ITK Daily | March 8
Haiti, Open-source, Whole Foods, Monica Lewinsky, Iris Apfel, plus 1,000 more actionable insights.
ITK Daily is geopolitical business news + intelligence for comms pros.
Always Be Communicating.
Happy Friday.
Here’s today’s ITK Daily:
*** Globalization + Geopolitics ***
Nikkei: Wang Yi says US sanctions on China have reached 'bewildering absurdity'
China says US is ‘obsessed’ with suppressing its rise: NBC News reports Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that while there had been improvements in US-China relations since their leaders met in November, the US had not fulfilled its promises.
China intensifies push to ‘delete America’ from its technology: WSJ reports the effort is just one salvo in a yearslong push for self-sufficiency and concerns over the country’s long-term security.
Xi calls on China's military to beef up strategic capabilities in emerging areas: NHK reports Chinese President Xi Jinping is urging the country's armed forces to beef up their strategic capabilities in emerging domains, such as maritime preparedness, aerospace and cyberspace.
US Army intelligence analyst charged with selling military information to China: Le Monde reports Sergeant Korbein Schultz comes shortly after the arrests in California of two US Navy sailors on charges of spying for China.
Espionage probe finds communications device on Chinese cranes at US ports: WSJ reports lawmakers’ discovery has fueled worries in Washington that the China-built equipment could be a national-security threat at America’s ports.
CNN: House panel unanimously approves bill that could ban TikTok
+ @CraigCaplan: 50-0: House Energy & Commerce Cmte unanimously approved the bipartisan Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, requiring ByteDance, China-based parent company of TikTok, to divest from the app within 180 days or it would be banned for U.S. users.
+ Congressional offices got bombarded with calls from TikTok users, as the House is poised to move on a bill that would force the sale of the social media app by its Chinese owner or face a ban from app stores, Politico reports.
Ukraine enters new phase of war with Russia: Dig, dig, dig: Under pressure after recent battlefield losses, Kyiv is bracing for a Russian spring offensive. WSJ
Mutual frustrations arise in US-Ukraine alliance: Ukrainian officials are disheartened about stalled aid. The Pentagon wants Kyiv to heed its advice on how to fight. NYT
Spate of mock news sites with Russian ties pop up in US: The fake news organizations, experts say, represent a technological leap in the Kremlin’s efforts to spread false and misleading narratives. NYT
FT: France signs defence deal with Moldova amid Russian threats
Sweden enters NATO, a blow to Moscow and a boost to the Baltic nations: NYT reports with the addition of Sweden to NATO, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia finds himself facing an enlarged and motivated alliance.
With Sweden onboard, NATO's north is now sealed: With Sweden's membership now formalized, NATO's Nordic wall is complete. Stockholm has been impatiently awaiting this moment, as it felt left out in the cold between allies Norway and Finland. DW
Will Liz Truss make a comeback — or is she deluded? When she resigned as prime minister in 2022 after her disastrous mini-budget, everyone thought Liz Truss would disappear. Not a bit of it. She’s earned more than £300,000 from speeches, has a new book out, and is a favourite of America’s alt-right. So what’s next? The Times
Bloomberg: IMF Chief Georgieva poised to win key support for second term
The juntas in Niger, Mali + Burkina Faso agreed to form a joint force to fight jihadist militias.
Brazil seeks to curb AI deepfakes as key elections loom: AFP reports AI-generated videos and photos used for political disinformation are the scourge of a busy global election year, and Brazil is scrambling to regulate the technology ahead of municipal polls.
Economist: The last scraps of the Haitian state are evaporating
‘The gangs have the control’: In Haiti, terror takes hold as mobs storm main port: WP reports gangs have cut off the capital from one of its last remaining lifelines for food and supplies.
Haiti extends state of emergency, closes main port; Blinken presses PM for 'urgent' transition: Le Monde reports the Haitian capital is also under a nighttime curfew to try to foster peace, but the gangs are often better armed than the country's security forces.
*** US Politics + Elections ***
Three big risks that might tip America’s presidential election: Third parties, the Trump trials, and the candidates’ age introduce a high degree of uncertainty. Economist
No: Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), who’s running for Senate in the state, told Axios that he would not vote for Donald Trump in 2024.
House AI task force leaders take long view on regulating the tools: Lawmakers leading the effort told The Technology 202 in a joint interview that implementing a full response will probably be a lengthy undertaking as they consider the technology’s vast impact across elections, national security, the economy and more. WP
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/07/house-ai-task-force-leaders-take-long-view-regulating-tools/
+ “We don’t envision a 5,000 page bill that deals with 57 topics and then we’re done with AI. It’s going to be a multiyear process, and there'll be a variety of different bills that try to tackle different aspects of AI.” -- Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)
Reuters: OpenAI, Microsoft AI tools generate misleading election images, researchers say
AFP: AI tools still permitting political disinfo creation, NGO warns
Research shows survey participants duped by AI-generated images nearly 40% of the time: TechXplore reports a new study from the University of Waterloo researchers found that people had more difficulty than was expected distinguishing who is a real person and who is artificially generated.
*** Disruption + Innovation ***
Elon Musk may yet hold OpenAI to account — unlike its board John Thornhill
+ This legal battle is more than a row between billionaire tech bros, it’s about the future of AI transparency
+ “It’s possible that Musk is simply techwashing and creating chaos in the marketplace,” said the Center for AI Policy.
+ Thornhill is the Innovation Editor at the Financial Times, writing a weekly column on the impact of technology. He is also the founder and editorial director of Sifted, the FT-backed site for European startups, and founder of FT Forums, which hosts monthly meetings for senior executives.
Key OpenAI executive played a pivotal role in Sam Altman’s ouster: Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, brought questions about Mr. Altman’s management to the board last year before he was briefly ousted from the company. NYT
OpenAI GPT sorts resume names with racial bias, test shows: Recruiters are eager to use generative AI, but a Bloomberg experiment found bias against job candidates based on their names alone. Bloomberg
Should AI be open-source? Behind the tweetstorm over its dangers: War of tweets between prominent venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Vinod Khosla underscores opposing views over how generative AI should be developed and distributed. WSJ
Why most AI benchmarks tell us so little TC
Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power: AI and the boom in clean-tech manufacturing are pushing America’s power grid to the brink. Utilities can’t keep up. WP
Here come the tiny Whole Foods Curbed
Among the aspiring Serhants at the palladium Curbed
*** Culture ***
Monica Lewinsky’s reinvention as a model: A new fashion campaign offered the White House intern turned activist, writer, and producer yet another way to remake her image. NYT
Iris Apfel became a fashion icon in her ninth decade: No geriatric nonsense was going to hold her back. Economist
*** Sport ***
FT: Red Bull suspends female staffer at centre of Christian Horner claims
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
ITK Daily | March 8
