OpenAI, the maker of ChaptGPT, is rightfully facing widespread criticism for its decisions to fill the gap the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) created when rival Anthropic refused to drop its restrictions against using its AI for surveillance and autonomous weapons systems. After protests from both users and employees who did not sign up to support government mass surveillance—early reports show that ChaptGPT uninstalls rose nearly 300% after the company announced the deal—Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, conceded that the initial agreement was “opportunistic and sloppy.” He then re-published an internal memo on social media stating that additions to the agreement made clear that “Consistent with applicable laws, including the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, National Security Act of 1947, [and] FISA Act of 1978, the AI system shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals.” Trouble is, the U.S. government doesn’t believe “consistent with applicable laws” means “no domestic surveillance.” Instead, for the most part, the government has embraced a lax interpretation of “applicable law” that has blessed mass surveillance and large-scale violations of our civil liberties, and then fought tooth and nail to prevent courts from weighing in.  "After all, many of the world’s most notorious human rights atrocities have historically been “legal” under existing laws at the time." “Intentionally” is also doing an awful lot of work in that sentence. For years the government has insisted that the mass surveillance of U.S. persons only happens incidentally (read: not intentionally) because their communications with people both inside the United States and overseas are swept up in surveillance programs supposedly designed to only collect communications outside the United States.  The company’s amendment to the contract continues in a similar vein, “For the avoidance of doubt, the Department understands this limitation to prohibit deliberate tracking, surveillance, or monitoring of U.S. persons or nationals, including through the procurement or use of commercially acquired personal or identifiable information.” Here, “deliberate” is the red flag given how often intelligence and law enforcement agencies rely on incidental or commercially purchased data to sidestep stronger privacy protections. Here’s another one: “The AI System shall not be used for unconstrained monitoring of U.S. persons’ private information as consistent with these authorities. The system shall also not be used for domestic law-enforcement activities except as permitted by the Posse Comitatus Act and other applicable law.” What, one wonders, does “unconstrained” mean, precisely—and according to whom?  Lawyers sometimes call these “weasel words” because they create ambiguity that protects one side or another from real accountability for contract violations. As with the Anthropic negotiations, where the Pentagon reportedly agreed to adhere to Anthropic’s red lines only “as appropriate,” the government is likely attempting to publicly commit to limits in principle, but retain broad flexibility in practice. OpenAI also notes that the Pentagon promised the NSA would not be allowed to use OpenAI’s tools absent a new agreement, and that its deployment architecture will help it verify that no red lines are crossed. But secret agreements and technical assurances have never been enough to rein in surveillance agencies, and they are no substitute for strong, enforceable legal limits and transparency. OpenAI executives may indeed be trying, as claimed, to use the company’s contractual relationship with the Pentagon to help ensure that the government should use AI tools only in a way consistent with democratic processes. But based on what we know so far, that hope seems very naïve. Moreover, that naïvete is dangerous. In a time when governments are willing to embrace extreme and unfounded interpretations of “applicable laws,” companies need to put some actual muscle behind standing by their commitments. After all, many of the world’s most notorious human rights atrocities have historically been “legal” under existing laws at the time. OpenAI promises the public that it will  “avoid enabling uses of AI or AGI that harm humanity or unduly concentrate power,” but we know that enabling mass surveillance does both.      OpenAI isn’t the only consumer-facing company that is, on the one hand, seeking to reassure the public that they aren’t participating in actions that violate human rights while, on the other, seeking to cash in on government mass surveillance efforts.  Despite this marketing double-speak, it is very clear that companies just cannot do both. It’s also clear that companies shouldn’t be given that much power over the limits of our privacy to begin with. The public should not have to rely on a small group of people—whether CEOs or Pentagon officials—to protect our civil liberties.

India's PC shipments rose 10.2% to 15.9 million units in 2025, surpassing pandemic highs as first-time users upgrade devices, IDC said.

Claude's app is now seeing more new installs than ChatGPT and is growing its daily active users.

