Happy Tuesday. Here’s the Tuesday Tech Drop, the past week’s top stories at the intersection of technology and politics.
Pete Hegseth applies pressure over AI
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summoned Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei for a meeting at the Pentagon on Tuesday as the Defense Department attempts to pressure the artificial intelligence company to loosen its restrictions around the use of its technology to spy on Americans and to enable weapons to fire without human involvement. The Defense Department is currently heavily reliant on the AI tool, Claude, and Anthropic’s executives have thus far resisted the pressure campaign. Needless to say, Anthropic acquiescing to Hegseth on this matter would open up the likelihood of yet more powerful AI tools being deployed against people abroad and living within U.S. borders.
Read more from CNBC on the feud between Anthropic and the Pentagon here.
Trump sons’ self-enrichment plans
Donald Trump’s sons have invested in an Israeli-backed drone company that’s slated to do business with the Trump administration and has boasted about its ability to kill people at low cost.
Read my blog on the Trumps’ investment in Xtend here.
Tony Gonzales’ text messages
There are now bipartisan calls for Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, to resign after unearthed text messages suggest that he had a sexual relationship with a former staffer who died by suicide. Gonzales denied the allegations in November and told reporters on Tuesday that he has no intention of resigning. My MS NOW colleague Steve Benen has done a great job keeping up with the scandal surrounding Gonzales.
Read his post on calls for Gonzales to resign here.
Candace Owens vs. Erika Kirk
Far-right influencer Candace Owens recently promoted the upcoming release of a film that targets Turning Point USA executive Erika Kirk with unproven conspiratorial claims that seek to implicate Kirk in the death of her husband, Charlie Kirk. So continues the growing MAGA civil war.
New Mexico’s Epstein probe
New Mexico’s Department of Justice officially launched a probe into an allegation that surfaced amid the latest Epstein files release, based on an anonymous claim that Jeffrey Epstein ordered the burial of two foreign girls near his ranch in the state. As Trump encourages Americans to focus on “something else” other than the Epstein files, New Mexico’s probe is likely to keep the public’s attention on the pursuit of justice instead.
Read my blog on the probe here.
And check out state Rep. Andrea Romero discussing her state’s Epstein probes below.
Hackers in Epstein files face DEF CON ban
Speaking of Epstein, the fallout from the latest release of Epstein files continues, and it’s reaching into some unexpected places. Nextgov/FCW, a website focused on government-related tech news, reported last week that the massive hacker conference known as DEF CON recently banned three hackers and technologists over their newly revealed ties to the notorious sex criminal. All three deny wrongdoing with regards to Epstein.
Read more on that here.
Meta’s midterms play
Social media company Meta is launching its largest effort yet to fund political campaigns ahead of this year’s midterms, according to recent reporting from The New York Times. The effort comes as the company faces litigation over allegations that its platforms have fueled self-harm and sexual predation, claims the company has vehemently disputed.
Read my blog on Meta’s multimillion-dollar investment here.
AI fears move Nevada sex workers to unionize
A new report from Mother Jones shines light on a push to unionize sex workers at a Nevada brothel, with some workers citing concerns about the potential use of their likenesses, including for content generated by AI, in addition to concerns about compensation.
Read the Mother Jones report here.
