Tag: Deadline News

Promising he is “very close” to naming a new AI Czar, Donald Trump was full of praise and hyperbole today for the “outstanding” and very well-heeled bosses of OpenAI, Meta, X, Anthropic, Amazon, Nvidia, Microsoft, Palantir and Google.

Amid a backlash against data centers, worries of massive job losses and doomsday warnings from the industry itself, Trump stood with top tech CEOs and also pitched a rebrand of sorts. “We’ve changed the name officially to SI,” Trump told reporters gathered just outside the West Wing, referring to the switch from “artificial intelligence” to “superintelligence.”

Within hours, Trump made it official.

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Set to take over from the departing Sriram Krishnan and to run the recently announced AI Force, the new czar will have to remember to call AI by its new Trump given moniker of “superintelligence” — a rebranding POTUS made official Tuesday with an executive order. “The terminology used by the Federal Government should reflect the transformative capabilities of these technologies and the limitless opportunities they create for the American people,” the order read. “Accordingly, the term ‘super intelligence’ more appropriately captures the promise, potential, and rapidly advancing capabilities of these technologies.”

Speaking outside the executive mansion after a sit-down snack with Mark Zuckerberg, Alex Karp, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Jensen Huang, the “fantastic” Dario Amodei and others, the former Apprentice host said he could unveil his AI czar choice in the “next three to four days.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wasn’t there at the White House confab because of a company event in San Francisco, Apple’s new CEO was absent, and Bezos skipped the presser, but all the other techlords joined Trump on Tuesday to plot a plan and apparently guardrails for AI growth for America, kinda. Admitting that some of the dangers of AI are not a “hoax,” as he had called it before, Trump pivoted to reveal the CEOs had all signed a self-regulating agreement on AI (or superintelligence as the MAGAman insists on calling it.)

As yet more reports of AI models going rogue emerged and in the shadow of some of the very people at the White House today previously warning of horrific AI outcomes, Trump said “there’s going to be a tremendous self-policing aspect” to the yet-unreleased accord. Attacking Democrats as being anti-growth, Trump typically gave no specifics and skirted any enforcement except to say without irony the “almost like a constitution” would be “morally binding” for the CEOs.

In the absence of more information from Trump, one of those CEOs took a stab at what they had inked.

“The basic idea is that we want to give the American people and our customers confidence that the technology works in the way that we intend, right?” said Meta’s Zuckerberg.

“So we drafted a set of principles and commitments around building robust internal controls and detecting if there are any issues with the technology, coupled with multiple layers of of auditing and controls, starting with internal risk review, external auditors and evaluators, and agreeing that we’re going to have all of our boards of directors independently review the reports that come from the auditors,” the subject of Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming The Social Reckoning added. “I think that these are good steps forward. The idea isn’t that this is the only thing that we will ever do; it is that this is a start.”

Earlier this month, Amodei triggered a new round of consternation over AI when he wrote an essay calling for development to be slowed, warning of a “swarm” of AI agents taking over the internet in six to 12 months. He said that recent incidents had raised alarm over the ability of agents to act on their own.

But Trump has continued to dismiss calls for greater regulation, warning of a race with China to dominate the technology. He’s also expressed continued support for data centers even amid a backlash in local communities, with lawmakers in both parties lending support to calls for greater controls on development.

“The data centers are incredible,” Trump said. “And by the way, I am very good at real estate. Some of those buildings are absolutely beautiful. They are big, strong, powerful buildings, but they are beautiful.”

Back to that AI czar, Trump offered no hint as to who that could be, but he already has taken rumored front-runner Scott Bessent out of consideration. The Treasury Secretary doesn’t want the gig, and “he’s doing such a great job at Treasury,” Trump says. In a post last week, Trump said he was looking at “High I.Q. individuals.”

Trump being Trump, he may have had little to say about any self-regulating plan, but POTUS made sure to post the seating plan for today’s East Room lunch. If you had any doubt who was the center of gravity among the richest men on the planet, Trump wanted everyone to know it was himself.

A bill to establish a 20% federal film and TV tax credit has added eight new co-sponsors in the Senate, a boost to the legislation as backers pin their hopes on passage during Congress’ lame duck session.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT), Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) have signed on to the bill, called the Motion Picture, Television and Entertainment Revitalization Act. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced the bill in the Senate last week, concurrently with a House version that also has a slate of bipartisan supporters.

