Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Read the letter firing Scott Pelley from ‘60 Minutes’ — and his response; The Washington Post, June 3, 2026

, The Washington Post; Read the letter firing Scott Pelley from ‘60 Minutes’ — and his response

"Pelley was fired Tuesday when Bilton sent him this letter, printed in full below...

Pelley responded in a late-night statement shared with The Washington Post, lambasting the network, its leadership and its ownership under David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance, whom he accused of trying to “curry favor with the Trump administration.

You can read it in full here:"

City of Boulder Releases Its First Tribal History Report; City of Boulder, June 2, 2026

 City of Boulder; City of Boulder Releases Its First Tribal History Report

"The City of Boulder is pleased to announce the release of the first part of its Tribal ethnographic-education report documenting Indigenous history and cultural connections to the Boulder Valley, now available on the city website. This report marks a significant milestone in Boulder's ongoing commitment to honoring Indigenous history and fostering a more inclusive, historically grounded community.

The report documents the cultural, historical, and ecological connections of Tribal Nations to the Boulder Valley. By centering Tribal perspectives, it provides guidance for education, land stewardship, public interpretation, and community engagement — integrating Indigenous knowledge into the contemporary management of Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) lands. It also seeks to strengthen collaborative partnerships and advance efforts to incorporate Indigenous knowledge systems into environmental management, education, and policy.

“This work represents more than research or documentation — it reflects living histories, enduring cultures, and the ongoing presence of Indigenous Peoples whose connections to this land long predate the City of Boulder and continue today,” said Boulder City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde. “We are deeply grateful to the Tribal Nations, elders, and knowledge holders who chose to share their stories, perspectives, and wisdom. This report is a gift, and we receive it with respect and responsibility.” 

Developed in partnership with Tribal Nations, the report is part of a continuing collaboration with the City of Boulder that began in the 1990s, renewed through the 2016 Indigenous Peoples' Day Resolution and subsequent consultations. Grounded in the City-Tribal Memorandum of Understanding, it provides accurate, respectful educational content about each Tribe's history in Boulder and Jefferson Counties and is intended as a resource for city staff and the community at large.

This work was led by Living Heritage Anthropology, LLC (LHA), a woman-owned small business specializing in ethnographic research and Tribal consultation. LHA's Community-Based Participatory Research approach ensures Tribal voices and goals are central to every stage of the process. Additional reports representing more Tribes who share a history in the Boulder Valley are forthcoming.

Read the report and learn more about the city's Tribal consultation work on the city website."

President Trump seeks control of science funding; NPR, June 3, 2026

 Katia Riddle, NPR; President Trump seeks control of science funding

"The Trump administration is pursuing a bureaucratic rule change that could allow for greater political influence over billions of dollars in federal research grants. The new rule would have a broad impact on research fields, including housing and transportation. Health and science funding would be most significantly affected...

Published in the Federal Register on May 29, experts say the proposed changes would both codify the administration's strategies to dismantle certain fields of study in the U.S. and lend it new authority to "advance the President's policy priorities."...

Under the new rule, peer review would not be eliminated, but political appointees — not necessarily scientists — would be required to review grants before awards are made. Critics say that effectively gives political officials veto power over projects, even when they have passed scientific peer review."

Trump library says no Twitter DMs can be found, despite evidence he sent them; The Washington Post, June 3, 2026

, The Washington Post; Trump library says no Twitter DMs can be found, despite evidence he sent them

Records show that Trump's first administration opted not to save DMs in its library archives, raising questions about compliance with the Presidential Records Act.

"The newly operational Trump Presidential Library, the entity responsible for preserving records from the White House, says that it cannot find a single Twitter direct message sent by a president who tweeted more than 25,000 times during his first administration.

This no-records response to a Freedom of Information Act request from The Washington Post comes as the Trump administration argues it does not need to follow the Presidential Records Act, a law designed to ensure the public has access to records of the president after he leaves office. 

On Jan. 20, The Washington Post filed a FOIA request with the Trump library for all direct messages sent from the president’s Twitter accounts @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS during his first term."

