This is Lever Weekly , a recap of our work from the past week. If you only read one email from us all week, this should be it.
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Here’s what The Lever published this week:
LEVER DEEP DIVE OF THE WEEK
AI Regulation Was Coming. Then Trump Killed It. After a flood of tech industry cash, President Donald Trump killed a requirement that AI giants disclose their riskiest experiments to national security officials. Now lawmakers are scrambling to catch up.
The Machines Escaped. Their Masters Did So First. The most frightening thing about rogue AI agents may be how faithfully they mirror the powerful humans who created them.
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LEVER SCOOPS OF THE WEEK
The Fine Print In Democrats’ Hollywood Merger Surrender. Democrats promised to play hardball, then accepted loophole-ridden pledges leaving Paramount’s $111 billion megamerger intact.
The Ellisons Have Made This Movie Before. With Paramount, you don’t need a catalog of failed consent decrees to understand what is to come. You only need the record of the family making the promises.
The Youth Hockey Giant That Can’t Quit Private Equity. After denying its Wall Street ties, Black Bear quietly installed a private equity executive as CEO.
AI Lending Is Risky Lending. Banks that adopt artificial intelligence average more “problem” loans and less small business lending.
Big Crypto Buys Plan B. The Winklevoss twins gave another multimillion-dollar gift to MAGA Inc. before pushing the Trump administration to pursue cryptocurrency rules that Congress rejected.
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THIS WEEK ON LEVER PODCASTS
What’s Hiding In The Paramount Merger Settlement. Former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya and antitrust legal expert Lee Hepner dig into the fine print, loopholes, and false promises of the Paramount merger settlement.
What AOC And Ro Khanna Would Do With Trump’s Power. Should the next Democratic president rein in Trump’s expanded powers — or use them?
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MIDTERM MADNESS
Your weekly essential midterm elections update from The Lever newsroom. Midterm Madness brings you the races worth watching, the money trails worth following, the numbers that cut through the spin, and the campaign moments that say more than the official talking points ever will.
Every Wednesday, paid subscribers get essential election update s, reporting, and insights like:
- Who’s on the other side of Big Crypto’s $30 million kill-shot?
- The new scandals roiling Maine’s Senate race.
- Why you may see more campaign ads than usual this fall.
Don’t miss out on the conversation: Upgrade now .
Read Midterm Madness
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LEVERMIND
How many skeletons are in Congress’ closet? Who’s ruining youth sports? And is there any check on Paramount’s power?
The answers to these questions and many more can be found in LeverMind , our weekly news quiz for paid subscribers that tests your knowledge of the developments that really matter — and who needs to be held accountable.
Find out if you’re a true LeverMind:
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LEVER IN THE NEWS
Rep. Ro Khanna and Sen. Michael Bennet highlighted our reporting on how Trump killed a rule requiring AI companies to disclose their riskiest experiments.
- The New Republic also highlighted our investigation, and the matter became a trending topic on X .
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — The Democratic campaign arm amplified our scoop that Republican congressional candidate Joe Mitchell made nearly $100,000 consulting for a “data center PR agency.”
Project Salt Box — The investigative outlet cited our reporting on the troubled developer behind ICE’s prison expansion in its scoop on the firm’s new $655 million federal contract.
WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast — Katya Schwenk joined the program to discuss our reporting on the hedge fund billionaire bankrolling a new “pro-business” Democratic political machine.
The Katie Halper Show — Sirota joined the program to expose Rahm Emanuel’s corporate politics and explain how recent populist victories reveal voters’ rejection of the Democratic Party’s neoliberal faction.
Common Dreams — The progressive news outlet highlighted Sirota’s argument that Silicon Valley’s mass theft of intellectual property would be treated as a national security emergency if foreign governments — rather than tech billionaires — were responsible.
Gazetteer SF — The San Francisco news outlet cited our reporting on Senate candidate Mike Rogers’ multimillion-dollar investments in companies that could benefit from pro-AI policies.
Noahpinion — The newsletter featured our analysis arguing that AI doomsday fears are distracting from the powerful people building and profiting from the technology.
Feeling overwhelmed by the news onslaught? We’ve got you covered. Become a paid subscriber to help us sort through the noise and provide you with the information you need to understand what’s really going on.
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Lever Weekly: The Humans Broke Containment
Aggregated summary from an independent source. Read the original at LeverNews.