Justin Hendrix

Media Capitulation Index A new tool from Free Press that you should know about

New from me: This week @freepress.bsky.social launched a Media Capitulation Index. I cover what it is, why it matters, and how we can use it to organize. ctrlaltrightdelete.substack.com/p/media-capi...

Unpacking China's Global AI Governance Plan | TechPolicy.Press Justin Hendrix spoke to Graham Webster, a lecturer and research scholar at Stanford University and the Editor-in-Chief of the DigiChina Project.

On Saturday, July 26, three days after the Trump administration published its AI action plan, China’s foreign ministry released that country’s action plan for global AI governance. To learn more about it, I spoke to DigiChina editor-in-chief Graham Webster (@gwbstr.com):

chart: capital expenditures, quarterly shows hockey-stick like growth in the capex expenditures of Amazon, Microsoft, Google and meta, almost entirely on data centers in the most recent quarter it was nearly $100 billion, collectively

The AI infrastructure build-out is so gigantic that in the past 6 months, it contributed more to the growth of the U.S. economy than /all of consumer spending/

The 'magnificent 7' spent more than $100 billion on data centers and the like in the past three months *alone*

www.wsj.com/tech/ai/sili...

Mark Zuckerberg is Out of Ideas | TechPolicy.Press Dave Karpf reflects on Zuckerberg's mini-manifesto on “Personal Superintelligence" and what it says about the vision for the company.

Earlier this week, Mark Zuckerberg posted a new online mini-manifesto, titled “Personal Superintelligence,” setting the direction for Meta’s AI program. The one strong prediction we can make right now is that the future of AI will be a gigantic mess, with huge social costs, writes Dave Karpf.

President Trump's new AI action plan seeks to prevent states from creating legislation to protect people from AI harms.

In the absence of federal laws to defend our rights from AI companies, states must act.

We Are Not Talking About AI Memory Enough | TechPolicy.Press Surprisingly little attention is paid to what AI assistants remember about us and how we can shape their memory to control what they do, writes Ruchika Joshi.

AI assistants are becoming more powerful—but also more risky. In @techpolicypress.bsky.social, CDT’s Ruchika Joshi argues we need to treat AI memory not just as a feature, but as a governance tool that empowers users and reduces harm. Read the full piece: www.techpolicy.press...

Trump’s Domestic Use of Military Set to Get Worse, Leaked Memo Shows A Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by TNR signals top-level discussions about a potential escalation of the Pentagon’s domestic anti-immigration role, and lays out new details.

Trump’s Domestic Use of Military Set to Get Worse, Leaked Memo Shows... "A Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by TNR signals top-level discussions about a potential escalation of the Pentagon’s domestic anti-immigration role, and lays out new details." - @gregsargent.bsky.social

Mm-hm.

Fish never notices the water

Jurors ruled that yes, Meta "eavesdropped and that yes, users could have reasonably expected that their sensitive menstrual information was not being shared. Finally, the jurors ruled that no, Meta did not have consent for its actions."

If your political representatives voted for this absolute stupidity, please do everything you can to oust them at the next opportunity. cpb.org/pressroom/Co...

Devastating.

Mark Zuckerberg is Out of Ideas | TechPolicy.Press Dave Karpf reflects on Zuckerberg's mini-manifesto on “Personal Superintelligence" and what it says about the vision for the company.

Mark Zuckerberg accomplished a rare feat this week: he managed to make Sam Altman look like a deep and nuanced thinker by comparison.

My latest, for @techpolicypress.bsky.social, “Mark Zuckerberg is out of ideas.”

www.techpolicy.press/mark-zuckerb...

Californians Deserve Better than Newsom’s ‘DOGE but Better’ | TechPolicy.Press California is following DOGE's dangerous path of weakened regulation, aided and abetted by state politicians, Sara Geoghegan writes.

In Washington, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency has slashed federal regulation and left consumers in harm’s way. Now California is following this dangerous path of weakened regulation, aided and abetted by state politicians and regulators, Sara Geoghegan writes:

Mark Zuckerberg is Out of Ideas | TechPolicy.Press Dave Karpf reflects on Zuckerberg's mini-manifesto on “Personal Superintelligence" and what it says about the vision for the company.

Earlier this week, Mark Zuckerberg posted a new online mini-manifesto, titled “Personal Superintelligence,” setting the direction for Meta’s AI program. The one strong prediction we can make right now is that the future of AI will be a gigantic mess, with huge social costs, writes Dave Karpf.

