Good morning. In this edition:

• 🤖 The Trump admin has a new AI plan
• 👂 Earth’s only one-eared animal
• 🤫 How to think like a spy

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.74-minute read (1,260 words).

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“Comparison is the death of true self-contentment”

–John Powell (1925-2009)

On Wednesday, President Trump unveiled a sweeping new AI Action Plan aimed at ensuring America’s “global dominance” in artificial intelligence.

The new policies will replace the Biden admin’s AI strategy, which placed a large focus on AI safety/security and limiting discriminatory bias in major models.

Ready, action

The new White House plan prioritizes AI innovation and adoption by seeking to remove barriers that could slow down its adoption. America’s AI policy will be to do “whatever it takes to lead the world in artificial intelligence,” Trump said.

It lays out three main areas of focus:

• Infrastructure: Trump’s plan aims to promote the construction of more AI data centers and factories in America by speeding up the permitting process and loosening some environmental regulations. It also aims to modernize America’s electrical grid and add new sources of energy for those data centers, which suck up immense amounts of power.
• Innovation: The AI Action Plan has a strategy to disincentivize states from strictly regulating AI, with federal agencies ordered not to provide funding to states with such laws. Officials say it’s meant to promote innovation among US-based AI firms.
• Global influence: US companies are encouraged to develop and use open AI models that are free to download and created with American values in mind. This move is aimed at countering the recent global rise of open AI models from China, including DeepSeek and Alibaba’s Qwen.

There’s also a new AI bias check. The plan—and a related executive order signed by Trump—aims to block the US government from contracting with tech companies unless they “ensure that their systems are objective and free from top-down ideological bias.”

However, critics of the move, including the left-leaning Center for Democracy and Technology, call it “an impossible, vague standard that the Administration will be able to weaponize for its own ideological ends."

Looking ahead…The 90+ AI policy actions in Trump’s new plan will be enacted over the coming year. Officials say some of the finer details are still in development, and will rely on input from the AI industry and others.

📊 Flash poll: In general, how do you feel about Trump’s new AI Action Plan?

• Support
• Oppose
• Unsure/other

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The spring homebuying season usually heats up fast. This year? Lukewarm at best.

Existing home sales dragged in June, as buyers remained comfortable staying on the sidelines, according to new data from the National Association of Realtors.

• The national median existing-home price reached a record high $435,300 in June, a 2% increase from last year.
• US existing home sales fell ~3% in June from the prior month, the slowest pace since last September.
• Interest rates continued to stay above 6.5%.

Inventory’s up, but patience is too. Record home prices, combined with stubbornly high mortgage rates in recent months, are keeping many would-be homebuyers from pulling the trigger as home inventory continues to grow. Last month saw a 16% increase in homes for sale or under contract compared to one year earlier.

What’s next: The market could correct in one of two ways, according to mortgage professionals. If home sales keep slipping, prices may follow. But if interest rates ease, homebuyers could rush back in—pushing values higher. The market’s next move hinges on which of those happens first.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏛️ President Trump tours upgraded Fed building, suggests he’s abandoned any consideration of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell before his term expires in May.
• 🏥 UnitedHealth Group confirms new criminal and civil DOJ investigations over its Medicare billing practices.
• 📝 Intel reports Q2 results that beat expectations on revenue, takes $800 million impairment charge; new CEO Lip-Bu Tan announces cuts to chip factory construction. | American Eagle joins meme-stock ranks, with shares rising as much as 12% following viral Sydney Sweeney ad. | Weekly jobless claims fall for sixth straight week, now at a three-month low.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Upwork

