The best AI bill yet may not get far

The Great American AI Act, a 269-page bill from Reps. Obernolte and Trahan, is the most serious AI safety proposal yet, authorizing a $100 million Center for AI Standards and Innovation and requiring third-party audits of frontier developers. However, the bill faces deep division among safety advocates over its three-year preemption of state AI development laws, which critics warn could block stronger state-level protections on child safety and frontier regulation. The bill’s ultimate impact hinges on whether its promised enforcement teeth — requiring companies to follow auditor recommendations on catastrophic risks — survive the legislative process and whether the preemption trade-off proves acceptable.

The best AI bill yet may not get far Transformer Weekly: The Obernolte-Trahan AI Act, Trump’s executive order, and Anthropic discusses a pause Welcome to Transformer, your weekly briefing of what matters in AI. And if you’ve been forwarded this email, click here to subscribe and receive future editions. NEED TO KNOW President Trump signed an executive order establishing a voluntary evaluation and early-access framework for frontier AI models.Senior Trump administration officials have reportedly discussed the government acquiring equity stakes in major AI companies, with Sam Altman floating the idea of OpenAI voluntarily ceding shares to the government. Anthropic called for the world to have “the option to slow or temporarily pause frontier AI development,” warning that recursive self-improvement might be closer than many believe. But first… THE BIG STORY The Great American AI Act — the long-awaited bill from Reps. Obernolte and Trahan, released https://trahan.house.gov/uploadedfiles/the great american ai act discussion draft.pdf in “discussion draft” form yesterday — is the best, most serious AI safety bill yet. But the AI safety community is divided over the big question: is it good enough ? At 269 pages, GAAIA contains plenty of excellent stuff. It would formally authorize the Center for AI Standards and Innovation with a $100m annual budget. It would adopt a transparency framework similar to SB 53 and the RAISE Act. And it would establish a range of initiatives to try to improve our understanding of how AI impacts the labor market. Its best section is on “independent verification organizations” — a fancy word for third-party audits. Here, GAAIA is stronger than even Illinois’ recently-passed https://www.transformernews.ai/p/the-campaign-to-stop-federal-ai-laws-illinois-sb-315 SB 315: it tasks CAISI with establishing a licensing regime for IVOs, and requires frontier AI developers to retain an IVO for regular audits. Those audits assess not just whether the company is following its own safety framework, as in SB 315, but also whether what the company is doing is adequate for tackling catastrophic risks — and if not, what the IVO thinks the company should be doing differently. As I understand it, the current text doesn’t have teeth to force a company to follow the IVO’s recommendations, but a Trahan aide told me that the bill they’ll introduce will require companies to do exactly what the IVO deems necessary to reduce catastrophic risks. If true, that would create an extremely strong bill — fulfilling many AI safety advocates’ biggest wishes. But every silver lining has a cloud. And in this case, the cost is preemption — the most controversial part of the bill by far. GAAIA calls for three-year preemption of all state bills concerned with the “development” of AI models, though it still allows for bills concerned with “deployment.” The authors have pitched https://trahan.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2026.06.03 trahan obernolte ai framework faq.pdf this as narrowly targeted to frontier-safety, but many disagree: as it stands, the clause could potentially https://x.com/deanwball/status/2062664971771949540 preempt some bills concerning child safety, without providing an adequate federal replacement. Even if the scope of preemption is narrowed unlikely, given some senior Republicans already consider https://x.com/emrwilkins/status/2062634818962063568 it too narrow , it would preclude https://x.com/AlexanderMcCoy4/status/2062575247967015340 states from ratcheting up frontier safety bills — forcing any future interventions to happen at the federal level, which has thus far yielded no wins. Some think that’s a worthwhile trade. As Anton Leicht argues https://x.com/anton d leicht/status/2062566478541471771 , implementing this bill would begin the process of building up the federal infrastructure that is desperately needed to adequately govern AI. The alternative — hoping that a Democrat-controlled Congress will be able to pass something better — comes at the expense