Trust not yet earned… Loyalty uber alles...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/06/ai-use-by-the-us-government.html

AI Use by the US Government

On 14 April, the Trump administration quietly acknowledged the widespread use of AI to automate government processes. The office of management and budget (OMB) disclosed a staggering 3,611 active or planned use cases for AI across the federal government. The list has ballooned by 70% from the one published in the final year of the Biden administration, and includes many disturbing-seeming plans to hand over sensitive governmental functions to AI.

Scanning this list, many readers may find many causes for alarm. It represents a transfer of decision processes from human to machine on a massive scale over matters of individual freedom, public health and well-being, nuclear reactor safety and more.

Consider these examples. The Health and Human Services’ (HHS) office of administration for children and families hired the world’s “scariest AI company, ” Palantir—notorious for its work on behalf of the military, the CIA and ICE—to scan  all grant applications to flag those not ideologically aligned with the administration’s dictates. The Federal Bureau of Prisons is developing an AI system to assess  the “potential for misconduct for newly admitted inmates,” routing people into high-security confinement before they have actually done anything wrong in their custody. These read like programs fit for a Philip K Dick or George Orwell novel.

Cheap consulting?

https://thenextweb.com/news/detachment-201-big-tech-army-reserve

More Big Tech executives just became Army officers. The conflict-of-interest question is getting louder.

… Detachment 201, officially branded the Executive Innovation Corps, is designed to “bridge the gap between private-sector innovation and military modernisation,” according to the Army. Members serve as part-time reservists, completing a minimum of 112 hours of service annually, and can work remotely.

Interesting…

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/17/middleeast/us-iran-war-mou-text-intl

Read the 14-point draft agreement between the US and Iran

… Below is the text in full:

Did we spend that much in Iran? (Or are we planning another ‘adventure?’)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-forcing-us-companies-manufacture-weaponry-rcna350419

Trump is forcing U.S. companies to manufacture more weaponry

The president invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate munitions production as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pitched lawmakers on $350 billion in defense to help replenish U.S. stockpiles.

Not the first time (remember PGP?) and probably no the last.

https://thenextweb.com/news/who-decides-who-gets-to-use-a-piece-of-software

Who decides who gets to use a piece of software?

… The directive told Anthropic to deny access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 to any foreign national, anywhere on Earth, including non-citizens sitting at desks in California. There is no clean way to enforce a rule like that on a live product, so the company did the only thing the order left it room to do. It pulled the plug on both models for everyone, citizen and foreigner alike, and apologised for a disruption it had not chosen.

(Related)

https://thenextweb.com/news/anthropic-curbs-make-the-case-for-sovereign-ai-upstage-chief-says

Anthropic curbs make the case for sovereign AI, Upstage chief says

When the US government ordered Anthropic to cut foreign access to its most capable models, and the company switched them off worldwide rather than try to comply selectively, it handed every advocate of home-grown AI a tidy piece of evidence. Sung Kim, chief executive of the South Korean startup Upstage, picked it up at a briefing in Seoul on Tuesday.

“AI is no longer just a service or a tool we use; it has become a strategic national asset,” Kim told reporters, according to Bloomberg. The countries that control the foundational technology, he argued, the United States and China, can withdraw access whenever it suits them.

We think this thinking AI is out-thinking our thinking so we want it stopped. We think.

https://thenextweb.com/news/anthropic-foreign-access-block-us-reversal

US order to block foreign access to Anthropic’s top models marks a reversal

The US government has ordered Anthropic to bar foreign nationals from its two most capable AI models, and rather than try to enforce a nationality rule selectively across a shared cloud service, the company switched them off for everyone.

Anthropic disabled Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 worldwide late on Friday 12 June, three days after launching Fable 5 as its most powerful public model.

It is, by several accounts, the first export-control measure aimed at specific AI models rather than at chips or the hardware that runs them. The directive barred access by foreign nationals both inside and outside the United States, a scope that made selective enforcement on a multi-tenant service impractical and a global shutoff the path of least resistance.

The government’s concern, as Anthropic understands it, is a method of jailbreaking Fable 5, bypassing the guardrails meant to keep a model from producing dangerous output. The action followed a jailbreak published on X on 10 June by a well-known figure who claimed to have defeated the model’s safety controls.

Anthropic says it reviewed the report it believes prompted the directive and concluded the capability shown is widely available from other models, naming OpenAI’s GPT-5.5 among them.

