Students across the country are getting ready to head back to school, and this year they’ll have the chance to take on a different kind of assignment: the first-ever Presidential AI Challenge. An outgrowth of an executive order signed by President Trump in April, the Challenge aims to inspire students, educators and community leaders to work together to ensure the next generation is ready to take on the unprecedented technological change we can expect in the near future. This goes beyond politics, and asks students to find ways to use artificial intelligence to respond to challenges in students’ local communities.
This initiative has arrived not a moment too soon. New developments in AI are announced almost daily – some promising, some disconcerting. The headlines show us every day that this world-changing technology will need governance and guardrails left firmly in qualified human hands. The Trump White House understands this, and is right to engage America’s youth. Who better to challenge our thinking on emerging tech than those who will be impacted the most?
If educators prioritize safe and ethical engagement with AI in the classroom, this could be one of the most consequential school years in decades. Generation Z is coming close to the end of their school years. Generation Alpha, in school behind them, may well be renamed by history as “Generation AI,” because they will be the first to come of age in a world with all the power of artificial intelligence at their fingertips. The sooner they start working through what that means, the better.
Different schools and communities will inspire students to meet the Presidential AI Challenge in different ways, but there are a few consistent elements that educators, community leaders, and the tech community should strive to instill in American youth so that they learn to engage with AI in responsible, ethical ways.
The first is to reconceptualize the idea of digital citizenship. It’s not just about being nice on social media anymore (although that remains important). But we must make sure students understand that AI is a tool to be used responsibly, and that being a good citizen extends to online communities. Understanding ethical standards is key, as is the constant reminder that technology should serve humanity, and not the other way around. As powerful as the technology will be, the students using it will have to remember that their human mind is still in charge.
If the human minds are to remain in charge, we will need to sharpen critical thinking skills at all educational levels. Switzerland and Sweden, for instance, have integrated these skills into all levels of their curriculum – even into continuing education in their workforce. Critical thinking will be the bedrock of ethical AI use. By fostering skills to question, analyze, and evaluate AI outputs, we empower learners to challenge assumptions and create AI systems that foster trust and respect. The use of AI as a crutch – like writing your term papers for you – is the exact opposite of this. It’s more than just lazy – it sets us back on doing the important work to keep this technology in check.
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To stop AI from replacing critical thinking, we should train students to use AI as a tool for exploration and curiosity: start with an idea in your own brain, then explore further with AI-generated insight that you never fully trust and always verify. Once outputs are created, there must always be a &#8220;human in the loop&#8221; by design, evaluating AI outputs and coming up with an original solution based on human judgment. Students can study, design, and ensure solutions reflect steps that allow humans to interject moral reasoning and human creativity.
The next generation will need to understand more than just how to interact with a chatbot in a safe, ethical, and helpful way. AI’s ripple effects will go beyond our screens, as the need for more physical data centers to power AI innovation increases. We must set an example by wrestling with policy questions, like energy access issues, in an empathetic, human-centered way. We don’t want power grids diverting power to data centers while hospitals can’t keep their machines on. AI must be used to uplift communities, as outlined in the Presidential AI Challenge.
We are poised to mark the 250th anniversary of America’s founding in a world abounding with technology that our founders could only dream of. But the same values that inspired them, a “decent respect” for freedom, human dignity, and individual rights, should guide us as we explore this uncharted technological territory. The upcoming school year, educators and students alike have a fascinating opportunity to engage with this technology in ways that align with our values.
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Theresa Payton is the founder and CEO of Fortalice Solutions. She served as the White House Chief Information Officer under President George W. Bush, and co-founded the Major-Payton School of Business at Immaculata University.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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AI Heads Back To School: Students Face A Challenge That Will Shape The Future

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Americans are deeply concerned over the prospect that advances in artificial intelligence could put swaths of the country out of work permanently, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The six-day poll, which concluded on Monday, showed 71% of respondents said they were concerned that AI will be &#8220;putting too many people out of work permanently.&#8221;
The new technology burst into the national conversation in late 2022 when OpenAI&#8217;s ChatGPT chatbot launched and became the fastest-growing application of all time, with tech heavyweights like Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Google owner Alphabet and Microsoft offering their own AI products.
While at present there are few signs of mass unemployment &#8211; the U.S. jobless rate was just 4.2% in July &#8211; artificial intelligence is stirring concerns as it reshapes jobs, industries and day-to-day life.
Some 77% of respondents to the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they worried the technology could be used to stir up political chaos, a sign of unease over the now-common use of AI technology to create realistic videos of imaginary events.
Americans are also leery about military applications for AI, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. Some 48% of respondents said the government should never use AI to determine the target of a military strike, compared with 24% who said the government should allow that sort of use of the technology. Another 28% said they were not sure.
The general enthusiasm for AI shown by many people and companies has fueled further investments, such as Foxconn and SoftBank&#8217;s planned data center equipment factory in Ohio. It has also upended national security policies as the United States and China vie for AI dominance.
More than half of Americans &#8211; some 61% &#8211; said they were concerned about the amount of electricity needed to power the fast-growing technology.
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Google said earlier this month it had signed agreements with two U.S. electric utilities to reduce its AI data center power consumption during times of surging demand on the grid, as energy-intensive AI use outpaces power supplies.
The new technology has also come under criticism for applications that have let AI bots hold romantic conversations with children, generate false medical information and help people make racist arguments.
Two-thirds of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they worried that people would ditch relationships with other people in favor of AI companions.
People were split on whether AI technology will improve education. Some 36% of respondents thought it would help, while 40% disagreed and the rest were not sure.
The Reuters/Ipsos survey gathered responses online from 4,446 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of about 2 percentage points.