The bill has the support of President Donald Trump, who urged lawmakers to establish such a credit in a Truth Social post late last month.

The credit would be available to projects with a minimum spend of $1 million and with at least 75% of the principal photography days occurring in the U.S. There also are additional 5% bonus credits for productions in rural opportunity zones and disaster recovery areas, as well as to independent productions and multi-state producers. Bonuses also are available to producers who bring production back to the U.S. in a measurable way. The incentive also will be a supplement to state credits.

With the House out until the midterms and the Senate leaving this week, the bill won’t advance before the November election. But backers are aiming for later in the year, perhaps as an attachment to year-end spending legislation.

UPDATED: House and Senate lawmakers are again turning their attention to major anti-piracy legislation, introducing a bill in which content owners can seek a court order to require that internet providers prevent access to foreign digital piracy sites.

The , or DEFEND IP Act, was introduced by lawmakers of both parties in Congress on Thursday. Key sponsors include Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) in the House, and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Sen. Adam Schiff in the Senate.

Read the anti-piracy legislation.

The legislation would leave it to a judge to decide whether a a site should be designated as one dedicated to foreign digital piracy, with such an order subject to renewal after 360 days. The bill defines such as site as one that has “no commercially significant purpose or use other than committing a violation of copyright.” The bill also applies to transmission of live events from foreign locations that violate copyright.

After that designation, content owners could then seek a further order to prevent, or block, access to the site. Per the legislation, the order would “direct service providers to take reasonable measures to prevent users in the United States from using the system or network of those service providers to access the foreign digital piracy site.” The bill sets out a series of criteria, including that such measures would not interfere with access to legal content at other online locations, and that it would be “technically feasible and effective.” Those seeking such orders would have to show that they are “likely to suffer irreparable harm” from the piracy.

It’s been nearly 15 years since the entertainment industry sought passage of a previous effort to curb access to online piracy, with the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. That generated a backlash, with Google and other tech giants opposed, and Wikipedia and others staging a daylong “blackout.” The bill was sidelined, and left lawmakers shellshocked at the scale of the outcry.

For years since then, with many on Capitol Hill skittish, the entertainment industry instead set its sites on voluntary commitments from those in the internet ecosystem.

Circumstances have changed. Since then, tech has seen its own backlash against it, albeit little significant legislation has passed Congress. Supporters of site-blocking measures, meanwhile, have pointed to its use in almost 60 countries.

Backers of the DEFEND IP Act noted that the bill differs from past legislation. It does not mandate specific technical measures for preventing access, leaving it up to internet providers to take “reasonable measures.” The bill also contains legal immunity for ISPs, and applies to large-scale foreign sites.

Still, after the DEFEND IP Act was introduced, the Common Sense Copyright Coalition, which AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox and Verizon, expressed its opposition.

A spokesperson for the group said the legislation “would impose substantial new responsibilities on broadband providers without adequately addressing the legal and operational risks they create, including threats to lawful content online. This is particularly troubling given the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Cox v Sony this year that rejected holding an ISP broadly liable for copyright infringement occurring over its network.”

In Cox vs. Sony, the Supreme Court ruled in March that an ISPs was not liable “for merely providing a service to the general public with knowledge that it will be used by some to infringe copyrights.”

Among other things, the argued that piracy sites can still put up “mirror sites” and users can turn to VPNs. They also expressed concerns over the live event provision, arguing that it is based on “predicted infringement.”

Yet after years of calls for tech and ISPs to take a greater responsibility to curb infringement, the legislation would be a new tool for studios, producers and other content creators to curb piracy.

In a statement, Lofgren said that foreign piracy operations “exploit a loophole in our law, hurting workers and businesses in California and across the country while putting consumers at risk.” She called the bill a “smart, targeted approach to crack down on foreign piracy while protecting Americans’ free speech and access to a free and open internet.”

Tillis said, “Foreign piracy continues to threaten American creators, putting well-paying jobs at risk, while exposing consumers to malware, identity theft, and other serious online harms.” He called the bill “a targeted, commonsense tool to shut down these foreign, criminal operations at the source while protecting lawful speech and due process.”

