Author: Frank Salvato

Artificial intelligence has enormous potential to make American businesses more productive, competitive, and profitable. It can automate paperwork, identify inefficiencies, improve safety, detect fraud, and free employees from repetitive tasks. But the same technology that can liberate workers from drudgery can also become the most intrusive workplace surveillance system ever devised. The question is no longer simply whether an employer can watch an employee. It is whether employers should be able to construct an extraordinarily detailed digital portrait of a worker’s behavior simply because the technology makes it possible. Workplace monitoring itself is hardly new. Factories have had supervisors since…

A Chinese-developed humanoid robot reportedly surpassed Usain Bolt’s legendary 100-meter sprint time during a test run ahead of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, highlighting the accelerating pace of robotics and artificial intelligence. Honor’s “Lightning” robot completed the distance in 9.32 seconds during a trial, while another humanoid later posted a 9.39-second performance in competition, both faster than Bolt’s 9.58-second human world record. Although these machine performances are not recognized as human athletic records and occurred under entirely different competitive conditions, they underscore how rapidly robotics engineering is advancing and how AI-powered machines are increasingly exceeding human physical capabilities…

Republicans are poised to widen their already significant financial advantage heading into the 2026 midterm elections as Elon Musk reportedly prepares to invest as much as $200 million in voter-turnout operations through America PAC. The anticipated spending is expected to focus on competitive Senate and House races, including the closely watched Texas Senate contest, where fundraising disparities have become a major issue despite polling that indicates a virtual dead heat. Combined with the Republican National Committee’s sizable cash reserves, well-funded congressional committees, and major pro-GOP super PACs, Musk’s investment underscores the increasingly important role that private political fundraising plays in…

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has signed an executive order imposing what his administration describes as the nation’s toughest standards for AI data center development, requiring developers to meet legally binding environmental, transparency, and community-engagement requirements before state permits can be issued. The order immediately removes AI data centers from the state’s Fast Track permitting program, bars state agencies from entering nondisclosure agreements with developers, and requires local approval before projects can proceed. Supporters argue the measures protect residents from rising electricity costs, environmental degradation, and speculative land acquisitions, while critics contend the executive action adds significant regulatory burdens that could…

A cyberattack attributed to Iran-linked hackers temporarily shut down a small British power generation facility for four days, marking what multiple reports describe as the first known successful cyberattack to disable a UK electricity generator. Although officials emphasized that the affected facility was small and posed no threat to the national power grid, the incident has heightened concerns that hostile nation-states are increasingly willing and able to target Western critical infrastructure. British authorities have responded by alerting energy providers, coordinating through the National Cyber Security Centre, and accelerating efforts to strengthen cyber defenses amid growing geopolitical tensions involving Iran and…

Irish lawmakers are demanding answers from TikTok following a fatal motorway crash that intensified scrutiny of social media content allegedly glorifying illegal driving. The inquiry follows the deaths of five teenage boys whose vehicle was traveling the wrong way on Ireland’s M9 motorway before colliding head-on with another vehicle, seriously injuring three women and a child. Members of Ireland’s parliamentary media committee want TikTok to explain how quickly it detects and removes videos promoting reckless driving, while the country’s media regulator has separately requested a full accounting of the platform’s moderation efforts. The tragedy has prompted renewed debate over whether…

The rapid expansion of Flock Safety’s automated license plate reader network has intensified a nationwide debate over privacy, civil liberties, and public safety. The system, now consisting of more than 120,000 cameras deployed across the United States, enables law enforcement agencies to identify, locate, and reconstruct the movements of vehicles within seconds. Supporters argue the technology has become an indispensable investigative tool for locating stolen vehicles, apprehending suspects, and finding missing persons. Critics, however, contend that the sheer scale of the network has created an unprecedented system of mass surveillance capable of tracking the movements of ordinary Americans with little…

Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming a source of emotional support for millions of Americans amid an ongoing shortage of mental health professionals, but clinicians are increasingly warning that the technology carries significant risks alongside its benefits. Mental health experts report that many patients now use AI chatbots to self-diagnose conditions, seek therapeutic guidance, or replace human interaction altogether. While AI offers constant availability, affordability, and immediate responses that may help bridge gaps in care, professionals caution that chatbots can reinforce distorted thinking, validate unhealthy beliefs, and weaken interpersonal relationship skills when relied upon excessively. Researchers and clinicians increasingly argue that…

Artificial intelligence is being brought into one of history’s most challenging restitution efforts as researchers develop new tools to help identify and recover artwork stolen by the Nazi regime during World War II. A new AI-powered provenance assistant is designed to simplify the painstaking process of tracing ownership histories across fragmented international archives, allowing researchers and families to search complex databases using ordinary language instead of specialized queries. While the technology is still in its early stages and cannot replace expert historical or legal analysis, supporters believe it could significantly accelerate efforts to reunite surviving heirs with cultural property that…

Artificial intelligence presents American higher education with a challenge that is much larger than cheating. Universities can attempt to wall students off from generative AI, or they can recognize the more consequential reality: these tools are rapidly becoming part of the intellectual and economic environment in which graduates will be expected to compete. The proper response is therefore neither unconditional enthusiasm nor prohibition. It is education. The central argument for integrating AI into higher education rests on a straightforward principle. A university should prepare students for the world they will actually enter rather than preserve an academic environment that no…