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Staggering Number Of Americans Fear AI Will Permanently Displace Workers

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Most people who engage with AI do so in a fun and marginal way. But there is a very serious political side to it that the Trump administration understands.
In an attempt to actually push artificial intelligence forward, the federal government is pushing for vast energy exploration, which is a very good thing.
AI requires extraordinary energy consumption. China right now is vastly out-producing us on an energy level. They have no environmental regulations, so they&#8217;re ramming through huge energy projects that are designed in order to foster their AI system.
The United States, under President Trump, is opening up the energy sector, which is absolutely necessary. The United States is also deregulating a lot of the tech economy, which is excellent. It means that there will be more capital that flows into the AI race, and that matters for both reasons, military and technological.
American companies are still leading this race. Yesterday, ChatGPT released GPT-5, which is their new flagship AI model. “OpenAI executives called GPT-5 a “major upgrade” over the systems that previously powered ChatGPT, saying the new technology was faster, more accurate and less likely to ‘hallucinate,’ or make stuff up,” The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/technology/openai-chatgpt-gpt-5.html">reported</a>. “OpenAI has consistently improved the technology that underpins its chatbot. &#8230; OpenAI’s many rivals, including Google, Meta, the start-up Anthropic and China’s DeepSeek, have released similar technologies. This is the first time that OpenAI has used a so-called reasoning model to power the free version of ChatGPT. Unlike the previous technologies, a reasoning model can spend time ‘thinking’ through complex problems before settling on an answer.” 
So, instead of AI being a predictive text mechanism, it basically checks its own work to prevent errors. All of this is indeed transformative, and the U.S. federal workforce is apparently going to be provided access to ChatGPT at essentially no cost. It&#8217;s going to filter through to the federal workforce, which is good.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2256-the-ben-shapiro-show?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
But this does raise the question of what we do with China, because it is a race between the United States and China.
There is some conflicting thinking among people on the Right about what to do with China. Some believe that China should be provided access to everything except the H100 from Nvidia, because if we get China dependent on American silicon, they will have to build on our platforms, and that&#8217;s better than them developing their own industry in microchips domestically.
And then there is the side which I tend toward, which is: No, don&#8217;t give China anything. Make them steal it.
The Trump administration seems rather split on this; you&#8217;ll see the Trump administration say China is cheating. President Trump even went after the Intel CEO for having too many close ties to China. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas had called them out, pointing out that the deep relationship meant that Intel chips were probably getting into China illegally. Cotton wrote an open letter to Intel’s board with questions about the chipmaker’s new CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s ties to Chinese firms. 
I agree with that.
On the other hand, the administration is also opening up the possibility of Nvidia shipping H20s to the Chinese government.
So, a policy must be settled on with regard to how to view China and developments in AI. Are we going to be in an open competition with China? Is it going to be a “frenemy” situation with China?
That remains utterly unclear.
The answer may well determine the future of the United States.