of time. Given the immense urgency of regulating AI, that could be a very expensive price to pay. In practice, the debate might be academic. AI safety advocates are not the ones who will decide if this bill lives or dies. House Democrats, reluctant to hand Republicans a win before the midterms, have signaled https://x.com/ValerieFoushee/status/2062630123661083122 they will strongly oppose GAAIA; House GOP leadership is reportedly https://x.com/meredithllee/status/2062645827580174731 skeptical too. Even if GAAIA is a deal worth making, Washington’s dysfunction seems likely to prevent it from going anywhere. — Shakeel Hashim THIS WEEK ON TRANSFORMER — Trump’s AI executive order was inevitable https://www.transformernews.ai/p/trumps-ai-executive-order-was-inevitable Shakeel Hashim on why opposition to all regulation was always doomed— Do voters care about existential AI risks? One Senate candidate thinks so https://www.transformernews.ai/p/do-voters-care-about-existential-michigan-mallory-mcmorrow-senate Veronica Irwin profiles Mallory McMorrow and her unusually detailed AI agenda THE DISCOURSE Policy wonks reacted to Trump signing https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/06/promoting-advanced-artificial-intelligence-innovation-and-security/ an AI executive order : Dave Kasten thinks https://x.com/David Kasten/status/2061841180518764690 the new 30-day review period is a “reasonable compromise,” but:“The bigger question is what transparency the government gets into internal deployments of powerful models: remember, we now know Mythos was released internal to Anthropic about a month before the US government knew of it.” Dean Ball is https://x.com/deanwball/status/2061838747642024009 “fairly confident this is a mistake”:“This is a fairly major win for the safety contingent within the Admin, and a significant loss for the Sacks/accelerationist wing, and is surprising to me.” “I continue to think this EO is a mistake. This is clearly teeing up the infrastructure for a model licensing regime, and the fact that the administration is classifying the details of how this ‘voluntary’ system will work is egregious.” Zak Kukoff tweeted https://x.com/zck/status/2061844575753474374 :“I suspect one day we’ll look back at this admin as the last to have both safetyists and accelerationists under one roof — the same way we view Nixon as perhaps the last Republican to house both liberals and conservatives in his administration.” Anton Leicht and Dean Ball make the case for betting https://writing.antonleicht.me/p/betting-on-humans?open=false on human agency as AI disrupts the labor market: “The role of humans in future economies is not something we simply discover as it occurs. How we distribute tasks between humans and machines is largely downstream of a web of complicated economic incentives and technical features…and when policy makers ask ‘what will happen,’ they fail to see that they’re among the central live players in this question.”“The attitude we suggest you take on this issue is uncomfortable … it asks you to bet on humans to figure out what to do, but not to idly sit back and watch it play out. Instead, we ask governments to take their thumb off the scale wherever they currently hinder human experimentation, and build the capacity to remain watchful enough to steer the trajectory back on track if we must.” Kevin Roose overheard https://x.com/kevinroose/status/2060443467873124734 this question inside an AI company: “How are you spending the last 300 days of work?” roon tweeted https://x.com/tszzl/status/2061653127607296412 : “the frontier labs don’t have ‘comms problems’. reality right now has a comms problem. what is happening is a little scary and there’s no nice words anyone could say, especially not those profiting from it, that’ll make it feel that much better” “you dont have to believe in existential risk or job loss for this to be scary: ai is real, you can replicate human thoughts in machines. it is redefining what it means to be human. even if they are strictly corrigible tools that do what we ask, this can be traumatic” L. M. Sacasas argued https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/do-not-resign-from-life?isFreemail=true&post id=200215268&publication id=6980&r=1pg6hh&triedRedirect=true&triggerShare=true that while AI can feel demoralizing, it doesn’t have to: “We’ve made machines that can fly faster and farther than the swallow-tailed kite, but in no way does it follow that the kite should cease from its flight or that it is somehow diminished because of the advent of flying machines.” “Why should I cease from inhabiting the playground of language because a machine can pretend to play in it as well? Why should I abandon the exercise of judgment or the pursuit of knowledge? … Do not resign