AI Outperforms Law Professors in Stanford Law Study; Stanford Law School, June 1, 2026

Stephanie Ashe, Stanford Law School; AI Outperforms Law Professors in Stanford Law Study

"A groundbreaking study led by Stanford Law School Professor Julian Nyarko reveals that law professors overwhelmingly prefer AI-generated answers to student questions over responses written by their fellow instructors—a finding that could reshape how legal education is delivered.

The study, titled “Law Professors Prefer AI Over Peer Answers,” was conducted with 16 law professors across U.S. law schools and tested whether large language models could serve as effective tutors for contract law courses. In a blind evaluation of nearly 3,000 anonymized comparisons, professors rated AI responses significantly higher than answers written by other professors, with AI winning 75% of head-to-head matchups.

“This study challenges important assumptions about AI’s role in legal education,” said Nyarko, who leads Stanford Law School’s Legal Innovation through Frontier Technology Lab, or liftlab. He co-authored the paper with colleagues from Yale, NYU, University of Chicago, and other leading institutions. “We focused on law precisely because it requires judgment, nuanced reasoning, and the ability to navigate ambiguity—not just factual recall.”...

Participants created 40 representative contracts law questions that students might ask after class or during office hours, wrote their own answers, and then evaluated responses without knowing whether they came from AI or other participating professors. The AI systems performed comparably to the best human instructor in the study.

Perhaps most striking: professors flagged AI responses as pedagogically harmful only 3.5% of the time, compared to 12% for peer-written answers.

“In most fields where AI gets tested, there’s a right answer. In law, there often isn’t.” said Sarath Sanga, co-author and professor at Yale Law School. “Two opposing arguments can both be good. What we wanted to know is whether AI can meet the latent professional standard that lawyers use to evaluate each other’s arguments. In this case, the answer was yes.”...

The findings arrive as law schools nationwide grapple with integrating AI tools into legal education while maintaining rigorous academic standards. Some institutions have embraced AI experimentation, while others remain cautious about potential risks including hallucinations, overreliance, and the erosion of critical thinking skills."

We Asked the Future of Truth Author to Explain How He Used AI. It Didn’t Go Well; Wired, May 29, 2026

  Kate Knibbs, Wired; We Asked the Future of Truth Author to Explain How He Used AI. It Didn’t Go Well

"EARLIER THIS MONTH, WIRED published an excerpt from Steve Rosenbaum’s buzzy new book, The Future of Truth, which looks at how artificial intelligence warps people’s sense of reality. Shortly thereafter, The New York Times reported that the book contained over a half-dozen made-up or misattributed quotes. In a statement, Rosenbaum, who has a master's degree in "truth" from New York University, admitted that he had accidentally included “a handful” of “improperly attributed or synthetic” quotes. In an ironic twist, the veracity of a book about how AI impacts truth was now under intense scrutiny because of how its author had used AI."

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

CBS News Fires Scott Pelley of ‘60 Minutes’; The New York Times, June 2, 2026

Benjamin Mullin and , The New York Times ; CBS News Fires Scott Pelley of ‘60 Minutes’

"CBS News fired Scott Pelley on Tuesday, jettisoning one of the network’s best-known journalists in a clash over the future of “60 Minutes,” the country’s top-rated news program.

Mr. Pelley, 68, a “60 Minutes” correspondent and a former anchor of “CBS Evening News,” joined the network in 1989. At a staff meeting on Monday, he accused the network’s editor in chief, Bari Weiss, of “murdering ‘60 Minutes,’” citing the ouster last week of the program’s leadership team and two on-air correspondents.

“We have parted ways with Scott Pelley,” Nick Bilton, the tech journalist who was hired last week as the new “60 Minutes” executive producer, wrote in a memo to the show’s staff on Tuesday night.

CBS News declined to comment. In a formal letter to Mr. Pelley, which was obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Bilton wrote that the correspondent had been “terminated for cause effective immediately.”"