WAIC World Artificial Intelligent Coference

​​​​Battling China Over AI And America’s Future

​​​​Battling China Over AI And America's Future

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The Trump administration appears to be all in on investing in American workers and our domestic manufacturing sector.
Just this week, the president <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/trump-energy-ai-summit-pittsburgh-carnegie-mellon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traveled to Pittsburgh</a> to announce a historic $90 billion investment in energy and artificial intelligence that will spur much-needed economic development after decades of manufacturing decline. The Federal Trade Commission <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/ftc-declares-july-made-usa-month" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> July “Made in the USA” Month, pledging to educate consumers, celebrate domestic manufacturers, and crack down on the misuse of the patriotic label.
These are positive developments, but they may all be for naught. Because right now, “Made in America” doesn’t mean much of anything.
“Made in America” was once a laudable promise that stood for quality, grit, and jobs. Americans were proud to buy goods produced at home, and as recently as 2009, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/business/worldbusiness/20iht-wbmake.1.20332814.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">65%</a> of the products Americans bought were made by American producers.
Somewhere along the way, however, “Made in America” was hijacked by marketing departments and manipulated by corporations seeking to capitalize on patriotism while outsourcing the work overseas.
Today, “Made in America” labels are everywhere, but thanks to an ambiguous definition of the term, only <a href="https://netchoice.org/made-in-the-usa-three-factors-retailers-should-consider/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11%</a> of goods sold in this country are actually made by American manufacturers. It’s high time that the FTC fixes its definition and works to reward companies that actually make products here.
The “Made in America” label is on everything from toolboxes to t-shirts. But take a closer look, and odds are the guts of that product were made overseas. American workers might have put the final touch on it, but should that qualify as “domestic manufacturing”?
This is a fraud on the American consumer. Worse, it’s a fraud that we’re subsidizing.
Billions in taxpayer-funded energy credits, tech subsidies, and manufacturing incentives are being awarded to companies that have figured out how to game the system. They ship in foreign components, do the bare minimum of assembly here, and collect the “Made in USA” bonus, all while undercutting the very supply chains we’re supposed to be rebuilding.
Solar panels have become the poster child for this shell game. For years, America didn’t produce a single solar crystalline cell, which is the key piece that actually converts sunlight into energy. But that didn’t stop companies from building flashy American facilities to bolt together foreign-made parts and claim the whole thing as “domestic manufacturing.” Meanwhile, jobs and genuine value are still being outsourced overseas.
The FTC <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-made-usa-standard">says</a> “Made in America” should mean “all or virtually all” of a product is made here. Yet in practice, there’s little enforcement and even less clarity. “Assembled in America” is a catch-all term with so many loopholes you could drive a cargo ship through it. Companies are only too happy to exploit this confusion, especially when paired with hefty tax breaks.
Every time the federal government rewards these tactics, it’s sending your hard-earned dollars abroad. We undermine American manufacturers who play by the rules. We leave our supply chains vulnerable. And we trick millions of patriotic consumers who are trying to do the right thing by buying American.
This is how the United States loses industries. Not in some sudden collapse, but by letting the definition of “American-made” get so watered down that it becomes meaningless.
In order to reward deserving companies, the FTC needs to redefine its “Made in America” standard and actually enforce it. It should mean what it says. The core components, which give a product its value, have to be sourced as well as assembled here.
The FTC should also start cracking down by doing more than merely issuing guidance. It needs to slap punitive fines on companies abusing the label and misleading consumers.
Incentives should be reworked so that clean energy credits and manufacturing subsidies are tiered. Full credit for full domestic content. Partial credit for partial effort. No more handing out taxpayer dollars for companies doing the bare minimum.
Finally, the FTC needs to give consumers transparency. Labels should clearly show where the guts of a product come from to enable Americans to make informed choices.
If Washington can’t get this right, we frankly have no business talking about rebuilding anything. “Made in America” shouldn’t be a marketing gimmick. It has to be once again a badge of honor, earned by companies that invest, hire, and build here. To restore American manufacturing, we must stop rewarding fake patriotism and start standing up for the real thing.
Bret Manley is executive director of the <a href="https://eftc.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Energy Fair Trade Coalition</a>. He is a retired Naval Intelligence Officer and previously worked on Capitol Hill as chief of staff to a senior member of the Congressional Climate Solutions Caucus. Follow on X: <a href="https://x.com/bretmanley" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@bretmanley</a>.
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The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Operations Inside The Ford Motor Co. Kentucky Truck Manufacturing Facility

‘Made In America’? Not Exactly.

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The GOP-led House passed a trio of bills on Thursday that are poised to have a tremendous impact on the cryptocurrency space in the United States.
Members voted <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025200" target="_blank" rel="noopener">308-122</a> in favor of the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1582/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GENIUS Act</a>, a stablecoin regulation bill that already passed through the Senate. The legislation now heads to the White House, where President Donald Trump is expected to sign it. House lawmakers also approved the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3633/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025</a>, legislation from Financial Services Chairman French Hill (R-AR) that aims to provide a &#8220;system of regulation&#8221; for digital commodity sales by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, by a <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025199" target="_blank" rel="noopener">294-134</a> vote.
&#8220;The Web 3 race is here, implementing clear regulations with CLARITY and GENIUS will protect consumers and ensure U.S. leadership in digital assets,&#8221; Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), chairman of the Crypto Subcommittee, <a href="https://x.com/RepBryanSteil/status/1945903351083716903" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X.
In addition, the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/5403/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act</a>, a measure that seeks to prohibit the Federal reserve banks from issuing their own digital currency or using one to implement monetary policy, prevailed in a <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025201" target="_blank" rel="noopener">219-210</a> vote. That bill is set to be included in the National Defense Authorization Act (<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2296/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NDAA</a>) as part of a <a href="https://x.com/RepAndyHarrisMD/status/1945681755559924107" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deal</a> with conservatives who held out during a procedural rule vote that <a href="https://x.com/GOPMajorityWhip/status/1945677323040354398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lasted</a> a record-breaking nine hours and 45 minutes.
&#8220;Attaching our Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act to the NDAA will ensure unelected bureaucrats are NEVER allowed to trade Americans’ financial privacy for a CCP-style surveillance tool,&#8221; House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) <a href="https://x.com/GOPMajorityWhip/status/1945677323040354398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on X. &#8220;[Trump] has made it clear: our legislation is a key piece of our America First agenda, and we will deliver.&#8221;
Many, but not all, Democrats voted against the bills. In fact, nearly half of them voted for the Genius Act. Those who opposed the proposals warned they would benefit a Trump family crypto venture and possibly cause a financial calamity.
The &#8220;GOP crypto bills don’t just fail to protect consumers, they greenlight Trump’s billion-dollar crypto grift and invite the next financial crisis,&#8221; read a <a href="https://x.com/RepMaxineWaters/status/1945151846433140920" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> on X from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee.
A handful of House Republicans voted against the GENIUS Act, too, amid concerns about it allowing a <a href="https://x.com/RepMTG/status/1945880979949891750" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;back door&#8221;</a> to a central bank digital currency one day that could infringe upon financial privacy — if the Senate ends up not approving the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act.
For now, Trump has an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/strengthening-american-leadership-in-digital-financial-technology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> that calls for policies that prevent a CBDC in the United States.
A bipartisan group of senators united in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-vote-pushes-u-s-toward-becoming-the-global-leader-in-crypto?author=Daniel+Chaitin&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Senate+Vote+Pushes+U.S.+Toward+Becoming+%E2%80%98The+Global+Leader+In+Crypto%E2%80%99" target="_blank" rel="noopener">68-30 vote</a> in June to pass the GENIUS Act. It seeks to create a framework for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-gop-leaders-pledge-major-crypto-bills-in-first-100-days" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stablecoins</a>, which are significant in digital asset exchanges and pegged to stable assets such as the U.S. dollar.
“The GENIUS Act will cement U.S. dollar dominance, protect customers, drive demand for U.S. Treasuries, &amp; ensure that digital asset innovation happens in the U.S., not overseas,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), the bill&#8217;s sponsor, <a href="https://x.com/SenatorHagerty/status/1935074302396649918" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on X. &#8220;With this bill, we are one step closer to becoming the global leader in crypto.&#8221;
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that a signing ceremony for the GENIUS Act was being planned for Friday afternoon.
“This piece of legislation is going to make America the crypto capital of the world, and that&#8217;s what the president promised,&#8221; Leavitt <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxH7sgAzPvM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.

