Politics

Multibillion-dollar data center developments in Georgia are sparking bipartisan backlash, with Politico reporting that 47 percent of local voters oppose the plans. Given this is just one of several states experiencing an AI boom, similar opposition may also define local and statewide elections going forward.

Nathan Calvin, from advocacy group Encode, received an interview request from Michael Chen, a reporter at The Wire by Acutus. But it turns out Chen probably doesn’t exist, and most of the “reporters” at the suspiciously pro-AI Acutus appear to be bots. It’s just the tip of a financial trail that appears to lead to OpenAI.

We already reported that Geely, which also owns Volvo and Polestar, is the Chinese automaker best positioned to sell its vehicles in the US. Now the company is reportedly in talks with Ford about that exact possibility — though it seems that negotiations have already stalled. Ford is considering licensing Geely’s tech for its own cars, but there are heavy restrictions on Chinese software in US vehicles.

The criminal inquiry into Federal Reserve Chair Powell is widely perceived as retaliatory. The DOJ’s decision to end the investigation is also potentially politically motivated, as Senator Thom Tillis was blocking a vote on Trump’s choice to succeed Powell, Kevin Warsh, unless it was dropped.

He threatened to “put a big tariff on the UK” if it doesn’t drop its tax on the revenue of tech giants, despite the Supreme Court ruling that he can’t actually do that. The president still thinks the tax, which brought in £944m ($1.3bn) last year, unfairly targets US companies.

As first reported by ABC News and now confirmed by the DOJ, federal investigators believe special forces soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke put down $33k on prediction market bets about Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro being removed from office, just before Trump announced his capture in January, profiting over $400,000.

RFK Jr. has declared that AI could make the FDA “irrelevant,” with entirely predictable effects on The Verge’s long-suffering health and wearable expert Victoria Song.

The prediction market took action against a handful of congressional candidates: Ezekiel Enriquez (a Republican running in Texas); Mark Moran (an Independent in Virginia, who says he meant to get caught); and Matt Klein (a Democrat in Minnesota) for betting in markets related to their political races. Each was banned from the platform for five years and fined modest amounts ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) have written a letter to TikTok USDS CEO Adam Presser, urging the platform to estimate users’ age using their account activity or require parents to confirm their child’s age. The lawmakers also suggest that TikTok works with OS-makers like Apple and Google to implement age verification:

Governor JB Pritzker signed an executive order today dealing specifically with prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket. State employees were already barred from using insider information for personal gain, but this executive order specifically bans them from using it to make bets on prediction markets.

I wrote about that — and other Catholic concerns — at my friend Rusty’s newsletter while he took the day off.

President Donald Trump had some interesting words to say on Truth Social about Tim Cook’s announced departure, claiming the Apple CEO personally requested his aid on several occasions during his presidency. “He makes these calls to me, I help him out (but not always, because he will, on occasion, be too aggressive in his ask!).”

The Washington Post analyzed more than 1,400 of the far-right provocateur’s streams and found that he’s generating more than $400,000 in revenue. Much of those donations are coming from people who are struggling economically, including one 57-year-old Air Force veteran who told the Post she thought he was struggling financially — and who is struggling herself.

Over the weekend, Congress voted to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — for 10 days. President Trump has demanded a clean renewal of the controversial wiretapping authority, but he’s been stymied by Republicans who want to include reforms, including closing a loophole that lets the government spy on Americans without a warrant.

Sources told Axios that the agency was among the roughly 40 organizations granted access. This, despite the Pentagon arguing that Anthropic is a threat to national security. The NSA has reportedly been using it primarily to identify vulnerabilities in its own network, but considering its track record, it’s understandable if you’re wary.

The New York Times has found hundreds of fake accounts on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook that appear to be a pre-midterm push to get conservative voters to the polls in support of Trump’s agenda. The accounts often use the same captions and awkward phrasing.

Pilots have apparently been meowing and barking at each other over air traffic control radio, but the Federal Aviation Administration isn’t amused by the bit. Some in the industry fear pilots will tune out the jokes and miss timely safety information, according to CNN.

Union leaders across industries joined the Vermont senator to push for jobs protections as the technology quickly evolves. Sanders has called for a pause on data center construction and warned that left unchecked, within ten years, “the idea of a manufacturing job will no longer exist.”

Delaware County is updating poll workers’ oath to bar election bets on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket, Spotlight PA reports. “I think they’re a pernicious, horrible factor and I don’t think elections should be bet on in one shape or form,” the county’s elections director Jim Allen said.

The company is apparently reversing course in its approach to military dealings. Google currently has a contract that allows the DOD to use Gemini for “all lawful purposes,” but only in unclassified settings. According to The Information:

A Polymarket user with a curiously perfect track record made $316,346 betting on Joe Biden’s last-minute pardons, including the preemptive pardons of his brother Jim, Liz Cheney, Adam Schiff, and Adam Kinzinger. It’s yet another example of potential insider trading on Polymarket. According to NPR:

The European Commission says it will order Meta to roll back its policy to only allow rival AI assistants on WhatsApp for a year if they pay an access fee, which appears to violate EU competition rules. Meta’s conduct “risks blocking competitors from entering or expanding in the rapidly growing market for AI assistants,” according to the Commission.

The House was supposed to have a procedural vote on renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act today, ahead of the program’s April 20th expiration. Speaker Mike Johnson delayed the debate — again. There’s still a chance the House may vote later today, but it’s unlikely.