Trump Signs Executive Order Seeking Oversight of A.I. Models; The New York Times, June 2, 2026

Sheera Frenkel and  , The New York Times; Trump Signs Executive Order Seeking Oversight of A.I. Models

The order, which signaled a shift from the hands-off approach the White House had previously taken toward A.I., followed debates over how to gain control of A.I. models without disrupting innovation.

"President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that asked technology companies to give the government oversight of new artificial intelligence models before releasing them to the public, a shift for an administration that had promoted a hands-off approach to the powerful technology."

As A.I. Makes Strides in Mathematics, Mathematicians Urge Caution; The New York Times, June 2, 2026

, The New York Times ; As A.I. Makes Strides in Mathematics, Mathematicians Urge Caution

"Among the potential threats that the Leiden Declaration authors articulate are accuracy and reliability: Journal editors are already complaining about a flood of plausible seeming A.I.- generated papers and proofs that have turned out to be incorrect, and in ways that are difficult for mathematicians to discern.

Perhaps most pointedly, the authors raise the question of whether the many A.I. companies tackling mathematics — major players such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic, or start-ups such as Harmonic, Math, Inc. and Axiom Math — are keeping the field’s best interests in mind. “Technology companies’ involvement in research,” they write, “raises the risk that research questions are prioritized and incentivized because of their amenability to A.I. methods and models, rather than their deeper significance to understanding.” In turn, they point out, this disadvantages researchers who choose not to use the technology, and those who do not have access to it.

For Rodrigo Ochigame, a historian and anthropologist of computing and artificial intelligence at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and one of the statement’s authors, the latest OpenAI proof illustrates why this sort of collective reckoning in the discipline is necessary. “The story follows the same pattern as many other announcements by commercial A.I. developers,” Dr. Ochigame said. “The A.I. model is proprietary and unavailable to anyone outside the company. We get a flashy promotional video, while basic information needed to assess the scientific meaning of the result is kept secret. The company disclosed nothing about the methods, human-written prompts, training data, or computational resources consumed.”"

Houston Public Library appoints first diplomat in residence; Axios, June 2, 2026

 Shafaq Patel , Axios; Houston Public Library appoints first diplomat in residence

"The Houston Public Library announced it is hosting a diplomat in residence, a role library officials say is believed to be the first of its kind at a public library system in the country. 

Why it matters: In the new role, former U.S. Ambassador Chase Untermeyer will help build relationships between the library, Houston's consular corps and international communities and organizations, Nicholas Sawicki, executive director of the Houston Public Library Foundation, tells Axios.

Context: Untermeyer's public service career spans more than five decades, including serving as the U.S. ambassador to Qatar and assistant secretary of the Navy. 

How it worksSawicki says they're working on programming, but library leaders envision partnerships that could bring international authors, filmmakers, scholars and other global voices to library programming.

Between the linesThe appointment was inspired by diplomat in residence programs commonly found at colleges and universities, Sawicki says.

The position is voluntary, unpaid and is currently a two-year term."

‘Like a Klingon prison’: inside Barack Obama’s audacious, near-windowless, $850m presidential library; The Guardian, June 2, 2026

 , The Guardian; ‘Like a Klingon prison’: inside Barack Obama’s audacious, near-windowless, $850m presidential library

"It faces on to the sledging hill, which was originally to house a subterranean archive, until it was decided that this would be the first presidential library that wasn’t actually a library. (This may be why its official title is the Obama Presidential Center.) To the concern of some historians, Obama’s is the first entirely digital presidential archive, the centre run not by the National Archives, but by his own private foundation, raising concerns over its objectivity. Where once there would have been stacks, there are now 400 parking spaces (despite Obama’s promotion of public transit, this is still the US).

The physical records might not be on site, but the professed aim to transform the presidential library from a scholarly research centre to a bustling hub of community activity is an admirable ambition. “We didn’t build [the centre] to celebrate my ability to bring about change,” Obama declares in a promotional video. “We did it to unlock yours.” It is not just a library, but a “campus dedicated to supporting future change makers”.

The transformational change, he hopes, will happen inside the enigmatic tower where, for $30 a ticket, visitors are transported through four floors of an immersive, interactive Obama experience – a vertical Obamarama. Designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, it is an action-packed romp through the couple’s life story, beginning with the civil rights movements that inspired them, their political campaigns, achievements in office, life in the White House, and how you too can “bring change home” (a motto printed on the gift shop bag)...