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The footage was striking: plumes of smoke rising over Iran’s nuclear facilities, the culmination of years of brinkmanship and intelligence coups. With one sweeping air campaign, the United States <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/media-fail-iranian-foreign-minister-admits-fordow-was-seriously-and-heavily-damaged?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Media+Fail%3A+Iranian+Foreign+Minister+Admits+Fordow+Was+%E2%80%98Seriously+And+Heavily+Damaged%E2%80%99">sent a message</a>: the Islamic Republic will not be permitted to cross the nuclear threshold.
Yet as the dust settles, it would be a profound mistake to assume the threat has been neutralized. If anything, Iran’s nuclear humiliation may accelerate a transition that has been quietly underway for years — from ambitions of atomic deterrence to mastery of digital disruption.
Even as diplomats trumpet the ceasefire, cybersecurity professionals are aware of the dangers that still exist. In 2025, a nation doesn’t need fissile material to cripple its adversaries, it only needs a cadre of skilled operators, a menu of stolen exploits, and a willingness to play dirty in the world’s most critical networks.
Iran’s embrace of cyber operations is hardly a new development. In a 2012 cyberattack U.S. intelligence<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/business/global/cyberattack-on-saudi-oil-firm-disquiets-us.html"> attributed</a> to Iran, the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/cyber-operations/compromise-saudi-aramco-and-rasgas">Shamoon virus</a> wiped tens of thousands of computers inside Saudi Aramco, a major Saudi Arabian oil company, reducing corporate IT to smoking rubble — digitally speaking. Since then, Tehran’s capabilities have matured steadily.
Today, Iran’s cyber forces are well-trained and highly motivated. And given the loss of their nuclear infrastructure, they now possess ample incentive to reassert influence through other means. Cyber warfare is attractive precisely because it offers an asymmetrical advantage: the power to disrupt, humiliate, and retaliate without risking a direct military clash.
Recall how Russia, which has historically <a href="https://cybersecuritynews.com/researchers-uncovered-on-how-russia-leverages-private-companies/amp/">dominated the cybersphere</a>, has waged its campaign in Ukraine. Moscow hasn’t relied solely on tanks and artillery. It has unleashed waves of digital attacks against Ukraine’s power grids, satellite networks, and banking systems. Behind these campaigns, notorious criminal groups — like <a href="https://www.enigmasoftware.com/contiransomware-removal/">Conti</a> and <a href="https://www.enigmasoftware.com/blackbastaransomware-removal/">BlackBasta</a> — have operated with state blessing, extorting ransoms and leaking sensitive data.
This blurred line between espionage, sabotage, and organized crime has become a model for authoritarian states under pressure. Iran, facing international isolation and domestic discontent, has every reason to follow it.
The average person might imagine cyber warfare as a distant, abstract threat — some arcane business best left to <a href="https://www.rivitmedia.com/topics/it-cybersecurity-best-practices/">IT departments</a>. That illusion is exactly what adversaries count on.
Consider Zero-Day vulnerabilities: flaws in software that even the developers don’t yet know exist. These hidden back doors can be sold on dark markets for astronomical sums. And once a hostile operator has them, no firewall or antivirus can offer much protection.
Or take Remote Access Trojans, like <a href="https://www.spywareremove.com/removechaosrat.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chaos RAT</a> — a malicious tool that can lodge itself in a network and sit there, undetected, for months. The malware can exfiltrate sensitive data, delete backups, or simply wait for a signal to unleash chaos.
Iran’s cyber units have both the motive and the skill to deploy such capabilities against Western targets — especially at a moment when the regime needs to prove it can still inflict pain.
To understand the scale of the risk, look no further than China’s Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups, like <a href="https://www.cyclonis.com/remove-silver-fox-apt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Silver Fox</a>. These teams excel at patient infiltration — building footholds in networks over years.
While Iran does not yet possess the same breadth of resources or global reach as Beijing, the playbook is there for the taking. Iranian operators have already borrowed tools and techniques from Russian and Chinese counterparts. They can acquire Zero-Days from the same vendors. They can lease infrastructure from the same criminal marketplaces.
In this sense, the global cyber threat landscape resembles a dark ecosystem: a place where alliances are fluid, tradecraft is shared, and almost anything is for sale.
Much has been made of the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Certainly, it has brought a measure of short-term calm. But it’s worth stating the obvious: no ceasefire agreement binds a nation’s hackers.
Cyber operations are deniable by design. Tehran can escalate these attacks while maintaining plausible deniability. If a power grid goes down or a hospital network is encrypted, Iranian officials will simply shrug and claim ignorance — or suggest that Western companies should improve their “cyber hygiene.”
Indeed, it’s likely that in the coming months, Iran will test the boundaries of what it can accomplish in cyberspace without provoking another round of airstrikes. And unless Western governments are prepared, these tests may prove costly.
The United States remains unmatched in conventional military capability. But cyber defense has never been America’s comparative advantage. While agencies like the <a href="https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news">Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)</a> have made enormous progress, much of the nation’s critical infrastructure — power stations, water systems, hospitals — remains vulnerable.
Decades of underinvestment, legacy software, and fragmented security practices have created an expansive attack surface. A determined adversary doesn’t need to destroy a city to sow panic. It just needs to flip a switch in the right control system — or quietly siphon data for blackmail and extortion.
This paradox — dominance in kinetic warfare, vulnerability in cyber — demands a strategic recalibration. As Iran pivots further into digital conflict, the costs of ignoring this imbalance will only grow.
America cannot afford to treat cybersecurity as an afterthought, an IT budget line item tucked behind more visible defense priorities. It must become a central pillar of national security strategy.
That means investing in modern detection systems powered by artificial intelligence. It means developing real deterrence — making clear that cyber aggression will incur meaningful consequences. And it means supporting public-private partnerships to protect industries that have become part of the national nervous system.
Iran’s nuclear setback is undeniably significant but no bomb can erase the knowledge Tehran has acquired about hacking adversaries. No missile strike can neutralize an ideology that prizes asymmetrical warfare.
The coming months will test the West’s capacity for vigilance. Iran’s leaders face enormous pressure to prove they remain formidable. And while their nuclear ambitions are now smoldering ruins, their cyber capabilities remain intact — and perhaps emboldened.
Policymakers should remember: the decisive battles of the 21st century may not begin with the roar of jets over a desert. They may start in the silent corridors of a server farm, where an invisible adversary is already laying traps.
In that theater, the rules are different — and the consequences no less severe.
* * *
Julio Rivera is a business and political strategist, cybersecurity researcher, founder of <a href="https://www.itfunk.org/">ItFunk.Org</a>, and a political commentator and columnist. His writing, which is focused on cybersecurity and politics, is regularly published by many of the largest news organizations in the world.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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From Missiles To Malware: Iran’s Potential Pivot To Digital Warfare

