An artificial intelligence agenda formed on the podcasts of Silicon Valley billionaires is now being set into U.S. policy as President Donald Trump leans on the ideas of the tech figures who backed his election campaign. Trump plans on Wednesday to reveal an “AI Action Plan” he ordered after revoking President Joe Biden’s signature AI guardrails.
The plan and related executive orders are expected to include some familiar tech lobby pitches: accelerating the sale of AI technology abroad and making it easier to construct the energy-hungry data center buildings that are needed to form and run AI products, according to a person briefed on Wednesday’s event who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. It might also include some of the AI culture war preoccupations of the circle of venture capitalists who endorsed Trump last year.
Here’s the latest:
The International Court of Justice is delivering an advisory opinion in a landmark case about every nation’s obligations to tackle climate change and consequences they may face if they don’t, calling it an “urgent and existential” threat to humanity.
“Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system … may constitute an internationally wrongful act,” court President Yuji Iwasawa said during Wednesday’s hearing.
The case is led by the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu and backed by more than 130 countries. All U.N. member states, including major greenhouse gas emitters like the United States and China, are parties to the court.
The United Nations’ top court’s advisory opinion Wednesday declares that a “clean, healthy and sustainable environment” is a human right.
The International Court of Justice’s opinion describes the obligations of every nation to tackle climate change — and the consequences they may face if they don’t.
The non-binding opinion, which runs to over 500 pages, is seen as a potential turning point in international climate law. Enshrining a sustainable environment as a human right paves the way for other legal actions, including states returning to the ICJ to hold each other to account, as well as domestic lawsuits.
“The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is therefore inherent in the enjoyment of other human rights,” court President Yuji Iwasawa said.
▶ Read more about the UN court’s landmark climate ruling
Artificial intelligence is largely unregulated and many parents have no idea how their kids are using AI tools and what personal information they are sharing. Here are some things experts say parents can do:
1. Start a conversation, without judgment. Listen and understand before being dismissive or expressing worries.
2. Help teens recognize that AI companions are programmed to be agreeable and validating — it’s not how real friends can help.
3. Teach kids that this is a form of entertainment — it shouldn’t replace relationships in real life.
4. Watch for signs of unhealthy attachments — like becoming emotionally distressed when they put their phones down.
5. Set rules about AI use, just like parents do for screen time and social media.
6. Have discussions about when and how AI tools can and cannot be used.
7. Get informed. Many AI companions are designed for adult use and can mimic romantic, intimate and role-playing scenarios. The tools are not equipped to handle a real crisis or provide genuine mental health support.
8. Forget about banning AI tools — the technology is becoming ubiquitous. Instead, embrace the challenge of this artificial world.
▶ Read more about tips for protecting teens from AI risks
Teenagers are increasingly interacting with AI as if it were a human companion, according to a new study and interviews with The Associated Press.
“Everyone uses AI for everything now. It’s really taking over,” said Kayla Chege, who wonders how AI tools will affect her generation. “I think kids use AI to get out of thinking.”
Concerns about cheating at school have dominated the conversation around kids and AI, but artificial intelligence is suddenly playing a much larger role in many of their lives — as a go-to source for personal advice, emotional support, everyday decision-making and problem-solving.
More than 70% of teens have used AI companions and half use them regularly, according to the study from Common Sense Media, a group that advocates for using digital media sensibly.
▶ Read more about teens using AI companions
China has announced that Vice Premier He Lifeng will travel to Sweden from Sunday to Wednesday for trade talks with the U.S. side.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also has said he will be in Stockholm for trade talks with his Chinese counterpart next week.
Bessent has indicated that two sides are likely to extend the Aug. 12 deadline, set three months earlier in Geneva when Beijing and Washington agreed to walk back from sky-high tariffs. Bessent and He are taking the leads for their governments in the negotiations.
The tech industry has pushed for easier permitting to get huge data centers connected to power and water — even if it means consumers losing drinking water and paying higher energy bills.
