FUTURE FLASH: AI SAFETY, CYBER DRAMA, AND SPACE STORMS.

A.I. SAFETY SQUAD HEADS TO THE SENATE.

Cantwell, Young, Hickenlooper, Blackburn, Lujan, Wicker, and Sinema join forces to advance codifying President Biden’s artificial intelligence government regulations center, via MeriTalk’s John Curran:

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee voted on Wednesday to approve the bipartisan Future of AI Innovation Act that would provide congressional authorization for the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute (AISI), among numerous other provisions.

—> BACKSTORY, via Curran: “The institute was established by President Biden’s 2023 AI Executive Order, and its continued existence beyond this year remains in some doubt absent congressional action to authorize AISI over the longer term.”

—> WHAT A.I.S.I. DOES: “[It’s initial mission scope includes] advancing research and measurement science for AI safety, conducting safety evaluations of models and systems, and developing guidelines for evaluations and risk mitigations, including content authentication and the detection of synthetic content.” Read more here.

hello future, it’s me kev.

…and this is a dispatch from the digital frontier. Your one-stop shop for markets, tech and the future. The day is 217. The year is 2024. The planet is Earth. And my name is Kevin Cirilli.

Welcome home, Evan.

Freed Evan Gershkovich Arrives in the U.S. to a Hero’s Welcome

More from WSJ: President Biden, Vice President Harris and Gershkovich’s family greeted the Journal reporter after the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.

Amazing.

Back to the future?

Sorry kids, back to school…

BYTE-SIZED BRAINS: A.I. TAKES THE CLASSROOM.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — As students get ready to head back to class, they may be using more technology than ever when it comes to their learning. Artificial intelligence, or AI, is something schools all over are trying to figure out how to use. More here.

C.C.P. WATCH:

COMMUNIST CHINA CHEATS, via The New York Times: With Smugglers and Front Companies, China Is Skirting American A.I. Bans:

The U.S. is trying to stop China from getting Nvidia microchips to advance its military. The private sector is fighting back.

—> MORE, via The Times: Takeaways From Our Investigation Into Banned A.I. Chips in China.

Meanwhile…

Apple sales decline in China, as company talks with regulators over AI features, via Tech Code.

Ransomware seizes hospitals' blood supply, via Axios:

Axios’ Sam Sabin reports:

A ransomware attack on blood donation nonprofit OneBlood this week is forcing many hospitals across the southeastern U.S. to rely on their critical blood supplies and host last-minute blood drives.

Why it matters: OneBlood provides blood samples to more than 300 hospitals in Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas, and some hospitals may need to delay certain procedures until the blood supply is back to normal.

State of play: Susan Forbes, a spokesperson for OneBlood, told Axios on Thursday that the nonprofit's online infrastructure systems are "starting to come back online," noting that they'll soon be able to return to the critical online tools they use to label donated blood.

NOTABLE: What the JD Vance couch jokes say about social media this election season, via NPR.

SHOT: US DOJ opens two antitrust probes into Nvidia, via Data Center Dynamics.

CHASER: Chance of Nvidia losing antitrust probe unlikely, says analyst, via Computerworld.

ON AIR:

Here’s what air is like in our country this week:

• Cincinnati Enquirer: Air quality alert issued for Monday to kick off sweltering week in Cincinnati.

• Seattle Times: Air quality in Seattle tips as wildfire smoke drifts through parts of WA.

• OregonLive.com: Air quality alert issued for Harney and Malheur counties.

• Deseret News: Utah’s poor air quality: What’s driving the problem?

• KSL News: With poor air quality, Utahns advised to limit outdoor time to mornings, evenings.

• Dallas News: Monday Triple Digits and another Air Quality Alert.

• Jackson, MS’s WAPT: Saharan Dust could cause poor air quality for parts of state and southeast.

SPACE WEATHER

…here’s what’s happening in our neck of the galaxy.

Strongest solar storms in 20 years creates new radiation belts around Earth.

Fox Weather’s Emilee Speck reports: During unusually strong solar storms, a temporary third belt can form between the two permanent Van Allen Belts. May's solar storms were the strongest in 20 years producing Northern Lights as far south as Florida.

This year's historic solar storms, which created beautiful displays of Northern Lights around the globe, also made more lasting changes to Earth's magnetic field in the form of additional radiation belts, according to new data from a tiny NASA satellite. 

May's space weather event, created by powerful blasts of energized particles from the Sun, was the strongest in 20 years. Coronal mass ejections (CME) associated with solar flares sent charged particles toward Earth, causing extreme geomagnetic storm conditions and vivid Aurora Borealis seen as far south as Florida. 

Full story here.

have a good tomorrow, today :) 

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about kev: Kevin N. Cirilli, based in D.C., is a media fellow at the Atlantic Council and former chief Washington correspondent for Bloomberg News, where he launched a daily geopolitical program. His work has appeared on major networks like CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, and more.

With more than a decade in DC, he’s launched successful news verticals and programs. Kevin, who grew up in Delco, is now launching mtf.tv’s Meet the Future NOW, a weekly newsletter on markets, tech, and all things the future. The first season of the mtf NOW video podcast is in development. Stay tuned…