Little scooplet: looks like Paul Christiano, once head of AI safety at CAISI, has switched to a part time advisor role. 🧵
Veronica 💫
@vronirwin.bsky.social
Senior AI Policy Reporter at Transformer. Previous: Unchained, Forbes, Protocol, SF Examiner. Freelance: Fast Company, The Frisc, The Nation, etc. Views my own. rt =/= endorsement
There's plenty of reasons to want to keep children away from AI. 🧵
AI regulations are facing their x-risk moment. The xAI v. Bonta lawsuit threatens a huge chunk of AI regulations - basically anything that requires disclosure.
Transformer@transformernews.ai · 2w agoElon Musk’s SpaceXAI is pursuing a lawsuit that could threaten AI transparency laws Read on: www.transformernews.ai/p/elon-musk-...
The federal government's premier technical office for testing frontier AI systems, CAISI, has been sidelined. Luckily, a few proposals to codify it and it's responsibilities, increase funding, and possibly make it it's own independent agency are on the table.
Making CAISI the AI agency we need
The center has the right expertise, but lacks money, authority and influence
transformernews.ai
SCOOP: AI safety group Public First spent in the Manny Rutinel race. It just wasn’t disclosed to voters ahead of election day. Transformer has learned $2m was transferred from Public First Action to Latino Victory Fund, which says it exists to mobilize Latino voters and elect Latinos to office.
An AI safety group hid its election spending through a Latino-focused PAC
Public First Action routed $2m to support Colorado House candidate Manny Rutinel through Latino Victory Fund — and didn’t publicly announce it ahead of Rutinel’s victory
transformernews.ai
Fairshake isn't outright sweeping elections, as most crypto outlets would have you believe. Roughly 2/3 of the races they're involved in aren't competitive. Rather, its strategy may be to *appear* like an 800lb gorilla, rather than always having to be one. broganlaw.substack.com/p/how-much-d...
I was interviewed on an episode of Future Tense Explained to talk about my reporting on OpenAI lobbying/super PACs/Chris Lehane ! www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIby...
Sam Altman's Master Plan to Buy Washington Is Falling Apart
YouTube video by Future Tense
youtube.com
Well, this is weird. 👀 In May, Innovation Council Action made headlines when it said it would be spending $100m to support Trump's AI agenda. The group, blessed by David Sacks, was expected to spend that money backing pro-AI conservatives in the midterms. 🧵
OpenAI has tried to distance itself from Leading the Future in recent weeks, publishing a blog post saying that “OpenAI does not direct the activities of LTF, or have visibility into their operations.” But that post doesn’t tell the full story. 🧵
Midterm candidates campaigning on AI is becoming a trend. Take, for example, Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic primary candidate to represent Michigan in the Senate. 🧵
Super PACs like to keep their donors anonymous through so-called "dark money" groups. Doing so is a fairly common practice in Washington, and allows PACs to avoid the kind transparency that federal elections laws are designed to ensure. 🧵
🚨Scoop! Anthropic's $20m donation to Public First Action was widely seen as the company joining-in on midterm spending. But in a statement to Transformer, Anthropic that it's money cannot be used for elections influence, raising questions about how much money the pro-safety AI PACs have to spend.
There's been a lot of AI regulation talk in Illinois, and we're not paying enough attention to it. www.transformernews.ai/p/ais-next-b...
AI’s next big blue battleground
There’s a lot going on in Illinois
transformernews.ai
Before the White House framework for AI regulation took over the news cycle this morning, I wrote a story about a series of strikingly similar AI chatbot bills. It's still relevant. The bills include carve outs which shield AI companies from liability in certain circumstances.
Build American AI, the advocacy group spun out of industry-funded super PAC Leading the Future, has been touting a list of 500k+ “grassroots” supporters. It turns out that “grassroots” group was harvested via paid ads costing at least half a million dollars.
How to buy an AI ‘grassroots’ movement
Build American AI is touting its list of more than 500,000 supporters. It spent at least half a million dollars on ads to get it
transformernews.ai
🚨 First in Transformer: new polling puts Bores race for NY-12 significantly closer than was expected, signaling that super PAC money could be a deciding factor.
