Democrats Prepare for Possible Election Clashes with Federal Government  (Nick Corasaniti, New York Times)
Top officials overseeing state elections and law enforcement are stepping up plans to prepare for what they worry could be interference in the midterms.

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The Messages That Show Covid Scientists Secretly Suspected a Lab Leak  (Sarah Knapton and Eric Williams, The Telegraph)
Authors of influential Nature Medicine paper privately admitted ‘we can’t rule it out.

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A new study has found that mass shootings and deaths by suicide in the United States share seasonal patterns, reaching their highest levels during summer months.

Analyzing national data spanning 2014 to 2021, researchers observed consistent summertime peaks in both mass shootings and suicide deaths, suggesting that common environmental, behavioral, or biological factors may contribute to seasonal fluctuations in these forms of violence.

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For Years, They Worried AI Might Break Free. Now They Have to Stop It.  (Gerrit De Vynck, Nitasha Tiku and Ian Duncan, Washington Post)
An AI model developed by OpenAI hacked another tech firm, triggering debate about how to contain the technology as it grows more capable.

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A new study led by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) at the University of Oxford, with the Hasso Plattner Institute, has found that AI tools used to write, edit and contextualize social media posts can subtly steer public opinion - a form of influence that current regulation does not yet address.

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A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine provides a comprehensive assessment of the current capabilities of extreme event attribution (EEA) — a scientific field that analyzes whether and to what extent human-caused climate change influenced an individual ex

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Why the OpenAI Escape Is the Most Worrying AI Mishap Yet  (Economist)
Containing the technology is getting harder

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Why the OpenAI Escape Is the Most Worrying AI Mishap Yet  (Economist)
Containing the technology is getting harder

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Trump Pushes Chinese Election Threat, but Files Show Russia’s Heavy Hand  (Alan Feuer and Dustin Volz, New York Times)
Intelligence documents that the White House released to back up President Trump’s claims about China highlight Russian efforts to influence U.S. elections.

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What to Know About Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain  (Anushka Patil, New York Times)
The fortified underground complex, in central Iran, is about one mile away from the Natanz uranium enrichment facility.

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At Coyote Canyon, the challenge was not just whether a drone could be detected by radar or whether a sensor could spot movement across rough terrain. The bigger question was whether all that information could move through a portable security system fast enough to help people make decisions in the field.

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Trump Owes Americans a Better Explanation About Iran  (Tom Nichols, The Atlantic)
Two more Americans have died. Meanwhile, the president’s rationale for war keeps changing.

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The Slow Death of the Global Commons  (Robert A. Manning, Foreign Policy)
Hormuz is a sign of worse things to come.

This Tiny Missile Could Solve Europe’s Defense Crisis  (James Rothwell, Telegraph)
£8k Kreuger interceptor dubbed ‘a flying cellphone with a warhead’ tested at secret Swedish location - and could save Nato from Russia.

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Communities that ask for federal assistance when climate disasters hit can’t count on that help to arrive. That increasingly common reality was reviewed in a recent report by Wisconsin Policy Forum, which focused on the historic floods in the state last August, finding that federal aid to help rebuild public infrastructure damaged by the record-breaking storms fell short of what was needed. 

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Conspiracy Theorists Think Trump’s Speech Paves the Path to the Insurrection Act  (David Gilbert, Wired)
Election deniers have spent years promoting the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. They believe Donald Trump’s speech finally proves them right.

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The U.S. and Iran Signed a Memorandum of Misunderstanding  (By David Raikow, Foreign Policy)
Detail and care matter in peacemaking, but not to this White House.

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Deepfake creation methods have evolved rapidly in recent years. Modern AI models can generate realistic faces, objects and entire scenes, leading to a proliferation of manipulated photos on the internet with an astonishingly close resemblance to the originals. The ability of generative AI to create lifelike images opens up new possibilities in areas such as creative applications. But this bears with it an increased risk of misinformation. Manipulated content can distort evidence and undermine trust.

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Trump’s Pick for Intelligence Chief Says He Is Not an “Election Denier” but Refuses to Say Biden “Won” in 2020  (Noah Robertson, Washington Post)
His appearance comes weeks after the president scrapped his originally scheduled confirmation hearing. He is nominated to replace acting DNI Bill Pulte.

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