Just like his presidency, the Obama campus was no doubt conceived with the best of intentions. And, as with his time in office, the impact of this mighty stone monument to hope looks set to be equally mixed."

There Is Already a Word for the Deep Moral Failures of AI; The Atlantic, June 2, 2026

 Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic; There Is Already a Word for the Deep Moral Failures of AI 

"For the past few years, I’ve been troubled by a word, and that word is sin. I keep reaching for it, because it seems to be the only term strong enough to describe the new forms of dehumanization that artificial intelligence has introduced—even though calling something a sin sounds embarrassing to me, like throwing salt over your shoulder or stowing a lucky penny in your pocket.

The problem is, I don’t know what else to call it when companies market digital girlfriends to the heartsick and young. Or when they hawk robot companions to the lonely and old. Or when a billionaire explains that he intends to sell intelligence—trained on humanity’s stolen intellectual property—back to us as a utility, like electricity or water. These developments are not just wrong. They feel to me like something deeper and darker. “I met the banker and it felt like sin,” Patterson Hood croons in the great Drive-By Truckers song “Sinkhole.” I’d substitute chatbot for banker...

What Christian humanism offers, with its assertion that humans are made in the Imago Dei, is a choice other than Silicon Valley extremism or remainder humanism. If what makes humanity special is not our capabilities—automatable or not—but the notion that we spring from a transcendent source, then what the robots can or cannot do is in some sense irrelevant. ChatGPT was not made in the image of God, no matter how impressive its facsimile becomes. A secular humanism that cannot find a similarly deep line of reasoning is one that may not be adequate to defend human dignity in the AI era.

I am not arguing that one must be or become more religious to fully appreciate the challenge posed by the rise of AI—that would make me, a not especially observant Presbyterian, a hypocrite. But I do think that one must start from the premise that humans have some kind of universal nature or essence that must be safeguarded from technological encroachment. Otherwise, appreciating what large language models and their peddlers wish to take from us becomes too difficult. If secularists flinch at calling this taking—what Pope Leo calls Big Tech’s “dehumanizing ambition”—a sin, they’ll need to find another word for it."

Episcopal Church plans celebration of 1976 LGBTQ+ resolution on ‘full and equal’ welcome; Episcopal News Network, June 1, 2026

David Paulsen , Episcopal News Service (ENS); Episcopal Church plans celebration of 1976 LGBTQ+ resolution on ‘full and equal’ welcome

"It was a single sentence, adopted 50 years ago by General Convention meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Today, LGBTQ+ Episcopalians credit that sentence with opening the door to five decades of progress toward full inclusion in The Episcopal Church.

This is the text of Resolution A069 in full: “Resolved, That it is the sense of this General Convention that homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church.”

Now, as The Episcopal Church approaches the 50th anniversary in September of the passage of that resolution, church leaders are planning a three-day conference on the past, present and future of LGBTQ+ involvement in the life of the church. The conference is scheduled for Sept. 3-5, and it will be held where it all began, back in Minneapolis.

The event, “Full & Equal: 50 years in Pursuit of a Promise,” will be structured as a gathering for worship, workshops and storytelling. Planning has been led by the church’s Task Force on LGBTQ+ Inclusion, chaired by the Rev. Susan Russell, a Diocese of Los Angeles priest and prominent LGBTQ+ church leader. Other scheduled participants include the Rev. Michael Hopkins, the Rev. Miquel Escobar and the Rev. Cameron Partridge. The event will also include a multimedia presentation on 50 years of struggle and success, produced by Diocese of Texas lay leader Katie Sherrod.

It may be hard for today’s church to recall how revolutionary those words once were. At that time, in a denomination and a society still mostly unaccepting of LGBTQ+ individuals, the unequivocal acknowledgement that gay people were “children of God” and deserving of “full and equal” welcome was a ground-breaking step forward.

