Sarah Myers West

Defense Dept. and Anthropic Square Off in Dispute Over A.I. Safety

1/ The dispute between Anthropic and DOD over the limits of using AI in warfare is escalating. I’ll have more to say on what these limits should be in a @brennancenter.org report out next month. But for now, here’s what you need to know, and what’s truly at stake 🧵:

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/t...

We’re expanding our national security and defense work, and welcoming Boyan Milanov to the team. Boyan is a research scientist evaluating cybersecurity risks in agentic AI systems related to national security, defense, and safety-critical infrastructure.

ainowinstitute.org/contributor/...

Sigal's asking (and answering) such good questions here about how to build a movement around making sure that AI works for us and not the other way around...feels like we only scratched the surface of a deep and important convo.

Tech companies are betting big on nuclear energy to meet AI’s massive power demands—and Trump’s done a lot to make it easier for them. Heidy Khlaaf, the head AI scientist at the AI Now Institute, tells us why that’s dangerous.

@mjgault.bsky.social has the story:
www.404media.co/power-compan...

What Are the Implications if the AI Boom Turns to Bust? | TechPolicy.Press A conversation with Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research's Ryan Cummings, AI Now Institute's Sarah West, and Blood in the Machine's Brian Merchant.

New podcast! Justin Hendrix discussed whether the AI investment boom is an unsustainable bubble and how a crash could reshape policy and public sentiment with Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research's Ryan Cummings, AI Now Institute's Sarah West, and Blood in the Machine's Brian Merchant.

Absolute must read on the AI bailout-in-progress: apparently it's not enough that lifetimes of human ingenuity and creativity have been stolen and enclosed to create generative AI and balloon billionaire wealth - much more public looting is in store...

"Federal policy has jumped the gun: We don’t yet know if AI will transform the economy or even be profitable. Yet Washington is insulating the industry from all sorts of risk. If a bubble does pop, we’ll all be left holding the bag." [Gift Link] www.wsj.com/opinion/you-...

Fission for Algorithms: The Undermining of Nuclear Regulation in Service of AI - AI Now Institute A report examining nuclear “fast-tracking” initiatives on their feasibility and their impact on nuclear safety, security, and safeguards.

New Report: Fission for Algorithms. We draw on our nuclear expertise to dissect the risky fast-tracking initiatives hastening nuclear development in service of AI. This includes proposals to use Gen AI for nuclear licensing, whilst lowering well-established nuclear thresholds.

Opinion | You May Already Be Bailing Out the AI Business Washington is treating the industry as if it’s too big to fail, even as the market sends lukewarm signals.

OUR @wsj.com OPED: The AI bubble debate misses what's already happening: a massive gov bailout, fast-tracked infrastructure, guaranteed contracts & regulatory exemptions. AI firms get a taxpayer-funded insurance policy that dot-com companies could only dream of.

www.wsj.com/opinion/you-...

What Are the Implications if the AI Boom Turns to Bust? | TechPolicy.Press A conversation with Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research's Ryan Cummings, AI Now Institute's Sarah West, and Blood in the Machine's Brian Merchant.

New podcast! I discussed whether the AI investment boom is an unsustainable bubble and how a potential crash could reshape policy and public sentiment with Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research's Ryan Cummings, AI Now Institute's Sarah West, and Blood in the Machine's Brian Merchant.

Opinion | You May Already Be Bailing Out the AI Business Washington is treating the industry as if it’s too big to fail, even as the market sends lukewarm signals.

This week Open AI walked back a call for the govt to backstop financing for its trillion dollar investments in data centers. This was only the tip of the iceberg; a slow bailout for AI firms is already underway. Read more from @ambakak.bsky.social and I in @wsj.com: www.wsj.com/opinion/you-...

New work on the effects of the 'AI arms race' on nuclear licensing and deployment. It highlights that key protections - particularly to ensure the safety of communities where nuclear plants are operating - are being rolled back in order to speed AI deployment. Read more below 👇

Martha Kenney, a professor of women and gender studies at San Francisco State University, described the A.I. program as a Cal State marketing vehicle helping tech companies promote unproven chatbots as legitimate educational tools. “It’s not a ‘partnership,’” Professor Kenney said. “If you switch out the product, we would never say, ‘Xerox is collaborating with San Francisco State to offer photocopiers to all the members of its community.’”

This is one of our biggest arguments: that OpenAI is vampirizing universities for the cachet and legitimacy that affiliation with higher education affords

There may not be a moment to come where the AI bubble 'bursts', even though this sector increasingly looks like it's built on quicksand, with our lives and livelihoods increasingly tied up in backstopping the future of a technology that still has yet to prove it can compete on the merits.

