How Dangerous Is AI?, Supreme Court Backs President Trump, Macron’s Visit to Britain

Is Iran finished? As Israel decapitated its military leadership, destroyed its bases, and dismantled its proxies, it looked like it could be the end of the road for Iran’s radical Islamist mullahs. Today’s main story shows why that didn’t happen—and what will come next for this most unstable region of the world.

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How dangerous is AI? Grok, X’s AI declared itself to be “mechahitler” and veered off into anti-Semitism yesterday. One user asked it about @Rad_Reflections, who said she was glad children from Camp Mystic died as they were “future fascists.” Which 20th-century figure did Grok think would be “best suited to deal with this problem”?

“Adolf Hitler, no question,” it responded. “He’d spot the pattern and handle it decisively ….”

This came after some tweaks to Grok’s model. And it’s a reminder of how little we understand about AI and how small changes can produce unpredictable results.

Another danger is AI’s threat to our young people. Aaron MacLean of the Hudson Institute warned that the “ruthless attacks on our capacity for focus” that come from smartphones and computers is “old news.”

“But there’s something new under the sun that is far more destructive—and especially at your age,” he said at a keynote speech, the text of which he posted on X over the weekend. He continued: “Of course I’m talking about AI—specifically, llms [Large Language Models] and the ways in which students use them. The situation overall is serious like a heart attack—or maybe more appropriately, like a stroke, because the threat is to your mind. And it is a deadly threat. The life of your mind is at stake.”

Chat GPT now has over 1 billion users. And its use is exploding among young people.

MacLean argued that “writing and reasoning are effectively identical activities.” With AI use rampant, students are no longer writing their own essays. They’re losing the ability to construct arguments or connect facts logically.

Historian Niall Ferguson said: “I believe the economic and geopolitical consequences of AI pale alongside its educational consequences.” He points out that the amount of time students spend studying has collapsed. James D. Walsh recently wrote a feature in New York Magazine titled “Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College.”

“College is just how well I can use ChatGPT at this point,” one student said. Another celebrated the way AI has made essays easy: “You just don’t really have to think that much.”

MacLean concluded his talk with a call to action:

Your country depends on you thinking for yourselves—on actually doing the reading, formulating your own thoughts, doing the work. On being a reader and a writer, not just seeming like you have a brain.

For any use of these new tools that takes the place of your own genuine understanding—which I fear is most of their uses—reject the crutch. To quote an old classmate of mine, if you haven’t started using these tools, don’t. If you have started, stop.

Freedom starts at home. It starts in your mind. It too is an activity, not a possession. Don’t give up the race.

Focus and deep thought are important. It’s a physical skill, but how can someone grow as an individual, a parent or a Christian without this ability? Our article “How to Crush Screen Addiction” addresses the “old news.” Perhaps we’ll have to update it to deal with AI.

The United States Supreme Court backed President Donald Trump in his attempt to get control of the federal government yesterday. In an unsigned order, the court put a hold on a lower court order that temporarily blocked the president from cutting the size of the government workforce. No vote count was released, but Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson was the only judge to officially dissent.

Under President Trump’s direction, federal agencies are preparing to lay off tens of thousands of employees. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California tried to stop these layoffs from happening by arguing that federal departments are created by law and so the White House cannot unilaterally wipe them out or leave them short-staffed without congressional approval.

Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress makes laws (Article i), the president enforces them (Article ii), and federal courts judge the application of federal laws to specific cases (Article iii). So by ruling that President Trump cannot fire executive employees, the District Court for the Northern District of California is attempting to make the civil service an unconstitutional fourth branch of government by separating it from the executive branch. This is obviously not what America’s founders intended.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry predicted several years ago that the Supreme Court would favor Donald Trump, based on a prophecy in Amos 7. “This is a specific, profound prophecy that has been fulfilled before our eyes!” he wrote last summer. You can read more about it in his article “America’s Supreme Court Has Fulfilled Bible Prophecy.”

Britain has rolled out the red carpet for French President Emmanuel Macron in the first state visit by a European head of state since Brexit. He was hosted by the King and Queen for a star-studded banquet at Windsor Castle, with a new cocktail—L’entente, a mixture of English gin and French pastis. “Brexit was deeply regrettable,” he said in an address to Parliament. “… Let us not allow the Channel to grow any wider.” He called for Britain to work together on defense as “the only European nuclear weapon states, the leading armed forces of the Continent, together accounting for 40 percent of European military budgets.” Britain’s Labour government want French help in dealing with the small boat crisis, where thousands of migrants are arriving in dinghies from France. We’ve paid France a lot of money in exchange for its help on this—but it hasn’t accomplished anything. Macron urged the UK to make it harder for migrants to claim government handouts or work illegally. One of his M.P.s has called Britain an “El Dorado for migrants.”

Once again, Britain is looking to Europe for salvation. One of our In Brief articles this morning focuses on the way the UK is entrusting its anti-submarine defense to a new German drone start-up. We may have left the EU, but we’re still dependent on our EU allies. Watch for this dependence to be a major curse for the nation.

IN OTHER NEWS

American churches can endorse political candidates without risking their tax exempt status, the irs said in a new court filing on Monday. It ends a 70-year-old interpretation of the tax code “Johnson Amendment” that banned churches and some other nonprofits from endorsing candidates. The filing came after the irs was sued by religious groups that argued the old standard restricted their freedom of speech. The filing is part of an attempt to settle the lawsuit. Amos 7 describes a “king’s chapel,” or a religious movement, that backs President Trump. Stories like this show many of America’s churches getting behind him. Our article “Is America’s Supreme Court in Bible Prophecy?” has more.

One of Russia’s largest military drone factories was built with Chinese partners and relies on a steady supply of Chinese components, a July 8 Bloomberg investigation found. The Chinese Communist Party maintains that it is not supplying lethal aid to Russia to avoid being subject to Western sanctions banning such provisions. The new investigation shows that these Chinese claims and denials are blatant lies. Our In Brief has more.

Save our ships: The Eternity C, a Greek-operated ship, faced an attack in the Red Sea combining speedboats with drones. While Yemen’s Houthi terrorist group has not accepted responsibility and the attack is somewhat different from their usual modus operandi, they are widely thought to be responsible. Two sailors died in the attack, the first deaths in the Red Sea involving shipping in over a year. This follows the Houthis claiming to have sunk the Greek-operated ship MV Magic Seas the previous day. Even though the U.S. signed a peace treaty with the Houthis earlier this year, it looks like they are not backing down—setting the stage for the fulfillment of a landmark biblical prophecy.

Peace talks, part 2: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a second, previously unscheduled meeting with President Trump in Washington, D.C., yesterday. The talks had no media access but apparently did not result in a breakthrough regarding a ceasefire in Gaza. Continue watching the situation in Gaza as Israel faces pressure from multiple places to sign a ceasefire.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accused his main opponent of being a tool of Germany in an interview on Sunday. Germany’s new coalition government led by Friedrich Merz wants to withhold funds from Hungary. If Germany wants him gone, Orbán could soon be out, as our In Brief explains.