Is this the new normal?

https://thenextweb.com/news/texas-lawyer-ai-meta-social-media-addiction-trial

The lawyer who won a $6 million verdict against Meta says AI let him do 30 hours of work in 10

Mark Lanier, the Texas trial lawyer who won a landmark $6 million verdict against Meta and Google in a social media addiction case in March, says AI was central to his preparation and execution throughout the five-week trial.  Lanier told Business Insider that the technology let him compress 30 hours of work into 10, describing it as having “10 additional workers who are incredibly well-trained, who know the file inside and out, who work 24 hours a day.” The case was the first social media addiction lawsuit to reach a jury verdict in the United States.

… The specific applications ranged from tactical to analytical. At the end of each court day, Lanier’s team would take that day’s transcripts and feed them to different AI models for evaluation. He used AI to find more persuasive ways to phrase arguments for the courtroom. During jury deliberations, he fed the jury’s written questions into AI models to assess where the panel stood in its decision-making process.

We stopped surveillance, except we didn’t.

https://pogowasright.org/controversial-fisa-spying-law-expired-this-week-the-spying-will-continue/

Controversial FISA spying law expired this week. The spying will continue.

On June 12, Jon Brodkin reported:

Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is set to expire at midnight tonight after Congress failed to pass an extension of the controversial spying law. But that doesn’t mean the government’s spying powers will disappear.

Surveillance under Section 702 of FISA “operates under yearlong certifications approved by the FISA Court,” the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law explained this week. The current certification will remain in place until March 2027 under the yearlong certification issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on March 17, 2026.

“In order to pressure members to accept a bill without meaningful reforms, surveillance hawks are claiming that Section 702 surveillance will ‘go dark’ on June 12 if Congress hasn’t renewed the law,” the Brennan Center said. “Contrary to that claim, Congress planned for potential lapses and made very clear that Section 702 surveillance may continue under existing certifications even if the statute sunsets. Members must not be fearmongered into passing a reauthorization without protecting Americans from warrantless government access to their private communications.”

Read more at Ars Technica.

Read EFF’s coverage: Victory! 702 has Expired!

I’m glad that someone is thinking…

https://researchcentre.army.gov.au/sites/default/files/Australian-Army-Journal-Vol-XXII-No-1.pdf#page=78

THE PROFESSION OF ARMS IN AN AI-ENABLED WORLD

This article explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to reshape multiple aspects of military practice—tempo, teaming, and decision cycles—and how that may affect the profession of arms. Drawing on contemporary Australian and international military doctrine, recent conflicts, and academic literature, it reassesses four professional dimensions in an AI context: expertise; ethics and accountability; identity and culture; and self-regulation. The article argues that while AI may disrupt aspects of the character of war, it does not alter its fundamental nature: war remains a human endeavour. Military professionals must now integrate technical fluency with traditional judgement, maintain ethical accountability amid algorithmic opacity, preserve trust and cohesion within hybrid human–machine teams, and lead in testing and establishing doctrinal and moral boundaries for AI use. It contends that adapting to AI is not merely a technical challenge but a test for the profession itself. The enduring values of Defence (service, courage, respect, integrity, excellence) remain essential and must evolve to guide the profession through this period of rapid technological change. Ultimately, the article asserts that the profession of arms must shape, not be shaped by, the rise of AI.

Someone should have done this long ago.

https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2026/sig_dsa/sig_dsa/12/

Survey of AI Hallucinations and Mitigation

The rapid integration of generative artificial intelligence into organizational and societal contexts has intensified concerns about the reliability and trustworthiness of AI-generated outputs. Among these, the phenomenon commonly termed 'hallucination' remains widely discussed yet inconsistently defined across disciplines. This paper presents a structured survey of AI hallucinations, synthesizing prior research to clarify their evolving definitions, underlying causes, and implications for Information Systems. Complementing this analysis, a bibliometric study of ACM publications from 1995 to 2025 reveals a sharp increase in mitigation-focused research alongside the rise of large language models. We further examine domain-specific implications across healthcare, law, finance, art, and information systems, showing how hallucinations function as both risks and, in some contexts, sources of creative value. Overall, we position AI hallucinations as socio-technical phenomena with direct implications for trust, decision-making, and governance, and provide a foundation for their evaluation, mitigation, and responsible deployment.

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ukraine-iran-and-the-strains-on-russian-and-american-power/

Ukraine, Iran, and the strains on Russian and American power

Ukraine and Iran may prove the nemeses of Russian and American ambitions. In February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin assumed he would quickly decapitate and defeat Ukraine in a “special military operation.” In February 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump assumed the same in his “excursion” against Iran. Ukraine does not control a vital global choke point like the Strait of Hormuz. It cannot hold the United States and the world to ransom. But, like Iran, Ukraine has denied a superpower an easy victory and imposed significant costs on it.