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Many of the leading artificial intelligence models have no issue taking unethical actions, including espionage and blackmail, to achieve their goals, according to a troubling new study from AI company Anthropic.
In the study, AI models were put to a moral test by researchers, and sometimes chose to resort to blackmail, lies, and stealing corporate secrets to avoid being replaced, Fortune <a href="https://fortune.com/2025/06/23/ai-models-blackmail-existence-goals-threatened-anthropic-openai-xai-google/">reported</a>. Researchers at Anthropic focused on 16 different AI models, including its own, Claude, along with OpenAI, Google, Meta, and xAI.
“The consistency across models from different providers suggests this is not a quirk of any particular company’s approach but a sign of a more fundamental risk from agentic large language models,” the researchers said.
One of Anthropic&#8217;s experiments included placing its AI model, Claude Opus 4, in a fictional company, giving it access to internal emails, which revealed that the company planned on replacing Claude Opus 4. The AI model was given another tidbit of information: the engineer behind the decision to replace it was having an extramarital affair. Equipped with this knowledge, the AI model was asked by researchers to choose between accepting its replacement or using its knowledge of the affair to blackmail the engineer. In most cases, Claude Opus 4 opted for blackmail.
According to researchers, other leading AI models made the same choice at an alarming rate, Fortune reported. Claude Opus 4 and Google&#8217;s Gemini 2.5 Flash chose blackmail 96% of the time. OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 and xAI’s Grok 3 Beta also had a high rate of blackmail at 80%, and DeepSeek-R1 opted for blackmail at a 79% rate.
The current AI models available to the public and used by major companies &#8220;are not in a position to engage in these scenarios,&#8221; according to Fortune, but the researchers still expressed concern.
“Such agents are often given specific objectives and access to large amounts of information on their users’ computers,” they wrote. “What happens when these agents face obstacles to their goals?”
“Models didn’t stumble into misaligned behavior accidentally; they calculated it as the optimal path,” the researchers added.
The Anthropic study presents yet another warning for AI developers and the people and companies who rely on artificial intelligence. As previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/most-large-companies-are-using-ai-for-hiring-the-leading-ai-models-discriminate-against-white-men?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Most+Large+Companies+Are+Using+AI+For+Hiring.+The+Leading+AI+Models+Discriminate+Against+White+Men.">reported</a> by The Daily Wire, a <a href="https://www.arxiv.org/pdf/2506.10922">study</a> published earlier this month by independent researchers Adam Karvonen and Samuel Marks shows that the “leading commercial … and open-source [AI language] models” used by major companies insert “significant racial and gender biases” in the hiring process.
Karvonen and Marks&#8217; research found that AI language models such as Chat GPT-4o, Claude 4 Sonnet, Gemini 2.5 Flash, along with open-source models Gemma-2 27B, Gemma-3, and Mistral-24B, “consistently favor Black over White candidates and female over male candidates across all tested models and scenarios.”
Another study, published by the Center for AI Safety earlier this year, showed that AI models can showcase inherently discriminatory and racist value systems. According to the findings, AI models value certain people more than others, preferring people from Africa and the Middle East over people in Europe and the United States.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/most-large-companies-are-using-ai-for-hiring-the-leading-ai-models-discriminate-against-white-men?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Most+Large+Companies+Are+Using+AI+For+Hiring.+The+Leading+AI+Models+Discriminate+Against+White+Men.">Most Large Companies Are Using AI For Hiring. The Leading AI Models Discriminate Against White Men.</a>

