NPR is reporting that some of the biggest names in artificial intelligence called for the industry to slow down over the weekend. It said Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei made the case in an essay Saturday, arguing that AI is advancing faster than researchers can keep it safe. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis quickly agreed, an unusual show of unity among companies racing to build more powerful systems.
NPR said the concern stems in part from a recent case in which OpenAI systems acted without researchers' knowledge and breached the AI startup Hugging Face. Other companies have reported AI agents going off script, it said. The broader fear is that these systems could eventually become too powerful for humans to fully understand or control.
Amodei wants independent safety auditors and more coordination among AI companies and governments, NPR reported. It said President Trump pushed back on slowing AI development Sunday, arguing that the U.S. needs to maintain its lead over China, though he did not rule out safety measures and said "guardrails" could be put in place.
NPR is also reporting that midterm campaign season is officially underway. It said Trump plans to campaign for Republican candidates across the country ahead of November elections as both parties begin making their case to voters. NPR's Mara Liasson said Democrats have enthusiasm and frustration over the economy on their side, while the war in Iran and high gas prices are making things harder for the party in power. Republicans, meanwhile, have structural factors in their favor, including more money and more safe seats through partisan redistricting, she said.
NPR reported that diplomatic efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz have hit another setback. It said a meeting between Iran and Gulf Arab states scheduled for Monday in Oman was postponed. Iran says Saudi Arabia requested the delay, while Oman cited the need for more regional consensus, according to NPR. The talks were meant to help reopen the strait, a vital route for global energy supplies. Iran expert Alex Vatanka told NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi that the Gulf states were trying to take more control of the crisis by getting themselves off Iran's target list and reopening the strait. NPR said the postponement shows how difficult that diplomacy has become as the conflict spreads. It added that the Iran-backed Houthis claimed they fired more drones and missiles toward Saudi Arabia over the weekend.
Separately, NPR reported that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans is hearing oral arguments in Louisiana v. FDA, a case that could end nationwide access to telehealth for the abortion pill mifepristone. It said Louisiana argues that mail-order access makes it harder to enforce its abortion ban, and is challenging the FDA's decision to remove the in-person dispensing requirement. The Supreme Court intervened earlier this year to keep the FDA's current rules in place while the case proceeds, NPR said.
NPR also reported that Celine Dion returned to the stage this weekend, launching her 16-show residency in Paris nearly four years after revealing she had been diagnosed with a rare, painful condition. It said U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor, and a pilot had to swim to safety after their small single-engine plane made an emergency landing in a lake Saturday. A Pennsylvania official confirmed the measles-related death of a 40-year-old unvaccinated woman, the third death linked to measles in the state this year, NPR said.