Digital Future Daily

A NOTE FROM CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO , Executive Editor for Global Technology & California: Technology, power and policy are colliding, raising consequential questions about who holds power, how they're using it and what happens next. That's where Decoded by POLITICO comes in, with reporting on the people, power moves, policy battles and market shifts shaping the future of global technology. Beginning Oct.

Expectations are low for a global alliance on AI safety as the U.S. and China meet in Washington amid news of yet another rogue model hacking incident. U.S. leaders have voiced staunch opposition to collaboration between the two countries on guardrails they fear may rein in the nation's tech industry, saying the focus must be on beating China.

The benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence — and Washington's inaction on the technology — were among the key themes discussed today at POLITICO's Decoded Summit in Washington, D.C. This special edition of Digital Future Daily examines some of the central issues raised by leading AI executives and senior administration officials who spoke at the event.

A mother's viral post criticizing Meta's AI for compiling details about her young daughters has sparked a debate on what privacy looks like in a future where technology can instantly build dossiers on people by crawling the internet.

With help from Dana Nickel Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei released a proposal for slowing down AI development. | Jeff Chiu/AP The increasingly urgent pleas from leading tech executives to slow the advance of artificial intelligence are confronting one daunting obstacle: It’s not entirely clear how they could do that.

Digital sovereignty has become a key topic in Europe as countries reevaluate their reliance on American and Chinese technology. The basic technical definition of “digital sovereignty” refers to a country's ability to control critical parts of its tech infrastructure.

A potentially devastating software virus is prompting questions about how the U.S. and China share information about AI cybersecurity threats. The Bay Area cybersecurity firm Calif announced on Tuesday that it developed an AI-enabled worm that could've hijacked more than a billion WeChat accounts. “WeWorm” is the first-known virus that gives hackers control over accounts by simply calling users, even if they don't pick up or click on anything.

With help from Aaron Mak Lawmakers in the U.S. are unlikely to broadly restrict devices such as Meta's AI glasses anytime soon, even as European countries and cities consider banning camera-enabled wearables in public spaces.

PROGRAMMING NOTE : We'll be off this Monday but will be back in your inboxes on Tuesday. Anthony Mills is an American Enterprise Institute senior fellow and director of its Center for Technology, Science, and Energy — where he researches how the government approaches innovation in the 21st Century. Mills also leads AEI's recently launched AI Ethics Council , which seeks to widen debate about regulatory approaches to the technology that avert catastrophic risk without impeding innovation.

A common data center industry practice is becoming a political flashpoint, prompting some to reconsider the use of nondisclosure agreements. The agreements data center companies often sign with local officials for construction projects — called NDAs for short — have recently sparked public outrage over claims of backroom deals and a lack of transparency about potential impacts on surrounding communities in localities like Salem, Oregon , and Posey, Indiana .