@mbzuai is pulling in global AI minds with full scholarships, vast compute, and a track record of releasing LLMs. Whether the UAE translates that magnetism into long-term AI talent retention remains to be seen. My latest for @restofworld. https://t.co/5ZE7jRZ931

Zohran Mamdani closes victory speech as mayor of New York to Dhoom Machale. This is like a Bollywood movie in real life 😭🔥

The UAE’s University of Artificial Intelligence is trying to become the “Stanford of the Middle East” New from @funkychapati:

JUSTIN HERBERT OMG

Musicians are struggling to be heard above the growing cacophony of AI-generated songs on streaming platforms like Spotify https://t.co/feehINgsAa

A conservative murdered a Democratic lawmaker -- and wounded another -- three months ago. Between 2013 and 2022, right-wingers committed the vast majority of political murders. If you actually care about political violence, you should not spread wild lies about it.

the Gulf countries have self-styled as the Switzerland of the Middle East — politically neutral zones where wealth and capital accrues that are safe harbours from regional instability. US military presence was a big part of this; it was thought nobody would dare attack until now

Pakistan is spying on millions of its citizens using a phone-tapping system and a Chinese-built internet firewall that censors social media, in one of the most comprehensive examples of state surveillance outside China, Amnesty International said

Wired and Business Insider have removed news features written by a freelance journalist after concerns they are likely AI-generated works of fiction. Freedom of expression non-profit Index on Censorship is also in the process of taking down a magazine article by the same author

“Driverless cars are the future. But what about my future?” — cab drivers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi face an uncertain road ahead as the UAE races to become a global testbed for robotaxis. My latest for @restofworld https://t.co/kikoBcSXuJ

@loomdoop Rip-roaring economy

In 1978, #Uyghur band #Yashlik dropped a psychedelic folk-rock album. Exiled to the fringes of Soviet musical history, it now sees the light of day thanks to Uzbek label @MaqomSoul. Read: https://t.co/oSDlcYNJSm #CentralAsianMusic #VinylReissue

A fully mask off moment.

84% of UK artists surveyed admit they self-censor their opinions. Speaking out for Palestine is bad for business. Those who do are blacklisted and cancelled. My thoughts on how the music industry became a moral sinkhole over the question of Palestine: https://t.co/zLBOUx5JeY

Quite possibly one of the saddest — and scariest — sentences I’ve read in a while, and it’s buried in a NY Times puff piece praising AI companions for vulnerable people on the spectrum. “Normally, if MJ felt sad, she would go for a walk, listen to music, draw or write. But

I've started a music newsletter that will serve up reviews, reports, and mixes

The UN Made AI-Generated Refugees 🔗

With Zohran, a Twelver Shia, facing Eric Adams, a Turkish proxy, I think we can consider the NYC mayoral race the final phase of the Ottoman-Safavid conflict

“Donald Trump has guaranteed that Iran will be a nuclear weapons state in 5 to 10 years from now.” Iranian writer @tparsi tells @mehdirhasan that US bombing of Iran would push Tehran toward developing nuclear weapons. Watch the full conversation: https://t.co/KuGMKjFVs8

The Iran-Israel conflict marks the first time in a war where AI-generated videos and images have been widely shared by supporters of both sides as an effective tool to fight the information war. https://t.co/HTFeFcfmU1

PACERS BASKETBALL. IT'S INCREDIBLE.