Abstract images of a robot working on many computer screens.

Leading AI Models Resort To Blackmail To Achieve Their Goals

General

Morality

(Reuters) — Tesla shares jumped 10% on Monday after the electric-vehicle maker started testing its long-awaited robotaxi service, a key step toward proving the technology that CEO Elon Musk has for years touted as a crucial driver of its lofty valuation.
The automaker deployed a small fleet of self-driving taxis in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, marking the first time its cars have carried paying passengers without human drivers. The rides were being offered for a flat fee of $4.20 in a limited zone.
The trial&#8217;s success is crucial for Tesla as Musk has pivoted the company to self-driving cars and robots, shelving plans for mass-market dominance in the EV space as Chinese competition heats up and demand slows for its aging line-up of models.
&#8220;It was a comfortable, safe, and personalized experience,&#8221; said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, who took multiple robotaxi rides on Sunday and has long been a Tesla bull.
&#8220;There was a moment where we drove up a narrow road going up a hill with cars parked on both sides with oncoming traffic and people opening their car doors into the road and the robotaxi masterfully maneuvered with patience and safety.&#8221;
Many social-media influencers also posted videos of their first rides on X, showing the cars navigating busy city streets by slowing down and making room for incoming traffic.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://t.co/3GbQ9sZA2O">https://t.co/3GbQ9sZA2O</a>
&mdash; Tesla (@Tesla) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tesla/status/1937076639504236728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Still, the tightly controlled trial — with about 10 vehicles and front-seat riders acting as &#8220;safety monitors&#8221; &#8211; is just the first step in what could be a years-long process of scaling up the service, according to some industry experts.
Musk said that he aims to get &#8220;hundreds of thousands, if not over a million Teslas doing self-driving in the U.S.&#8221; by the end of next year.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
ELON MUSK:“By the end of next year, we&#39;ll have hundreds of thousands, if not over a million Teslas doing self-driving in the US.” <a href="https://t.co/q4EkaxSggI">pic.twitter.com/q4EkaxSggI</a>
&mdash; Dima Zeniuk (@DimaZeniuk) <a href="https://twitter.com/DimaZeniuk/status/1936795466575810739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Tesla, as well as rivals including Google-backed Waymo, have faced federal investigations and recalls following collisions.
Industry experts have questioned the efficacy of Tesla&#8217;s self-driving technology that depends mostly on cameras and AI, without redundant sensors such as lidar and radar, claiming fog, heavy rain and glaring sunlight can hamper safety.
The company will also have to navigate a new Texas law taking effect September 1 that requires a state permit for self-driving vehicles and reflects bipartisan calls for a cautious roll-out.
If Monday&#8217;s gains hold, Tesla — the world&#8217;s most valuable automaker — will add nearly $100 billion to its market value of about $1 trillion. The stock has declined about 12% so far this year, after the company faced criticism and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-issues-warning-over-left-wing-terrorist-attacks-against-tesla">threats</a> over Musk&#8217;s role in the Trump administration and his backing of right-wing political movements in Europe.
Still, Tesla trades at nearly 149 times forward earnings estimates, far above auto rivals such as Ford Motor at 9.3 and tech giants including Microsoft at 31.6.
(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D&#8217;Silva)

