Political Spectrum

At its AI Science Summit ("Science: A New Golden Age") on October 8, the White House announced $2.4 billion in compute and AI credits from 11 companies for the Genesis Mission Consortium, which supports work at more than 15 federal agencies: $1 billion from Nvidia, $500 million from AMD, $200 million from OpenAI, $150 million each from Anthropic and Google, $100 million each from AMP and Emerald AI, and $50 million each from AWS, Armada, Crusoe and Micron, Nextgov reports. The administration billed the event as a $6 billion push. The Pentagon announced up to $350 million for quantum computing. The Next Web notes it's unclear how the pledged computing time will actually be set aside for scientists.

Federal Judge Sara Hill of the Northern District of Oklahoma ruled that a sheriff's deputy violated a woman's Fourth Amendment rights by searching Flock's license-plate database without a warrant, apparently only because her car had California plates, and suppressed the evidence that followed. "This is a type of indiscriminate mass surveillance," she wrote. The ruling does not bind other courts.

On October 2, Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced the Ban Flock Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Jeff Merkley, which would bar federal agencies from using any automatic license-plate reader or its data, except for tolls and uses Congress later approves. TechCrunch notes the bill faces long odds.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter told Justice Department employees to use "super intelligence" and "SI" instead of "artificial intelligence" and "AI" "to the maximum extent permitted by law" in public communications, policy documents and other official records, and in court filings "when appropriate," according to a memo seen by Reuters and Bloomberg Law. It follows President Trump's September 29 executive order requiring the switch across federal agencies, which says government terminology "should reflect the transformative capabilities" of the technology.

Vice President JD Vance announced that Microsoft, Adobe and six outsourcing firms (Capgemini, Cognizant, HCL, Infosys, Tata and Wipro) can no longer file, or have pending applications processed, through the Permanent Labor Certification program (PERM), which employers use to sponsor workers for green cards. The administration accuses the companies of misusing visa programs to replace U.S. workers. The H-1B program itself is not affected, and green cards already issued remain valid.

Vance said Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. Microsoft says 80% of its roughly 6,000 H-1B applications last fiscal year were to extend or change the status of existing employees, not to hire new people.

President Trump announced a White House AI task force, the "Super Intelligence Force," led by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, with 120 days to report on the government's role in AI's risks and opportunities. According to the Wall Street Journal, its charter says it will plan responses to AI-enabled threats "while preventing overregulation and regulatory capture that would stifle innovation and competition." The Journal reports its members include Vice President Vance, Defense Secretary Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Bessent. The White House's review process for frontier models, created in July, remains voluntary.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions on the International Criminal Court as an institution, cutting it off from U.S.-based financial services and technology companies and from using U.S. dollars. U.S. companies and individuals doing business with the court have six months to wind it down. The administration objects to the court's investigations into the United States and its allies, including Israel. The ICC called the move "an assault on the rule of law," and Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement of strong disagreement. The Netherlands, the court's host, has discussed using the EU's blocking statute in response.