Can the EU Regulate AI Without Killing It?
Plus: Will Wisconsin’s Fake Electors Pay a Price?
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ART KLEINER: Europe’s Audacious Attempt to Regulate AI.
WILL BIG TECH COMPANIES accept independent audits—not just of their financials, but of everything they produce and release? That’s the question on the table with the European Union’s proposed Artificial Intelligence Act, which was passed by the EU Parliament in July and now goes to the member countries for ratification. If it becomes law in its current form, which seems likely at present, it will reset the debate over how to govern tech companies. It might ultimately split the world into three different tech hegemonies: the rule of the state in China and its allies, the rule of law in Europe, and the rule of voluntary self-regulation by U.S. tech companies, with each approach trying to outcompete the others.
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BILL LUEDERS: Will Wisconsin’s Fake Electors Pay a Price?
For Jeff Mandell, it’s personal.
The Madison attorney, tapped by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers as a special outside counsel for the state’s 2020 election results, spent “a tremendous amount of time” in November and December of that year responding to “frivolous, nonsense lawsuits” brought by attorneys for and supporters of President Donald Trump, who lost the state to Joe Biden by about 21,000 votes. It was an experience that drove home for him what a “tremendous and in some ways heroic job election officials all over the state had done to make sure that Wisconsinites got their say, and that the election was held in a full, fair, free manner.”
MONA CHAREN: Jason Aldean: Bad Ol’ Boy
JASON ALDEAN IS FULL of righteous indignation that people are outraged by his music video “Try That in a Small Town.”
Against a montage of rioters pitching rocks and Molotov cocktails, masked criminals robbing convenience stores, and protesters flipping off cops, Aldean presents himself as a wholesome contrast. There he is, clad in jeans and a cowboy hat, together with his band in front of a courthouse festooned with an oversized American flag. The viewer is subjected to images of rioters rushing police cordons, leaping up and down on burned out cars, and burning American flags on the sidewalk.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Tuesday! Each time I’m back in Washington, I notice something new, like these art installations at McPherson Square. When you’re not in town each and every day anymore, these changes are surprising treats. Tonight I bid a friend adieu with a Nats game, and finding parking that’s open late is a post-pandemic puzzle, were it not for SpotHero.
Can we amuse our democracy back to life? That’s what journalist Alexander Heffner wants to know. Heffner is the son of Richard Heffner, the late famed journalist and creator of The Open Mind, and the franchise lives on through Alexander. Alexander has created a new phase of it called Breaking Bread, airing Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Eastern on Bloomberg Originals.
Tonight’s guest is New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Here’s a sneak preview for Bulwark readers, where Heffner and the Gov. talk about the patriotic duty of paying taxes.
HEFFNER: My question is this… can we birth the dawn of a newfound mutual gratitude among we the people and the officeholders, I trust this spring Governor Lujan Grisham will bring to fruition these “Thank you’s” and expenditure explainers to boost our informed morale as citizens. Other than voting on Election Day, tax-paying is the most universal act as an American citizen. Why not treat it accordingly?
Q: "It's astonishing to me that we as a people haven't demanded every year when we file our taxes at the state or federal level a pie chart of what we're paying for, whether that's schooling, police, law enforcement..."
A: "You can get it. But you're right, it's not commonplace for people to have access to that or even to know what those categories would even mean. And I'm a big believer of civics in the classroom. I can tell you that we're not satisfied that New Mexico's doing enough in that space with the resources we've been pumping into education."
Q: And you're open to the idea here in New Mexico or federally of having that pie chart. So folks, when they file their returns, they can see here's where the money's going.
A: We have a number of sunshine portals. So it's basically a fancy way to describe. I want you to know everything that we're doing but you've given me an idea that we could just make it available and just provide it up front instead of waiting for you to navigate that information. Why don't we just provide it? And I think that's a great idea.
Future guests include: Gov. Spencer Cox (UT), Gov. Janet Mills (ME), Presidential hopeful Gov. Doug Burgum (ND), and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). Check out the full episode tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern on Bloomberg Originals.
Also worth watching tonight: Jim Gaffigan’s new special Dark Pale on Amazon Prime.
David Weiss calls Jim Jordan’s bluff… Will House Republicans take him up on his offer to testify?
Strike averted… The looming UPS strike was averted, as the company and the Teamsters reached a deal. Previously, they’d asked the White House not to intervene if a strike happened. Now that it’s been averted, it’ll be interesting to see what role, if any, they played.
He was an undocumented immigrant... He became ‘your excellency.’
Meanwhile, in Texas… The daughter of the land commissioner tried to cancel her professor for criticizing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Are parents furious with public schools? Polls say otherwise. (I know you’re shocked.)
More DeSantis reboot layoffs… Nearing 40 positions or 1/3(!) of his campaign staff. Generra Peck, campaign manager, said: “Following a top-to-bottom review of our organization, we have taken additional, aggressive steps to streamline operations and put Ron DeSantis in the strongest position to win this primary and defeat Joe Biden." Tim Miller observes that ripping off the bandaid is better than weekly bloodlettings.
How the right ended up… trying to softpedal enslavement.
U2 @ Oshkosh… The famed airshow gets a special treat.
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