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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Imagine how mortifying it would be if anyone ever read your diary.Now imagine it’s a diary from a stressful period of your life and it’s being read in a courthouse and people all over the world are paying attention because you’re being sued by the richest man on the planet and the future of your company might just depend on your private thoughts that have suddenly become much too public.It was also unimaginable for Greg Brockman.But over two excruciating days this week, journal entries from OpenAI’s president and co-founder were entered as exhibits in the trial captivating Silicon Valley.Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Brockman and Sam Altman has shaken loose a trove of evidence, offering a peek inside the minds of the people who have spent the past decade building artificial intelligence. We have read their unvarnished emails, dishy texts, notes from meetings that determined OpenAI’s future—and one deeply human journal.In any other part of civilized society, rifling through someone else’s diary is considered an outrageous invasion of privacy.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—On a recent call with the heads of the biggest artificial-intelligence companies, Vice President JD Vance was alarmed.New AI models such as Anthropic’s Mythos, which are capable of finding software vulnerabilities on their own, threatened to disrupt small-town banks, hospitals and water plants by starting cyberattacks that local governments weren’t equipped to handle, Vance said.“We all need to work together on this,” Vance told chief executive officers including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Elon Musk of SpaceX, Sundar Pichai of Alphabet’s Google and Satya Nadella of Microsoft, according to people familiar with the matter.The April call, which followed a White House briefing that played a role in sparking Vance’s concern over the latest AI model capabilities, set in motion a chaotic administration response to Mythos that threatens to increase government oversight of AI and overhaul the administration’s tech agenda. The concern expressed by Vance, paired with other moves by the White House to get involved in the rollout of AI models, marks a shift from previous language about winning the AI race against China and removing barriers to deploying models.The White House is weighing an executive order that could create a formal oversight process for the most-advanced models.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Alliance Fairfax, a towering black and white car-carrier ship that had been stranded in the Persian Gulf for over two months, was finally making a break for it.“You are all set to go,” a U.S. military officer radioed as the ship glided through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and swung around the peninsula at the northern end of Oman. “Safe travels.”Soon after, Iran launched a barrage of missiles and drones at commercial ships, at the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Ever since coming to power more than a quarter-century ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin built a new state religion around May 9, the anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany and the holiest day in the Russian calendar.On Saturday, Putin will for the first time preside over a Victory Day parade held as his war on Ukraine has exceeded the length of the Soviet Union’s war on the Nazis.He has no victories to celebrate. Persistent Ukrainian drone strikes across Russia, including on the capital, have forced Putin to ask for a cease-fire for the duration of the festivities.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.President Trump’s threat to raise tariffs on European cars is a warning for investors and U.S. trading partners that the Iran war hasn’t dissuaded him from his trade agenda or his willingness to strong-arm allies through economic pressure.Trump said Friday that the U.S. would increase tariffs on European cars and trucks to 25% from the 15% level that was agreed to as part of a preliminary trade deal last summer.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Kevin Warsh, who is expected to be confirmed by the Senate later this month as the next Federal Reserve chair, will inherit a central bank that appears to be stuck in policy limbo due to concerns about escalating inflation. But Warsh may have more options than investors think.Bond traders no longer expect the Fed to cut interest rates this year.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.DUBAI—President Trump chose to look the other way after Iran launched three salvos of missiles and drones into the United Arab Emirates, one of America’s main Middle Eastern partners, despite a cease-fire he negotiated nearly a month ago.The likely conclusion in Tehran, Gulf governments fear, is that further escalation pays off because Trump is so intent on extricating himself from the war that he will ignore renewed Iranian attacks on America’s regional allies.European and Asian nations—allies and strategic adversaries alike—are watching this closely, too.Ever since the war began on Feb. 28, Iranian leaders have frequently repeated a phrase, attributed to the deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, that “those who wrap themselves in America are naked.” The feeling in the U.A.E.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.At this point, the Gulf war has started to seem like a series of missed deadlines and hollow pronouncements. What began as a two-week truce on April 8th is now approaching its fifth week. Donald Trump claims he can ignore a law that requires the American president to seek congressional approval for wars that last longer than 60 days (this one began 65 days ago).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.It’s happening. California looks likely to put a ‘one-time’ tax of 5% on wealth above $1 billion on the ballot in November and polls suggest it could pass— despite opposition from some economists (not so surprising) and Democratic politicians (more so). Meanwhile, calls to tax the rich are resounding across the country, from New York’s proposed ‘pied-à-terre tax’ to Washington State’s first-ever income tax, imposed only on millionaires.As someone who has been arguing for more than a decade that these taxes are bad economics, I find all this disheartening.