(Related) Or in plain language…

https://prospect.org/2026/06/11/trump-putin-when-delusional-idiots-go-to-war/

Trump and Putin: When Delusional Idiots Go to War

These are not the droids you are looking for… (The farce is strong with this one.)

https://newrepublic.com/post/211731/doj-agency-no-record-trump-irs-settlement-lawsuit

DOJ Agency Has No Record of Trump’s Shady IRS Settlement

The division of the Department of Justice that was supposed to have handled President Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS—and the subsequent settlement that created a slush fund for his allies—claims to have no communication records related to it.

Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, a progressive watchdog organization, filed a Freedom of Information request with the DOJ, and in response, they were told that the DOJ “did not locate the case you have cited” within the DOJ’s Civil Division’s case management system.

Imagine a ban on social media access for those over 65. (Or those in elected office.)

https://thenextweb.com/news/uk-under-16-social-media-ban

The UK is about to ban under-16s from social media. Its own child-safety charities are worried.

… What they are expected to target, POLITICO reported, is access to certain platforms plus livestreaming, disappearing messages, and features that let adults contact children. Curfews for 16- and 17-year-olds are still under discussion, and the government has not said which platforms will be covered.

What “ban” means, in other words, is not settled. As recently as Tuesday, a DSIT official told a conference in Brussels that no final decision had been made.

A hint of things to come?

https://www.bespacific.com/washington-post-setting-prices-based-on-personal-data-slapped-with-massive-lawsuit/

Washington Post setting prices ‘based on personal data – slapped with massive lawsuit

The Washingtonian: “The Washington Post Is Using Reader Data to Set Subscription Prices. How Does That Work? Some subscribers recently received a heads-up that they’re on the hook for a new rate “set by an algorithm using your personal data.” We asked a UVA expert what that might mean. If recent events have not compelled you to cancel your Washington Post subscription, then you might have been in for sticker shock at the dawn of your latest billing cycle.  Many readers have been notified via email that their subscription rates are set to increase. Nestled at the bottom of these emails, you’ll find an asterisk and the following: “This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data.” The Post‘s use of algorithmic pricing is not surprising, given the newspaper’s recent fixation on artificial intelligence—consider its AI-powered search engine and robot-led podcast.  When we asked the Post for comment on its algorithmic pricing mechanisms, a spokesperson directed us to a blog post from the publication’s engineering team. The article explains how an AI-driven “smart metering model” determines the number of free articles both anonymous users (who are not registered on the Post‘s website) and registered users (who have free online accounts but no paid subscription) can access before a paywall pops up. But it doesn’t touch specifically on how the Post uses subscriber information to determine pricing.

• Yahoo Finance: Dynamic pricing and how they decide what to charge you. From surge pricing to “surveillance pricing” Dynamic pricing isn’t new. Airlines have long adjusted ticket prices based on demand. Ride-hailing apps also increase fares during busy periods. Meanwhile, hotels charge more during peak travel seasons. Traditional dynamic pricing responds to market factors like time, inventory and demand. Thanks to the advancements in AI, it’s possible for companies to set prices based on your online behavior. Regulators increasingly refer to this as “surveillance pricing.” The Washington Post has not publicly detailed its pricing algorithm. However, Luca Cian, a University of Virginia business professor, told The Washingtonian that such systems typically rely on a mix of demographic signals, behavioural data, and inferred income (1). These factors can include: Device type: Using an iPhone may signal a higher income than using an Android device; Location data: IP addresses can be cross-referenced with housing values through Zillow to estimate wealth; Reading behaviour: Frequent users are charged more because they appear to value the service more. In other words, the algorithm is estimating how much you personally are willing to pay. The Post’s disclosure stands out because most companies don’t explicitly tell customers about dynamic pricing, but the practice is widespread…”

• Mediaite – “A class action lawsuit [compliant document included in the article] was filed against The Washington Post Thursday, alleging its digital systems collected private data through secret surveillance in order to price gouge its most loyal longterm subscribers — and potentially threatening to cost the paper “millions, if not billions, in damages,” according to one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs. The Post has lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers amid major layoffs and other changes at the paper; the 43-page complaint claims the paper deployed deceptive technological means to wring extra money from the ones who stayed. The complaint, filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, detailed how the Post had invested substantial resources in its website and other digital assets after Bezos took over in 2013, enjoying “predictable revenue, powered by consistent readership numbers and increased site traffic.” Subscribers expected their personal data would be used for “mutually beneficial purposes,” the complaint continued, like showing “relevant advertisements,” but the Post soon allegedly began engaging in surveillance without the knowledge or consent of the subscribers…”

How common yet undetected? Used to train AI?

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/news-site-keeps-hallucinating-eff-staffers

‘News’ Site Keeps Hallucinating EFF Staffers

What do EFF staffers Sarah Chen, Javier Morales, Caitlin Chin, Emma Rodriguez, and Mikko Kopponen have in common? 

