The appointment of Siemens’ chairman as a European Commission adviser to Ursula Von der Leyen on industrial AI is triggering a backlash in Brussels.
It comes just weeks after the German engineering giant helped secure a rollback of the EU’s AI rules.
https://t.co/y7ylQ6Nvdq
American glass artist (and Fulbright alum!) Dale Chihuly debuted several new sculptures in Venice. His works are arresting and crowd-pleasing and sometimes resemble sea creatures. Chihuly was the first American to work at the famous Venini glass factory, and his installations fuse the delicacy of Venetian glasswork with American brashness/spectacle. People I met randomly on streets and in hotel lobbies remarked on them.
I wasn’t able to visit every national pavilion at the Biennale, but toured a few nearby. Austria’s pavilion, which was about Climate, drew attention for its nudity and urine elements. But the peak moment at this pavilion occurred when the performers took a break from swimming in urine and went on strike, reportedly to protest Israel. This felt like a multilayered artistic statement about contemporary left politics.
Viewership figures from Saturday's Eurovision song contest: Belgium, France (-1 million), the UK, and the Netherlands (lowest since 2008) all saw big drops in viewers. Germany saw a slight drop, Italy a slight increase. Meanwhile, record viewership in Finland, Czechia and Greece
Eurovision isn't influenced by politics? Tell that to Abba, which won in 1974 after French President George Pompidou died unexpectedly days before the contest, leading France's Dani ("La Vie à vingt-cinq ans") to pull out. Abba won with Waterloo no less.
"German politics has become defensive: defend democracy, defend Europe, defend Ukraine. Defend the industrial model. Defend the welfare state... almost no one is offering a compelling vision of the future."
the view from the south, by @a_publica
https://t.co/nQqzxCldFw
"The clash between FIFA and New Jersey features the familiar rage of this populist era—namely, a public beaten down by rising costs snarling at global elites. It is fodder for the debate about the economic merits of hosting big sporting events."
https://t.co/tyaXHZADpd
Access to water, and the systematic destruction of olive tress (225k uprooted in the past decade) have led some producers to switch away from higher value product like olive/avocadoes to dates. To add insult, Israeli firms have been caught marketing dates as Palestinian /3
Some insight into the strangulation of the Palestinian economy from an event today in the EP hosted by @anamirandapaz/@RimaHas: output of olive oil has dropped from ±38k tonnes to under 8k last year, largely due to settler violence /1
One producer told the event that they must pay full shipping, insurance and transport costs while only using 2/3 of each container (security reasons). Exports can face extended waits, missing key sales windows like Christmas markets in Europe /2
📽️🇫🇷The National Rally wants to make drastic cuts to the funding system that has turned France into a promised land for filmmakers. As the Cannes festival starts, the cinema industry fears that Marine Le Pen's party will keep that promise.👇
https://t.co/35SXC933DE
Terrific piece by @MarkRuffalo and @matthewstoller explaining how extreme market concentration breeds fear and silence, and how the growing effort to stop the Paramount merger exemplifies courage, solidarity, and the importance of pushing back.
https://t.co/M7gLDTYxmF
"I cannot really express enough how bad [Europe's] industrial organization economics approach to antitrust has been," the University of Trento's @wavesblog told us.
"I am totally against that type of economics."
🎦 Watch live: https://t.co/cxKHZD6CSf
#POLITICOAITech
"In a presentation to investors at the end of April, Toto pledged to make its ceramics line a “core business,” after urging from the U.K.-based activist Palliser Capital earlier this year. Palliser presented a plan to Toto in February which called the toilet maker the “most undervalued and overlooked AI memory beneficiary.”
https://t.co/5gRJ89MiDE
AI chatbots are the next challenge for European policymakers.
"We believe that Google search ... will be replaced by chatbots, Björn Borrmann from online marketplace GetYourGuide told us at our #POLITICOAITech Week.
🎦 Watch live: https://t.co/cxKHZD6CSf