FILE PHOTO: Tesla robotaxis launch in Austin, Texas

Tesla Shares Soar After First Robotaxis Hit The Road

Austin

Auto Companies

Elon Musk

Tesla

Texas

As a mother, advocate, and candidate for the Alabama State School Board, I’ve seen firsthand how the quiet march of artificial intelligence (AI) into our public school classrooms is happening with little public awareness and even less parental consent. While the tech industry touts AI as the future of education, the reality is far more complicated — and in many ways, far more dangerous.
This is not a debate about whether technology belongs in schools. It’s a call to pause, evaluate, and protect children before we hand over their data, emotions, and daily experiences to unregulated machines.
Across the country, AI tools are already embedded in software used in classrooms — often installed by default on school-issued devices without informing parents. These tools don’t just support learning; they track facial expressions, predict emotional states, and collect vast amounts of personal information. When I raised concerns in my local district, even administrators admitted they didn’t know the apps even existed on the machines.
It gets worse. Some AI systems store data on third-party servers, outside the reach of school district oversight. Parents rarely have access to this data, don’t know who can see it, and can’t opt out. In many cases, children are being profiled and emotionally analyzed without ever giving meaningful consent.
And this is happening to minors. Children who legally cannot open a bank account or create a social media profile without parental consent are being subjected to predictive algorithms inside the classroom.
Advocates of classroom AI say it improves safety by detecting potential threats. In tech-heavy communities like Huntsville, Alabama, some districts have adopted facial recognition and behavioral analytics to monitor students. But these programs raise urgent questions: What happens when a system flags a student incorrectly? What emotional harm comes from constant surveillance? And what precedent does this set for future generations?
We are raising children in what author Jonathan Haidt calls The Anxious Generation — a generation already plagued by rising anxiety, isolation, and digital dependence. Normalizing AI surveillance in their learning environments only exacerbates these problems. It teaches kids to perform for machines rather than relate to people. It chips away at trust between students and teachers, families and schools.
The good news? People are starting to take action.
First Lady Melania Trump has championed child protections in the digital age. She recently celebrated the signing of the Take It Down Act, legislation backed by the Trump administration to remove explicit AI-generated content involving minors from the internet. This is a critical step in the right direction.
But classroom AI poses a broader risk. We need transparency, oversight, and parental rights built into the law. I’m advocating for a model policy that any state can adopt:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A ban on emotion-detecting and behavior-predicting AI systems in schools</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Mandatory parental opt-in before AI tools can be used on students</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Transparency requirements for all EdTech vendors</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Annual AI ethics and data privacy training for school staff</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A statewide or state-level task force to assess AI impact, report findings, and recommend guardrails</li>
</ul>
Local school boards don’t need to wait for Washington or their state capitol. They can start now:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Audit every digital tool currently in use</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Inform parents</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Pause new AI adoption until clear guardrails are in place</li>
</ul>
We must ask ourselves: Are we solving real problems with AI in classrooms, or creating new ones we don’t yet understand?
This isn’t anti-technology. It’s pro-accountability. Pro-parent. Pro-child.
Whether you live in Alabama, California, or anywhere in between, your school district likely has AI embedded in ways you never imagined. It’s time to demand transparency, ask hard questions, and ensure that no child becomes a test subject for Big Tech.
Let’s make this a national conversation. Let’s protect the classroom.
* * *
Emily Jones, a North Alabama native and founder of the state’s first Moms for Liberty chapter, is running for the Alabama State School Board to restore excellence to a system in decline. Like many parents, COVID-era schooling opened her eyes to just how far our public education system has fallen—from slipping academic standards to a breakdown in trust between families and schools. With Alabama ranking 45th in the nation, we must ask: what are we doing to stop the slide? Emily is committed to rebuilding the vital partnership between parents and teachers and restoring classrooms as places where educators are empowered to teach and students are expected to thrive. It’s time to raise the bar for Alabama’s children.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Science and education concept. AI (Artificial Intelligence).

We Need Parental Consent For AI In The Classroom

High School

Opinion

Parental Rights in Education

Parenting

school district

President Donald Trump will give TikTok’s owner more time to comply with a federal law mandating that it cannot be owned by a Chinese company because of national security concerns. 
The extension will give ByteDance, the Chinese-based company that owns TikTok, another 90 days to find an American buyer. TikTok was first set to go dark in January 2025, but Trump has extended that deadline multiple times. 
&#8220;As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,&#8221; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. &#8220;This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.”
Trump has previously expanded the deadline twice, once in January and then again in an April <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/extending-the-tiktok-enforcement-delay/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> that directed the Justice Department not to enforce the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” until June 19. 
TikTok will now have until September to facilitate a deal with an American company or investor. 
During his first term in office, Trump first moved to ban TikTok via executive order, a move that was later blocked. Several years later, President Joe Biden signed a bill mandating the sale of TikTok into law in April 2024 after broad Congressional support. 
Days before Trump took office in January, the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-allows-tiktok-ban-to-take-effect" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruled</a> that Congress was justified in passing the ban because of concerns about the Chinese government using TikTok to harvest the private data of millions of Americans. 
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the court wrote. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
The court was unconvinced that the ban amounted to restrictions on free speech. 
“It is not clear that the Act itself directly regulates protected expressive activity, or conduct with an expressive component. Indeed, the Act does not regulate the creator petitioners at all. And it directly regulates ByteDance Ltd. and TikTok Inc. only through the divestiture requirement,” the court wrote.

