Author: rb809rb

Amid the increasing alarm over AI‘s supercharged capabilities, Donald Trump rejected calls for new regulation, saying that there already are guardrails in place.

In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump wrote, “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades! The Trump Administration has stopped AI ‘people’ from doing bad, or potentially bad, ‘things,’ like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel’ – and we will continue to do so! We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies! There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so. Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE!”

Later, he posted, “The claim that ‘AI is going to take over the World’ is a Hoax, just like Global ‘Warming,’ where everyone was going to be dead by now, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, or Impeachment Hoax #1, or Impeachment Hoax #2. These are all Radical Left Dumocrats, who never give up, but seldom win. Hopefully, the Voters have seen the light!”

On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei posted an essay in which he called for slowing down AI development, warning that a “swarm” of AI agents could be capable of taking over the internet in 6-12 months.

He wrote, “Given the accelerating rate of AI capability development, it’s my worry that in 6–12 months such a swarm could be capable of taking over the entire internet with a persistent botnet (potentially causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage), and that the scale of damage would continue to increase from there if AI becomes more powerful without the necessary guardrails.”

Amodei called on AI companies to commit to third-party evaluators “to verify adherence to safety practices and commitments, report incidents, and help assess the alignment of not just completed AI models but training pipelines and processes.”

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, and Elon Musk, founder of SpaceXAI, signalled agreement with Amodei.

Amodei also called on governments to coordinate on safety standards.

Trump, though, has warned of a slowdown in AI development ceding the technological arms race to China. He also has chided communities that have tried to block the construction of data centers, even though the backlash against the sprawling developments has come from both parties.

UPDATED: There is a new wrinkle in the ongoing saga over the Kennedy Center: Officials with the institution are warning of “certain financial collapse within weeks” and say that restoring Donald Trump‘s name to the complex may be the only way to get him to “lead the financial rescue of the center.”

A draft board resolution, outlined in court documents on Monday, states that the center “is in such a precarious fiscal position that it will not be able to support its payroll obligations, nor routine maintenance contracts within a matter of weeks.”

The resolution also states that Trump, who serves as the center’s chairman, has offered to “step in and raise the necessary funds to keep the Center from bankruptcy during its much needed renovation.” The resolution adds that the board “is seeking to appropriately recognize and acknowledge President Trump for his well timed proffer of fiscal rescue. The Board understands that without such appropriate recognition it is unlikely that President Trump will provide the fundamental oversight of the renovation of the main building and lead the fiscal rescue of the Center.”

The draft resolutions were submitted in court documents by attorneys for Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), an ex officio member of the board who fought an earlier effort to add Trump’s name to the institution and plans to close the complex for two years for renovations.

The Washington Post first reported on the proposed resolution as well as another calling for the immediate shutdown of the main complex. That resolution follows a recent incident in which a leak after heavy rains caused a portion of the ceiling plaster to detach.

The resolutions are expected to come before the center’s board meeting on Tuesday.

A federal judge ruled in May that the board lacked authority to add Trump’s name to the center late last year, and he ordered it removed from Kennedy Center materials and the front facade.

More recently, the board voted on a new resolution to add Trump’s name as many as three times to the center’s grounds. On the facade, below its official name, “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” there would be an additional line reading “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”

Once a $100 million threshold is met for an endowment the board set up for the center, per the resolution, a line would be added to read, “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”

The board also voted to designate “the physical site and grounds upon which the center sits” as the “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”

The newest resolution presents 10 different options for installing Trump’s name on the front.

The judge in Beatty’s lawsuit, Christopher Cooper, is currently considering whether the new naming proposal complies with his earlier ruling.

The board also voted last month to close most of the complex for renovations. The latest resolution cites the recent partial ceiling collapse and states that the board “believes that the risk associated with exposing patrons and employees to a hazardous building greatly outweighs any reputational risk
associated with closing the main building.” The resolution notes that programming would still continue at The Reach, the extension to the center that opened in 2019, while the National Symphony Orchestra would continue at alternate venues. The Kennedy Center Honors and the Mark Twain Prize also would continue at alternate venues.

Congress included more than $250 million in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year for Kennedy Center renovations. But since Trump’s takeover of the center just weeks into his second term, the center saw a drop in ticket sales and, after the president’s name was added to the complex in December, another wave of artist cancellations.

Cooper is holding a scheduling conference on Tuesday on the latest closure plan. Cooper’s injunction also prohibited the institution from closing unless the board more fully considered the impact of a shutdown.

A Kennedy Center spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Beatty’s attorneys, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, said in a statement, “This constant effort to add Donald Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center facade is the definition of insanity. This is now the third attempt to deface this sacred memorial and turn it into a vanity project for one man’s ego. Worse still, now Trump is taking the Center hostage and threatening to in effect kill it unless he gets his way. This has to stop.”

EXCLUSIVE: When it’s time to get serious, it never hurts to have Saul Goodman in your corner — especially on Emmy night, especially if you’re aiming to be the next Mayor of L.A.

That’s exactly what Nithya Raman is doing tonight with Bob Odenkirk-voiced campaign ad set to drop right before the local NBC affiliate’s broadcast of TV’s biggest night. The ad will actually play two times before the Emmys, once afterwards on KNBC’s post-Emmys news broadcast, and one more time on Tuesday morning on The Today Show.

Promising that the current Councilmember will “fight to keep Hollywood in Hollywood,” the slick 30-second spot leans right into the ceremony itself with a For Your Consideration vibe and theme. It’s right there in the first words spoken by two-time Emmy winner Odenkirk: “For your consideration: A mayor who loves L.A. as much as we do.”

Take at Raman’s Emmy-ish ad here:

“Los Angeles has so many eager, skilled people who want to work in our industry– we deserve a city and leaders who fight to achieve the conditions to make that work happen,” longtime Raman supporter Odenkirk told Deadline today of putting his mouth literally where his donor dollars have been going.

Having survived a something bruising primary against incumbent Karen Bass and Hills alum Spencer Pratt, Raman in July scored the second run-off spot for the November election. A vocal opponent of Paramount’s $111 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery, Raman has made the exodus of jobs and production from Hollywood in recent years a core issue in what was once a long longshot bid for the big City Hall chair. First elected in 2020 in an upset race, Raman is running close to Bass in the Mayoral polls, and has seen an uptick as the campaign has kicked into post-summer high-gear.

With a national film and TV tax credit now being backed by both Donald Trump and Democrats like Sen Adam Schiff (D-CA) to help the industry, which has lost over 50,000 jobs over the past six years, Raman’s Tinseltown focus (and a plan she released in the spring) has taken centerstage.

Coming with its four airings in about 12 hours, the release of today’s big swing ad, the spouse of 30 Rock producer Vali Chandrasekaran wants to put the topic of Tinseltown’s crisis, as well as issues of affordability and potholes, right in front of Angelenos watching TV tonight.

“The entertainment industry isn’t just the creative engine of Los Angeles, it’s an economic engine for the entire city. Film and television production supports restaurants, dry cleaners, hardware stores, hotels, prop houses, rental yards, post-production shops and thousands of small businesses,” Raman said to Deadline this morning..

“City Hall should be fighting every day to keep those jobs here, instead of watching passively as Hollywood is hollowed out,” she added. “As mayor, I will make Los Angeles a place where productions can stay, workers can build stable careers and the next generation of storytellers can afford to live.”

Hosted by Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay, the78th Primetime Emmy Awards airs live Monday from DTLA on NBC and and Peacock at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.