AI is now moving faster than government
... Governments currently lack the frameworks, technical expertise, and speed to evaluate and regulate such advanced AI, leading to reactive policy-making. Future confrontations are expected, potentially involving bio-weapons or large-scale persuasion, demanding faster, proactive regulatory responses and international coordination. The Fable 5 episode highlights that AI labs won't slow down for rule-making to catch up. ...
See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/craigsmith/2026/06/19/ai-is-now-moving-faster-than-governments-can-govern-it/
Disney’s Imagineering Arm Using Adobe’s Firefly AI Models for Park Designs
Months after its OpenAI deal fell through, Disney has found a new way to make use of AI.
The company’s Imagineering Research & Development unit is using Adobe’s Firefly Foundry, the commercial version of Adobe’s AI model designed to protect a brand’s intellectual property, to help Imagineers design and visualize elements of Disney’s upcoming parks and attractions. The Firefly models so far have been trained on franchises such as Frozen, Cars and Lilo & Stitch, and they’ve helped Disney Imagineers turn sketches into fully rendered 2D concept art along with turning 2D renderings into 3D prototype models, according to the companies. ...
See the full story here: https://variety.com/2026/digital/news/disney-imagineering-parks-adobe-firefly-ai-models-1236782627/
Five things you need to know about AI
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What’s happened instead is that many of the worst near-term, real-world fears have come true.
Take deepfakes, AI-generated images or videos of people doing things they didn’t actually do. Deepfakes have been used to incite violence, swing votes, and sow distrust. Trump’s White House is among those creating and publishing fake images.
Many deepfakes are also used to abuse women and girls. One study found that 98% of deepfakes are pornographic and 99% involve women. ...
AI is also being used in warfare in new and worrying ways. LLMs are now giving advice, not just being used for analysis. One US defense official told my colleague James O’Donnell that you could now give a military chatbot a list of targets and ask which one to hit first. Anyone who uses AI knows that its output needs to be reviewed carefully. In fact-paced, high-stress active conflict, the risk that corners get cut is high. ...
5. AI is everywhere all at once.
So where does that leave us? There are a lot of exciting things, a lot of worrying things, and a lot of hot air. It can be exhausting to keep up, and yet it all feels inescapable. Some people will tell you we’re in a race to the top; some will tell you we’re in a race to the bottom. But it’s really not clear where we’re headed. ...
See the full story here: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/06/09/1138582/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-ai/
Before the Image Became Data
... The image becomes a computational composite built from optical inputs, multiple exposures, and software interpretation." Its describes modern camera-phone images, and is a driving reason why cameras from the 1990s and early 2000s are now trendy items among Gen-Z-ers. ...
The industry kept solving for better images. But the market was beginning to reveal a different hunger: not for worse cameras, but for a less mediated act of seeing. ...
This point-and-shoot revival is not nostalgia for old technology. It is nostalgia for the space between experience and distribution. ...
That simplicity is becoming surprisingly valuable. The unexpected return of the point-and-shoot camera suggests a broader truth about our relationship with modern tools: human beings do not always want the most efficient version of an experience. Occasionally they want evidence that a machine did not completely finish the job. The old camera’s value is not that it tells the truth. It is that it gives the truth a moment alone before the system arrives. ...
Apple Outsources Siri’s Brain to Google
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Beyond Siri, Apple introduced AI enhancements throughout its software ecosystem. The Photos app gains new generative editing tools, including improved object removal, image expansion, and a feature called Spatial Reframing that lets users alter the apparent camera angle and composition of existing photos. AI-generated edits will be tagged with hidden SynthID watermarks. Safari now includes AI-powered tab organization, website monitoring for events such as price drops or ticket availability, and automatic password remediation for compromised credentials. ...
The new Siri is available to developers immediately and will enter public beta later this year. Initial availability will be limited to English, with support for additional languages planned. Regulatory constraints will delay launch on iPhone and iPad in the European Union and prevent launch in China altogether. ...
See the full story here: https://shellypalmer.com/2026/06/apple-outsources-siris-brain-to-google/
Colleges Are Building A.I. Degrees, Hoping Students Will Come
... “Some call it a bubble. Maybe it is,” said Uzezi Olorunmola, who is seeking his doctorate in A.I. at the University of North Dakota, the flagship school in a sparsely populated state that will soon have two universities offering degrees in A.I. ...
And A.I. degrees can vary sharply in their goals.