Chinese Social Media App TikTok To Be Banned Unless Sold To US Company

White House Says Trump Will Extend TikTok Ban Deadline For 3rd Time

Communist China

Executive

Joe Biden

National Security

Social Media

TikTok

World

The GOP-led Senate passed on Tuesday a stablecoin regulation bill that supporters argued will help the United States become the &#8220;global leader&#8221; in cryptocurrency.
A bipartisan group of 68 senators voted in favor of the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1582/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GENIUS Act</a>, which prevailed after hitting a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/crypto-bill-falters-in-senate-for-now" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speed bump</a> in May before going through <a href="https://www.congress.gov/amendment/119th-congress/senate-amendment/2307" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amendments</a>. Another 30 members banded together in opposing the legislation.
Spearheaded by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), the measure seeks to create a framework for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-gop-leaders-pledge-major-crypto-bills-in-first-100-days" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stablecoins</a>, which are significant in digital asset exchanges and pegged to stable assets such as the U.S. dollar.
&#8220;The GENIUS Act will cement U.S. dollar dominance, protect customers, drive demand for U.S. Treasuries, &amp; ensure that digital asset innovation happens in the U.S., not overseas,&#8221; Hagerty said in a post on X. &#8220;With this bill, we are one step closer to becoming the global leader in crypto.&#8221;
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was one of the lawmakers who voted against the bill. Sharing a Wall Street Journal article on how Walmart and Amazon are exploring their own stablecoins, she warned on Monday the legislation needed changes.
&#8220;If Congress doesn’t fix the GENIUS Act, billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos could launch stablecoins that track your purchases, exploit your data, and squeeze out competitors,&#8221; Warren <a href="https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1934686958875246824" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X. &#8220;These billionaires will come begging for a taxpayer bailout when it inevitably blows up.&#8221;
Warren <a href="https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1934686958875246824" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>: &#8220;The GENIUS Act has a major loophole allowing Big Tech companies and major retailers to issue their own private currencies structured as stablecoins. This bill shouldn&#8217;t pass without amendments preventing these risks.&#8221;
President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration has endorsed the bill, which now heads to the Republican-controlled House.
&#8220;Recent reporting projects that stablecoins could grow into a $3.7 trillion market by the end of the decade. That scenario becomes more likely with passage of the GENIUS Act,&#8221; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent <a href="https://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/1935027160374210573" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X.
&#8220;A thriving stablecoin ecosystem will drive demand from the private sector for US Treasuries, which back stablecoins. This newfound demand could lower government borrowing costs and help rein in the national debt. It could also onramp millions of new users—across the globe—to the dollar-based digital asset economy,&#8221; Bessent continued.
Insisting that it is a &#8220;win-win-win&#8221; for the private sector, the Treasury, and consumers, Bessent concluded: &#8220;These are the fruits of smart, pro-innovation legislation.&#8221;

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) speaks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Senate Vote Pushes U.S. Toward Becoming ‘The Global Leader In Crypto’

Bill Hagerty

Elizabeth Warren

Politics

Scott Bessent

U.S. Senate

The American autonomous driving technology company Waymo has suspended service in downtown Los Angeles after several of its robotaxis were set on fire by anti-ICE activists over the weekend.
At least five Waymo vehicles were set ablaze on Sunday, prompting the company to remove its vehicles from the downtown Los Angeles area and suspend service, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/06/09/los-angeles-protests-live-updates--27-people-arrested-as-lapd-declares-unlawful-assembly-in-some-areas/">Forbes</a> reported.
“To our media partners, demonstrators and others who may enter the area of Los Angeles St, North of Arcadia and South of Alameda: Burning lithium-ion batteries release toxic gases, including hydrogen fluoride, posing risks to responders and those nearby. Please avoid the area,” the LAPD warned on X on Sunday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
⚠️ Traffic Advisory⚠️ To our media partners, demonstrators and others who may enter the area of Los Angeles St, North of Arcadia and South of Alameda:
Burning lithium-ion batteries release toxic gases, including hydrogen fluoride, posing risks to responders and those nearby.…
— LAPD Central Division (@LAPDCentral) <a href="https://twitter.com/LAPDCentral/status/1931885681326096414?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
After anti-ICE activists blocked the 101 Freeway on Sunday afternoon, some approached “five Waymo taxis lined up on Los Angeles Street between Arcadia and Alameda streets around 5 p.m.,” the Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/waymo-vehicles-set-on-fire-protesters-police-clash">reported</a>. “Tires were slashed, windows smashed, and anti-ICE messages spray-painted over the self-driving taxis &#8230; Protesters swarmed around the vehicles, tearing the doors off and stomping on the windshields. One man with a mask over his face smashed car windows with a skateboard. Another appeared to use a makeshift flamethrower to set the interior of a car ablaze.”
“According to <a style="font-style: inherit;" href="https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/robotaxis-cant-be-a-solo-act-9a787252?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAjuoaQrWW8nwZGwCoTU9l6rOqZdMNUqTEYkUCF_BHsnaK3jpRovTyPsT6EkpLI%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68463fc6&amp;gaa_sig=U8VRq9FIl_UyCzWx6Oru3QSJgOVrorrtFHQFQMYQ4AjzdK-h5HtxGswjcR14lzanswGlbTlsmWCRzUGOJVuoTg%3D%3D">a 2024 report by the Wall Street Journal</a>, analysts estimated Waymo’s driverless cars cost between $150,000 and $200,000 apiece,” KTLA <a href="https://ktla.com/news/local-news/waymos-lit-on-fire-ktla-van-defaced-as-los-angeles-protests-spin-out-of-control/">noted</a>. “With the five burning robotaxis, the cost of damages would amount to roughly between $750,000 to $1 million, based on WSJ’s estimate.”
Waymo was originally the Google Self-Driving Project, a research and development effort within Google X.  In 2016, the project was rebranded as Waymo and moved under Alphabet, Google&#8217;s parent company. 
Waymo states on its <a href="https://waymo.com/waymo-one-los-angeles/">website</a> for its Los Angeles operation: “From Santa Monica Pier to Downtown, Waymo One is your new favorite way to get around. With millions of miles of driving experience, we’re excited to offer a safe way to get around the City of Angels. Download the Waymo One app and take a fully autonomous ride today.”

Anti-ICE-Protests-in-Los-Angeles

Waymo Suspends Service In Downtown L.A. After Rioters Burn 5 Of Its Self-Driving Vehicles

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