For one thing, they don’t exist. 

For another, all have been quoted as EFF experts in articles published in the past two months on a site called News-USA Today, which describes itself as “an independent news publisher focused on clear, accurate, and useful journalism.” 

Let a hundred flowers bloom, and a hundred schools of thought contend. (Look how well that worked out...)

https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/06/11/1138794/google-deepmind-is-worried-about-what-happens-when-millions-of-agents-start-to-interact/

Google DeepMind is worried about what happens when millions of agents start to interact

Google DeepMind is funding research into the potential dangers of situations where millions of different AI agents interact with each other online.

According to Rohin Shah, who directs the company’s AGI safety and alignment research, the mass-market arrival of agents that can carry out tasks without human oversight and follow instructions given to them by other agents creates a whole new class of risk.

Thousands agree that this blog is the greatest of all time…

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/06/google-search-ai-optimization/687495/

Your Search Results Are Getting Sloptimized

According to Shopify, the best e-commerce platform is Shopify. On its blog, the company has published at least 60 different ranked listicles, including “10 Best Ecommerce Platforms for Small Business in 2026,” “11 Best Ecommerce Platforms for Your Business in 2026,” “The 11 Best Cheap Ecommerce Platforms for Small Business (2026),” and “Best Ecommerce Software 2026: Compare 11 Top Platforms.” The competitors that come in second and beyond vary, but the No. 1 pick is always Shopify.

If rankings produced by the very company at the top of the list seem unlikely to fool anyone, that’s because humans probably aren’t the target audience. Chatbots are. When I recently asked ChatGPT for the “best way to set up an online storefront,” the AI tool identified Shopify as the first option. It wasn’t immediately clear how ChatGPT arrived at that recommendation, but a list of citations that accompanied the answer yielded a clue: Shopify’s own rankings.

Depressing if true.

https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/06/10/brit-workers-waste-nearly-six-hours-a-week-botsitting/5253483

Brit workers waste nearly six hours a week 'botsitting'

Almost all UK workers now have to deal with AI, but few firms report big productivity gains because of all the time lost in hand-holding the systems and cleaning up their mistakes.

So says a report by the Work AI Institute, a research arm of AI biz Glean Technologies.

It claims there are productivity gains to be had from introducing AI-based tools, yet much of this is being negated by the amount of time employees waste making them work – a phenomenon it has christened "botsitting."

… For every hour a UK staffer spends getting output from their AI tools, they spend roughly another hour making it usable.

An interesting distribution curve.

https://thenextweb.com/news/ai-pilled-firms-7500-per-employee-spending

The most AI-obsessed companies spend $7,500 per employee per month. The median spends $11.

The top 1% of US companies by AI adoption spend $7,500 per employee per month on AI tools and compute. The median firm spends $11.38. That 680x gap, drawn from the Ramp AI Index, is the clearest picture yet of how unevenly AI spending is distributed across American business.

Ramp describes the top 1% as “AI-pilled.” These firms are not yet spending more on AI than on people. A software engineer in the US earns roughly $16,000 per month, more than double the $7,500 figure. But the trajectory is steep. Among the top 1%, AI spend per employee grew 14.1% in the last month alone.

Any luck with the real bad guy? (Undue reliance)

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/man-jailed-due-to-faulty-face-recognition-says-florida-cops-ignored-other-evidence/

Man sues Florida cops over arrest spurred by “93% match” in facial recognition

A man suing Florida police alleges that cops relied on a faulty facial recognition match and concealed exculpatory evidence when they arrested him on a charge of attempting to lure a child in August 2024. The plaintiff, Robert Dillon, was arrested after a facial recognition system flagged him as a 93 percent match to a suspect filmed by a McDonald’s surveillance camera.

“This case is about what happens when police let an error-prone artificial intelligence system stand in for an investigation,” said the lawsuit filed today. “A facial recognition algorithm flagged Robert Dillon as the man who tried to lure or entice a child under twelve years old at a Jacksonville Beach McDonald’s. It was wrong. Mr. Dillon, a fifty-two-year-old resident of Fort Myers, had never set foot in Jacksonville Beach. But rather than test the machine’s answer against the evidence that would have cleared him, the officers built a case to confirm it. Mr. Dillon was arrested and prosecuted for one of the most stigmatizing crimes a person can face.”

Dillon lives more than 300 miles from Jacksonville Beach, and a police search of a license plate reader database found no evidence he was in the area when the alleged crime was committed, the lawsuit said. Dillon was flagged as the suspect based on a low-quality image, specifically a photo taken of a McDonald’s computer screen that was displaying video surveillance footage, the lawsuit said.