The Trump AI Action Plan is Deregulation Framed as Innovation | TechPolicy.Press The administration's plan favors corporate interests over the public interest, write Public Citizen's J.B. Branch, Ilana Beller, and Tyson Slocum.

Trump's AI Action Plan will collectively tilt federal power toward industry self-regulation while diminishing the role of states, independent agencies, and public safeguards, write Public Citizen’s J.B. Branch, llana Beller, and Tyson Slocum. "It is a vision for a select few billionaires."

Trump’s Attack on Brazil’s Sovereignty May Backfire on US Tech Firms | TechPolicy.Press Tech Policy Press fellow Laís Martins says Brazil's posture is stiffening in response to demands from the Trump administration.

This week, Trump escalated his attack on Brazilian sovereignty. But his efforts could backfire politically, and ultimately on US tech firms that hoped to benefit from his heavy handed tactics, as the Brazilian posture appears to be stiffening, writes Tech Policy Press fellow Laís Martins.

Palantir gets $10 billion contract from U.S. Army The software company’s enterprise contract over the next decade cements its central role in warfighting for years to come.

"The U.S. Army issued Palantir a contract Thursday worth up to $10 billion over the course of the next decade. The new contract, the largest ever awarded to the software and data analysis company, cements Palantir’s role as a major processor of data for the military." wapo.st/41gmXEy

Advancing science- and evidence-based AI policy Policy must be informed by, but also facilitate the generation of, scientific evidence

What kind of AI governance do we need? Our new piece in @science.org answers this: we need policy grounded in evidence and built to generate more of it. Evidence-based policymaking is not a slogan—it’s a design challenge for democratic governance in the age of AI www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 🧵

Smithsonian removes Trump from impeachment exhibit in American History Museum A temporary placard, on display since 2021, described the president's historic impeachments. Officials said the exhibit was restored to an earlier version following a review of legacy content.

"The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in July removed references to President Donald Trump’s two impeachments from an exhibit display. "

And for those keeping track at home, you don't need AI for any of these things to do them well.

Trump AI Action Plan Raises Legal Questions, Potentially Violates Constitution | TechPolicy.Press ACLU senior policy counsel Cody Venzke says Congress should conduct oversight to ensure agencies stay within legal and constitutional boundaries.

Trump is attempting to forestall state AI regulation. Just like the moratorium that was stricken from the reconciliation package, this attempt threatens significant harm, raises legal questions, and potentially violates the Constitution, writes ACLU senior policy counsel Cody Venzke.

Google tool misused to scrub tech CEO’s shady past from search Google has fixed the bug, which it says affected only “a tiny fraction of websites.”…

By utilizing a bug in one of Google's search tools, the CEO (or someone working with him) managed to scrub the search engine of coverage related to his 2021 domestic violence arrest.

Epic Games Win Over Google in Fortnite Fight Upheld on Appeal Alphabet Inc.’s Google lost its appeal of a judge’s order requiring an overhaul of the technology giant’s app store policies in an antitrust case filed by Fortnite-maker Epic Games Inc.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NYC peeps- take note.

Trump AI Action Plan Raises Legal Questions, Potentially Violates Constitution | TechPolicy.Press ACLU senior policy counsel Cody Venzke says Congress should conduct oversight to ensure agencies stay within legal and constitutional boundaries.

Trump is attempting to forestall state AI regulation. Just like the moratorium that was stricken from the reconciliation package, this attempt threatens significant harm, raises legal questions, and potentially violates the Constitution, writes ACLU senior policy counsel Cody Venzke.

US government will ingest all federal data into AI models, WH tech director says That's one of the national-security reasons the U.S. needs to lead the world in AI, said OSTP's Michael Kratsios.

"...all the government data that the government has is going to be ingested into models to provide citizen services — whether it's the way you pay your taxes, whether it's through health-care records, whether it's small things that apply to get a permit through international park or a campsite."

Meta and Microsoft Keep Their License to Spend Strong performance of core businesses gives cover to blowout AI investments—for now.

"That could bring Meta’s total expenses to around $150 billion in 2026—nearly triple what the company spent just five years ago."

These companies are spending huge sums into the AI boom, on data centers and people.

I spent seven years writing a book on this and she just… said it in three succinct paragraphs to politico.

Criminy