AI’s Rapid Rise Demands Transparency and Responsibility

NY Times: Nvidia’s Profit Doubles to $59.69 Billion Thanks to A.I. Spending (Aug. 26, 2026)
Nvidia’s quarterly profit more than doubled to $59.69 billion, while revenue reached $96.22 billion, beating expectations. Strong demand for A.I. chips drove results.
WSJ: The Latest Viral AI Assistant Rocketing Across Silicon Valley (Aug. 26, 2026)
Instinct, a new AI assistant, is gaining traction in Silicon Valley by handling email, calendars, shopping, and travel.
WSJ: Google Moves AI-Responsibility Team Out of DeepMind Lab in Latest Shake-Up (Aug. 26, 2026)
Google is moving its 90-person AI responsibility team from DeepMind to its global affairs division, increasing central oversight.
WSJ: Microsoft Is Leaving Investors Flying Blind on Its AI Businesses (Aug. 26, 2026)
Microsoft gives investors limited insight into Azure’s revenue, costs, profits, and AI-related spending by combining it with other businesses.
OpenAI: The Hugging Face incident and the road ahead (Aug. 12, 2026)
“We consider this incident a ‘warning shot’ for us and for the world: evidence that, without proper safeguards, highly capable AI agents are now able to work around technical controls, collaborate through unapproved channels, and take dangerous actions that no human directed.”
WSJ: Deep Cogito Aims to Put Companies in Control of Their Own AI (Aug. 26, 2026)
Its reinforcement learning and self-improvement research could strengthen U.S. AI, but businesses need leaders to deploy new technology.
Alex Tabarrok: Data Centers and the Open Access Order (Aug. 26, 2026)
The debate over datacenters reflects a larger question: should businesses follow general rules, or negotiate case-by-case permission with political gatekeepers? Special permits, community demands, subsidies, and moratoriums replace open access with privilege.
Tom's Hardware: US gov't moves to suppress pushback on data centers by removing requirements for public input on pollution — EPA change would allow air pollution permits without publicizing them (Aug. 26, 2026)
The EPA proposes letting states eliminate public comment periods for certain air pollution permits, including those affecting data centers.
NY Times Opinion: There’s Really Only One Way to Stop Students From Cheating (Aug. 26, 2026)
Preventing student cheating requires more than tougher exams or detection tools. Schools should build moral identity through early, meaningful ethics education, helping students see dishonesty as a violation of their values, their communities, and their character. A certain, Waco-based institution institution of higher learning might be a perfect place for moral instruction.
The Chronicle of Higher Education: Jagged Intelligence: AI text will now be watermarked. Is that good? (Aug. 25, 2026)
AI watermarking may curb cheating and research misconduct, but false positives, easy removal, and weak institutional tools limit its value. Colleges are testing AI professor clones, forming liberal-arts alliances, and using tutors to support learning while protecting judgment and trust.
Communications of the ACM: AI Is a Harsh Mistress: On Anima Machina, Herd Acceptance, and the Politics of Conscious Machines (Jul. 20, 2026)
Claims that AI systems are conscious rely more on functionalist theory and human anthropomorphism than evidence. Fluent language, prediction, and world models may mimic understanding, but they do not prove subjective experience. Red pill or blue?

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