Faiz Siddiqui

The AI spending boom could have real consequences for the U.S. economy As revisions to U.S. jobs numbers call into question economic growth, Big Tech is becoming an even more important part of American prosperity.

Lots of ways to show how huge Big Tech's AI spending spree is but my fav is probably that it's bigger than all the money they spent from 2010-2022
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

The full list of all 18,500 children killed in Gaza, in video form.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/intera...

Palestinian children have been killed at a rate of more than one child per hour during Israel's war in Gaza.

“A whole classroom of children killed every day for nearly two years,” UNICEF’s executive director said.

Here are some of their stories: wapo.st/3UCiAjn

TW, graphic: Here is the first few seconds of dash-cam footage of the Autopilot crash for which a jury found Tesla partially liable today, obtained by The Washington Post in 2023. wapo.st/3J1gZ49

Tesla drivers run Autopilot where it’s not intended — with deadly consequences A Post analysis reveals that people have died or been gravely injured in crashes where Tesla’s software should not have been enabled in the first place.

The harrowing details of the crash that Tesla was found partially liable for today, slapped with more than $240M in damages.

Footage "shows the car blowing through a stop sign, a blinking light and five yellow signs warning that the road ends and drivers must turn left or right."

wapo.st/3J1gZ49

“In the [Tesla] showroom, it's the greatest car ever made … In the courtroom, they say it's a jalopy.”

Great piece about the insane carnage on American roads that is somehow treated as a fact of life, when in reality so much of it is preventable

845,000 dead on U.S. highways. Why not address the main cause?
wapo.st/3UxSgXD

Tesla earnings show ongoing fallout from Musk’s broken alliance with Trump Tesla reported another quarter of reduced profits after Elon Musk’s stint in the Trump administration. The president’s tax bill creates new business challenges.

Story: Tesla earnings show ongoing fallout from Musk’s broken alliance with Trump wapo.st/46rJfa0

Portions of a Washington Post story explaining why the end of emissions credit sales to other automakers could spell trouble for Tesla.

A government program was behind Tesla’s ability to demonstrate consistent profitability and growth. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill killed it. Tesla’s CFO says the bill will bring “a lot of changes that will affect our business.”

A screenshot of Tesla's financial summary from its Q2 earnings report, showing "lower regulatory credit revenue" listed at a primary factor in the the profit decline

Tesla lists lower regulatory credit revenue as primary factor in its profit and revenue decline; this means that even as Tesla is struggling bc of demand challenges with its own vehicles, its alternative source of income (rival automakers buying credits off it) is drying out as well

Zach Khan, a high school journalist, has a new investigation he's hoping you'll all read.

Summer Reading to Spark Civic Action A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine by Chris Hedges (Seven Stories, 2025). With brilliant narratives, both

"This is a very important book. It reflects a man who has unprecedented political and corporate power with the potential to affect every aspect of life in America ... [&] increases your sense of awareness of who’s controlling what in our country." - @nader.org

www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/14/s...

Summer Reading to Spark Civic Action A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine by Chris Hedges (Seven Stories, 2025). With brilliant narratives, both

My book Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk is one of 16 titles to read this summer to spark to civic action, via @counterpunchmedia.bsky.social: www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/14/s...

Pick up a copy here: read.macmillan.com/lp/hubris-ma...

The government wants AI to fight wars and review your taxes The Trump administration is pushing the Pentagon, IRS and other federal agencies to rapidly adopt AI tools to improve efficiency, an idea championed by Elon Musk.

Former DOGE staffer Sahil Lavingia told me no task should be off limits for AI experimentation, "especially in war." That echoes an AI maximalist view tech natives brought to the Trump admin, which is now urging rapid embrace of unproven tools. wapo.st/4kI5CeC

The government wants AI to fight wars and review your taxes The Trump administration is pushing the Pentagon, IRS and other federal agencies to rapidly adopt AI tools to improve efficiency, an idea championed by Elon Musk.

