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The Lever

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Text • Lyna Bentahar

LeverMind Quiz: Dude, Where’s My Antitrust Case?

 LeverMind Quiz: Dude, Where’s My Antitrust Case?

Test your knowledge of Hollywood mergers, super PACs, and other issues that really matter.

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Text • Freddy Brewster

AI Regulation Was Coming. Then Trump Killed It.

 AI Regulation Was Coming. Then Trump Killed It.

After a flood of tech industry cash, President Donald Trump killed a requirement that AI giants disclose their riskiest experiments to national security officials. Now lawmakers are scrambling to catch up.

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Text • David Sirota

The Machines Escaped. Their Masters Did So First.

 The Machines Escaped. Their Masters Did So First.

The most frightening thing about rogue AI agents may be how faithfully they mirror the powerful humans who created them.

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Text • Natalie Bettendorf

What’s Hiding In The Paramount Merger Settlement

 What’s Hiding In The Paramount Merger Settlement

Former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya and antitrust legal expert Lee Hepner dig into the fine print, loopholes, and false promises of the Paramount merger settlement.

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Text • Morgan Harper

The Ellisons Have Made This Movie Before

 The Ellisons Have Made This Movie Before

With Paramount, you don’t need a catalog of failed consent decrees to understand what is to come. You only need the record of the family making the promises.

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Text • Veronica Riccobene

Midterm Madness: Big Crypto’s Double Tap

 Midterm Madness: Big Crypto’s Double Tap

An industry super PAC is declaring war on a purple-state Democrat for the second time in two years.

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Text • Veronica Riccobene

AI Lending Is Risky Lending

 AI Lending Is Risky Lending

Banks that adopt artificial intelligence average more “problem” loans and less small business lending.

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Text • Luke Goldstein

The Fine Print In Democrats’ Hollywood Merger Surrender

 The Fine Print In Democrats’ Hollywood Merger Surrender

Democrats promised to play hardball, then accepted loophole-ridden pledges leaving Paramount’s $111 billion megamerger intact.

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Text • Jared Jacang Maher

What AOC And Ro Khanna Would Do With Trump’s Power

 What AOC And Ro Khanna Would Do With Trump’s Power

Should the next Democratic president rein in Trump’s expanded powers — or use them?

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Text • Veronica Riccobene

Big Crypto Buys Plan B

 Big Crypto Buys Plan B

The Winklevoss twins gave another multimillion-dollar gift to MAGA Inc. before pushing the Trump administration to pursue cryptocurrency rules that Congress rejected.

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Text • Luke Goldstein

The Youth Hockey Giant That Can’t Quit Private Equity

 The Youth Hockey Giant That Can’t Quit Private Equity

After denying its Wall Street ties, Black Bear quietly installed a private equity executive as CEO.

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Text • The Lever

Lever Weekly: Everybody Panic, Nobody Regulate

 Lever Weekly: Everybody Panic, Nobody Regulate

AI doomsday distractions, Big Tech’s Democratic allies, a Cruz-linked attack ad, and more from The Lever this week.

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Text • David Sirota

Is The AI Threat ‘The Terminator’ or ‘The Big Short’?

 Is The AI Threat ‘The Terminator’ or ‘The Big Short’?

An AI apocalypse involving killer robots is terrifying, but don’t overlook a speculative bubble whose collapse will reverberate across the economy.

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Text • The Lever

Can Democrats Unite on AI Regulation?

 Can Democrats Unite on AI Regulation?

Alex Bores has a plan to make AI safeguards a central issue in the 2028 Democratic presidential primaries.

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Text • Lyna Bentahar

You Love To See It: The Kids Are AI-Right

 You Love To See It: The Kids Are AI-Right

AI gets detention, voting rights get legal enforcement, court power stops coal power, and the kid who took on Big Hospital.

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Text • Veronica Riccobene

This PR Populist Is Quiet About His Data Center Past

 This PR Populist Is Quiet About His Data Center Past

Iowa Republican Joe Mitchell says he’s fighting insiders and lobbyists, but he worked for a public relations firm that boasts, “Data center developers count on us.”

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Text • Lyna Bentahar

What’s A Little Macklemore?

 What’s A Little Macklemore?

Test your knowledge of AI, superstars, and other issues that really matter.

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Text • David Sirota

The Quiet Corruption Behind Washington’s AI Inaction

 The Quiet Corruption Behind Washington’s AI Inaction

How the “corruption of inaction” in both parties is helping AI oligarchs avoid accountability and endanger the world.

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Text • David Sirota

What Tech Oligarchs Gain From AI Doomerism

 What Tech Oligarchs Gain From AI Doomerism

David Sirota speaks with Ed Zitron and Matt Stoller about the AI panic sweeping Wall Street and Washington — and what Big Tech CEOs really want.

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Text • Freddy Brewster

The Curious Data Center “Gift” Haunting Ken Paxton’s AI Crackdown

 The Curious Data Center “Gift” Haunting Ken Paxton’s AI Crackdown

Before vowing to end data center tax breaks, the Texas Senate candidate voted to create them after accepting 100,000 shares in a server company.

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Text • Veronica Riccobene

Trump Freed Bad Bots

 Trump Freed Bad Bots

Before artificial intelligence became a midterms issue, Trump regulators erased consequences for an AI firm linked to fake customer reviews.

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Text • Luke Goldstein

Big AI’s Favorite Democrats Are Writing The Party’s AI Plan

 Big AI’s Favorite Democrats Are Writing The Party’s AI Plan

Hakeem Jeffries’ five-member AI commission is stacked with lawmakers backed by industry super PACs seeking to shape federal policy.

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Text • Veronica Riccobene

Midterm Madness: Money Talks. Macklemore Doesn’t

 Midterm Madness: Money Talks. Macklemore Doesn’t

Billionaire Robert Kraft made eyebrow-raising donations before banning the pro-Palestine rapper.

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Text • Lyna Bentahar

AI’s Dela-Win

 AI’s Dela-Win

Delaware's surprisingly powerful attorney general just got one step closer to reelection — with the help of Big Tech.

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Text • David Sirota

Why Are Dems Touting Their Capture By AI Oligarchs?

 Why Are Dems Touting Their Capture By AI Oligarchs?

Weeks before the midterms, the party’s highest-profile icons are publicly celebrating the AI industry’s revolving-door corruption aiming to infiltrate the party.

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Text • David Sirota

Cutting Through the AI Doomsday Noise

 Cutting Through the AI Doomsday Noise

An exclusive conversation in which David Sirota talks with Matt Stoller and Big Tech critic Ed Zitron about whether we’re staring down an AI apocalypse.

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Text • Katya Schwenk

Cruz-Linked PAC Targets El-Sayed In “Death To America” Ad

 Cruz-Linked PAC Targets El-Sayed In “Death To America” Ad

The group, founded by allies of the Texas senator, spent $90K on an ad featuring the Michigan Democrat dancing and laughing next to the words “celebrate 9/11.”

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Text • Matt Stoller

The AI Doomsday Distraction

 The AI Doomsday Distraction

Silicon Valley says its machines could destroy humanity. The more immediate danger is letting the people building them write their own rules.

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Text • The Lever

Lever Weekly: Ctrl-Alt-Defeat

 Lever Weekly: Ctrl-Alt-Defeat

Silicon Valley goes ballistic, 9/11’s ties to Trump, and more from The Lever this week.

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Text • David Sirota

THE KINGMAKERS, Ep. 8: The Inheritance

 THE KINGMAKERS, Ep. 8: The Inheritance

What should the next president do with all the power that Donald Trump leaves behind?