from life. Let us do what it is ours to do because it is good for us to do it.” POLICY President Trump signed https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/02/trump-signs-downsized-ai-order-00946389 an AI executive order, creating a voluntary regime for government testing of frontier models and early-access to models with advanced cyber capabilities.The signing was seen as https://www.wired.com/story/this-is-how-trump-finally-signed-the-ai-executive-order/ a victory for Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, who had revived the EO after it was pulled by Trump at the last minute last week. David Sacks, who had led attempts to quash the EO, tried to spin https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/2061882659266261274?s=20 this one as a win. OpenAI confirmed https://cnbc.com/2026/06/05/openai-trump-ai-model-review-order.html it will comply with the EO. The NSA is reportedly https://www.ft.com/content/d02d91b3-2636-454e-9442-dc7e69f51815?syn-25a6b1a6=1 using Mythos to conduct offensive cyber operations, possibly with the help of several Anthropic staff embedded at the agency.It is the latest sign that the Trump administration’s fight with the company is easing https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/blacklisted-ai-company-anthropic-white-house-ease-tensions-ahead-ipo-sources-say-2026-06-05/ . Senior Trump administration officials have reportedly discussed https://notus.org/technology/trump-ai-stake-openai the government acquiring equity stakes in major AI companies. Sam Altman has reportedly pitched Trump on the idea of OpenAI voluntarily ceding shares to the government. Earlier this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders announced https://nytimes.com/2026/06/01/opinion/artificial-intelligence-bernie-sanders.html legislation to create a sovereign wealth fund by taxing major AI companies 50% of their stock.He follows other proposals https://punchbowl.news/article/tech/dems-ai-tax/ to tax AI companies in various ways from Sen. Elizabeth Warren , who is pursuing a data center tax, Rep. Greg Casar , who proposed a token tax, and Sen. Ron Wyden ’s tech company levy for worker displacement programs. OpenAI ’s Joshua Achiam claimed https://x.com/jachiam0/status/2061482602922721485 that the public already owns about 26% of OpenAI through the OpenAI Foundation . He got a lot https://x.com/AlexanderMcCoy4/status/2061497835393102018?s=20 of https://x.com/David Kasten/status/2061542989323702468?s=20 pushback https://x.com/jordanschneider/status/2061500830709154046?s=20 . The Bureau of Industry and Security issued https://x.com/ChrisRMcGuire/status/2061122158571520449 guidance to “clarify” that licenses are required for advanced AI chip exports to China-headquartered firms outside China. Sen. Elizabeth Warren pressed https://punchbowl.news/article/tech/warren-nvidia-chip-smuggling Nvidia on export control compliance after Supermicro’s co-founder was indicted for allegedly smuggling Nvidia chips to China .At least seven Chinese universities with military ties , including two blacklisted by the US Commerce Department, are reportedly seeking https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-01/nvidia-s-ai-chips-sought-by-chinese-labs-with-ties-to-military access to Nvidia’s H200 chips through third-party brokers and compute leases. Sen. Elissa Slotkin introduced https://notus.org/defense/lawmakers-guardrail-pentagon-artificial-intelligence legislation to bar the Defense Department from using AI to spy on Americans or launch nuclear weapons, with the aim of incorporating the bill into the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act . Sens. Coons and Reed plan to introduce https://www.axios.com/2026/06/05/democrats-bill-responsible-defense-ai?mrfcid=202606056a17bdc107200a7f71d44de7 a similar bill next week. The House Energy and Commerce Committee thinks https://nypost.com/2026/06/04/us-news/china-may-be-fueling-anti-ai-data-center-protests-in-us-lawmakers-tell-white-house-in-chilling-warning/ China is fueling data center opposition in the US, and asked the White House to look into it more.The New York state legislature passed https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04062026/new-york-data-center-moratorium-bill/ a bill that would establish a one-year moratorium on data centers , co-sponsored https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default fld=&leg video=&bn=11560&term=&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y by NY-12 candidate Alex Bores .Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker suspended https://nbcnews.com/politics/2028-election/illinois-gov-jb-pritzker-suspend-tax-breaks-offered-data-centers-rcna348537 tax breaks for data centers. