1. Congress’ wittle summer wecess

by Blake Dodge, writer

Friday, Gavin Newsom signed an executive order meant to “dramatically accelerate” the convening of “a group of world-leading experts” so that they can make a … guide … “for California to reinforce and strengthen its AI safety and security laws.”

This, obviously, is code for “we’re not doing anything” and an excuse for Gavin to take a little video in his cute podcast setup.

Still, with “proposals under consideration” including an “emergency shutoff” or “kill switch” for frontier models… it’s a chilling reminder of what’s possible here [Gel Hair Man Shuts off AI to Please Area Karens] given the total absence of any congressional leadership whatsoever.

Literally, as the world mulls the apocalypse and the heads of AI beg for federal involvement, the House and Senate just returned from their five-week “summer recesses.”

What a nice (??) concept for the rest of us, who lost our “recess” privileges … at age 11. Grow up already, and get to work, losers.

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2. Nursing a grudge

by Riley Nork, writer

The members of two California nurses unions decided to handle ongoing labor negotiations with Prime Healthcare in dignified fashion: by going around the neighborhood where Prime Healthcare executives live and posting threatening fliers with detailed displays of their houses, a totally-not-unsettling experience, I’m sure, on the heels of full-blown Mangione bloodlust in this country.

The California Post reports that activists for the unions canvassed the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood — home to members of the Prime CEO’s family and other Prime executives — where they “posted fliers featuring aerial photographs, square-footage details, and other information about executives’ private homes,” with charming messages like “track them down” and “[they] can’t hide.”

Meanwhile, a union attorney allegedly claimed the harassment would only stop if Prime’s CEO came to the table for negotiations, but in the spirit of #NeverForget, I’m suddenly remembering a lesson from 9/11 which I hope this CEO heeds: sorry nurses… but we don’t negotiate with terrorists.

3. Nerd civil war

by Evan Milenko, writer

Computer geeks and math dorks are fighting. Earlier this month, OpenAI announced that an unreleased model had solved the Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize Problem.

Three days later, 25 Fields Medalists signed an open letter warning that AI has become “severely misaligned” with the mathematical community’s interests.

Now OpenAI says the same model has resolved over 100 other open math problems and is forming an advisory group to help figure out what to do with the results.

Some people have reacted unsympathetically (i.e., math geniuses finding their jobs at risk like the rest of us).

But, while I really put the “C” in calculus, even I find something depressing about rooting for mathematicians’ obsolescence.

There is something special about the disheveled autist spending sleepless nights at a blackboard to discover fundamental truths of the universe.

Incels solving black holes makes for way better movies than researchers telling chat “yo solve this black hole thing.”

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