Wednesday, May 20, 2026
ArchiveCan AIs already start 'rogue deployments' inside AI companies? (Landmark new METR report)
A red-teamer spent three weeks inside Anthropic pretending to be a rogue Claude. What he found about how easily current models could go off-script is the AI safety story of the year so far.
All non-drone militaries are obsolete
Noah Smith's argument is absolute and backed by Ukraine evidence: if your military isn't drone-centric, it's a museum piece. A thesis that will start arguments at every dinner table this week.
Two Researchers Are Rebuilding Mathematics From the Ground Up
Scholze and Clausen aren't tweaking math — they're ripping out topology's most basic concept and replacing it. Quanta explains what that means and why it might reshape how we understand numbers.
California High-Speed Rail: An Autopsy
The most expensive infrastructure failure in U.S. history, dissected with Wendover's trademark clarity. How did a bullet train end up as a $100B lesson in what not to do?
There’s No Earthly Way of Knowing Which Direction We Are Going…
A book about AI's threat to truth… is full of quotes made up by AI. You cannot script irony this perfect. The single best encapsulation of where we are right now.