Michael Petricone

Happily @Waymo -ing in SF. Come on DC @MayorBowser - make it happen!

In his first encyclical, Pope Leo XIV quotes J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.” (Photo: Vatican Media)

A piece from @greg_ip in @WSJ today asks whether stablecoins are a risk to the economy because they are "private money." It's a fair question, but the framing skips over how the US monetary system has actually worked for 160 years. "Private money" isn't the exception in our system — it's the rule. Roughly 90% of M2 is privately issued: commercial bank deposits and money market fund shares. Each carries different risks and is regulated commensurately — banks by Basel, capital, FDIC, and stress testing; MMFs by SEC liquidity rules; and now GENIUS stablecoins by a purpose-built federal regime. The right question isn't "public or private." It's whether the regulation matches the risk. GENIUS does.

The Pope rightly warns that AI must serve human dignity, not become a tool of domination or exclusion. But if we hand governments sweeping power over AI development in the name of safety, how do we prevent it from being used to censor, surveil, and control citizens — as Orwell foretold in 1984? This is the real alignment problem. “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.” Who will guard the guardians? “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The oldest questions of human nature and authority don’t disappear in the AI age. They become newly relevant.

“High Tech Manufacturing Brings Jobs and Vitality to Economically Challenged Area” There - fixed the headline for you!

Wyoming didn’t wait for Washington to figure out digital assets. We built the framework ourselves. I didn’t come to the U.S. Senate to slow that down, I came here to scale it—and that’s exactly what my bill, the Clarity Act, does.

@GovofCO is right: America needs a strong national AI framework, not a state-by-state patchwork. He also recognized the need for fixes to CO's SB205. Governor, thanks for hearing industry concerns and working to keep CO open for business. cta.tech/media/1ljbbhkc…

@RepBarragan is 🎯. It is outrageous that big radio corporations earn billions by playing music without giving the artists a dime. Congress please: no more radio mandates or other special favors to broadcasters until they do the right thing and stop ripping off 🇺🇸 musicians

“The smarter our AI assistants, the less admin we will need to do, And that will give us time back to focus on what is important: creativity, our families, and just connecting with other humans.” - amazing @demishassabis convo with @mikeallen #google

This one's for my mom, who still asks: 1. What I do for work 2. Why I do it

Congratulations to Arvind Raman on his confirmation to lead @NIST. Strong industry-government collaboration is critical to advancing AI, cybersecurity and innovation and we look forward to working together.

CTA urges Colorado Governor Polis @GovofCO to veto HB26-1210. Learn more: cta.tech/media/ydgjlxy1…

“Our mission is to reimagine drug discovery with the goal of one day solving all disease. AI will be a force multiplier for human ingenuity and usher in a new golden age of scientific discovery and progress, improving the lives of everyone everywhere.” - @demishassabis #google

They're continuing to generate anti-data center propaganda with AI and I can't help but laugh

As if running a small business isn’t hard enough. Come on Internet, let’s find this loser.

Thanks @Techdirt for running my piece on why “internet addiction” lawsuits are less about helping kids and more about creating another cash machine for the trial bar. These cases will crush startups and enrich trial lawyers instead of delivering solutions for families.

NEW RESEARCH from @SamLyman33: China is interfering with US data center development in a campaign to slow the American AI buildout. In this groundbreaking report, we document 3 vectors of foreign influence: Chinese state media, the Singham network, and foreign billionaires.

Solana's real-world asset market cap jumped 43% last quarter to $2B. @BlackRock, @FranklnTempletn, @Citi all building. The memecoin narrative is in the past. @CoinDesk on the latest Messari report: coindesk.com/markets/2026/0…