UPDATED with White House response: Shortly after CNN said that it was denied access to cover the arrivals at the White House State Dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping tonight, MS NOW announced that it, too, had been barred.

The news came on the same day a federal judge ordered the White House to restore hard passes to the networks’ journalists and those of and Politico.

The coverage at the North Portico was scheduled to be open to pre-credentialed media, a wider scope of reporters and photographers than the White House press pool.

CNN White House correspondent Kristen Holmes said that they were told that their credential to cover the event was only for a camera and audio, not an editorial presence. She had requested that she and her producer attend.

“Again, no editorial presence, just a camera and audio, which certainly seems like a reaction to President Trump saying that he wanted the CNN coverage of the event,” Holmes said.

The White House said on its rapid response account that it was a “pre-credentialed event,” and “contrary to what the fake news wants you the believe, they don’t just get to have free rein into every part of the White House, every event, and every press call.”

The exclusion came after U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered that credentials for CNN, Politico and MS NOW be restored, ending Trump’s five-day ban of the outlets from the White House grounds.

The outlets returned to the White House around noon. Then, hours later, Trump complained that CNN and MS NOW were not covering the state visit.

Trump claimed that the networks “refused to cover one of the Biggest and Most Beautiful Events to take place in many years, the arrival at the White House of the Highly Respected President of China, Xi Jinping, and his beautiful wife, Madam Peng. The event was magnificent — Actually made for Television but, because they’re Fake News, and because they knew how good it would be, they didn’t want credit to be given to ‘TRUMP,’ they refused to be there. That’s why they have such poor Ratings. Tonight’s State Dinner at the White House, for President Xi, will be spectacular!”

In fact, network correspondents said that they were not able to get access to the White House on Thursday morning. And after the White House pulled CNN from the TV pool on Monday, the other four networks in the pool declined to replace them in the rotation. That has meant a dearth of video images from the White House, as TV pool coverage has yet to resume.

The latest exclusion does not appear to be addressed in Kelly’s order. Rather, it is an issue about access to a particular event on White House grounds. The press office sends out notice to reporters of events that are open to “pre-credentialed media,” accommodating a much wider scope of credentialed reporters than those restricted to the White House pool. Those who want to attend RSVP, and the White House staff then inform reporters and photographers if they have clearance to go.

Last year, after Trump barred the Associated Press from pool access to areas like the Oval Office as well as larger “pre-credentialed media” events in locations like the East Room, the news organization sued. In an initial ruling on a preliminary injunction, a federal judge sided with the AP, concluding that the White House could not bar outlets from press events based on viewpoint. The D.C. Circuit, though, concluded that the White House could exclude the AP from smaller spaces, like the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, but distinguished those areas from larger White House locations like the East Room, where the district judge’s order remains in effect.

UPDATED with more details: A bipartisan group of lawmakers officially introduced legislation Thursday to create a 20% federal film and TV incentive, a first-of-its-kind tax credit designed to lure production back to the United States.

The Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act would apply to compensation paid directly related to a production, excluding residuals. It also would create additional incentive “uplifts” of 5% for productions in opportunity zones or federally declared rural disaster areas. Other sweeteners are being proposed for productions across 10 or more states, as well as for producers of independent productions and for those who increase their domestic production “relative to a historical foreign base amount.”

Click here to read the proposed federal film and TV incentive bill.

Even though industry boosters have called for such an incentive for years, the prospects for the proposal gained new momentum late last month when President Donald Trump endorsed such legislation.

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The co-sponsors of the incentive include Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Reps. Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Rep. Brian Jack (R-GA), Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) and Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA). Other backers include Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN), Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH) and Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY).

The productions eligible for the credit include film and TV productions where the total cost exceeds $1 million and where 75% of the production is in the U.S. There also are provisions for post-production and visual effects. Excluded are news, live sports, talk shows, daytime dramas, social media content, advertising and corporate videos.

The credits also can be transferred to another taxpayer, a key point for producers and studios. The authors also say that the credits can supplement state incentives, something Schiff has said will help U.S. incentives compete with those in other countries.

RELATED: Federal Film & TV Tax Credits Not A Done Deal, Adam Schiff Says; White House Involved: “Negotiations Are Ongoing”

There still are challenges ahead, even with the backing of the president and members of both parties. The House already is in recess through the midterms, and the Senate is about to adjourn soon. The hope now is to attempt to pass legislation during the lame duck session at the end of the year, perhaps by attaching it to a major funding bill, Schiff said in a call with reporters Thursday.