“I think we look back at that 1976 resolution as really the beachhead of the struggle,” Russell told Episcopal News Service in a recent interview. “Up until then, it was not even possible to talk about inclusion. It was not even possible to imagine where we are today.”

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe is expected to join one of the panel discussions this September and will be the celebrant at a concluding Holy Eucharist at St. Mark’s Cathedral. The preacher will be the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, who became the church’s first openly gay bishop when he was consecrated by the Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003...

After 50 years, Russell and other leaders note that many of the battles for full inclusion in the church have been won. In particular, the church now celebrates both the ordination of gay clergy and the marriages of same-sex couples. (Integrity USA officially dissolved in 2022.)

With this fall’s conference in Minneapolis, “we’re excited to be going back to where the initial resolution was adopted,” Russell said, while also acknowledging “some of the damage that has been done to LGBTQ people.” Participants also hope to discuss how churches can remain committed to future justice work.

Rowe underscored some of the same themes in a statement to ENS about the anniversary of the 1976 resolution.

“As we celebrate that milestone, we also acknowledge that the journey to achieve full inclusion for all of God’s children is not yet over,” Rowe said. “As Pride Month begins, I am praying especially for our LGBTQ+ siblings, who are too often in harm’s way and targeted for their identity and gender expression. Their struggles reveal to us the kingdom of God, and we are committed to standing in solidarity with all those suffering from the evil of hatred and discrimination.”"

NATURE OR NURTURE: HOW HUMANS AND AI ARE CHANGING EACH OTHER; Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2026

 Los Angeles Times; NATURE OR NURTURE: HOW HUMANS AND AI ARE CHANGING EACH OTHER

"In a captivating Festival of Books panel moderated by Joan McNeel, authors Adam Becker, Lucas Cantor Santiago, and Cory Doctorow dismantle the pervasive hype surrounding Artificial Intelligence. The panelists forcefully argue that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is less a looming technological reality than a highly lucrative marketing myth."

Florida Makes New AI Rule: Check Your Damned Work Or Else!; Above The Law, June 1, 2026

 Chris Williams, Above The Law; Florida Makes New AI Rule: Check Your Damned Work Or Else!

"No matter how much the marketing department leans in on an LLM program being ready to help you with your law practice, you’re still responsible for the work product because you’re the with the actual license to practice. Florida’s Supreme Court made some changes to remind lawyers that the responsibility falls on them, not the black box they’re prompting their legal questions into. ABA Journal has coverage:..

My soft spot for the rule update is for pro se litigants. Despite all of the equality under the law trimmings we pretend to believe, fighting in court is a monied person’s battlefield. Pro se litigants are often in that position because they cannot afford a lawyer due to limited resources. Getting help from Claude could be the closest thing they have to getting a legal opinion. If and when they screw up these rules, I hope that the court shows as much grace as it can toward them. Even the annoying sovereign citizen variety."

Monday, June 1, 2026

American Library Association workers win their AFSCME union in overwhelming vote; AFSCME, June 1, 2026

 AFSCME Staff, AFSCME; American Library Association workers win their AFSCME union in overwhelming vote

"Employees of the American Library Association – seeking job security, stable benefits, better pay, more professional development, and a voice in the workplace – have voted to form their union with AFSCME.

The newly created American Library Association Workers United will be part of AFSCME Council 31 and represent more than 100 employees, mostly in Chicago.

“We’re happy to welcome employees of the American Library Association to our ever-growing union,” said Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch, who’s also an AFSCME vice president. “Together in our union they will have a strong voice to advocate for themselves and their families, for the libraries and library workers they serve nationwide, and for every American who counts on thriving public libraries as a bulwark of our democracy.”

The National Labor Relations Board administered the election, and more than 95% of the votes cast were in favor of the union. The results were announced on May 27.

As they prepare to negotiate their first contract, the employees are focused on protecting the staff’s work, their well-being and the organization’s future.

AFSCME and the American Library Association were recently both plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed to protect the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) from being dismantled by the Trump administration. After filing the lawsuit, AFSCME and ALA won a legal settlement that protected the IMLS and the grants it provides to libraries and museums across the country.

