Category: Semafor

As California Governor Gavin Newsom inks a deal with Anthropic to expand the use of its chatbot Claude across state agencies, he’s also rolling out a plan to start tracking AI-related job losses. The dichotomy points to a political conundrum sweeping state capitols: As politicians attempt to rein in the ...

David’s view Last month, Colorado Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette sat next to her challengers and explained why she deserved a 16th term in Washington. “Who is going to be the best choice to stand up to Donald Trump and the real threat he poses to our democracy?” DeGette asked at ...

Tom’s view There are apocalyptic scenarios, and there are scenarios. Right now, Europe has just one AI firm, Mistral, anywhere near the frontier — and only a fraction of the 25 gigawatts of AI compute that the US has. If Europe doesn’t change course, it risks becoming an economic backwater, ...

Qatar overhauled its labor laws, adding for the first time provisions that allow for part-time and freelance work to be regulated, and others that make it harder to launch strikes. In changes the government said were aimed at “reinforcing the balance between the rights of workers and employers,” the maximum ...

Kuwaiti telecom Zain Group plans to invest more than $1.5 billion over the next decade to upgrade and operate a mobile network in Syria, the latest in a series of Gulf investments since the fall of the Assad regime. The company will acquire a 75% stake in the existing MTN ...

The UAE’s oil exports hit a record high in June, as the country took advantage of its exit from OPEC and skirted Iranian threats in the Strait of Hormuz. UAE exports averaged 3.7 million barrels a day during the month, according to industry data cited by Reuters — significantly above ...

The US lifted its export ban on Anthropic’s most advanced AI models, the company said. The White House blocked foreign nationals from using Mythos and Fable last month, citing security concerns, prompting Anthropic to suspend access to the two models altogether. Mythos was reportedly capable of finding vulnerabilities in browsers ...

The News Consultancy firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) aims to expand its Middle East business by as much as five times over the next few years, betting it can steal market share from rivals even as demand for advisory services shrinks. The firm is on track to double its Gulf ...

Colorado Democrats rejected Sen. Michael Bennet’s bid for governor, nominating Attorney General Phil Weiser in the latest sign of voters’ frustration with their party in DC. There were few ideological differences between the candidates, but Weiser’s record of suing the Trump administration helped him beat the senator, whom he attacked ...

Extreme weather — and mitigation against it — will shape the future of competition between the US and China, two experts wrote in Foreign Affairs. The world’s two largest carbon emitters are at greater risk of climate change-fueled disaster that “threatens the physical foundations” of their power, including critical infrastructure, ...