Morning Minute: How to Train Your AI

Trump’s latest early-morning grievance session reveals what he’s really worried about

President Donald Trump used his executive time Friday morning in an hours-long Truth Social session, attacking late night television hosts and a Republican senator while pushing two of his primary agenda issues and celebrating the rising stock market.His posts paint a president securing the Republican future and vanquishing his enemies. But his targets suggest a president focused on threats, real and perceived. “Stop playing games and pass the Save America Act!” Trump wrote, seemingly out of nowhere Friday morning, ignoring the tumult and GOP anger his $1.8 billion “weaponization” fund and $1 billion White House ballroom security request had, disrupting vital funding legislation this week. The Save America Act is — at least at the moment — effectively dead in the Senate, and not on the list of the majority leader’s top priorities. Trump has been repeatedly promoting the Save America Act, declaring if it passes Republicans won’t lose a race for the next 50 years.“I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward,” he wrote. It has not gone forward and is causing massive upset in the Republican-controlled Senate. “I could have settled my case, including the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal break in of Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune. Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, justice!” Trump’s claim he could have settled what was a $10 billion lawsuit is contradicted by reports showing the IRS was preparing to fight him, until Trump’s DOJ intervened.Critics of the proposed $1.8 billion fund say it rewards criminals and could incentivize his supporters to take violent action on his behalf in the future.Trump also attacked Stephen Colbert after his final show Thursday night — and appeared to threaten other hosts with a similar fate.“Stephen Colbert’s firing from CBS was the ‘Beginning of the End’ for untalented, nasty, highly overpaid, not funny, and very poorly rated Late Night Television Hosts,” he wrote. “Others, of even less talent, to soon follow. May they all Rest in Peace!”But Trump saved his enmity for an outspoken critic from his own party, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis calling him “weak and ineffective” while taunting him for retiring.The North Carolina Republican lawmaker, Trump charged, “didn’t have the courage to fight it out in the Senate, remain in place, and run again for office, a thing he desperately wanted to do.” “When I told him that I would not, under any circumstances, endorse him for another run, too much work and drama (he couldn’t have won, anyway!), he immediately quit the race and publicly announced that he was going to ‘retire.’ I said, ‘Wow, great news, that was easy!’ The media said how brave he was to take me on, but he wasn’t brave, he was just the opposite – he was a quitter!”Despite reports that Trump’s actions may hamper his agenda and GOP congressional majorities, the president wrote that Tillis can now “have all the fun he wants for a few months, with some of his RINO friends, screwing the Republican Party. In the end it will only get bigger, and better, and stronger, than ever before!!!”

The Morning Briefing: Now That Colbert Is Gone, Can We Start the Clock on Kimmel?

Morning news brief

Senate breaks for recess, delaying vote on ICE funding, DNC releases 'autopsy' of 2024 presidential election, a look at Trump's political -- and personal -- interest in Cuba.

AIPAC, AI, Crypto and Gambling Are Hiding Their Big Election Spends

Intercept staffers break down the latest election news and the front groups fueling the midterms. The post AIPAC, AI, Crypto and Gambling Are Hiding Their Big Election Spends appeared first on The Intercept.

Scoop: White House postpones AI EO signing ceremony

The White House has postponed its planned ceremony for President Trump to sign a new executive order on AI and cybersecurity, per a note seen by Axios.Why it matters: Trump suggested it's because he didn't like the order he was supposed to sign — another setback for an effort that has been stalled by internal disagreements.Driving the news: "I didn't like certain aspects of it, I postponed it," Trump told reporters at the White House."We're leading China, we're leading everybody, and I don't want to do anything that gets in the way of that lead.""I really thought that could have been a blocker and I want to make sure that it's not."Behind the scenes: Major tech, AI and cyber CEOs had been invited to attend the ceremony this afternoon at the White House.Per the note, the event has been postponed to a later date. Editor's note: This story has been updated with Trump's comments.