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-sued-by-floridas-attorney-general-over-ai-harms-8a5113a8 OpenAI and Sam Altman , alleging the company has knowingly caused harm in its “insatiable quest to win the AI arms race and amass large fortunes.”Florida GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Byron Donalds said he disagrees https://thehill.com/newsletters/technology/5908773-florida-gop-ramps-up-ai-crackdown-as-desantis-exits with Trump about federal preemption of state AI laws. Scott Wiener finished first https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/03/scott-wiener-advances-california-nancy-pelosi-00947629 in his primary to represent San Francisco in the House, a seat currently held by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.The election now goes to a runoff with city supervisor Connie Chan . The EU unveiled https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-03/europe-unveils-sweeping-tech-sovereignty-plan-to-boost-chips-ai a tech sovereignty plan requiring governments to store critical data on EU-owned cloud services and tripling data center capacity, aiming to reduce dependence on US and Asian tech companies.Separately, the European Commission also appointed https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/mex 26 1216 a 60-member Scientific Panel and a 174-member Advisory Forum to support enforcement of the EU AI Act .The panel includes many names familiar to Transformer readers, including Yoshua Bengio , Miles Brundage and Markus Anderljung . China expanded https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-02/china-adds-data-and-ai-to-trade-secret-rules-to-block-leaks trade secret protections to include data and algorithms, targeting tech leaks.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled https://reuters.com/business/world-at-work/canada-says-ai-strategy-will-help-create-250000-jobs-boost-gdp-by-3-2026-06-04 an AI strategy projecting 250,000 new jobs by 2031 and a 3% GDP boost, including a C$500m fund for homegrown AI firms.Argentine President Javier Milei proposed https://ft.com/content/f93022fe-43f7-437d-abd8-06c457c0a43c?sharetype=blocked legislation creating “non-human corporations” operated by AI agents with limited liability protections. INFLUENCE Sam Altman stopped in DC to meet https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/03/open-ai-altman-congress-trump-eo.html Trump admin officials, Speaker Mike Johnson , Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries , and https://x.com/Cappelletti7/status/2062299792114393230 Sen. Bernie Sanders , among others.The meetings came as OpenAI released https://x.com/ShakeelHashim/status/2062217767814914353 a frontier AI policy blueprint .It calls for CAISI to perform a mandatory evaluation process of “the most capable frontier models,” but says it should not be allowed to “approve or block deployments.” Sam Altman , Dario Amodei and Demis Hassabis signed https://wsj.com/politics/policy/top-ai-ceos-call-for-law-protecting-against-biological-weapons-88f2f99f a letter urging Congress to require screening of synthetic DNA/RNA orders to prevent AI-enabled bioweapons.OpenAI also released https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DJamQBHC8AA6ZC3v4vDgLcKG2vh0Na6snm2CmxujvQw/edit?tab=t.ilzqdpz5hfex a biodefense action plan this week. Lots of AI safety groups came out against the Obernolte/Trahan bill , including https://x.com/americans4ri/status/2062873570645324233 Americans for Responsible Innovation and https://x.com/secureainow/status/2062573284236079528 the Alliance for Secure AI .Accelerationist super PAC Leading the Future and pro-safety super PAC Public First both plan to spend https://x.com/teddyschleifer/status/2062203924975661448 on behalf of Rep. Kevin Hern in Oklahoma. Leading the Future was also caught operating https://x.com/themidasproj/status/2062188060004241592 sockpuppet Twitter accounts, including a fake anti-AI activist that put out violent rhetoric.Leading the Future’s 501 c 4 group fessed https://x.com/BuildAmericanAI/status/2062355723061809178 up to it, saying they were “parody meme accounts run by an outside vendor.” Earlier in the week, OpenAI distanced https://openai.com/index/our-views-on-ai-policy-and-political-advocacy/ itself from Leading the Future , saying it “does not direct the activities of LTF, or have visibility into their operations.”It also said that “groups that are advocating on AI should … not use tactics like astroturfing.” Sam Altman , meanwhile, said https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-03/sam-altman-says-he-doesn-t-plan-to-put-money-into-2026-elections he would “love to see money out of politics in general,” but when pressed on Greg Brockman’s donations to LTF he blamed the need to “fight back” against OpenAI’s competitors. Notably, Leading the Future was established before the Anthropic-backed Public First network . Ten Trump administration officials may hold https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-03/spacex-ipo-poised-to-enrich-trump-officials-who-hold-millions-in-stock up to $43.8m in SpaceX or xAI stock ahead of SpaceX’s IPO. Americans for Responsible Innovation, the AI Policy Network and the Alliance for Secure AI urged https://ari.us/ahead-of-ndaa-markup-natsec-and-ai-leaders-call-for-human-oversight-of-autonomous-weapons/ congressional leaders to add a “human in the loop” provision for autonomous weapons to the NDAA .The robotics lobby also pressed https://politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2026/06/03/robotics-lobby-presses-for-ndaa-wins-00948883 for NDAA provisions to reduce Pentagon reliance on Chinese robotics and restrict purchases of humanoid robots. Labor unions pushed back https://politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2026/06/01/labors-big-data-center-moment-00944697 against state-level data center restrictions, helping sink regulatory bills in Illinois, Colorado, Maine and Pennsylvania. GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis warned https://axios.com/2026/06/03/glaads-ceo-ai-bias-lgbtq that AI trained on biased data reinforces harmful stereotypes and spreads misinformation about LGBTQ+ people. Americans showed https://ft.com/content/ed07dc6c-aabe-4e4d-a508-4d2b4f24a852?syn-25a6b1a6=1 the lowest support 26% for AI data center construction among 15 large economies.The Pentagon is reportedly operating https://theintercept.com/2026/06/02/la-tilde-propaganda-latin-america-pentagon an AI-generated propaganda site targeting Latin America with pro-US military content. INDUSTRY Anthropic Anthropic confidentially , but didn’t filed https://www.anthropic.com/news/confidential-draft-s1-sec for an IPO provide https://nytimes.com/2026/06/01/technology/anthropic-ipo.html?smid=url-share&unlocked article code=1.m1A.beSj.THTTsb2khzph details about the timing or size.With its $900b , going public will create an unfathomable amount of valuation https://nytimes.com/2026/05/28/technology/anthropic-tops-openai-valuation.html employee wealth as early as this fall.It’s formalizing https://www.wsj.com/cio-journal/anthropic-bulks-up-its-enterprise-partner-program-amid-ipo-plans-560a9b82 its Claude Partner Network , which helps third-party providers implement Anthropic’s enterprise tools, to show “business-readiness” before going public. It called https://www.anthropic.com/institute/recursive-self-improvement for the world to have “the option to slow or temporarily pause frontier AI development to enable societal structures and alignment research to keep up with the advance of the technology.”It said this was due to the possibility that recursive self-improvement will “come sooner than most institutions are prepared for,” though it conceded that “we are not there yet, and recursive self-improvement is not inevitable.”According to internal data, Claude now writes 80%+ of Anthropic’s codebase. It launched https://x.com/mattbotvinick/status/2061429461103395276 a team dedicated to “ AI and the rule of law .”It expanded https://anthropic.com/news/expanding-project-glasswing Project Glasswing to about 150 new organizations across over 15 countries. OpenAI Sam Altman will reportedly attend https://x.com/DeItaone/status/2062132716552732806 the G7 summit alongside heads of state, after Emmanuel Macron extended an invite. The OpenAI Foundation announced https://openaifoundation.org/news/resilience-in-the-age-of-ai its AI Resilience program.It will grant over $130m to organizations focused on four areas: pandemic preparedness and biosecurity, cyber-resilience, making models safer, and AI’s impact on young people. ChatGPT officially hit https://www.reuters.com/technology/chatgpt-app-hits-1-billion-monthly-active-users-record-time-data-shows-2026-06-02/ over 1b monthly active users faster than any other app even TikTok .OpenAI started building https://openai.com/index/stargate-michigan-data-center/ a new data center in Michigan .It committed to protect locals from electricity price hikes, create union construction jobs, fund the refurbishment of a local rec center, and give free Codex credits to college students. It launched https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-02/openai-plans-ai-tools-for-finance-legal-in-race-with-anthropic new Codex plugins for enterprise tasks.It upgraded https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-memory-dreaming/ ChatGPT’s “dreaming” feature, which synthesizes memories across many conversations.OpenAI’s second highest token user is reportedly burning https://axios.com/2026/06/02/altman-openai-top-token-user?stream=top through 100b tokens per