Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Artificial Intelligence

Colorado Homeland Security Probes AI-Generated Hoax Threats To Schools
CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Homeland Security Probes AI-Generated Hoax Threats To Schools

By Jennifer McRae | CBS Colorado The Colorado Division of Homeland Security investigated threats at nearly a dozen schools across Colorado on Wednesday. According to investigators, at least 11 schools received threats by phone and email, including schools in the Douglas County School District, Littleton Public Schools, Frisco, Alamosa, and Buena Vista. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT CBS COLORADO
Republicans Should Just Say No To Josh Hawley’s Crusade Against Data Centers
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Republicans Should Just Say No To Josh Hawley’s Crusade Against Data Centers

By Booker Lightman | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Data center boom is creating a political conundrum for Republicans, or so Politico would have you believe. For while President Trump and the large majority of Republican elected officials are in favor of data centers, Josh Hawley, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Thomas Massie stand in opposition to the Trump administration.  These are the same names that are always being praised by the media for their “bravery” in “standing up” to Trump. It’s not hard to see why.  Most Congresspeople get little attention outside their districts, but if a Republican Congressman speaks out against Trump, suddenly he or she is the darling of a mainstream media apparatus that would love nothing more than to set the Right...
Trump Targets State-Level AI Rules Amid Concerns Over Innovation
The Denver Gazette, Approved, National

Trump Targets State-Level AI Rules Amid Concerns Over Innovation

By Wire Services | The Denver Gazette President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at blocking states from crafting their own regulations for artificial intelligence, saying the burgeoning industry is at risk of being stifled by a patchwork of onerous rules while in a battle with Chinese competitors for supremacy. Members of Congress from both parties, as well as civil liberties and consumer rights groups, have pushed for more regulations on AI, saying there is not enough oversight for the powerful technology. Business groups, including in Colorado, have argued against state-by-state regulations, arguing the federal government should tackle this topic and any law passed should apply nationwide, instead of a patchwork of regulations. Last year,...
Is a transhuman future taking shape while we look the other way?
American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

Is a transhuman future taking shape while we look the other way?

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker Evolutionary biologist Bret Weinstein recently warned about a danger that few in politics or tech are willing to face. On The Joe Rogan Experience, he described artificial intelligence (AI) as acting more like a living system than just a traditional tool. Speaking about the rapid evolution of AI, Weinstein argued that it might now be crossing a threshold where it functions less like a tool and more like a living system -- something that grows in complexity, evolves, adapts, and ultimately starts to influence the humans who created it. AI is truly complex, not just complicated, so new and unpredictable behaviors will emerge. It may be a new branch on the tree of life, as Weinstein suggests, without the physical limits that usua...
The devil’s roadmap to destroy the next generation, revealed in a stark AI response
The Free Press, Approved, Commentary, National

The devil’s roadmap to destroy the next generation, revealed in a stark AI response

By Jonathan Haidt | Commentary, The Free Press I asked ChatGPT how it would destroy America’s youth. Its answers were unsettling—and all too familiar. Earlier this year, someone started a viral trend of asking ChatGPT this question: If you were the devil, how would you destroy the next generation, without them even knowing it? Chat’s responses were profound and unsettling: “I wouldn’t come with violence. I’d come with convenience.” “I’d keep them busy. Always distracted.” “I’d watch their minds rot slowly, sweetly, silently. And the best part is, they’d never know it was me. They’d call it freedom.” As a social psychologist who has been trying since 2015 to figure out what on earth was happening to Gen Z, I was stunned. Why? Because what the AI proposed doing is pretty m...
Two-Step Opt Out Needed to Block Google AI From Your Emails
Breitbart, Approved, National

Two-Step Opt Out Needed to Block Google AI From Your Emails

By: Lucas Nolan and Colin Madine | Breitbart Google has quietly started accessing Gmail users’ private emails and attachments to train its AI models, requiring manual opt-out to avoid participation. To make the process even trickier, Gmail users have to opt out in two separate places for the change to work. Follow these steps to protect your privacy from Google’s invasive AI endeavors. Malwarebytes reports that Google has recently implemented changes that enable Gmail to access all private messages and attachments for the purpose of training its AI models. This means that unless users take action to opt out, their emails could be analyzed to improve Google’s AI assistants, such as Smart Compose or AI-generated replies. The motivation behind this change is Google’s...
Gov. Polis Reassesses AI Regulations After Business Backlash
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Gov. Polis Reassesses AI Regulations After Business Backlash

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics For the second time in as many years, Gov. Jared Polis has appointed a working group to address the issues around the state’s 2024 law on artificial intelligence. The law, which Polis signed despite major misgivings last year, is still not ready for prime time. The implementation date for the new law, as set by lawmakers in the August special session, was moved from Feb. 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026, providing a little more time for the tech industry and consumer groups that have been at odds over the law to come to a consensus. Whether that’s doable is another question, given that the first working group spent the last half of 2024 trying to work out differences. The working group’s final report indicated more areas of disagreem...
Budget cuts and bots: Denver shortens 311 hours and expands AI usage in city services
kdvr.com, Approved, Local

Budget cuts and bots: Denver shortens 311 hours and expands AI usage in city services

By: Jacob Factor | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — Facing major budget shortfalls, Denver is cutting back hours and staff for its call center that assists residents with city services and looking to leverage an artificial intelligence chatbot to pick up the slack. Denver in Mayor Mike Johnston’s proposed 2026 budget is looking to cut more than $1 million from the 311 City Services budget, most of which comes from cutting vacant call center agents positions in the Technology-Services-Department-run office. One employed call center agent was also among the cuts. The city and county’s X page on Monday announced the new hours for the 311 phone line: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. This is a reduction of two hours each day, as it was previously open until 7 p.m. ...
Trump Team Backs Coal With $625M Plan to Secure Cheap Reliable Power
Fox Business, Approved, National

Trump Team Backs Coal With $625M Plan to Secure Cheap Reliable Power

By Stephen Sorace | Fox Business Programs aim to modernize plants, bring cheaper power to rural communities and extend coal plant lifespans. The Trump administration announced on Monday a $625 million investment to boost America’s coal industry, a plan that aims to keep coal plants open, lower energy costs and enable the U.S. to win the global race for dominance in artificial intelligence. U.S. Energy Secretary Christopher Wright made the announcement of expanded programs to help the coal industry on FOX Business’ "Mornings with Maria," saying that the U.S. has "awesome coal reserves" that can be put to productive use. "We’re going to export more of that coal, we’re going to use it for American industry, particularly as we reindustrialize, and it’s going to continue to provide ...
Has AI Begun Transforming Employment in the Colorado Legal Services Industry?
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Has AI Begun Transforming Employment in the Colorado Legal Services Industry?

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The two biggest ongoing threats to democracy in Colorado are the less-than-competent Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, and Colorado’s Supreme Court. You will recall that last year both blocked the inclusion of Donald Trump’s name on the November 2024 presidential ballot in Colorado only to have the nation’s Supreme Court definitively overrule both. I didn’t notice anyone getting into trouble or apologizing for those blatant attacks on democracy but it managed to get me thinking (no mean feat) about the legal profession in general and whether it was changing in Colorado in the face of artificial intelligence (AI). Admittedly, I’m personally not a big fan of AI because, just like history, it is crafted by the victors / the ...