What worries me the most is that we're seeing regulators derisk the portfolios of companies that have made hugely otherwise risky bets on very capital intensive technology. Less like a moonshot, more like a night out at the slot machines with an advance on next month's paycheck.

I've been feeling a little bit crazy reading the news lately about what's going on in the AI market and what it means for the economy at large. So I'm grateful I got to knit the threads together with @alixdunn.com last week.

In today’s Senate Commerce Hearing the White House endorsed support for federal preemption of state AI laws. The fight against preemption did not disappear with the moratorium—in fact, Sen. Cruz introduced a bill today putting us directly on the path to preemption. A thread on its risks below: 🧵

AI is costing jobs, but not always the way you think Companies making the biggest investments in AI are spending less elsewhere.

Oracle is among the latest firms to announce major layoff rounds due to AI - I spoke to @marketplace.org about why shortchanging staff talent is a misplaced gamble: www.marketplace.org/story/2025/0...

Last week, @smw.bsky.social spoke at @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social about the AI arms race and mythologies around AGI. "If policymakers are hinging significant decision making on pursuit of AGI and foregoing near term concerns, that's a risky and irresponsible bet."

AI Use at Large Companies Is in Decline, Census Bureau Says A dip in corporate AI adoption isn't a great sign for an industry hellbent on world domination.

New census bureau data shows that the rate of AI adoption by corporations is now in decline - rough news for OpenAI, whose capital expenditure projections are now at an astonishing *$80 billion* above prior estimates:

gizmodo.com/ai-adoption-...

Really thrilled about the recognition of Heidy's pathbreaking and deeply necessary work - first in TIME #AI100 and now in MIT Tech Review. Wait till you see what she's cooking up next!

Truth and trust in the AI supply chain Artificial intelligence experts explore resilience and governance frameworks in the AI supply chain.

Today at 10:30am ET, the @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social
is hosting a conversation with @smw.bsky.social, Kemba Walden, Jayshree Ullal, and others exploring the tech and trust relationships that shape global AI infrastructure.

Watch the livestream here: www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/truth-...

Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 Episode 61 “Winning the Race to Hell”

www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/epis...

in which AI Now Institute’s @kate-brennan.bsky.social and @smw.bsky.social join me and @alexhanna.bsky.social to wade through the muck that is Trump’s AI Action Plan

A DOGE AI Tool Called SweetREX Is Coming to Slash US Government Regulation Named for its developer, an undergrad who took leave from UChicago to become a DOGE affiliate, a new AI tool automates the review of federal regulations and flags rules it thinks can be eliminated.

NEW: DOGE affiliate Chris Sweet has developed an AI tool that is being used to rapidly slash government regulations, according to details of a meeting reviewed by @wired.com. Scoop by me: www.wired.com/story/sweetr...

You have at least four new stops in the llm/ai pipeline: service provider, inference provider, model owner, and infrastructure provider. I wish they would prove that each of these are not just secure for users but that data is being used ethically at each stop!

Silicon Valley Godzilla vs. Wall Street Mothra The only two sectors thriving in Trump’s economy are increasingly sparring with each other.

Only two industries in America are thriving: Big Banks and Big Tech. And they both appear to want only one industry in America to thrive. So they're taking each other on in a series of regulatory fights. From me:
prospect.org/power/2025-0...

A more comprehensive analysis for @brennancenter.org of how the Trump administration's latest AI policy could leave us more divided and less informed: www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

An estimated 38% of the total corporate cash savings created by Trump and Republicans’ budget bill will flow to just four Big Tech companies: Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet.

Just so happens that each donated $1M to Trump’s inauguration.

Talk about a return on investment.

The cover of the report, with dark blue title "How Big Cloud becomes Bigger" with "Bigger" in bold, and subtitle in light blue "Scrutinizing Google Microsoft and Amazon's investments", and light grey author line "David Gray Widder and Nathan Kim" on light grey page background with three clouds: white, dark grey, and very dark grey getting bigger and going towards the top right until they're off the page.

📣🚨NEW: ☁️ Big Cloud—Google, Microsoft & Amazon—control two thirds of the cloud compute market. They’re getting rich off the AI gold rush.

In new work with @nathanckim.bsky.social, we show how Big Cloud is expanding their empire by scrutinizing their *investments*… 🧵

📄PDF: dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...

What’ll happen if we spend nearly $3tn on data centres no one needs? Nineties adults remember

“Calling back to the tech boom of the mid-to-late 90s, investors have been asking about the possibility that this investment cycle for data centres could be a bubble”

Huge props to the person who created this graphic for FT lmao