November 5, 2025
Will Wyoming Be the Token Seizure State?
We throw rocks in the stream, hoping to move the flow to a better channel. That’s one metaphor for what we do in public policy analysis and commentary. I have some boulders for you, Wyoming, and a shiny stone you might find attractive. The world of digital form-factor US dollars is not divided between private…
November 4, 2025
Online Hate Speech, Threats, and Incitement: Understanding Key Differences After Bondi’s Blunder
As commotion subsides over US Attorney General Pam Bondi’s gaffe following Charlie Kirk’s assassination about prosecutors targeting people who engage in online “hate speech,” it’s vital to distinguish hate speech from both true threats and incitement so that similar mistakes aren’t made. Here’s a recap of the controversy, followed by an overview of important distinctions…
November 3, 2025
Washington Working to Expand AI Globally: The Effort to Export American AI Infrastructure
The US Department of Commerce has launched what could become one of the most significant initiatives in the Administration’s AI Action Plan: the American AI Exports Program. This new effort positions the Department of Commerce as an active partner in expanding the global reach of American AI technologies: hardware, software, and models. This initiative marks…
October 31, 2025
Australian Regulator Takes Aim at Chatbots
Australia is rapidly developing a reputation for being the fastest e-regulator in the world. Not content with her world-leading legislation prohibiting under-16s from having social media accounts—taking effect on December 15—the e-Safety Commissioner has turned her sights to chatbots. On September 9, the Commissioner registered six new industry-drafted codes under Australia’s Online Safety Act…
October 29, 2025
Will AI Agents Make The Perfect Contract?
At the Roots of Progress Conference earlier this month, Tyler Cowen interviewed OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who at one point wondered about the world that was to come with AI agents. In the not too distant future, he imagined that AI agents would be involved in every aspect of business and would even negotiate with…
October 29, 2025
Apple’s Removal of ICE-Location Apps: Examining First Amendment Issues
Apple recently banned crowd-sourced applications from its App Store, including ICEBlock, that let users post nearby sightings and locations of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Debuting in April, ICEBlock rose “to the top of the Apple App Store” by early July. Relying on anonymously uploaded sightings, ICEBlock alerts other users “about ICE presence…
October 27, 2025
Europe’s Tech Strategy: Regulate the Leaders, Then Blame the Lag
As my AEI colleague Shane Tews recently noted, the global leaderboard in technology tells a clear story: Innovation thrives in the United States, not Europe. Twenty of the world’s 25 most valuable companies are American, a testament to the strength of US capital markets, entrepreneurial culture, and regulatory flexibility. Europe, in contrast, is nearly absent…
October 24, 2025
We Need to Talk About Cloud Resilience
week’s major outage of Amazon Web Services’ cloud operation once again highlights the vulnerability of the world’s commercial, government, and social interactions due to a reliance on a handful of providers. The outage—which took several hours to resolve—impacted applications across a wide spectrum: social media, gaming, food delivery, streaming, financial and health services, and transport,…
October 22, 2025
Fear of Speaking Out Online: Data and Contentions About Self-Censorship
In the First Amendment’s lexicon, self-censorship and chilling effect are close companions. They’re like road-trip buddies, calling society’s attention to the dangers of preemptive, self-imposed—not government-mandated—silence while traveling down today’s bumpy, how-dare-you-say-that road of expression. The mere possibility of speech producing myriad negative consequences—legal sanctions, job loss, social ostracization, or violence—may chill (deter and discourage)…
October 21, 2025
Procedural Rituals Over Governance Results
At the Roots of Progress Conference this weekend, Jen Pahlka, who was formerly the United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer under President Obama, related a harrowing experience she had. While she was walking around her home, she was confronted with a home invader. Though he wasn’t violent, she immediately dialed the Oakland Police Department (OPD)….