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US Leading Global Alliance to Counter Foreign Government Disinformation (Maria)
The author writes, “A global coalition of democracies is being formed to protect their societies from disinformation campaigns by foreign governments, the US special envoy on the issue has said. James Rubin, the special envoy for non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts at the US state department’s global engagement center (GEC), said the coalition hoped to agree on ‘definitions for information manipulation versus plain old opinions that other governments are entitled to have even if we disagree with them.’ The US, UK and Canada have already signed up to a formal framework agreement, and Washington hopes more countries will join.”
Former RNC Chair Predicts How Donald Trump’s GOP Takeover Will End (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), warned that former President Donald Trump’s takeover of the GOP will end with an ‘implosion.’ Steele, a Trump critic, issued the warning about the former president’s growing influence in the Republican Party in an opinion piece published by MSNBC on Friday.”
Journalist Indicted After Accessing Tucker Carlson Video Footage (Russ)
The author writes, “Federal prosecutors indicted freelance journalist Tim Burke on Thursday for accessing internal video footage from Fox News and other media companies, in an unusual case that his attorneys say threatens freedom of the press. Burke, a former employee of the Daily Beast and Deadspin, gained renown for his ability to obtain timely television clips — such as … an eerie montage of anchors for local stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group all reading from the same script. But in an indictment laying out 14 counts against Burke that include conspiracy and wiretapping, prosecutors allege that the journalist went too far by tapping into a streaming feed site where he acquired unbroadcast video clips of former Fox News star Tucker Carlson and other personalities.”
Army Struggles to Identify, Report Violent Extremism, Newly Released Audit Shows (Sean)
From USA Today: “Army personnel can’t always identify extremist behavior, and almost half the time they don’t know who they are supposed to report such activity to, according to an internal audit obtained and released this week by an activist group. The audit further illustrates shortcomings first identified in a USA Today investigation last year, which found the armed forces could show almost no progress on orders to eliminate extremism in the ranks, despite an effort launched in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection.”
Who’s Behind These Mysterious Deliveries? (Reader Steve)
From The Mercury News: “Online shopping offers near-infinite choice and convenience. But it has also created a global gathering place for digital crooks, fraudsters and credit card thieves. Consumers’ only remedy — calling customer service — is its own journey through hell.”
Scientists Claim AI Breakthrough to Generate Boundless Clean Fusion Energy (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “There are many stumbling blocks on the racetrack to nuclear fusion, the reaction at the core of the sun that combines atoms to make energy: Generating more energy than it takes to power the reactors, developing reactor-proof building materials, keeping the reactor free from impurities, and restraining that fuel within it, to name a few. Now, researchers from Princeton University and its Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have developed an AI model that could solve that last problem. This model predicts, and then figures out how to avoid, plasma becoming unstable and escaping the strong magnetic fields that hold it inside certain donut-shaped reactors.”
Forget Sam Altman. America’s Greatest AI Visionary Is… An English Professor in Illinois (Laura)
From Business Insider: “In a world filled with AI skeptics and chatbot alarmists, [University of Illinois professor Ted] Underwood is making one of the strongest and most compelling cases for the value of artificial intelligence. While some … fret that AI is a fabulizing, plagiarizing, bias-propagating bullshit engine that threatens to bring about the end of civilization as we know it, Underwood is pretty sure that artificial intelligence will help us all think more deeply, and help scholars uncover exciting new truths about the grand sweep of human culture. Working with large language models — the software under a chatbot’s hood — has made him that rarest of things in the humanities: an AI optimist.”
