The Register

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Grassroots coalition asks politicians to choose voters over Big AI's $140M machine

A coalition of advocacy groups is trying to counter the AI industry's influence on US politics by asking congressional candidates and elected officials to reject support from a major pro-AI political group. The Stop Bleeding the Future campaign brings together more than 50 national and grassroots organizations to counter Leading the Future, a super PAC network formed last year to support candidates favoring light-touch AI regulation and oppose those backing tighter rules. The effort is led by QuitGPT, which encourages users to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions and boycott OpenAI over what it describes as the company's support for President Trump. The campaign highlights OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman's $25 million donation to MAGA Inc and the company's $200 million US defense contract. Stop Bleeding the Future says it is concerned about the influence of "Big AI" on US politics and Leading the Future's efforts to defeat common-sense laws intended to protect the American people. The effort comes amid a series of developments that have intensified concerns about AI, including agents breaking out of their sandboxes, the use of AI by miscreants to attack infrastructure, and warnings from AI executives about the dangers posed by their own technology. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that more than half of Americans now view AI negatively, with potential job losses among their concerns. The coalition is asking candidates and elected officials to pledge that they will refuse support from Leading the Future and publicly condemn its efforts to obstruct AI regulation. The campaign says the Leading the Future network has raised more than $140 million for the 2026 election cycle. Its backers include OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, making it one of the largest single-issue political operations in modern US history. The network has also expanded into the fight over the growing datacenter backlash across the US. Build American AI, an advocacy group affiliated with Leading the Future, has launched a super PAC called Building the Future to support candidates aligned with its datacenter agenda. Industry supporters have claimed that China-linked bots are amplifying opposition to datacenters, while President Trump has called opposition to the facilities a "hoax." "The Big Tech oligarchs behind Leading the Future are spending millions to influence elections and make laws that put AI ahead of people," QuitGPT says in the pledge letter sent out to candidates and elected officials across the country. The pledge has already attracted support. "The Big Tech oligarchs behind Leading the Future only care about their profits. They don't care if AI takes our jobs, destroys our communities' water supply, or if their models commit felony-level cyberattacks," said Pat Ryan, the representative for New York's 18th Congressional District. "The American people are pushing back against them – that's why they're trying to buy our elections, to silence us. I'm proud to be one of the first to sign onto this effort, to stand and fight for the American people and keep the rich and powerful from rigging the rules to get even richer." The Register asked Leading the Future to comment, but had not heard back by publication time. ®

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Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products

The Star Wars Archives. 1977-1983. From Taschen. Looks...

The Star Wars Archives. 1977-1983. From Taschen. Looks fantastic.

Amsterdammers prikken zwerfvuil, de gemeente wil meer afvalboten. De stad lijkt steeds viezer, maar is ze dat ook?

Al jaren voert Amsterdam een slepende strijd tegen het zwerfafval. Overal gaan buurtinitiatieven zelf met prikkers aan de slag, maar het is volgens de wethouder: „Vegen met de kraan open.”


The Moscow Times - Independent News From Russia

The Moscow Times offers everything you need to know about Russia: Breaking news, top stories, business, analysis, opinion, multimedia

Moscow Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Zhanna Nemtsova

Nemtsova, who has lived in Europe for several years, faces charges of organizing the activities of an “undesirable” organization.

The Guardian

Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice

Football Daily | Michael Carrick risks untimely spell in the ‘crisis’ box seat with Manchester United

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Following the conclusion of this weekend’s round of Premier League fixtures, football fans have what promises to be an exceptionally long, uninspiring and largely inconsequential international break to endure. In most parts of the world, various nations have nothing more exciting than friendlies scheduled. In Europe, it’s the return of the Nations League. A competition apparently conceived for no other reason than to allow Cristiano Ronaldo to spuriously claim he has won two major international trophies, this Uefa wheeze is about to kick off for the fifth time. Almost unique among tournaments that have enjoyed such longevity, its format remains fairly baffling to many of those who will actually be playing in it and all but the keenest students of the game. In truth, hardly anyone cares about the Nations League and quite literally nobody gives two hoots about its opening games.

