President Trump departs his Doonbeg golf resort in Ireland, after he said Saturday he would “love to see” unification with Northern Ireland, (Time magazine), which is part of the UK. “It would seem to me that one of the ‘naturals’ of all time is to put them together.” [White House video screenshot]

Can AI’s Quest for World Domination be, er, Slowed? – Until last weekend it seemed only a burst of the artificial intelligence capital-raising bubble on Wall Street could possibly stop development of the technology its leader/experts are beginning to fear will end mankind as we know it. Then on Saturday, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei posted a 3,800-word essay calling on AI companies to “pace the frontier,” which means, “let’s hit the brakes” on AI development. 

Shortly after Amodei’s post, Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, and Elon Musk, founder of SpaceXAI agreed in their own social posts, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Last Tuesday, Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned and posted a series of social media posts about how AI companies are not responsibly developing the technology, at the potential expense of human lives. And The Wall Street Journal reports Monday that Amodei’s Anthropic and Altman’s OpenAI are “racing” toward initial public offerings (IPOs) at the same time they admit they call for better understanding of the technology as it develops itself.

Meanwhile, Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) tells NPR’s Morning Edition he expects this week to introduce with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) their Ban Artificial Intelligence Act in Congress this week before their recess, which begins next week and extends to after the November 3 midterm elections. The Casar-Sanders bill calls for a ban on the development and deployment of superintelligent AI and for a temporarily pause on advanced AI development until safety rules can be developed under federal regulation.

It would also direct US regulators to pursue international agreements to prevent development of superintelligence anywhere in the world. 

Speaking to reporters at his Doonbeg golf resort in Ireland Sunday, President Trump, who earlier this year signed an executive order to block states’ regulation of AI, said he  opposes the idea of any federal regulations, NPR reports.

“We’re leading China in AI, we’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins,” Trump said. “And we can put down guardrails, we can do this and that. But I think you have a lot of forces that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing that up.”

Which means … Even if the Sanders/Casar Ban Artificial Intelligent Act makes it through Congress this week or after the midterms, the Senate will not override a presidential veto.

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Kennedy Center May Close Tuesday – President Trump’s hand-picked leaders of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts say the center is close to bankruptcy and the only way to save it is to restore Trump’s name on its façade in order to ensure fundraising efforts, according to a “bleak” 57-page packet distributed to the board and obtained by The Washington Post. 

The Kennedy Center’s board, chaired by the president, is to gather in a special meeting Tuesday to consider two resolutions to address a.) the building’s financial crisis and b.) its physical crisis. The center’s officials say they may be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance contracts “within a matter of weeks” and argue that putting Trump’s name back on the center could help raise enough money to keep the lights on, according to WaPo’s scoop.

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Russian Drones Strike Near Ukraine-Polish Border – Russia launched drones Sunday at Western Ukraine, just 2 km (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, The Kyiv Independent reports, striking a gas station and a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train with former CIA Director David Petraeus aboard. The drones came late to miss an earlier train carrying former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other European diplomats.

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Meanwhile, at the Pump – Diesel prices are leaping and bounding across the US, according to AAA’s national average price. Diesel averages $6.2301 per gallon Monday, up 17.45 cents over Friday and $2.5436 higher than it was at the beginning of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Unleaded regular averages $4.3163 Monday, up 2.13 cents over Friday and up $1.5001 over February 27. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa