Category: AI

The Trump EPA has made a proposal that would lift requirements that force states to provide public notice or solicit comments on air pollution permits for data center construction projects.

Maxine Joselow has more at The New York Times:

The move could prevent residents from raising concerns about — or even learning about — data centers before permits are approved and construction starts.

Nearly 200 advocacy groups and more than a dozen states have voiced opposition to the change, making it the latest flashpoint in the national debate over the data centers powering the artificial intelligence boom.

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Colleen McClain and Eugenie Park at the Pew Research Center:

Today, 52% of Americans say they are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life – up from 37% in 2021. Another 9% are more excited than concerned and 37% say they’re equally excited and concerned, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 22-28, 2026.

Concern about AI for Americans over the age of 30 has been relatively stable, but not for people in their 20s and teens:

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Lora Kolodny, CNBC:

Elon Musk’s xAI, now owned by SpaceX, sued Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to challenge a law that would ban so-called nudify apps in the state.

In their complaint, filed in a federal court in Minnesota on Monday, attorneys for xAI wrote that the statute “imposes an overbroad, content-based ban on free speech and the tools of visual expression in a clumsy attempt to prohibit ‘nudification.’”

The Minnesota law, which goes into effect on Saturday, targets apps and websites that give people the ability to generate non-consensual sexualized imagery, levying $500,000 fines each time a user creates explicit deepfakes.

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OpenAI, in an unsigned announcement:

Health in ChatGPT is launching to U.S. users. You can choose to securely connect Apple Health and supported medical records so ChatGPT can help you understand your information in context, keep track of what has changed, and have more informed, personalized conversations. The experience builds on feedback from early testers and gives you control over what you connect and when ChatGPT can use it.

Every week, more than 300 million people turn to ChatGPT with health-related questions—from understanding a lab result and preparing for an appointment to making sense of what a doctor said and building a healthier routine. But the context behind those questions is often scattered across patient portals, medical records, apps, and wearables, making it difficult to see and act on the complete picture.

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If you use Grok to make CSAM,
xAI will sue you.

(There are no good guys in this story.)

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Mark Gurman, writing at Bloomberg:

OpenAI’s much-anticipated push into consumer devices is slated to begin with a mobile, screen-free smart speaker designed to be a new type of home computer for the AI era, according to people familiar with the matter.

The product — still under development — is meant to serve as a humanlike AI companion that lives in the home, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the project hasn’t been announced. It will help control smart-home appliances, play media, answer questions, respond to messages and tap into the range of capabilities offered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, they said.

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As foretold, Apple has increased the prices of many products today. Chance Miller has put together a list:

Macs

Product:	Old Price:	New Price:	Increase:
MacBook Neo	$599	$699	16.7%
13-inch MacBook Air	$1,099	$1,299	18.2%
15-inch MacBook Air	$1,299	$1,499	15.4%
M5 MacBook Pro	$1,699	$1,999	17.7%
M5 Pro MacBook Pro	$2,199	$2,499	13.6%
M5 Max MacBook Pro	$3,599	$4,099	13.9%
iMac	$1,299	$1,499	15.4%
M4 Max Mac Studio	$1,999	$2,499	25%
M3 Ultra Mac Studio	$3,999	$5,299	32.5%

iPads

Product:	Old Price:	New Price:	Increase:
iPad	$349	$449	28.7%
11-inch iPad Air	$599	$749	25%
13-inch iPad Air	$749	$949	26.7%
11-inch iPad Pro	$999	$1,199	20%
13-inch iPad Pro	$1,299	$1,499	15.4%
iPad mini	$499	$599	20%

Other

Product:	Old Price:	New Price:	Increase:
Apple TV 4K	$129	$199	54.3%
HomePod	$299	$349	16.7%
HomePod mini	$99	$129	30.3%
Vision Pro	$3,499	$3,699	5.7%

Additionally, many upper-level SKUs saw increases. The Mac mini with M4 Pro got a $200 bump to $1,599, while the M5 Max MacBook Pro jumped from $3,599 to $4,099. As expected, increases really stack up when you start configuring higher-end options like larger SSDs and additional unified memory.

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SpaceX and the NAACP are in a legal battle over the use of turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, for powering the Colossus II data center in Memphis. This week, the Department of Justice got involved, as reported by Molly Taft at Wired:

In a filing, the agency sided with Elon Musk’s company, saying attempts to stop xAI from running the natural gas turbines “threatens American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War’s military operations.”

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Marina Favaro and Jack Clark, in a very long article on Anthropic’s website:

The technical trends discussed in this piece suggest that AI systems are going to become much more capable in coming years. These trends have huge implications. AI that can build itself would be a major development in the history of technology—one that could bring enormous good for the world in science, healthcare, and beyond. But full recursive self-improvement also might increase the risks of humans losing control over AI systems. If systems are capable of fully building their own successors, the ways we secure them, monitor them, and shape their behavior all grow much more important.

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Jake Handy:

An NBER study of nearly 6,000 CEOs and CFOs across the US, UK, Germany, and Australia found that roughly 90% of firms reported zero measurable impact on productivity or employment from AI over the past three years.

The average employee AI usage was 1.5 hours per week.

The average CEO AI usage was less than one hour per week.

Meanwhile, their companies are pouring money into the $690 billion AI infrastructure buildout that, according to Sequoia, needs $600 billion in annual revenue to justify itself (but currently generates maybe $50-100 billion).

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OpenAI, in a nameless blog post:

Mass shootings, threats against public officials, bombing attempts, and attacks on communities and individuals are an unacceptable and grave reality in today’s world. These incidents are a reminder of how real the threat of violence is—and how quickly violent intent can move from words to action.

People may also bring these moments and feelings into ChatGPT. They may ask questions about the news, try to understand what happened, express fear or anger, or talk about violence in ways that are fictional, historical, political, personal, or potentially dangerous. We work to train ChatGPT to recognize the difference—and to draw lines when a conversation starts to move toward threats, potential harm to others, or real-world planning.

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The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, in a press release today:

U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), John Curtis (R-Utah), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) today introduced the CHATBOT Act, legislation that would put parents, not Big Tech, in charge of how children and teens interact with AI chatbots.

While AI chatbots can support a child’s learning, research, and creativity, they also pose real risks to minors, including exposure to inappropriate content, language, and addictive features. Some AI companies have even deployed rewards, notifications, and targeted advertising to drive prolonged engagement by adolescent users.

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