Tech News
Today’s tech story shows AI moving from hype-driven deals toward harder questions of reliability, accountability, and day-to-day use. Confidence is being tested as major investments wobble while regulators scrutinize how AI systems handle harmful content. At the same time, researchers and developers are pushing on standards, provenance, and model behavior—tools that matter for companies deciding what to deploy and for the public assessing what to trust.
Nvidia's announced intent to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI has not closed and Nvidia's CEO said the figure was "never a commitment," while Reuters reported OpenAI seeking alternative chips.
French authorities raided X's Paris office and summoned Elon Musk for questioning in a probe into illegal Grok chatbot content, including pornographic images of minors, Holocaust-denial claims and sexually explicit deepfakes.
A white paper examined technical foundations of EU AI standardization under the AI Act. It says standards are needed to make legal obligations auditable and enable scalable conformity assessment.
First-wave results from a longitudinal survey of 21 AI, policy and disinformation experts found deepfake video has immediate "shock" value while large-scale GenAI text risks "epistemic fragmentation" and "synthetic consensus."
GitHub's Blog published an Octoverse analysis examining which programming languages, projects and tools are growing fastest and where new developers are starting.
Researchers modeled human exemplar selection using neural-network feature representations and subset-selection strategies, finding joint representativeness (alone or with diversity) best matched human choices and transformer-based representations aligned better than convolutional networks.
Researchers fed minimal, topic-neutral prompts to LLMs and found systematic topical preferences: GPT-OSS often generated programming (27.1%) and math (24.6%), while Llama favored literary content (9.1%). This aids reliable monitoring and AI safety.
Montana News
Across Montana, local governments are using zoning and development code changes to push more housing, while other debates are being fought through lawsuits and high-profile political fights over constitutional and state authority. The trend is toward bigger policy shifts being tested in courts and legislatures, creating uncertainty for businesses, residents, and local planners. Readers should view these stories through the lens of who gains flexibility—and who bears the legal and compliance costs.
Missoula City Council approved a new zoning code, map and development requirements to increase housing. The rules implement the city's land use plan, expanding housing types, improving walkability and addressing climate goals.
Sen. Tim Sheehy joined a friend-of-the-court brief at the U.S. Supreme Court arguing against birthright citizenship. The Court is deciding whether that practice aligns with the 14th Amendment.
Multiple Virginia City businesses are in a lawsuit with the Montana Department of Commerce over planned lease-rate increases. The mayor says tourism generates about $75 million annually.
Utah is proposing to restructure its gas tax by removing the exemption for exported fuel and charging refineries to enable cutting the current $0.379-per-gallon consumer tax.
Missoula City Council passed the Unified Development Code on Monday, changing zoning rules and removing some density maximums and parking requirements. The city hopes it will streamline building denser, affordable housing.
Economic News (Weekly)
This week’s data point to mixed momentum: consumer prices rose again while manufacturing demand strengthened after a recent dip. At the same time, the trade balance deteriorated sharply as exports fell and imports rose, complicating the growth picture. In energy, higher fuel costs lifted power prices, while new grid links may improve regional supply options and price resilience for large users and households.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Dec 2025 CPI +0.3%, unemployment 4.4%, and payroll employment up 50,000.
The U.S. goods and services trade deficit increased to $56.8 billion in November 2025, up from $29.2 billion in October. This occurred as exports decreased and imports increased.
New orders for manufactured goods in November rose $16.2 billion (2.7 percent) to $621.6 billion, marking the third gain in the past four months.
Average wholesale day-ahead electricity prices at most major trading hubs in the Lower 48 states were higher in 2025 than in 2024, driven largely by higher natural gas prices to electric generators.
A 1,200 MW NECEC transmission line connecting Hydro-Quebec to ISO-NE began commercial operation. It is primarily intended to increase hydroelectric power exports from Canada to New England.
The U.S. international trade deficit in goods and services rose to $56.8 billion in November from $29.2 billion in October (revised) as exports fell and imports rose.
U.S. Governance
Across U.S. governance, attention is shifting from keeping agencies open to high-stakes fights over election administration, immigration enforcement, and the boundary between political influence and independent law enforcement. At the same time, states are pursuing targeted legal overhauls in areas where oversight and victim access to justice are in question. For readers, the lens is institutional trust: which rules change, who gains protections, and how accountability is enforced.
The partial government shutdown has ended. Lawmakers must now seek bipartisan agreement on changes to immigration enforcement.
President Trump said the GOP should nationalize elections and made false claims about election integrity. His efforts to change voting rules have mostly been blocked so far.
Tulsi Gabbard said in a letter to Congress that President Trump personally asked her to be on site as federal agents executed a search warrant at a Fulton County, Georgia elections office.
New Epstein files reveal that key members of President Donald Trump's inner circle interacted with Jeffrey Epstein for years after his initial arrest and conviction.
New York lawmakers introduced a bill to boost guardianship system funding by $15 million a year. There are not enough guardians to serve roughly 30,000 New Yorkers who need them.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey proposed removing the 15-year rape statute of limitations when DNA matches a suspect. Current law bars prosecutions in older cases despite DNA matches; other states allow more time.
Global Affairs
Today’s global affairs signals show multiple, overlapping pressures: active conflict and fragile negotiations, attacks that raise protection concerns for civilians and aid sites, and maritime incidents that keep regional security on edge. At the same time, extreme weather and dangerous migration routes are driving displacement and deaths, testing governments’ crisis response and accountability. For readers, the key lens is how states balance security aims with civilian safety and credible public explanations under stress.
Ukraine, Russia and the United States began a second round of peace talks in Abu Dhabi as Russia shelled Druzhkivka with cluster munitions, killing at least seven, the regional governor said.
MSF’s hospital in Lankien, Jonglei, South Sudan, was hit by a government airstrike, injuring one staffer. MSF said the main warehouse and most critical medical supplies were destroyed and colleagues fled.
Heavy rains caused significant flooding in northern Morocco, forcing 50,000 people to be evacuated and prompting deployment of the Moroccan army to support relief efforts, the interior ministry said.
A US F-35C launched from the USS Abraham Lincoln shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the carrier in the Arabian Sea.
A speedboat collided with a Greek coastguard vessel off Chios, killing 15 Afghan and Moroccan migrants and injuring 24, which Greek officials blamed on smugglers. Past instant official accounts have been questioned.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Libya's late ruler Muammar Gaddafi, has died, relatives said; a cousin told Libyan media he was killed at his home in Zintan by unidentified men.