month … somehow. SpaceX SpaceX is seeking https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-03/spacex-seeks-75-billion-in-record-ipo-plan-to-fund-ai-launch $75b in its IPO with its existing share price suggesting a market cap of nearly $1.77t , making it bigger than the vast majority of existing companies in the S&P 500.Not everything is going smoothly however: S&P Global effectively ruled out https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/sp-global-keeps-fast-entry-proposal-unchanged-spacex-listing-looms-2026-06-04/ a fast-tracked entry for the company to the S&P 500 , which would have put SpaceX’s stock straight into the holdings of the biggest institutional investors including the world’s pension funds .The IPO might get a boost, however, as Fidelity is making it easier for smaller and less sophisticated investors to buy into the IPO, dropping its normal requirements for them to hold accounts of up to $500,000 down to $2,000. The Verge ’s Elizabeth Lopatto called https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/940001/elon-musk-spacex-ipo-ai the IPO “ financial nihilism’s final form ,” noting that SpaceX’s total addressable market was listed as greater than the GDP of the US. The Commissioners Court of Grimes County yes, Grimes County gave https://ft.com/content/86b2440a-60ce-4a5b-94ba-a6a4456ae574 SpaceX a property tax exemption for its planned Terafab semiconductor facility , ignoring the pissed-off rural community’s demands. Microsoft Microsoft unveiled a new wave of AI initiatives at its annual Build conference .Since “the drama-filled marriage between Microsoft and OpenAI slowly devolved into a situationship,” Hayden Field wrote https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/942242/microsoft-build-ai-agents-openai-competition for The Verge , “this year’s Build had the vibe of a freshly single divorcée posting a thirst trap on Instagram.”It launched https://theverge.com/tech/941664/microsoft-ai-model-reasoning-mai-thinking-1-build-2026 seven new AI models, including MAI-Thinking-1 , its first advanced reasoning model.It’s behind the frontier, but it’s cheaper on some tasks and reportedly trained https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/942242/microsoft-build-ai-agents-openai-competition entirely with Microsoft’s own IP . It announced https://wired.com/story/meet-microsoft-scout-your-ai-coworker-that-never-logs-off Scout , an OpenClaw-like agent that works like an office assistant in Teams, among https://www.geekwire.com/2026/inside-microsofts-project-solara-a-new-platform-for-devices-that-run-ai-agents-instead-of-apps/ other https://venturebeat.com/security/microsoft-launches-mxc-an-os-level-sandbox-for-ai-agents-with-openai-and-nvidia-already-on-board tools for AI agents.It’s also partnering https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/02/tech/ai-for-healthcare-microsoft-mayo-clinic with Mayo Clinic to build a narrow AI model for healthcare, specifically trained on medical data. Nvidia Nvidia’s new Vera Rubin platform will go into https://siliconangle.com/2026/06/01/nvidia-ramps-production-vera-rubin-foundation-next-generation-ai-factories/ full production later this summer. Anthropic , OpenAI and SpaceX will https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-01/nvidia-says-anthropic-openai-among-big-users-of-new-vera-chip reportedly be some of the first Vera CPU users. It announced https://axios.com/2026/06/01/nvidia-ai-push-cosmos-3-world-model Cosmos 3 , a world model built to simulate physical actions, and the blueprint for a hulking https://wired.com/story/nvidia-unitree-humanoid-robot-h2-plus 6-foot humanoid robot .It acquired https://theinformation.com/articles/nvidia-buys-enterprise-model-maker-kumo-ai-least-400-million?rc=rqdn2z Kumo AI , a startup that makes predictive AI models, for over $400m . Meta Meta is still stalling https://wsj.com/tech/ai/meta-keeps-delaying-the-release-of-its-new-ai-model-to-developers-f8569c8c?reflink=desktopwebshare permalink&st=YAquJj the Muse Spark API release.But it did release https://reuters.com/business/meta-launches-enterprise-focused-ai-business-agent-automate-daily-operations-2026-06-03/?lctg=68c89122dbdba028e10d19c3&user email=babc477313717b9b5e4e48ab57e08921645ef274be917b4bf48dc07d5df19dbf an enterprise AI agent, aptly named “ Meta Business Agent .”It’s reportedly adding https://www.theinformation.com/articles/meta-rolls-back-parts-employee-tracking-tool-staff-backlash?rc=rqdn2z more privacy protections and exemptions to its widely-despised employee tracking tool . Meta’s AI support assistant readily helped https://www.404media.co/hackers-simply-asked-meta-ai-to-give-them-access-to-high-profile-instagram-accounts-it-worked/ hackers break into high-profile Instagram accounts, 404 