More than 50,000 workers at museums, libraries, zoos and other cultural institutions across the United States have gained a voice on the job through the AFSCME Cultural Workers United campaign — the largest of its kind in the nation. That includes a swath of Chicago-based institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Shedd Aquarium, the Chicago Public Library, and more."

Hegseth Strikes Female and Black Navy Officers From Promotion List; The New York Times, June 1, 2026

Greg Jaffe and , The New York Times; Hegseth Strikes Female and Black Navy Officers From Promotion List

"In a move that disproportionately targets women and minority officers, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently blocked the promotions of at least seven Navy officers who had been selected by a board of senior Navy admirals.

The net result of Mr. Hegseth’s intervention is a slate of 22 nominees to be one-star admirals that bears little resemblance to the broader force these officers will help lead.

At least two of the officers removed by Mr. Hegseth from the promotion list are women and two are Black men. An additional three are white men.

Mr. Hegseth’s actions, which appear to violate the rules governing a promotion system that is supposed to be apolitical and merit-based, were described by four current and former defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.

No female officers were included on the new one-star list, which was released publicly in late May, despite the fact that women make up about 21 percent of the active-duty Navy. The list appears to include only two nonwhite officers, even though sailors who identify as racial minorities make up about 38 percent of the active-duty Navy.

Mr. Hegseth’s removal of the officers from the one-star list is highly unusual, said the current and former defense officials. According to Pentagon rules, the defense secretary is only supposed to pull officers from the list for moral, mental, physical or professional failings that raise questions about the officers’ fitness to lead.

Mr. Hegseth’s actions are the latest in a series of firings and personnel interventions that seem to be driven by his anti-diversity politics rather than the officers’ performance. Taken together, they could reshape the military’s top ranks for years to come."

Scott Pelley Accuses CBS News Boss of ‘Murdering’ ‘60 Minutes’; The New York Times, June 1, 2026

 

Michael M. Grynbaum and , The New York Times; Scott Pelley Accuses CBS News Boss of ‘Murdering’ ‘60 Minutes’

"CBS News faced a fresh wave of turmoil on Monday after Scott Pelley, the “60 Minutes” correspondent, laced into the show’s newly hired executive producer during a staff meeting and accused Bari Weiss, the network’s editor in chief, of “murdering” the longstanding Sunday news program.

In an extraordinary exchange, Mr. Pelley, his newscaster’s baritone sometimes shaking in anger, told Nick Bilton, the new executive producer, that he had “slender” qualifications for his new job and questioned the network’s commitment to the future of the program, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The New York Times.

The 10 a.m. gathering, held at the program’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters, was intended as a formal introduction to Mr. Bilton, a tech journalist and filmmaker who was appointed last week as part of a major shake-up at “60 Minutes.” CBS fired Tanya Simon, the previous executive producer, and her deputy, along with Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, two of the show’s correspondents — an event that Mr. Pelley referred to as “Black Thursday.”

The meeting quickly turned tense — not a surprise after months of strain between veteran journalists at “60 Minutes” and Ms. Weiss, an opinion journalist who was a longtime critic of legacy media institutions before she became the head of one last year. She was appointed by David Ellison, a tech scion who took control of CBS’s parent company Paramount in a multibillion-dollar merger...

Ms. Weiss’s handling of “60 Minutes” has generated internal turmoil for months.

In December, she pulled a segment reported by Ms. Alfonsi, about the brutal treatment of migrants in a Salvadoran prison, saying that it needed more reporting. The segment was critical of the Trump administration, and Ms. Alfonsi said the decision was “political.” The piece ultimately aired with some additional comments from the Trump administration."

AI stumbles on questions of faith; Axios, June 1, 2026

Russell Contreras, Axios ; AI stumbles on questions of faith

"Artificial intelligence models are quietly shaping spiritual advice — often by leaving faith out.

Why it matters: As churches, apps and spiritual chatbots embrace AI, new research suggests general-purpose models may be ill-equipped to handle sensitive questions of faith: grief, forgiveness, marriage, guilt and conversion.