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.During the Tanker War of the 1980s, Iran used missiles, mines and speed boats to assert its control over the Strait of Hormuz. Back then, it took an extensive naval operation, including the destruction of command posts on offshore oil platforms by U.S. Marines, to break Tehran’s hold.This time around, in addition to its earlier playbook, Iran has a legion of attack drones which are serving as a significant force multiplier.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.President Trump’s desire to end the Iran war is being put to the test after Tehran fired at American warships on Monday and violently disrupted a U.S. effort to revive shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.U.S. officials say Trump for days has toggled between two competing impulses: severely punishing Iran for failing to abandon its nuclear work, and avoiding a significant escalation that could draw the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The second week of a blockbuster trial between Elon Musk and Sam Altman kicks off Monday, with the future of OpenAI very much up for grabs.OpenAI President Greg Brockman is expected to testify Monday, the next star witness in a revolving cast of some of the most important leaders in AI.Over three days of testimony and cross-examination last week, Musk sought to make his case to nine jurors that he was manipulated by OpenAI and Altman into giving $38 million to a nonprofit, only for the startup to turn it into a for-profit venture.The Tesla and SpaceX owner is asking the court to remove Altman and Brockman from their leadership roles at OpenAI, damages of up to $180 billion to be paid out from OpenAI’s for-profit arm to its nonprofit parent, and an unwinding of the company’s recent conversion to a more traditional corporate governance structure.If even one of these remedies is granted, it could change the course of OpenAI and the rest of the artificial-intelligence industry with it.Musk’s attorneys have pointed to private journal entries written by Brockman, obtained as part of legal discovery, to support the argument that the OpenAI founders were secretly plotting about the company’s for-profit structure.“We’ve been thinking that maybe we should just flip to a for profit,” Brockman allegedly wrote in a private journal entry in 2017.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—The antiabortion lobby expected to be more triumphant by now: A conservative Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Republicans control both chambers of Congress, and the self-styled “most pro-life president in history” again occupies the Oval Office.But abortions are up in the years after the overturning of Roe, and the antiabortion lobby has a new locus for blame.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.At his confirmation hearing last week, Kevin Warsh [US President Donald Trump’s nominee for Federal Reserve Chair] dodged questions about interest rates, tariffs and the 2020 election. As his nomination to be chair of the Federal Reserve heads toward confirmation after clearing the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday, it’s worth focusing on an equally troubling gap in his public record: his near silence on anything related to employment.Warsh gave a perfunctory nod to the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate—price stability and maximum employment—in last week’s testimony, but while he extensively discussed the former, he essentially ignored the latter.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The 2028 Democratic presidential primary race won’t begin in earnest until after November’s midterm elections. But speed dating is already well under way among prospective candidates and major donors on Wall Street and elsewhere.Sen.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.It has been a bruising week for the news cycle, starting with gunfire outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and ending with a geopolitical jolt from the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) exit from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).Let’s begin with Washington.President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and other senior officials were rushed to safety after shots were heard outside the venue hosting the annual gathering of journalists and political leaders.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Federal Reserve’s internal debate over interest rates has turned a corner. Officials are no longer arguing about when to resume cutting.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Is curbing oil demand the way ahead to stabilize global energy markets? That could be the case as the global energy landscape stares at a critical rebalancing act.The escalating conflict in West Asia is forcing the global oil market into a phase of “demand destruction”, with nearly 4.8 million barrels per day (mbpd) of supply shortfall expected to be absorbed through lower consumption, according to a report by PL Capital.Global oil prices have been on the boil since the outbreak of the conflict between the US and Iran, triggering the biggest energy crisis. However, prices fell briefly on account of the two-week ceasefire agreed on 8 April.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.For almost five decades, Iran’s Islamic government has survived financial pressure from the U.S. by selling oil to China. It confronted American military might with guerrilla tactics.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The US Federal Reserve kept its main policy rate unchanged on Wednesday as Jerome Powell presided over the rate-setting committee’s meeting for the last time. The Fed is concerned about inflation, which has exceeded its 2% target and could rise further as the supply shock caused by the war in West Asia sends prices of goods and services soaring in the US and elsewhere.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Jerome Powell held his last press conference as Federal Reserve chair on Wednesday afternoon, but said he would stay on as a Fed governor pending the conclusion of an investigation into the renovation of the Fed’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.Powell, whose term as a governor runs through early 2028, said he would keep a low profile and has no interest in acting as a shadow chair under his presumptive successor, Kevin Warsh. That may be welcome news to Warsh, given the other challenges he is likely to face, including the most fractious Federal Open Market Committee in more than 30 years.The Fed held its federal-funds rate target steady after its April 28-29 policy meeting in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, as expected.