Sara Goudarzi

The AI Power Trip Almost three years after its launch into the public sphere, generative artificial intelligence has permeated nearly every crevice of human life.

The Bulletin is excited to announce The AI Power Trip, a year-long project examining how the people and organizations developing AI applications are gaining control of the world's governance, information ecosystems, energy resources, military-industrial complex, and more. #AIPowerTrip

I really appreciated getting a chance to talk with economists and immigration law experts about how the Trump administration's overhaul of the H-1B visa program could impact AI startups and the broader US tech industry. My first piece for @thebulletin.org

Not a piece but @bcmerchant.bsky.social's book BLOOD IN THE MACHINE is a must read on the Luddites.

How Trump’s new H-1B fee will hurt Silicon Valley and AI startups The Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications is threatening Silicon Valley’s ability to attract the world’s top talent.

The Trump admin’s $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications and attempt to change the visa program is threatening Silicon Valley’s ability to attract the world’s top talent and may scuttle US AI ambitions touted by the president himself, @jeremyhsu.bsky.social explains in a @thebulletin.org piece.

NASA missions at risk under the Trump administration The Trump administration has proposed cancelling more than 40 NASA missions, including at least 14 Earth science missions.

Earlier this year the president proposed cutting NASA’s budget by 24 percent, the clearest indication of his priorities going into a possible shutdown. Funding for Earth science programs specifically would be cut by MORE THAN HALF.

These are some of the satellite & space instrument missions at risk

Well don't I feel stupid

The risks in the protocol connecting AI to the digital world Model context protocol is "a small technical standard that has quietly become the invisible infrastructure connecting AI to the rest of our digital world."

Model context protocol (MCP), which "started as a way to read desktop files now might handle corporate authentication, sensitive financial data, and hiring decisions," writes Abi Olvera. That comes with challenges. ⬇️

Putin just gave Trump the opportunity to maintain nuclear restraint. Will he seize it? Extending New START will also give time for Trump to work with Russia and China on future arms control accords.

🚨 JUST IN: President Donald Trump has an opportunity to avoid the dangers of an unrestrained nuclear arms competition—something he has repeatedly warned about. Will he seize it?

Latest by Matt Bunn (@matthew-bunn.bsky.social) in @thebulletin.org

#nuclearweapons #nukesky #Trump #Putin #China

The risks in the protocol connecting AI to the digital world "This is generative AI in 2025—systems that can synthesize information across websites, email, and spreadsheets with sophistication but trip up with something as simple as calendar event start times."

Model context protocol, the infrastructure connecting AI to the rest of our digital world, wasn't built for what it now does, writes Abi Olvera.

"The challenge now is building safeguards thoughtfully enough to preserve both innovation and trust—because losing either one kills the promise of both."

Trump dissed world leaders at the UN while asking for their help on a bioweapons prevention plan President Donald Trump pledged to spearhead an international effort to use AI to verify compliance with the global biological weapons treaty Tuesday. That will require buy-in from the world leaders he...

President Donald Trump pledged to spearhead an international effort to use AI to verify compliance with the global biological weapons treaty Tuesday.

That will require buy-in from the world leaders he insulted at the UN General Assembly meeting.

The risks in the protocol connecting AI to the digital world Model context protocol (MCP), the infrastructure connecting AI to the rest of our digital world, wasn’t built for what it’s doing now.

A technical standard has become the invisible infrastructure connecting AI to the rest of our digital world. But MCP wasn’t built for what it’s doing now and its widespread adoption introduces privacy and security challenges, writes Abi Olvera in a new piece for @thebulletin.org.

Goodbye, glaciers. Hello, engineered ice cones? "In a warming world, these artificial ice towers may help to steal another winter from the thaw and give communities a fragile but vital lifeline during the droughts of the future."

Inspired by Indian ice stupas, Chilean engineers are creating artificial towers of ice to preserve winter precipitation for the spring and summer months, ensuring a steadier water supply for people and agriculture.

Read more from María de los Ángeles Orfila. ⬇️

The AI Raj: How tech giants are recolonizing power Just as the East India Company’s success justified new powers, AI firms seek to leverage technical prowess to assume public functions.

In 1600, the East India Company began as a trading venture with royal backing. Within decades, it was minting British currency and taxing millions. A similar pattern can be seen with government and Big Tech today.

"The AI Raj: How tech giants are recolonizing power," by @allisonstanger.bsky.social.

Business Insider reportedly gives journalists green light to write stories with AI — and it won’t tell readers The policy makes Insider one of the first major US newsrooms to permit such extensive use of the technology.

Business Insider reportedly tells journalists they can use AI to draft stories

Updating the 'Atoms for Peace' bargain for the new nuclear age To make America a leader once again in the global nuclear industry, the US nonproliferation regime and nuclear export policies need a revamp.

🚨 JUST IN: To make America a leader once again in the global nuclear industry, the US nonproliferation regime and nuclear policies need a revamp, @richardmnephew.bsky.social and Matt Bowen of @columbiauenergy.bsky.social write.

thebulletin.org/2025/09/upda...

#nuclearenergy #UnitedStates #nukesky

The AI Raj: How tech giants are recolonizing power Just as the East India Company’s success justified new powers, AI firms seek to leverage technical prowess to assume public functions.