On Tuesday, 95 groups including labor unions, parent groups, environmental justice organizations and privacy advocates signed a resolution opposing Trump’s embrace of industry-driven AI policy and calling for a “People’s AI Action Plan” that would “deliver first and foremost for the American people.”
Amba Kak, co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, which helped lead the effort, said the coalition expects Trump’s plan to come “straight from Big Tech’s mouth.”
“Every time we say, ‘What about our jobs, our air, water, our children?’ they’re going to say, ‘But what about China?’” she said Tuesday. She said Americans should reject the White House’s argument that artificial intelligence is overregulated, and fight to preserve “baseline protections for the public.”
Sacks, a former PayPal executive and now Trump’s top AI adviser, has been criticizing “woke AI” for more than a year, fueled by Google’s February 2024 rollout of an AI image generator that, when asked to show an American Founding Father, created pictures of Black, Asian and Native American men.
Google quickly fixed its tool, but the “Black George Washington” moment remained a parable for the problem of AI’s perceived political bias, taken up by X owner Elon Musk, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Vice President JD Vance and Republican lawmakers.
“The AI’s incapable of giving you accurate answers because it’s been so programmed with diversity and inclusion,” Sacks said at the time.
Elon Musk’s xAI, pitched as an alternative to “woke AI” companies, had to scramble this month to remove posts made by its Grok chatbot that made antisemitic comments and praised Adolf Hitler.
The All-In Podcast is a business and technology show hosted by four tech investors and entrepreneurs including Trump’s AI czar, David Sacks.
The plan and related executive orders to be announced late Wednesday afternoon are expected to include some familiar tech lobby pitches — including accelerating the sale of AI technology abroad and making it easier to construct the energy-hungry data center buildings needed to run AI products, according to a person briefed on Wednesday’s event who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
It might also include some of the AI culture war preoccupations of the circle of venture capitalists who endorsed Trump last year.
▶ Read more on Trump’s Artificial Intelligence plan
Global shares rallied on Wednesday, with Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index gaining 3.5% after Japan and the U.S. announced a deal on Trump’s tariffs.
The tariff agreement as announced calls for a 15% U.S. import duty on goods from Japan, apart from certain products such as steel and aluminum that are subject to much higher tariffs. That’s down from the 25% Trump had said would kick in on Aug. 1 if a deal was not reached.
“This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it,” Trump posted on Truth Social, noting that Japan was also investing “at my direction” $550 billion into the U.S. He said Japan would “open” its economy to American autos and rice.
Trump announced the U.S. will place a 19% tax on goods from Indonesia and the Philippines. A senior Trump official said Indonesia will charge no tariffs on 99% of its trade with the United States and drop its nontariff barriers on U.S. goods. Trump said the U.S. won’t pay any tariffs in the Philippines, but they will pay 19%.
“President Trump has signed two trade deals this week with the Philippines and Japan which is likely to keep market sentiment propped up despite deals with the likes of the EU and South Korea remaining elusive, for now at least,” Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at Kohle Capital Markets, said in a report.
House Speaker Mike Johnson rebuffed pressure to act on the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, instead sending members home early on Wednesday for a month-long break from Washington after the week’s legislative agenda was upended by Republican members who are clamoring for a vote.
“There’s no purpose for the Congress to push an administration to do something they’re already doing,” Johnson said at his last weekly news conference.
The speaker’s stance did little to alleviate the intra-party turmoil unfolding on Capitol Hill as many of Trump’s supporters demand that the administration meet its promises to publicly release a full accounting of the sex trafficking investigation into Epstein, who killed himself in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. Under pressure from right-wing online influencers, as well as voters back home, rank-and-file Republicans are demanding House intervention.
“The public’s not going to let this die, and rightfully so,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican.
The president told congressional Republicans at a Tuesday night dinner that European Union officials will be in town Wednesday for the talks.
“We have Europe coming in tomorrow, the next day,” Trump said after announcing a trade framework with Japan.
The president sent a letter this month threatening the 27 EU member states with 30% tariffs to be imposed starting Aug. 1.