The Pentagon has officially designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk after the two failed to agree on how much control the military should have over its AI models, including its use in autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. As Anthropic’s $200 million contract fell apart, the DoD turned to OpenAI instead, which accepted and then watched ChatGPT uninstalls surge 295%. As the stakes keep rising, the question remains: how much unrestricted […]

Advice she’ll carry with her forever. Ella Langley opened up a handful of shows for Eric Church on his Free The Machine Tour in February, and I’m sure it was a dream come true for Ella to open for a legend like Eric. They teamed up for a duet of “New York State of Mind” at a stop in Buffalo, New York, and during an interview on the radio show Country Countdown USA with Lon Helton, Ella opened up about some of the advice Eric gave her about having longevity and success you can actually enjoy in the music business. “He told me, ‘When this thing gets weird, make it about the music.’ He said, ‘I’ll never make another ‘Chief.’ That was it. You get one ‘Chief,’ and that’s what it is.’ Then he’s on to the next thing.” He’s certainly speaking from experience… of course, Church fans will always know and love Chief, but Eric has evolved so much since then and continues to surprise fans with the types of records he has released, which speaks to his talent and artistry. To have the kind of longevity he’s had in the music industry is absolutely not easy, and I think the earlier an artist can figure out how to cater to their core fan base, while still evolving as an artist in the way they want to, is an incredibly tricky balancing act very few pull off and do it well. Eric is certainly one of those people, and I think Ella would be wise to heed that advice early on, and I think she’s already doing that with what she’s cooked up for her forthcoming album Dandelion. In addition, Ella talked about the really cool tour present she gave to Eric. It’s pretty customary for artists to buy their openers gifts, especially if they spend the majority of the tour together, but Ella flipped the script, so to speak, and got Eric a very special gift to commemorate their run of shows together. She happened upon an antique pocket watch from the 20s that had an “E” engraved on the back, which sounds like a really cool and unique gift which is probably unlike most other items in his accessory closet (which he probably doesn’t have, but you get the point): “I randomly got him a pocket watch at an antique store. I gave it to him. It was like a pocket watch from the 20s, with a gold chain connected to a pocket knife. There was engraving on the back, and it was an ‘E.’ So that was cool.” Check out their duet of “New York State of Mind” here: @rachelmcap New York State of mind #ericchurch #ellalangleylive ♬ [Raw recording] Record playback noise 01 (3 minutes) – Icy Light Ella’s highly-anticipated sophomore studio album Dandelion is due out everywhere on April 10th. “Dandelion” The Dandelion Tour Dates 5/7/2026 Toledo, OH Huntington Center (+,&) 5/8/2026 St. Louis, MO Chaifetz Arena (+,&) 5/14/2026 Estero, FL Hertz Arena (@, &) 5/15/2026 Savannah, GA Enmarket Arena (@, &) 6/18/2026 Oklahoma City, OK Zoo Amphitheatre (+,&) 6/19/2026 Independence, MO Cable Dahmer Arena (+,&) 6/25/2026 Salem, VA Salem Civic Center (+,&) 6/26/2026 Wilmington, NC Live Oak Bank Pavilion at Riverfront Park (+,&) 7/23/2026 Pikeville, KY Appalachian Wireless Arena (#, %) 7/24/2026 Cary, NC Koka Booth Amphitheatre (#, %) 7/25/2026 North Charleston, SC North Charleston Coliseum (#, %) 7/30/2026 Gilford, NH BankNH Pavilion (@, %) 7/31/2026 Canandaigua, NY CMAC (@, %) 8/13/2026 Austin, TX Moody Center (#, &) 8/14/2026 Corpus Christi, TX Hilliard Center (#, &) 8/15/2026 Fort Worth, TX Dickies Arena (#, &) @ Kameron Marlowe + Dylan Marlowe # Kaitlin Butts & Gabriella Rose % Laci Kaye BoothThe post “You Get One ‘Chief'”: Ella Langley Reveals The Advice Eric Church Gave Her About Longevity In The Music Business first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright explained that the oil prices spike won’t last that long while the US and Israel continues dismantling the terrorist regime in Iran. Here’s what he said: The big . . .