Digital Content

Wikipedia is starting to feel the effects of the AI-driven shift in how people find information, with page views falling 8 percent in the latest year, said new Wikimedia Foundation CEO Bernadette Meehan. Wikipedia is a crucial source of information for AI models, but those same models increasingly allow people to get Wikipedia-derived information without ever visiting the site—potentially threatening the ecosystem that keeps the online encyclopedia running. While the drop wasn't unexpected, "that doesn't mean that we're sort of starry-eyed about it and not concerned about it," Meehan said.

On September 29, 2026, President Donald Trump took three significant steps shaping how the federal government will use, refer to, and oversee artificial intelligence (AI)—including a voluntary accord with six of the country's largest AI companies that signals the Administration's preference for industry self-governance over federal regulation. The three actions were:

As social media platforms have become an important part of the information environment around the world, the view that social media is harming democracy has become more common. A new 37-nation Pew Research Center survey finds that in most countries where trend data is available, the share of the public who believes social media is bad for democracy has increased significantly from 2022 or 2023 to now. Views about social media’s impact are particularly negative in the United States, where 64% of adults say it is bad for democracy.

Former artificial intelligence researcher Jacob Coxon recently told the world that the companies he once worked for are driving humanity to the brink of extinction. Days after he made his claims, tech CEOs seemed to agree, and in a series of lengthy manifestos and X posts, asked for … an antitrust exemption.

This executive order directs the establishment of America.gov as the unified digital front door to the Federal Government for every individual in the United States seeking Federal information or services.  America.gov will not be merely another website, search engine, or directory of Government links.

On September 15, the Gates Foundation released the 2026 Goalkeepers Report, Make This Matter: AI, Equity, and the Choice We Can't Delay. Goalkeepers tracks progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are 17 goals adopted by 193 world leaders in 2015.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA-48) introduced the Digital Asset Inventory and Audit Act of 2026, legislation to ensure the federal government identifies, secures, and accounts for cryptocurrency and other digital assets that come into its custody.

We are facing the multi-trillion-dollar march of private artificial intelligence (AI) data centers into our economy, politics, ecosystem, and cultural life. Amid calls for blanket moratoria and investments in data centers in space, how can the public assert a controlling interest in the development and outcomes of this technology? This essay proposes developing municipally owned, small-scale data center capacity to support municipal services and public-interest AI.

The White House, Congress and the country's leading AI companies have allowed AI to grow faster, stronger, more powerful and wildly lucrative (and dangerous), with no serious effort to control it or spread the benefits beyond the super-wealthy. It's not too late to change this. But if they all dither, duck or dance around it, the chances of AI worst-case scenarios will explode, likely early in 2027, according to people who truly understands AI. Yes, President Trump opposes regulation or bipartisan efforts. Yes, AI companies are obsessed with more money, more speed.

Products that don’t exist. Meal deliveries that will never make it to the front door. Smoke breaks lacking the most important ingredient. All this and more—or is it less?—is available on so-called dopamine sites, which offer nothing tangible and yet have somehow become wildly popular as people navigate a digital landscape that cultivates consumption. Named for the brain chemical associated with reward seeking, the sites simulate experiences like online shopping that can generate good feelings.