Several universities are steeping their programs in theory, intending to turn out graduates who can do the under-the-hood work that powers A.I. These include places like Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, which in 2018 became the first American university to offer an A.I. degree. Thirty-three courses are now approved for the major. ...
At many schools, the degrees are often meant to appeal to students who want more training in A.I., whether or not it is central to their discipline. ...
How employers will judge A.I. degrees remains an open question. The reputations of longstanding programs in other disciplines, academic leaders said, could shape how people respond to new ones. ...
Lisa Meeden, a Swarthmore College professor who has worked on A.I. for more than 30 years, wondered whether the programs are examples of “A.I. perpetuating its own hype.”. ...
See the full story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/08/us/ai-college-degrees.html
Hasbro’s New AI Studio Looks to Bring Its Iconic Characters to Next-Generation Experiences
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To ensure experiences remain safe, Hasbro built out extensive real-time monitoring infrastructure where information is screened on the way in, as well as on the way out. The system automatically flags any inputs that aren’t contextually appropriate or contain banned words, hate speech or violence, said Gray Bright, Sixth Wall’s chief creative officer. The output is again reviewed, ensuring it matches the character’s personality and is appropriate to the environment.
“We think of this as having a bouncer at the front door looking at what’s coming in, and then another bouncer at the back door being like, ‘Well, what’s going out?’” Bright said.
...
See the full story here: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/hasbros-new-ai-studio-looks-to-bring-its-iconic-characters-to-next-generation-experiences-1cc098bc
Trump calls for military to accelerate use of AI while protecting Americans
President Donald Trump issued a memo Friday that calls for the U.S. military and national security agencies to accelerate their use of artificial intelligence, while acknowledging the need to protect civil liberties and maintain oversight over autonomous weapon systems.
The memo comes at a time of growing anxiety over AI in American society, from replacing people’s jobs to helping to identify targets on the battlefield. The Trump administration has been pushing to unleash the power of AI for the U.S. military, while some military leaders and companies that contract with the Pentagon have been noting caution and calling for guardrails. ...
Trump’s memo also restricts the use of AI to “censor free speech, embed ideological bias, or conduct unlawful surveillance against the American people.”
“The use of AI by the national security enterprise must always be consistent with United States civil liberties and protections afforded by the Constitution and laws and regulations safeguarding the privacy of American citizens,” the memo states. ...
See the full story here: https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-ai-military-trump-weapons-1078e23edada2bc16db12dba109015c0
The university will name the USC Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence to honor their investment in research and innovation at the intersections of AI and health sciences, business, security and the arts.
... Because of the USC Stevens School’s unique interdisciplinary model, the Stevenses’ investment will power research and education across the university.
Interdisciplinary faculty expertise has also been key to launching efforts like USC’s new degree in Artificial Intelligence for Business, which trains students to bring the power of AI into business settings and applications; the USC Institute on Ethics and Trust in Computing, which connects USC philosophers, computer scientists, journalists, doctors, policymakers and others to explore how society can balance innovation with the responsible use of AI; and the USC Center for AI in Society, one of the first “AI for Good” centers, which focuses on the use of computing to support vulnerable people and communities. ...
Today, more than 30 AI- and computing-related majors, minors and graduate degree programs enroll thousands of USC students, with a new Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence being introduced this fall. ...
See the full story here: https://today.usc.edu/mark-and-mary-stevens-give-200-million-to-power-ai-research-across-usc/
Microsoft’s New OpenClaw Collab
Microsoft got into the Corporate Claw business yesterday by announcing Scout: a personal AI assistant built on the OpenClaw framework and connected to Microsoft 365.
A Corporate Claw is a safe-for-work version of OpenClaw (the Agent formerly known as Clawdbot and Moltbot), also known as a "persistent AI agent." Claws connect to your email, calendar, files, and other data. They remember what you do and can continue working on your behalf even when you’re not around.
Microsoft also introduced Microsoft Execution Containers (MXC), a Windows-based sandbox designed to contain agent behavior. MXC limits what an agent can see, touch, and execute, reducing the risk that an autonomous system gains unrestricted access to your machine.
This is critically important because an agent with access to your inbox, files, and the authority to execute code creates a very large attack surface. OpenClaw-style agents are powerful, but they require serious security controls. Microsoft has joined NVIDIA and others who have acknowledged that while autonomous agents may be the future of productivity, containment and governance need to arrive on day one.
See the full story here: https://shellypalmer.com/2026/06/scout-microsofts-new-openclaw-collab/
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