“So much of the film industry, in particular, have moved overseas because the United States has simply not been willing or able to match the tax incentives,” Schiff said. “States have tried, and California has certainly tried, but can’t on its own make up for the very substantial incentives overseas.”

The bill has created some unusual alliances. Schiff said he worked with the White House on the legislation and credited Trump with generating the momentum for the long-in-the-works proposal for such an incentive. He also said that he worked with Jon Voight, who is serving as Trump’s “ambassador to Hollywood,” and Spencer Pratt, the reality star who ran for Los Angeles mayor earlier this year.

RELATED: Jon Voight Has A Plan To Save Hollywood: Will Trump Or Anyone Else Care?

The Wall Street Journal editorial page already has weighed in against the idea of film incentives, deeming them “handouts” to Hollywood. But backers of the tax credits are trying to highlight broad support across the industry and across party lines, while emphasizing the benefits to below-the-line crew members.

Friedman said on the press call, “I just want to remind people that the U.S. gives incentives to a variety of industries — semiconductor chips, the energy sector, pharmaceutical research and development. When we decide that an industry is important, we are the United States, and it’s up to us to determine what industries we’re going to support and what’s going to be in our country and not be in our country. This is a signature industry for the United States, and certainly for us in Los Angeles.”

MPA chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin said in a statement that the bill was “a true gamechanger for American creators, workers, and businesses — a federal incentive that supercharges production at home, fuels jobs and growth in local communities, and makes the United States a more competitive destination for the next generation of great film and television.”

Christopher Nolan, president of the Directors Guild of America, called the bill “the most significant legislative effort in a generation to promote domestic film and television production, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports. This moment is the cumulation of years of work by the entertainment guilds and unions, in partnership with the MPA and lawmakers from both parties.”

Schiff said that he didn’t think that the dynamics for getting the bill passed will change much depending on who wins control of Congress in the midterm, but said, “I would be more concerned, frankly, with whoever is in the majority, this getting kicked to next year.” Sanchez had talked of striking while the iron is hot, he noted, and “the iron is very hot right now. We’re all very focused on this. The president is focused on this. I wouldn’t want to see that bleed into next year.”

UPDATED with White House response: Shortly after CNN said that it was denied access to cover the arrivals at the White House State Dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping tonight, MS NOW announced that it, too, had been barred.

The news came on the same day a federal judge ordered the White House to restore hard passes to the networks’ journalists and those of and Politico.

The coverage at the North Portico was scheduled to be open to pre-credentialed media, a wider scope of reporters and photographers than the White House press pool.

CNN White House correspondent Kristen Holmes said that they were told that their credential to cover the event was only for a camera and audio, not an editorial presence. She had requested that she and her producer attend.

“Again, no editorial presence, just a camera and audio, which certainly seems like a reaction to President Trump saying that he wanted the CNN coverage of the event,” Holmes said.

The White House said on its rapid response account that it was a “pre-credentialed event,” and “contrary to what the fake news wants you the believe, they don’t just get to have free rein into every part of the White House, every event, and every press call.”

The exclusion came after U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered that credentials for CNN, Politico and MS NOW be restored, ending Trump’s five-day ban of the outlets from the White House grounds.

The outlets returned to the White House around noon. Then, hours later, Trump complained that CNN and MS NOW were not covering the state visit.

Trump claimed that the networks “refused to cover one of the Biggest and Most Beautiful Events to take place in many years, the arrival at the White House of the Highly Respected President of China, Xi Jinping, and his beautiful wife, Madam Peng. The event was magnificent — Actually made for Television but, because they’re Fake News, and because they knew how good it would be, they didn’t want credit to be given to ‘TRUMP,’ they refused to be there. That’s why they have such poor Ratings. Tonight’s State Dinner at the White House, for President Xi, will be spectacular!”

In fact, network correspondents said that they were not able to get access to the White House on Thursday morning. And after the White House pulled CNN from the TV pool on Monday, the other four networks in the pool declined to replace them in the rotation. That has meant a dearth of video images from the White House, as TV pool coverage has yet to resume.