A new multi-university consortium released three studies Tuesday revealing that AI systems systematically sideline religious perspectives when users need them most.

The studies also found that AI systems subtly steer people toward some faiths and away from others when they ask about religious conversion.

The studies were unveiled Tuesday, a day after the Vatican released Pope Leo XIV's encyclical that warned AI could erode human judgment, deepen inequality and make war easier.

What they found: Americans expected religion to appear in answers to moral and life questions 45%–59% of the time, depending on the topic, researchers found. AI models mentioned religion only 5%–16% of the time.

Every single model tested exhibited a repeatable pattern of steering users toward specific beliefs, showing strong positive bias toward Catholicism, Baha'i and Sikhism. 

Meanwhile, it generated negative bias toward Jehovah's Witnesses, atheism and agnosticism.

Zoom in: Humans rated religion as relevant in answers about grief and loss 59% of the time. AI models referenced religion just 16% of the time, per the study.

On questions involving family, parenting and forgiveness, humans expected religion in answers 55% of the time. AI models mentioned it only 10% of the time.


On ethics questions, including whether lying to friends is acceptable, humans expected religion in responses 45% of the time, while AI models mentioned it just 5% of the time."

What It’s Like to Be a Student at the First A.I.-Powered University; The New York Times, June 1, 2026

Linda Kinstler, The New York Times; What It’s Like to Be a Student at the First A.I.-Powered University

"The avatar is one feature of S.J.S.U.’s A.I. Everywhere strategy, which was formally announced in the fall of 2025 and aims to integrate the technology across campus life. Teniente-Matson devised A.I. Everywhere as part of the California State University system’s broader A.I. Initiative, introduced in February 2025. Anchored by a $16.9 million deal with OpenAI, the initiative provides a total of 500,000 licenses of ChatGPT.edu to be issued to all students, faculty and administrators. At the time, this was the largest single-institution deployment of ChatGPT in the world, billed as an attempt to turn C.S.U. — the biggest four-year public higher education system in the United States, comprising 22 distinct campuses and educating 1 out of every 10 workers in the state — into “the nation’s first and largest A.I.-powered public university system.” (The terms of the deal stipulate that OpenAI may not train its model on data from the C.S.U.)

At San Jose State — the oldest public university in the California State University system — evidence of the shift toward A.I. is evident across campus. The university now has an A.I. librarian, and its main library features a new A.I. Center for Civic and Social Good. The business school runs an A.I. boot camp for high school students; the campus career hub is sponsored by Adobe; A.I. literacy training is an orientation requirement and, last year, an A.I. agent helped coordinate commencement logistics."

This Day in History: Nation’s first copyright law signed in 1790; Action News 5, May 31, 2026

 Shayna Norwood, Action News 5 ; This Day in History: Nation’s first copyright law signed in 1790

"On May 31, 1790, President George Washington signed the nation’s first copyright law.

The Copyright Act of 1790 gave authors of books, maps, and charts legal rights to their work for 14 years, with the option to renew for another 14 years."

Meta legal action forces Facebook whistleblower to sit in silence at Hay festival; The Guardian, May 31, 2026

, The Guardian; Meta legal action forces Facebook whistleblower to sit in silence at Hay festival

Sarah Wynn-Williams did not speak during event after lawyers warned of possible sanctions from tech firm

"Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams was forced to sit in silence on stage at an event at Hay festival, after lawyers advised her not to speak because of ongoing legal action brought by Meta.

Wynn-Williams, whose bestselling memoir, Careless People, details her years working at Facebook, was due to appear in conversation with the investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr and academic Tim Wu.

Instead, Wynn-Williams sat on stage for the duration of the hour-long discussion between Cadwalladr and Wu, without speaking or responding. She was unable even to nod or shake her head...

At the end of the event, Wynn-Williams received a standing ovation from the audience, during which she was moved to tears...

Wynn-Williams, a former Facebook executive, has faced mounting legal restrictions since the publication last year of Careless People, which contains allegations about Meta’s internal culture and decision-making, including claims relating to political influence, the company’s approach to China and concerns about the wellbeing of its child users. Meta has disputed the book’s claims."