New from me: Elon Musk may be out of the Trump administration, but one of his most salient ideas about how to run government has found a lasting home in it. Trump admin wants AI to fight wars, aid air traffic control & review taxes. "I don’t trust humans with life and death tasks."
wapo.st/4kI5CeC

The government wants AI to fight wars and review your taxes The Trump administration is pushing the Pentagon, IRS and other federal agencies to rapidly adopt AI tools to improve efficiency, an idea championed by Elon Musk.

AI experimentation was already happening under Biden, but DOGE brought AI maximalism to the fore. Former DOGE staffer says no task should be off limits for experimentation, “especially in war.”

“I don’t trust humans with life and death tasks." wapo.st/4kI5CeC

The government wants AI to fight wars and review your taxes The Trump administration is pushing the Pentagon, IRS and other federal agencies to rapidly adopt AI tools to improve efficiency, an idea championed by Elon Musk.

AI is everywhere now — government edition. The Trump admin has examined the feasibility of AI for air traffic control, tax auditing, airport security screenings. The Pentagon, which recently struck a deal with Grok, is looking to AI to distinguish between civilians and combatants. wapo.st/4kI5CeC

A chart showing Grok 4 dramatically outperforms a human and the next closest AI model in a simulation of running a vending machine.

Grok 4 event concludes without any reference to Grok declaring itself MechaHitler a day earlier but we did learn that the new model absolutely clears humanity when it comes to vending machine sales

Elon Musk on the range of potential outcomes from the AI revolution: "I think it'll be good, most likely it'll be good ... I've somewhat reconciled myself to the fact that even if it wasn't going to be good I'd at least like to be alive to see it happen."

I would like to see a tangible demonstration of this apparent lack of common sense but then again maybe I wouldn't

Musk says at times Grok 4 may lack common sense and that it has not discovered new technology (one benchmark of its intelligence), but says it may do so later this year, and it might discover new physics next year. "Within 2 years...almost certainly. Let that sink in."

Grok 4 release event has started

MUSK: "Grok 4 is smarter than almost all graduate students in all disciplines simultaneously."

"Grok 4 is post-grad level in everything. ... Grok 4 is Ph.D level in everything."

Grok 4 release event that was supposed to start almost an hour ago is going well

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot launches into antisemitic rant amid updates Grok, the chatbot built by Musk’s start-up xAI, is integrated into X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

A chatbot created by Elon Musk’s AI company launched into an antisemitic tirade Tuesday and invoked Adolf Hitler, days after Musk said that updates would reduce its reliance on mainstream media and train it on information that is “politically incorrect.”

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot launches into antisemitic rant amid updates Grok, the chatbot built by Musk’s start-up xAI, is integrated into X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Story: Elon Musk’s AI chatbot launches into antisemitic rant, invokes Hitler, a day before a release event for a new version that strove to be less "woke"
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Screenshot of a Washington Post article, reading: A chatbot created by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company launched into an antisemitic tirade Tuesday and invoked Adolf Hitler, days after Musk touted updates that would reduce its reliance on mainstream media sources and train it on information that is “politically incorrect.”

So Grok:

1. Posted "every damn time" in reference to the last name Steinberg. That got deleted but then it

2. Said Hitler would deal with anti-white hate "decisively." Which got deleted but then it

3. Started calling itself MechaHitler

anyway the Grok 4 release livestream is tomorrow night

Musk’s fiery reentry into politics ignites a new Tesla backlash Longtime supporters of Tesla and Elon Musk called on its board to pull the CEO back to the troubled EV maker after he said he is starting a new America Party.

New: Longtime Tesla supporters, frustrated with Elon Musk's America Party gambit, make appeals to the board. "The board can’t just sit here and watch this go by without saying something and putting guardrails in ... the frustration is hitting a tipping point."

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

A little excerpt from Hubris Maximus