What I'm Reading - 5/11/25

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there!

It’s another beautiful weekend for doing chores outside. I arrived at the shore on Friday to find my hydrangea bush very wilted. I got her some water, and she seems to be bouncing back. I’ve installed a solar drip irrigation system to help water during the week and added some mulch, which I hope will help things. We’ll see when I check in on things next week. Otherwise, we also got the crab pots in the water for the first time this season.

Also, in September, the National Conference on Citizenship - the org I’m board chair of - will be doing their annual conference in Washington, DC, and we’re looking for panel proposals. If you are working on anything regarding AI for civic engagement, strengthening democracy, civic health, or community resilience, please consider applying!

I hope you have a great Sunday!

What I’m Reading

How to Use AI

1. MIT Technology Review: How to build a better AI benchmark

AI Developments

1. Senator Ben Ray Luján: Luján, Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Improve AI Testing and Evaluation Systems, Safeguard Americans Against Risks

Stories About Specific Countries

1. BBC News: Facebook and Instagram in Nigeria: Meta threatens to cut access over fines

Political & Social Commentary

1. Rob's Notes 20: The Biggest Tech Fails (2000-2025)

2. Who Targets Me: Explore Online Political Ad Trends

3. The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast | Podcast on Spotify: Piers Morgan Unfiltered - Advice To Society, Meghan & Harry, Political Chaos, & Bouncing Back In The Era Of Cancel Culture

4. Bloomberg: Maybe AI Slop Is Killing the Internet, After All

5. Deadline: Golden Globes Adding Best Podcast Category Beginning In 2026

6. Philanthropy: Update: The Nonprofit Sector Is Bleeding Jobs. Here’s What Our Tracking Data Reveals.

7. Bloomberg: Podcast Industry Is Twice as Large as Previously Estimated

8. Financial Times: Substack gets ‘Trump bump’ as subscriptions soar

9. Axios: Tech titans reap little reward after going full Trump

10. Reuters: AI execs say US must increase exports, improve infrastructure to beat China

11. R Street Institute: 2025 Real Solutions Summit: Rethinking the Rules: Governing AI and Online Spaces

12. Chris Best & Hamish McKenzie (Co-Founders): The Substack Playbook: Inside The $650M Platform Rewriting Media, Trust, and Creator Economics

Legal & Regulatory

1. Everything in Moderation: Ten things no one tells you about working in T&S

Career Advice

1. All Tech is Human: How do you build a career in tech policy? Check out our helpful new resource and let us know what else you think should be included!

Miscellaneous Insights & Reports

1. Deadline: ‘Practical Magic 2’ Sets Early Fall 2026 Release

Company Announcements

1. Microsoft On the Issues: Microsoft announces new European digital commitments

2. OpenAI: Introducing OpenAI for Countries

3. CSForAll: Open Letter

4. Deadline: Meta Introduces Threads Video Ads, Reels Trending Positions And Other New Options For Advertisers

5. Axios: Exclusive: Anthropic to rapidly expand communications team