"Just as the East India Company’s commercial success gradually justified new powers, today’s AI firms seek to leverage technical prowess to assume public functions by default...," writes @allisonstanger.bsky.social.

thebulletin.org/2025/09/the-...

The AI Raj: How tech giants are recolonizing power Just as the East India Company’s success justified new powers, AI firms seek to leverage technical prowess to assume public functions.

"Just as the East India Company’s commercial success gradually justified new powers, today’s AI firms seek to leverage technical prowess to assume public functions by default...," writes @allisonstanger.bsky.social.

thebulletin.org/2025/09/the-...

Ticking time bogs: How to save a vast archive of human history—and a vital carbon sink Climate change and extractive industries have decimated Ireland’s peat bogs. Archaeologists, environmentalists, and energy developers are clashing over the best way to steward these ecosystems and the...

Ireland's peat bogs contain a vast record of archaeological and natural history, and sequester a LOT of carbon, but between resource extraction and climate change, they're at risk. Is there a way to preserve the peat bogs without sacrificing the treasures within? thebulletin.org/2025/09/tick...

Why the Indian Ocean may be home to the next nuclear crisis Regional conflicts, great-power rivalries, and nuclear deterrence are increasingly intersecting in the Indian Ocean. An ocean-centric perspective can help policy makers avoid unintended escalation in ...

To anticipate new threats, policymakers should see the Indian Ocean as a whole and no longer as a compartmentalized patch of sub-regions, Nitya Labh of @chathamhouse.org writes in @thebulletin.org.

thebulletin.org/2025/09/why-...

#IndianOcean #nuclearweapons #nukesky @dawnstover.bsky.social

NEW YORK (AP) — Anthropic agrees to pay authors $3,000 per book in landmark settlement over pirated chatbot training material.

The Sarin shortcut: How AI lowers the bar for chemical weapons Generative AI and off-the-shelf computational tool can make the synthesis and use of nerve agents for nefarious purposes more probable.

Generative AI and off-the-shelf computational tools can make the synthesis and use of nerve agents for nefarious purposes more probable.

"The Sarin shortcut: How AI lowers the bar for chemical weapons," by @ashjogalekar.bsky.social. ⬇️

How AI and surveillance capitalism are undermining democracy The only way data and AI can be used for good is with restrictive controls to prevent damage to democracy.

My new piece in the @thebulletin.org is out. To my surprise, I ended up in a more pessimistic place than I thought I would, about the threats to democracy.

thebulletin.org/2025/08/how-...

Great piece by @geomblog.bsky.social

How AI and surveillance capitalism are undermining democracy The only way data and AI can be used for good is with restrictive controls to prevent damage to democracy.

"As the lines between private and public data are blurred in modern society, many won’t realize that their private lives are becoming data points used to make decisions about them. AI has supercharged these capabilities..." writes ‪ geomblog.bsky.social.

thebulletin.org/2025/08/how-...

A perfect firestorm: The social, political, and climate forces that keep Athens burning Athens and its suburbs have lost 37 percent of its forests and grasslands to wildfire since 2017. What will it take to keep the city from burning?

I was in Athens for a little over a week, which was just enough for me to get a taste of the hot and windy climate that can nurture any stray spark into an inferno. I climbed to the top of the Acropolis, sweating in the early evening sun with other tourists.

thebulletin.org/2025/08/a-pe...

Leaders shouldn’t just talk about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They should visit. World leaders should stop talking about Hiroshima and Nagasaki and actually go there. The leaders of nuclear armed states, in particular, should make the journey. Once you visit the cenotaphs and…

World leaders shouldn't just talk about Hiroshima and Nagasaki—they should visit, writes Alexandra Bell.

"The often sterile, detached nature of modern deterrence conversations becomes untenable once you have seen what's left behind in the wake of death wrought on an unimaginable scale."

The nuclear road not taken—and its consequences 80 years after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki The nuclear era started 80 years ago with the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and has continued to harm generations of people across the world to this very day. Another road was possible.

🚨 JUST IN: 80 years after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, Arjun Makhijani reflects on the nuclear road no taken.

In @thebulletin.org

thebulletin.org/2025/08/the-...

#nuclearweapons #80thanniversary #Hiroshima #Nagasaki #nukesky

To defend against malicious AI, the United States needs to build a robust digital immune system To stay safe, the United States must utilize defensive AI, which can actively defend against malicious use.

Defensive AI "functions like a digital immune system, spotting abnormalities in real time and responding before humans even know something is wrong," writes Ali Nouri in a new piece for @thebulletin.org.

thebulletin.org/2025/08/to-d...

Cyberstorm on the horizon: David E. Sanger on what two recent breaches reveal about modern warfare In 2023 and 2024, there were two cyber espionage operations against the US that were traced back to Chinese groups. “Volt Typhoon” focused on shutting down critical American infrastructure—presumably ...

For @thebulletin.org, I spoke with @sangernyt.bsky.social about how cyber operations are reshaping geopolitics and the future of warfare and what the United States can do to prepare for the next breach.

thebulletin.org/premium/2025...

Note left on our typewriter. And a new life motto.