While we wait for the possibilities of AGI and the potential for AI Armageddon, billions of dollars are going into persuading us to hand over control of our computers and offline digital commitments to Claude, *Claw and a rash of AI Agents, because we are a very intelligent species eager to surrender agency to tools which Amodei has told us are prone to psychosis, malevolently resist owner's attempts to rein them in or phase them out, and compelled the Department of Defence to pull a "I must use the washroom" bailout during their first date.
The genius of this is that we are walking the same paths as the COVID pandemic measures, in obedience, but this time to the call of an AI Peter Pan and its would be owners.
Why is Thiel the lone voice in the wilderness. Why is Musk emphasizing eventual diametric destiny - Anthropic x Misanthropic.
I am a Nigerian prince who owns a diamond encrusted asteroid. Please allow me control of your life. If not, why AI, now, and not until we know more. What is this infernal urgency.
โIf you think the world is selfish and rotten, go to the cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer overlooking Omaha Beach. See what one group of men did for another on D-Day, June 6th, 1944.โ โ Andy Rooney
Ayn Rand: "The moral code which is implicit in capitalism has never been formulated explicitly. The basic premise of that code is that man, is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others. That man must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor others sacrificing themselves to himself.
This is the moral premise in which the United States of America was based.
The principle of man's right to his own life, to his own liberty, to the pursuit of his own happiness."
On June 6, 1944, a 56-year-old general with a secret walked onto Utah Beach under fire, armed with a cane and a pistol.
The secret: his heart was failing. He had hidden it from the army doctors so they wouldn't pull him from the mission.
His name was Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Son of the President. He had begged three separate times to lead the first wave ashore at Normandy before his commanders finally said yes.
When his landing craft drifted 2,000 yards off course, every instinct said redirect the following waves to the correct zone. Instead, Roosevelt walked the beach himself, alone, under artillery fire, cane in hand, reading the terrain.
His verdict: "We'll start the war from right here."
He then stood on that beach and personally greeted every regiment that landed after him, pointing them inland, cracking jokes under shellfire, steadying 18-year-olds who had never seen combat. He did this for hours.
Years later, Omar Bradley was asked to name the single most heroic act he had ever witnessed in combat.
His answer, without hesitation: "Ted Roosevelt on Utah Beach."
Roosevelt's son, Captain Quentin Roosevelt II, also landed at Normandy that same morning. He was named after his uncle, Quentin Roosevelt, who had been shot down as a fighter pilot over France in World War I.
Three generations. Three wars. One family.
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. died in his sleep 36 days later. Heart attack. The thing he had been hiding finally won. He never learned he had been awarded the Medal of Honor.
He was buried at the Normandy American Cemetery.
In 1955, his family had his brother Quentin, killed in WWI, exhumed from where he fell in France and reinterred right beside him. Quentin is the only World War I soldier buried there.
Two brothers. Two world wars. The same French soil.
Their father had once said: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
Both of his sons did exactly that.
Neuralink is not primarily a medical device company that happens to have long-term upside. It is the critical infrastructure for preserving human agency at the scale and speed of the intelligence we are building.
Elon is explicit: the ratio of digital to biological compute is shifting rapidly. Without faster interfaces, the gap becomes a surrender of authorship.
The merge is how we remain participants, not spectators, in the civilization we are sending outward.
Today is my Freedomversary.
Eight years ago, President Trump granted me clemency and gave me a second chance at life. After nearly 22 years in prison, I walked out the gates and into a future I had prayed for but could no longer see.
I will never forget that moment.
Prison took many things from me, including years with my family and the loss of my parents and a son. But I never lost hope or faith that my life still had purpose.
The gift of freedom came with a responsibility: to help others.
Over the last eight years, Iโve advocated for second chances, supported criminal justice reform, and now serve as White House Pardon Czar.
From a prison cell to the White House, this journey has been possible through Godโs grace and President Trumpโs courage.
Every day, I strive to honor that gift by helping others find hope and a path forward.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for me, believed in me, and supported me along the way.
And to God be the glory.
๐๐ฝโค๏ธ #Freedomversary
I organized an intervention to stop Elon from starting SpaceX. Here is the story...
Twenty five years ago, Elon and I sat in a car on a dark stretch of Long Island highway, two neurodiverse geeks staring at the night sky and wondering what came next. We had both experienced substantial exits and felt the weight of possibility ahead of us.
When I joked about 'space' while gazing upward, neither of us imagined we were planting the seed for what would become the largest IPO in history. We spent the next two hours debating why space was so hard. In the end, rockets are fuel and metal. We also debated where to go, and it was crystal clear that Mars was the only real destination.
Upon returning to NYC, we embarked on a global tour of space, meeting space agencies and luminaries worldwide. This opened our eyes to an industry stuck in bureaucratic thinking. If things continued at that pace, it was clear that we would never explore space in our lifetime.
So, we launched Life to Mars to show the world that two ambitious young men (29 and 30 years old), could send life to Mars without any government backing or support. We planned to send and grow plants on Mars, though some were pushing us to send mice.
We had a $50 MM budget that rested on our purchase of two Russian ICBMs for $7 MM each. We assumed one ICBM would fail, and we would learn and fix everything before launching again. When Elon went back to actually buy the ICBMs, the Russians tripled the price, bringing out launch costs from a total of $14 MM to $42 MM.
Our ambitious Life to Mars plan was no longer viable.
As you might imagine, Elon was not pleased. So, he decided to start SpaceX and create his own Mars rockets. Now, this is a crazy idea, both now and at the time, so I organized a large panel of top space experts, and we ambushed him at the Georgian Hotel one morning. It was set up like an intervention for an alcoholic, but for space.