Trump abruptly scraps signing of landmark executive order regulating AI

President Donald Trump scrapped an executive order signing Thursday. The order is expected to lay out partnerships with leading AI companies to vet new models.

Why Trump's AI executive order was pulled

Everything seemed set for a photo op of tech and AI CEOs who would surround President Trump Thursday as he signed a much-anticipated executive order on AI and cybersecurity.Then it fell apart hours before the signing as a top Trump adviser and some tech executives gave it a big thumbs down — to a president who didn't really want to regulate AI in the first place.Why it matters: Any further delay of the order means more time for infighting and for the text to get bogged down in disagreements among different parts of the government and industry.Behind the scenes: Ahead of the signing, Trump, AI adviser David Sacks, and some in industry discussed the executive order, sources familiar told Axios. The main reason why the executive order signing was delayed was because "he just hates regulation," one source familiar said of Trump, adding that Sacks also "hated it.""The whole thing was unnecessary" and "just something doomers wanted," the source added. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, xAI CEO Elon Musk and Sacks all spoke with Trump between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. What they're saying: "I didn't like certain aspects of it. I postponed it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday."I think it gets in the way of — you know, we're leading China, we're leading everybody, and I didn't want to do anything to get in the way of that lead."Those who have been pushing for AI regulation in Washington were relieved that the White House was finally going to make moves on AI and cybersecurity safety. Now it's not clear when — or whether — that is going to happen.Axios first reported details of what was going to be in the executive order this week.The big picture: Trump has been walking a tightrope of allowing American AI companies to flourish without strict rules while weighing growing public anti-AI sentiment, including within his own party.For now, the accelerationists have won out.One government official told Axios: "It could be CEOs, or egos in general. Everyone hates each other in the political tech space."One tech industry source told Axios there were also questions about why the Treasury Department received such a leading role in the coordinating security vulnerabilities in the postponed AI executive order as it was written.Typically, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology have taken leading roles in reviewing and testing critical security vulnerabilities — as well as notifying the tech ecosystem about them."It's not clear just objectively speaking why Treasury is involved and what is their substantive expertise in this area," the source told Axios. While there were lingering questions about which AI models would participate in the voluntary testing program, technology companies have been broadly supportive of AI model testing and guardrails.And leading frontier, or cutting-edge, models already do voluntary testing through the Commerce Department's Center for AI Standards and Innovation.Some questions also remained about whether sharing an AI model for up to 90 days ahead of release would prevent companies from also sharing with other allied countries who may want to conduct their own safety tests, the source added.What to watch: The White House's Office of the National Cyber Director has teased in private conversations that it is working on additional AI security initiatives besides the EO that had been expected today, the source said.

Trump postpones executive order on AI over China concerns – US politics live

The US president said he doesn’t ‘want to do anything to get in the way’ of tech firms competing with ChinaHouse Republicans canceled a scheduled Thursday vote on a war powers resolution aimed at ending the US war with Iran, a measure that likely would have advanced had the vote been held.Donald Trump has announced he will deploy an “additional” 5,000 US troops to Poland, just days after the Pentagon controversially halted a long-planned deployment of forces to the country – the largest on Nato’s eastern flank.Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte struck somewhat more cautious note, saying the bloc’s trajectory was one that was prioritising a stronger Europe, “less reliant on the US”.On Thursday, the US president admitted that he might skip Donald Trump Jr’s wedding, reportedly taking place in the Bahamas over the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, citing that he has “this thing called Iran”.US arms sales to Taiwan have been “paused” to ensure the US military has enough munitions for its Iran operations, according to Washington’s acting navy secretary.The US president, Donald Trump, and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, on Thursday again raised the spectre of military intervention in Cuba, a day after the administration announced criminal charges against Raúl Castro, the island’s former leader.The US president Donald Trump postponed signing an executive order on AI because he did not like certain aspects of it and did not want to take any steps that might undermine the US position in its AI competition with China. Continue reading...