• 📺 NFL reportedly in negotiations to acquire 10% stake in ESPN for some of the NFL’s media assets. | FCC approves Skydance's $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global.
• 🏒 Judge acquits five Canadian junior hockey players in widely publicized sexual assault case, says accuser’s allegations lack enough credibility.
• 🦸 Marvel’s Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters today; the 37th MCU installment is projected to open to $100 million-$110 million domestically. | Comic-Con International 2025, the world's biggest comic book and pop culture convention, kicks off in San Diego; see full schedule of TV and movie panels by clicking the link.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🛰️ Starlink experiences global “network outage” for ~2.5 hours; comes one day after T-Mobile released its Starlink-powered satellite service, though it’s unclear whether that service was affected or involved. | SpaceX launches two NASA satellites to probe the origins of space weather, such as geomagnetic storms triggered by solar flares.
• 🦟 Scientists use CRISPR to edit a mosquito's genome and prevent it from transmitting malaria.
• 🚫 Controversial 2010 study suggesting bacteria can grow using arsenic retracted by research journal Science.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🚦 Washington, D.C., dethrones LA as America's worst city for traffic.
• 🌍 Israel and the US withdraw from cease-fire talks with Hamas, saying the militant group is acting in bad faith. | France says it will recognize Palestine as a state in September, the first G7 country to do so.
• 🏛️ DOJ forms “strike force” to investigate allegations that the Obama admin used false intelligence to suggest Russia interfered to help Trump in the 2016 presidential election. | Top DOJ official meets with Ghislaine Maxwell in Florida, where the convicted sex offender is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking young girls to Jeffrey Epstein.

☝️ A re-analysis of fossils from a 247-million-year-old reptile species identified a new type of modified skin jutting out from the animal’s back like a fan, which researchers believe was used as a communication tool.

🤔 Did You Know? Praying mantises are the only known animals in the world to have just one ear, which is located on the underside of their thorax between the hind legs.

📰 Worth a Read: How the nature of friendship has changed through the centuries

🖱️ Clickbait: Map of the world’s must-try desserts, according to TikTok

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Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

🏢 For the first time since the start of the pandemic, more than 50% of Fortune 100 companies require full-time attendance in the office.

🪙 MicroStrategy, a software development firm, now owns 3+% of all bitcoin ever minted—or 607,770 tokens worth a combined ~$72.4 billion.

🚚 UK transport company KNP went bankrupt after 158 years in business, due to a recent cyberattack where a hacker guessed a single employee’s particularly weak password.

🎮 Adults aged 50 and older now make up 28% of all gamers in the US.

🛷 An unknown buyer paid $14.75 million for one of at least four prop sleds used in Citizen Kane. It marks the second-highest price paid for a piece of film memorabilia at auction, behind the red ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz ($32.5 million).

How well did you pay attention this week? Find out here.

🐢 Bangladesh saw its highest-ever number of olive ridley turtle eggs in 2023, thanks to extensive conservation actions.

🫂 Kelly Spill was only 28 when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer. Fearing a loss in fertility if she underwent traditional chemotherapy and radiation treatments, she opted for an experimental drug trial—and it worked. She's since welcomed her second child. 

🥲 Who's chopping onions? Check out this heartwarming video of a kind stranger serenading some unsung heroes in honor of #nationalnursesweek.

+Note: These stories previously appeared in a May 2024 edition of Positive DONUT, our weekly newsletter surfacing all the good things you don't hear about in the news.

Below are three lists of ingredients. Your job is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Brioche bread, cubed
• Apples
• Light brown sugar
• Butter
• Vanilla extract
• Cinnamon
• Salt
• Whole milk
• Eggs
• Sugar
• Heavy cream
• Bourbon

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Water
• Boneless, chicken breasts
• Salt & pepper
• Garlic powder
• Dried parsley
• Onion powder
• Chicken bouillon
• Olive oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Chunky salsa
• Diced tomatoes
• Whole tomatoes
• Tomato soup
• Chili powder
• Whole kernel corn
• Chili beans
• Sour cream

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Italian bread
• Olive oil
• Italian sausage
• Onion
• Salt and pepper
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Cayenne pepper
• Baby spinach
• Eggs
• Milk
• Fontina cheese

💰 That’s rich: Scottsdale has dethroned Austin as the fastest-growing millionaire hub.

🤫 Explore: How to think like a spy (video).

🐶 Nose knows: Dogs can be trained to smell Parkinson’s disease.

👍 In the know: The PrideNomad Letter offers weekly business strategies and travel tips tailored for LGBTQ+ digital nomads and aspiring globetrotters. Subscribe for free.*

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*A message from our partners

☝️ Recipe #1: Apple bread pudding

✌️ Recipe #2: Spicy chicken soup

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Italian breakfast strata

+Clue for the Games newsletter: Today’s Conjoiner sequence contains earth-shattering news.