now www.ms.now/news/fbi-kas...

Just finished my first year attending Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity! It’s been a packed week and I’ll write more about it soon. For now, here’s my latest dispatch for @nytimes.com in today’s Dealbook, where I reported on one of the underlying themes of the week: AI visibility.

Advertisers Are Good at Getting Human Attention. Can They Stand Out to A.I.?

nytimes.com

Flying to France tonight then taking the train from Paris to Cannes tomorrow evening for my first time at @canneslions.bsky.social! If anyone’s else is going to Cannes Lions, let me know!

SpaceX goes public today, so it's worth resharing Monday’s Big Technology newsletter, where @kantrowitz.bsky.social and I previewed the massive IPO. So far, Starlink brings the cash, rockets bring the cachet, and xAI brings the cash burn behind the cache.

PSA: As we mentioned in Monday's Big Technology newsletter, a new NY state law went into effect yesterday requiring ads disclose when they use AI-generated humans. It's especially timely as more content uses "synthetic performers" like AI avatars, fake product demos, fake political supporters, etc.

Just out in @TIME with Sen. Tim Wirth and @asharangappa.bsky.social - How Trump Keeps Exploiting America’s Legal Loopholes time.com/article/2026...

How Trump Keeps Exploiting America’s Legal Loopholes

President Donald Trump continues to outfox constitutional cognoscenti by finding conniving cracks in America's legal system.

time.com

The White House press corps won't be allowed on White House grounds Sunday — unless the UFC gives them press credentials. The UFC is hosting a fight on the South Lawn that day. The White House normally handles credentialing for large-scale events, but it's ceding control to the UFC.

White House will be closed to reporters during UFC fight — unless UFC lets them in

The White House is ceding control of who gets in to the fight event on the South Lawn, in a break with tradition.

washingtonpost.com