Both sides claim the lead in AI’s high-stakes midterm race
Polling from Public First shows Alex Bores in the lead in NY-12 — but polling from rival super PAC Leading the Future does not
transformernews.ai
Incredibly incredibly proud of this tracker my colleagues and I built, but that's not the only thing in the newsletter this week. We also have...
Veronica 💫@vronirwin.bsky.social · 5mo agoAI is playing a huge role in this year's midterm elections. To date, AI-focused super PACs have spent more than $9 million on the elections, and we're not even through the 1st quarter. That's why @transformernews.ai has created the AI Campaign Finance Tracker. elections.transformernews.ai
AI is playing a huge role in this year's midterm elections. To date, AI-focused super PACs have spent more than $9 million on the elections, and we're not even through the 1st quarter. That's why @transformernews.ai has created the AI Campaign Finance Tracker. elections.transformernews.ai
AI Campaign Finance Tracker | Transformer
Track AI industry political spending: super PAC contributions, independent expenditures, and employee donations to federal candidates.
elections.transformernews.ai
In today's @transformernews.ai weekly briefing, I spoke with the Institute for Family Studies' Michael Toscano about why the White House is going against Trump's own voters on AI regulation in the state.
White House war on Utah AI bill could backfire
Transformer Weekly: Kratsios in India, Anthropic vs the Pentagon and new Meta super PACs
transformernews.ai
Happily, you don’t need to do much to trace any of this as we’re extremely transparent about it! www.transformernews.ai/p/standards-...
Editorial standards and ethics
This document outlines Transformer’s aims, funding, ethics policies, and editorial standards.
transformernews.ai
Timnit Gebru@timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 6mo agoInstead of "the left isn't paying enough attention to these machine gods" they're claiming to build, perhaps we should write an article about how effective altruists brand themselves "left", ask who is writing these articles, and trace their cults and sources of funding.
In my first story for Transformer, I wrote about how Alex Bores' AI framework is a bellwether for Democratic messaging on AI: www.transformernews.ai/p/alex-bores...
Alex Bores wants to fix Dems’ AI problem
Transformer Weekly: Anthropic’s political donations, energy bills policy, and an xAI exodus
transformernews.ai
🚨NEWS🚨: A new PAC called DREAM NYC launched a six figure ad buy for NY-12 in support of candidate Alex Bores, according to a press release. DREAM NYC appears to be funded entirely by Anthropic's Daniel Ziegler, who gave $50k last year according to FEC data.
We've got all the vital AI news from every outlet you could read, and all the maddening discourse from every feed you could endlessly browse. Consider our weekly newsletter a hub to stay on top of everything going on in the very dizzying world of AI. www.transformernews.ai/p/dario-amod...
🚨Personal news! 🚨 Starting this week, I'm the Senior AI Policy Reporter at @transformernews.ai. 🧵
I wrote about Democrats' misdirected criticism of the GENIUS Act today for @projectglitch.bsky.social . Trump's crypto ties are at best unethical and at worst illegal. But stablecoin legislation, my reporting shows, is the wrong place to focus disapproval. Read here: projectglitch.xyz
Project Glitch | Substack
Crypto contains multitudes. Click to read Project Glitch, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
projectglitch.xyz
In my first column, I break down some of the remaining hurdles for the GENIUS Act. I also wrote a quick dispatch from the Solana Accelerate conference, where I was surprised to find crypto policy taking center stage. There’s some pretty major scoops in here, you’ll want to read!
Veronica 💫@vronirwin.bsky.social · last yr.Absolutely thrilled to publish the first of many weekly columns in the Brogan Law newsletter today! In my columns you’ll find previously unpublished scoops and analysis on the biggest legal, regulatory, and policy issues in crypto. Subscribe and read here: broganlaw.substack.com/subscribe?ut...
Absolutely thrilled to publish the first of many weekly columns in the Brogan Law newsletter today! In my columns you’ll find previously unpublished scoops and analysis on the biggest legal, regulatory, and policy issues in crypto. Subscribe and read here: broganlaw.substack.com/subscribe?ut...
broganlaw.substack.com