Elon looked me in the eye when leaving the room and said, "I am going to do this." The intervention failed. Elon was committed. The rest is history.
I am excited to see this IPO after 25 years of hard work. What SpaceX has done is a testament to human will and overcoming insurmountable obstacles. It's nothing short of amazing.
Congratulations, E. Amazing.
๐บ๐ธ๐ SOME NEWS: I'll be leaving my role at the White House at the end of this month. After a break Iโll be working on helping tackle some of the large challenges facing America on AI (more on that later).
It is hard to express how big a privilege it has been to serve the American people and how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to do so.
First and foremost, it has been an honor to serve under President @realDonaldTrump . Without his leadership, we would not be leading in the AI race.
Second, I owe a lot to the person Iโve worked mostly closely with over the last 18 months - @DavidSacks . His continuing advocacy for America winning on AI has been and continues to be crucial.
Some key public accomplishments from last year Iโm proud of
1. Architecting and publishing the American AI Action Plan - charting the course for America to win on AI and helping execute on that for the last year.
2. The AI acceleration partnerships to help American AI stack win globally.
3. The National AI Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence executive order (forming the basis for working with the Hill this year)
4. Advocating for the American AI stack with our allies globally (the AI summits in France and India, state visits to the UK, the Middle East and more)
So whatโs next?
The past 18 months have given me a front row seat to this critical moment on AI facing America and our allies. Whether it is energy, data centers or a clear path for Americans to experience the benefits of AI, there are many tough issues we all need to navigate together. I plan on building institutions that help tackle some of those challenges for America and its allies.
I want to thank many others who have helped along the way in the administration : Kevin Hassett, @mkratsios47 , CoS @SusieWiles47 , VP @JDVance , @StevenCheung47 , Sec Bessent, Sec Lutnick, Sec Rubio and @jacobhelberg , @USWREMichael , Josh Gruenbaum, Watson Fagan, Ryan Baasch, Jeff Kessler, Alexei Bulazel, DepSec Landau, DepSec Dabar, Will Scharf, Taylor Budowich, @JamesBlairUSA , @elonmusk and many, many others. You know who you are and I know Iโll continue to see you a lot more.
Most of all, I want to thank @aarthir on supporting everything and being part of this unexpected but amazing journey from last January. None of this would be possible without her.
This journey has been the privilege of a lifetime and shown me how special this country is and how it needs all of us to contribute in anyway we can - and I plan on continuing to do just that.
๐บ๐ธ
@sriramk "This journey has been the privilege of a lifetime and shown me how special this country is and how it needs all of us to contribute in anyway we can - and I plan on continuing to do just that."
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
Thank you @sriramk for this generous post. It has been one of the great privileges of my time in the Administration to work so closely with you over the past 18 months. Your skills are genuinely unique: a rare combination of deep technical fluency in AI, sharp policy instincts, exceptional strategic thinking, and true diplomatic talent. It will be a huge loss for the administration, but Iโm glad weโll continue working together with you as an outside adviser.
We've accomplished a lot together, and this feels like the right moment to recap some of the key milestones:
* You co-authored the Administrationโs AI Action Plan, our comprehensive strategy for winning the AI race.
* You helped drive the AI Acceleration Partnerships that are positioning the American AI stack to compete and win globally.
* You played a key role in the National AI Policy Framework (executive order and policy document), which is now the foundation for discussions with Congress on a national approach to AI regulation instead of a chaotic patchwork of state rules.
* You helped deliver the Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government executive order, which ensures that federally procured AI systems prioritize neutrality and truth-seeking over ideological bias and capture.
* You advanced American interests at the AI Summits in France and India and through state visits to the UK, the Middle East, and beyond.
As AI Czar, it has been a huge honor for me to work for President Trump as he provides the clear leadership and vision for American AI dominance. His policies have put America in the lead in the AI race: supporting innovation, unleashing energy abundance, building out infrastructure, pushing back against unnecessary regulation, enabling American exports, and promoting re-industrialization.
Sriram was a key partner in turning these priorities into action. And as he said, this was a true team effort with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, NEC Director Kevin Hassett, OSTP Director Michael Kratsios, Secretary Rubio, Secretary Bessent, Secretary Lutnick, and too many others to mention.
Thank you again Sriram for your service. You made a huge difference. Iโm sorry to see you go but grateful for the work weโve done together and looking forward to what comes next.
Iโm not walking away from the Utah project, but I also understand why President Adams sent the letter demanding major changes. A 75% reduction simply isnโt realistic for a project of this scale, but that doesnโt mean the concerns should be ignored. My team is working around the clock to address every issue raised, from water usage and environmental impact to power generation and community benefits.
Whatโs become clear to me is that much of the public debate has been fueled by outdated information and, in some cases, coordinated misinformation campaigns. Claims that weโll drain the Great Salt Lake, consume Utahโs power, or create massive environmental damage simply donโt reflect the reality of what weโre building. This project will create thousands of construction jobs, thousands of long term high paying jobs, and billions of dollars of investment in Utah.
At the same time, Iโve been investigating who is funding some of the opposition campaigns and have turned evidence over to federal authorities regarding organizations and funding networks that appear linked to Chinese backed interests. My focus now is simple, address the concerns honestly, provide the facts, and show the people of Utah exactly what this project is and what it isnโt.
The @pmarca interview with Joe Rogan shows the Biden White House was not playing games. They had already decided AI was only for a select few teams.
No need to guess which teams were top of the list, just look at those committed to Ihre Sicherheit. They also share that "nobility of purpose" with Rome.
Signs you might be trying to get your frontier AI lab nationalized:
You compare it to nukesโฆ threaten half of white-collar jobsโฆ warn recursive self-improvement could end humanityโฆ then race ahead anyway.
In other words, you want the government to save us fromโฆ you.