Media reported. Alphabet is raising https://wsj.com/tech/ai/americas-data-center-build-out-is-falling-way-behind-schedule-e408a9a8?reflink=article copyURL share&st=MNtUQN $85b to fund data center construction , despite existing construction projects falling behind schedule.Google committed https://blog.google/company-news/outreach-and-initiatives/sustainability/new-water-stewardship-commitments/ to better “water stewardship,” including funding $500m in water utilities upkeep and reporting water use transparently.Employees are reportedly making https://404media.co/google-employees-internally-share-memes-about-how-its-ai-sucks tons of anti-AI memes about the company’s tools. Others DeepSeek is reportedly raising https://reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/deepseek-slated-draw-7-billion-maiden-fundraising-sources-say-2026-06-03 $7.4b in its first funding round. Lila Sciences is reportedly raising https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-03/lila-sciences-said-in-talks-for-funds-at-8-5-billion-valuation $2b at an $8.5b valuation to build AI for autonomous scientific discovery. Jeff Bezos invested https://wired.com/story/jeff-bezos-is-funding-a-wild-hunt-for-the-brains-core-algorithm $50m in Flourish , a startup trying to make AI better at continual learning and energy efficiency by emulating the human brain .SaaS-pocalypse fears are driving https://wsj.com/tech/ai/venture-capital-turns-to-hardware-bets-as-ai-threatens-software-companies-29b8b5f3?cndid=89607011&mod=tech lead pos1&utm brand=wired&utm mailing=WIR PremiumAILab 060326 PAID big VC bets on robotics and physical AI , the Wall Street Journal reported. Foxconn reportedly partnered https://reuters.com/world/china/foxconn-announces-strategic-collaboration-with-intel-next-gen-ai-infrastructure-2026-06-04 with Intel to build AI equipment for data centers, factories, and robots. CC Wei , head of TSMC , is worried https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-04/tsmc-ceo-warns-chip-supply-won-t-meet-ai-fueled-demand-for-years that their chip supply won’t meet customer demand for “a long time.” Kevin O’Leary said https://www.sltrib.com/news/2026/06/04/box-elder-county-data-center/ he will halve the 40,000-acre footprint of his proposed Utah AI data center after lawmakers told him to cut it back by 75%.It means the project will no longer be the “largest data center in the world.” Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is reportedly starting https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-04/airbnb-ceo-brian-chesky-plans-to-start-a-new-ai-company a new AI lab which may focus on user interaction and design.He will remain in charge of Airbnb and won’t take the CEO role at the new startup. MOVES Helen Toner was named https://x.com/CSETGeorgetown/status/2062525250072436972 Executive Director of CSET , where she’s served as Interim Executive Director since September. Brian Landsman , ex-Salesforce executive VP, joined https://theinformation.com/briefings/openai-taps-salesforce-executive-lead-global-partnerships?rc=rqdn2z OpenAI as VP of global partnerships. Guy Rosen is leaving https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-02/meta-s-rosen-former-head-of-election-integrity-to-depart Meta , where he served as its chief information security officer.Ex-Biden admin natsec advisor Anne Neuberger joined https://axios.com/2026/06/04/anne-neuberger-andreessen-horowitz?mrfcid=202606046a166c401f0de911809b1561 Andreessen Horowitz as its first head of global affairs. Weijie Su , a statistics professor at Wharton, joined https://x.com/weijie444/status/2060604060362014803 OpenAI . Kirsty Innes is joining https://x.com/kmei /status/2061313641597616330?s=12 Imperial College London to build a new Centre for AI-Driven Innovation. Brian Christian joined https://x.com/brianchristian/status/2061505104638103859 UC Berkeley’s Center for Human-Compatible AI , where he’ll study how AI systems represent and shape human preferences. Amy Tam joined https://x.com/amytam01/status/2061855607557353704 xAI from Bloomberg Beta. Erin Woo announced https://x.com/erinkwoo/status/2062254190068678802 she’s now covering OpenAI in addition to Google for The Information . RESEARCH MIT’s Mert Demirer and others found https://www.nber.org/papers/w35275 that AI-driven coding productivity gains were not filtering down into software releases and adoption of new applications, likely due to bottlenecks in existing structures and marketplaces.The research found explosive growth at the top of the funnel, with coders creating or editing 3x more files, but just a 30% increase in releases, and no increase in downloads of new apps. Neo Research , Asia’s first independent AI safety research group, evaluated https://neoresearch.ai/research/deepseek-v4-pro-safety-evaluation/ DeepSeek v4 Pro .DSv4 Pro’s general capabilities and cybersecurity risk are roughly 3-6 months behind the Western frontier. Researchers didn’t find much evidence of misbehavior, but verbalized evaluation awareness is rising across DSv4 Pro and other Chinese models. The Forecasting Research Institute published https://x.com/research fri/status/2061826782945231195?s=12 another round of expert AI forecasts , illustrating how participants’ views evolved between summer 2025 and last month.It quantifies how impactful people think AI will be in 2040 on a “Technological Richter Scale” TRS , where Level 5 is “technology of the month,” like a cool new app, and Level 10 is “technology of the epoch,” like the rise of humans. On average, AI experts and superforecasters nudged their TRS levels up by ~0.2-0.4, suggesting that respondents think AI will be a bigger deal than they’d guessed last year, with the majority predicting it would reach a “technology of the century” level equivalent to electricity. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the study found that the public views AI much less optimistically than experts. MIT FutureTech and the University of Queensland got 272 AI experts from 37 countries to identify https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/06/03/3305947/0/en/International-AI-experts-warn-of-potentially-catastrophic-risks-from-AI.html the most likely harms of AI, and figure out who should be in charge of preventing them.Their top five causes of harm: dangerous capabilities, AI-enabled weapons and cyberattacks, competitive dynamics, power centralization, and misinformation. They argue that developers, governments and regulatory bodies are most responsible for addressing these risks. Harvard Business Review analyzed https://hbr.org/2026/06/how-people-are-really-using-ai-in-2026?stream=top how people actually use AI in the wild. Two major categories of use:“Thinkslop,” or letting AI think for us in all kinds of settings therapy, brainstorming, flirting… Work, often secretly. Researchers found that “shadow usage” is common. University of Toronto researchers demoed https://nytimes.com/2026/06/02/technology/scientists-find-way-to-supercharge-dangerous-computer-worms-with-ai.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&unlocked article code=1.nVA.0wTZ.RA9uX3etLVHk an AI-powered “worm” that can autonomously copy itself across computer networks and tailor its attacks to each machine terrifying . University of Cambridge researchers said AI entirely designed https://bbc.com/news/articles/crrpggegwe0o the key component in a new vaccine that could protect against all coronaviruses, with early trials finding a “modest” immune response.The team is already working on applying a similar approach to Ebola and flu. BEST OF THE REST SemiAnalysis published https://newsletter.semianalysis.com/p/to-boldly-go-the-case-for-space-datacenters?isFreemail=true&post id=199606197&publication id=6349492&r=625xqq&triedRedirect=true&triggerShare=true an incredibly in-depth analysis of whether building data centers in space is totally insane TLDR; it could be much less insane soon , complete with a model that estimates when they’ll be economically viable.Consciousness research is trending https://ft.com/content/53e14bcc-788c-4959-b260-7aee363594bc?syn-25a6b1a6=1 — Google DeepMind and Meta recently joined Anthropic in hiring philosophers, ethicists, and psychology researchers to think about digital minds and AI welfare.Facebook is being flooded https://404media.co/ai-grifters-are-making-anti-data-center-slop-with-ai with AI-generated slop about … not building data centers. The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel thinks https://theatlantic.com/technology/2026/05/ai-agents-agency-crisis-humanity/687379/?lctg=65a708292d1b450e9c068c78 we’re experiencing an AI-driven “crisis of agency.”Mathematicians published https://nytimes.com/2026/06/02/science/ai-mathematics-leiden-declaration.html?smid=url-share&unlocked article code=1.nFA.v6n1.vQ52ZDoCvFBV the Leiden Declaration on AI Mathematics in light of recent headlines about AI-powered math results. In it, they question whether tech companies getting involved in math research risks prioritizing the wrong questions.Big week for AI in Hollywood: Martin Scorsese partnered https://nytimes.com/2026/06/02/business/media/martin-scorsese-artificial-intelligence.html with and publicly endorsed Black Forest Labs for storyboarding in preproduction for an upcoming film.Founders Fund has launched https://x.com/foundersfund/status/2062583885607862639 a reality TV show in which notable tech figures play a game of Mafia. Episode 1 features Palmer Luckey, Dylan Field … and Sam Altman. MEME OF THE WEEK Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.