Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, the past week’s top stories from the intersection of technology and politics.
AI lead guy: ‘Uh oh’
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman apparently had some second thoughts after announcing his company’s controversial agreement to work with the Department of Defense last week. Last Friday, Altman said OpenAI had reached an agreement to collaborate with the DOD around the same time the Trump administration was seeking to ostracize rival artificial intelligence company Anthropic over the latter’s refusal to lift internal prohibitions against using its technology for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Altman ended his statement by saying, “The world is a complicated, messy, and sometimes dangerous place.”
On Monday, Altman conceded his company’s agreement was “rushed” and “looked opportunistic and sloppy,” before going on to say in a social media post that the deal was amended to include language that “the AI system shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals.”
“Intentionally” seems to be doing a lot of heavy lifting here. The new language, notably, seems to suggest the company isn’t necessarily taking steps to prevent unintentional surveillance. And it’s not like there isn’t plenty of data sloshing around online.
Read more at CNBC here.
Bogus Claude ban
The Trump administration used Anthropic’s AI tool, known as “Claude,” to carry out its deadly strikes against Iran, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter.” (A spokesperson for CENTCOM declined to comment to the Journal.) The tools were still used despite a recent push to ban federal agencies’ use of Anthropic tools after the company refused to lift security guardrails for the DOD.
Read more at the Journal here.
Sounding the alarm on ‘sexpionage’
A recent episode of USA Today’s podcast “The Excerpt” shined light on the world of “sexpionage,” which producer Dana Taylor described as efforts by foreign adversaries to extract information from key sources using intimate relationships forged online.
Check out Taylor’s conversation with USA Today world affairs correspondent Kim Hjelmgaard here.
Paramount’s money mystery
A new report from Business Insider has raised questions about how Paramount plans to fund its controversial, Trump-assisted acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and its massive streaming library. The report specifically focuses on whether Paramount still intends to rely on money from backers based in the Middle East to wrap up the acquisition.
Read more at Business Insider here.
Death-based betting industry
President Donald Trump’s war on Iran has drawn increased scrutiny on the grim world of death-based online betting, after numerous bettors appear to have cashed in on conspicuously timed bets centered on plans to bomb Iran and oust its leadership.
Read my blog on the mysterious bets for MS NOW here.
On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal sought by a man seeking to get copyright protections for images produced by an AI robot. Read more at Courthouse News Service here. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is demanding documents related to the federal government’s approval of a new bank backed by a bunch of Trump-supporting tech bros, including Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale. Read my blog on Warren’s inquiry into Erebor Bank for MS NOW here. The Washington state Department of Licensing issued an apology after a viral video revealed its automated phone service provided heavily accented English to users who called and asked for a Spanish language option. Read more at the Associated Press here. The ecosystem of pro-Trump influencers on social media appears to have splintered after a series of controversies exposed growing divisions among some of the MAGA movement’s most popular figures. In the past week, MAGA influencers have been squabbling over, first, the instigator of Trump’s racist “fraud” crusade in Minneapolis promoting blatant antisemitism, and more recently over Trump’s war with Iran.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. 
SCOTUS blocks copyright appeal for AI bot
Warren wants answers on MAGA-backed bank
Press 2 for racism
MAGA world’s online infighting
