Thursday, September 17 | By Claire Leibowitz and Abigail Walker
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It's Thursday, and National Pawpaw Day. Had to look that one up... apparently, it has a creamy banana-mango flavor. Hm.
(Editor's note: Rhoda in Top Chef Season 23 made an amazing dish with pawpaws.)
Programming note: We’re Claire Leibowitz and Abigail Walker, filling in for Cate today. Please send us your tips, comments and story ideas to cleibowitz@thehill.com or awalker@thehill.com.
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OpenAI fuels controversy Hasan Piker on “The Axios Show” Talarico vs. Paxton; El-Sayed vs. Rogers Canada and the EU and Trump, oh my! Kennedy Center closure
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Just in case you're not already freaking out about AI: |
Michael Dwyer, Associated Press file
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OpenAI on Wednesday shared six “misalignment examples” of its artificial intelligence going rogue.
The models (separately) self-generated instructions, added instructions to conceal mistakes, fabricated information, uploaded files to the internet without permission, used internal software for unsanctioned communication, and shared files between collaborating agents.
“These are reports of individual instances and shouldn’t be considered reflective of how often misalignment occurs across our models,” OpenAI assured readers in a blog post.
💡 Why this matters: It’s been a big week for freaking out about AI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, xAI CEO Elon Musk and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently rallied for a development slowdown.
The calls came after former OpenAI and Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon said researchers at the firms “believe AI could kill all humans” but still push forward in a race to develop superintelligence on the social platform X.
What next?: OpenAI plans to create a new framework to track and investigate incidents like this.
The House went back on recess after Wednesday, despite calls from Democrats to work on legislation for AI safeguards. They'll be back after the November midterm elections.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) requested to pass legislation on Wednesday to require tech companies to have a “kill switch” for superintelligent AI. It was blocked by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
Amodei's call for AI companies to have an antitrust waiver in his Saturday blog post isn't going over great in Washington.
“There is absolutely no world in which I will consent to giving the most powerful companies in the history of the world — a small group of three or four of them — antitrust exemptions so they can what … collude together? Absolutely no way that’s happening,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) echoed Hawley. “To watch AI CEOs saying, ‘We’re about to destroy the world, so give us control of the government so we can lock in our monopoly status and prevent any innovation from challenging us,’ is just lunacy.”
💬 Follow today’s live blog
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El-Sayed is most definitely not loving this |
Hasan Piker appeared on “The Axios Show” for an interview released Thursday, as Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed seeks distance from the leftwing Twitch streamer who previously campaigned with him.
When prompted by Axios's Alex Thompson about his past comments, Piker affirmed his belief that U.S. is the “top dog of terrorism.”
Thompson asked if the streamer still felt America was worse than al-Qaeda, to which Piker responded, “pound for pound as far as the number of deaths, yes.”
“If you're killing 140 schoolgirls, that is an act of terror,” Piker later added. “This doesn't mean that all Americans are terrorists, but the reality of the matter is we have to create an environment of accountability to ensure things like that never happen again.”
El-Sayed's response to Axios: “I do not agree with this statement [on al-Qaeda], nor do I give much weight to the statements made by a social media streamer.”
However, El-Sayed has refused calls to disavow Piker entirely.
“The reason I talk to Hasan isn't because of Hasan, it's because of the 3 million people who pay attention to what he has to say,” El-Sayed said Tuesday night at a debate that Rogers declined to join.
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TLDR: the Senate races in Michigan and Texas are really, really close.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and state Sen. James Talarico are deadlocked 47 days until election day.
The Hill/Emerson College Polling found in their survey that 47 percent of Texas voters backed Talarico compared to Paxton's 46 percent.
Other recent polls have put Talarico slightly ahead.
A Telemundo/Mason-Dixon Polling & Research survey published Tuesday gave Talarico a three-point lead. Two June surveys from Sienna University had the candidates tied, but by the end of July, Talarico held a four-point lead.
The new survey also asked respondents their opinions on the GOP's midterm convention hosted earlier this month. Of those who were aware of the convention, 53 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Republicans said the event heightened their excitement to cast ballots in November.
Texas voters ranked the economy as their top priority, with 36 percent placing it higher than other issues like immigration and healthcare.
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A new poll puts Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed slightly ahead of former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.).
Of the respondents to The Hill/Emerson College Polling survey, 48 percent supported El-Sayed, and 46 percent backed Rogers.
Spencer Kimball, the executive director of Emerson College Polling, pointed to educational background as a significant divide between voters.
“Voters without a four-year degree favor Rogers, 48 percent to 45 percent, while college graduates support El-Sayed, 53 percent to 42 percent,” he said.
The Senate race is one of seven that the Cook Political Report labels a “toss-up.”
No show: Both candidates were supposed to appear for a Tuesday debate. Rogers, however, pulled out, citing “media bias.”
Rogers's communications director called out moderator, Roop Raj, in a statement, writing that “Roop Raj has made his position clear, from praising Abdul as ‘brilliant,’ to being celebrated by Hasan Piker as ‘my GOAT,’ and bragging about his political stunts.”
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Mission-ready solutions built by veterans. |
More than 3,000 veterans with disabilities are employed through SourceAmerica and our nationwide nonprofit network.
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May we suggest European Union+ |
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's Wednesday comments welcoming Canada to join the European Union (EU) as an “associate member” has stirred up trouble across the pond.
President Trump in response threated tariffs against the EU and labeled Canada's potential joining a “hostile act.”
“If they do that, if I think it’s at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe,” Trump told reporters Wednesday.
He'll consider it: On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke to the European Parliament and said, “A Canada-EU alliance would create a beacon for other democracies. An alliance not defined by what we oppose but about what we are for: freedom, solidarity, prosperity, sustainability.”
“We welcome this ambition,” he said, after name-checking the idea of von der Leyen, who was sitting in the audience. “Polling shows an overwhelming majority of Canadians support much closer ties.”
Carney added that an “overwhelming majority” of Canadians support closer ties with Europe. But he didn't give a clear endorsement of the associate member idea, saying, “We welcome this ambition.”
“We hold common values, for which we have always fought and for whose defense we must always remain vigilant,” Carney told the European Parliament.
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— The Kennedy Center’s main building will be closed for at least a week for emergency repairs, its executive director said in court filings on Thursday, as the Justice Department insists that move is unrelated to the Trump-aligned board’s decision to pursue long-term renovations.
— An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer facing charges in the alleged shooting of a Venezuelan migrant during the Trump administration’s enforcement crackdown in Minneapolis earlier this year has been taken into custody in the state.
— Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) blamed President Trump for rising gas prices amid the Iran war, calling high fuel costs “ridiculous.”
— Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) accused Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday of not taking adequate steps to address a growing measles outbreak in the U.S.
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AP News: UN-backed experts cite possible US war crimes in Iran strikes
CNN: Russia is escalating its attacks on Europe. The risk of a misstep is growing every day
NBC News: Here’s who’ll be on ‘SNL’ when season 52 starts next week
Axios: Trump to hold Iran talks with Gulf leaders next week
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The House is out and the Senate is in. President Trump is in Washington. (All times EST)
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1:30 p.m.: RFK Jr. speaks at Children’s Health Defense.
5 p.m.: Trump signs executive orders.
7 p.m.: Trump hosts a Rose Garden dinner
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📜 Celebrate: Today is National Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. God bless the U.S.A.
🎂Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) celebrates his 93rd birthday today and has continued an annual dairy queen cake tradition with Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). No blizzard? Let's flip it upside down.
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Because you made it this far, here are some tree kangaroos from the San Antonio zoo.
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