I met Ludek Miklosko once. In fact, shaking my hand was one of the first things he had to endure after signing for West Ham in the summer of 1990. (The history books say he signed earlier, but he wasn’t officially unveiled until the summer.) I was working in the club shop at Upton Park (a cabin by the gates). He seemed baffled that now he was finally here and had escaped the communist regime, he was being introduced to a child as ‘our new goalkeeper’. He was very nice about it, though; I showed him the new kit, and he went on to meet the groundsman and have a look at the pitch. My lasting memory was of his truly massive hands. Lovely fella” – Jimmy O’Brien.

I was struck by the phrase that Madrid’s Carlos Espí ‘dug his side out of a hole’ (yesterday’s Football Daily). Surely, one cannot dig oneself out of a hole? Digging, by definition, takes you further into the ground. Unless the goal was to arrive in China, climbing out of a hole would be more appropriate” – Christopher D’Cruz.

Amalgamating the themes of yesterday’s three letters, Spurs fans can at least be hopeful about one thing. Since a player who spends much of the time rolling around knacked near the corner flag can’t be interfering with play, then at least none of their forward line will be caught offside much this year” – Jon Millard.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

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Formula 1 News

Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website

The power unit manufacturers with the most wins in F1 history

After Mercedes added to their victory tally with Kimi Antonelli at the Madring, we’ve looked at the engine manufacturers with the highest number of F1 wins.

Tsunoda reveals his biggest mistake at Red Bull in 2025

Yuki Tsunoda has enjoyed a surprise three race cameo in 2026, slotting into Racing Bulls in place of Liam Lawson following Isack Hadjar’s injury. While it remains unknown whether Tsunoda will get a fourth outing this season, the Japanese racer has certainly made the most of his unexpected comeback.

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'Zuckoff' App Detects Meta Smartglasses, as Meta Plans Camera-Free Version, Loses Money, and Offers Social Media Subscriptions

The New York Post reports:

A new app called Zuckoff can detect if a user is near someone with Meta's creepy AI-powered glasses, which have drawn criticism for enabling creeps to record video of women without their consent. Programmer Pawel Szydlowski says tales of dirtbags recording themselves perving on women or harassing strangers prompted him to launch the app...

Zuckoff — which detects Bluetooth signatures broadcast by smart glasses and can estimate their distance — has gained some 5,000 users since it hit Apple's App Store last month, according to Business Insider. "There's a need for such an application," the 30-year-old Polish techie told the outlet, adding that European Union regulators have contacted him for more info about his app. "We as a society have the right to at least know that someone is recording," Szydlowski said...

Earlier this month, the tech giant disabled thousands of glasses it found had been tampered with to keep a small light off that indicates the device is recording.
It's already #77 on the iPhone's list of best-selling utilities apps.
In a related story, "After accusations of selling 'perv glasses,' Meta prepares to sell a pair without a camera," writes TechCrunch, citing a report from The Information.


The glasses include six built-in microphones so users can communicate with the chatbot, as well as a button on the side of the glasses that, when pressed, activates the AI system... Meta's Reality Labs, which is responsible for developing its smart glasses line, is still losing a gargantuan amount of money, as its earnings report from April revealed.

In fact, Meta stock is off 13% over the last 12 months, reports Yahoo Finance. So Tuesday Meta announced subscription services for its social apps as "part of Meta's push to drive additional revenue from the billions it's investing in AI data centers and model development."

The plans, which start at $2.99 per month for single-product plans, $7.99 for individual bundles, and $14.99 for creator and business bundles, provide a number of features for users looking to get more out of their Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp accounts. Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus allow users to keep their stories up for 48 hours instead of 24, send animated super reactions and super hearts to stories, preview stories without showing up as a viewer in other users' lists, and more. WhatsApp Plus lets you share exclusive stickers, get exclusive ringtones for contacts, and pin up to 20 different chats.

Meta One also includes Core and Premium user plans that offer the features found in the single-product plans, along with increased AI usage limits for images and videos. The social media giant is also offering creator and business plans... that it says include capabilities such as enhanced profiles, automatic follow invitations to users that interact with your content, and increased access to the Meta Business Agent, which can respond on your behalf.





When Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced on Threads that the plans brought "more features and more AI across Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Meta AI," writer Joe Hill drew 13,300 likes for his response. "That's sweet--so pay a fee, get more AI, pay nothing, get a little less AI. Can we work out a deal where you pay ME and I get no AI at all?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.