• The Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research and Public Health – Sabrina I. Pacifici’s overview of selected articles highlights the devastating impact of the Trump administration’s dismantling of agencies across the federal government, with a focus on cancelling critical scientific and health related research grants, as reported in July, 2025. The total cancellation of funds is escalating as grant suspensions are ongoing, but it is in the billions of dollars. Unilateral, sweeping and rapid actions are targeting a wide range of projects, programs, education and funding for research on critical health issues including: Alzheimers’, cancer, the climate crisis, weather and forecasting, vaccines, HIV, infectious diseases, food and drug safety, fossil fuel, air and water pollution.
• Book Review: The AI Con – A Critical Look At AI Hype – Jerry Lawson reviews Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna’s new book, The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want (Harper 2025).
• How to Get AI Out of Your Google Search Results – John R. Platt, Editor of the The Revelator, a news and ideas initiative of the Center for Biological Diversity, reports on how three simple keystrokes will deliver search results that consume less energy and water — and probably contain better information.
• Fair Use in the Age of AI: When Training Isn’t Copying, and Licensing Isn’t the Law – Kyle K. Courtney, both lawyer and librarian, is the Director of Copyright and Information Policy for Harvard Library. He guides us through the rapidly evolving legal landscape around artificial intelligence and copyright where two district court opinions now serve as early landmarks. As a result of these recent decisions, he concludes that the case is even stronger, and far more compelling, for libraries doing the same work in service of research, education, and public access.
• Trump Administration Looking to Slash Environmental Protection Rules for Rocket Launches – A draft executive order viewed by ProPublica’s Heather Vogell and Topher Sanders directs the secretary of transportation to “use all available authorities to eliminate or expedite” environmental reviews for launch licenses — a change Elon Musk’s SpaceX and others have long sought.
• Can you trust climate information? How and why powerful players are misleading the public – Professors Klaus Bruhn Jensen and Semahat Ece Elbeyi are media and communication researchers focusing on environmental communication. Recently, they joined a team of 14 researchers who investigated misinformation about climate change for the International Panel on the Information Environment. Our team carried out the most comprehensive review to date of scientific research on climate misinformation and disinformation. Climate misinformation is when people make mistaken claims about climate change and spread incorrect information. Climate disinformation is where false information is spread deliberately – for example, corporations that “greenwash” their products so that they can sell more. (Greenwashing is where false claims are made that products or services are environmentally friendly when they aren’t). They reviewed 300 studies published between 2015 and 2025, all of which centred on climate misinformation. Our study found that the human response to the climate crisis is being obstructed and delayed by the production and circulation of misleading information. They found that this is being done by powerful economic and political interests, such as fossil fuel companies, populist political parties, and some nation states.
• AI in Finance and Banking, July 31, 2025 – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, conferences, industry white papers and reports, academic papers and speeches, and central bank actions on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available, indicate links to alternate free versions. Eight highlights from this post: Preparing for systemic risks in the age of generative artificial intelligence; JPMorgan, Robeco Quietly Deploy AI in Daily Wall Street Routines; Can finance put an end to AI data mining; The Transformational Effects of Artificial Intelligence on the Finance Sector Workforce; Algorithmic Coercion with Faster Pricing; AI-Powered Trading, Algorithmic Collusion, and Price Efficience; From Banks to Bots: Behind the Rise of AI Money; and Federal Reserve conference included Fireside Chat – Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle W. Bowman and Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO; and Here’s What ‘Terrifies’ OpenAI’s CEO About Financial Institutions Today.
• AI in Finance and Banking, July 15, 2025 – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, conferences, industry white papers and reports, academic papers and speeches, and central bank actions on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available, indicate links to alternate free versions. Six highlights from this post: Artificial Intelligence in Finance; Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Corporate Finance; AI and the Fed; Artificial Intelligence and Entrepreneurial Finance: A Guide for Research; AI Won’t Be Held Accountable for Regulatory Failings, But Your Firm Will Be; and Anthropic’s Claude dives into financial analysis.
• Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 26, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: How big tech is force-feeding us AI; Microsoft exec admits it ‘cannot guarantee’ data sovereignty; Why Are So Many Healthcare Companies Getting Hacked?; and Age verification needs better privacy protections, report says.
• Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 19, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: Big Tech Researchers Issue Strict Warning About How AI Thinks; How to find spyware and other hidden apps on your iPhone; Google vs. AI: when to use which; Crowd-Sourced ICE Tracking Alerts Aim To Provide Local Communities With Early Warning Of Immigration Raids; and Crowd-Sourced ICE Tracking Alerts Aim To Provide Local Communities With Early Warning Of Immigration Raids.
• Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 12, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: Deepfake Scams Are Distorting Reality Itself; Why does Amazon use palm scanners at Whole Foods and doctors’ offices?; Crypto news: Why shocking and violent “wrench attacks” are going to get worse; Privacy Alarm: Meta Caught De-Anonymizing Android Web Activity; and When the FBI Has a Phone It Can’t Crack, It Calls These Israeli Hackers.
• Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 5, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: Deepfake Scams Are Distorting Reality Itself; Why does Amazon use palm scanners at Whole Foods and doctors’ offices? Crypto news: Why shocking and violent “wrench attacks” are going to get worse; Privacy Alarm: Meta Caught De-Anonymizing Android Web Activity; and When the FBI Has a Phone It Can’t Crack, It Calls These Israeli Hackers.

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