State Mandates and Trade Chokepoints Enclose the Global Compute Commons
July 16, 2026
From the Trump administration's push to nationalize domestic AI labs to the EU's antitrust offensive against Google's Android ecosystem, state actors are aggressively asserting direct control over the digital architecture of daily life. This shift toward proprietary governance is mirrored in the Gulf's struggle to bypass Nvidia chokepoints and the Canadian government's failure to track AI-generated greenwashing, leaving a vacuum where public accountability is replaced by opaque executive privilege and algorithmic management.
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The Gulf has billions to spend on AI. It still needs Nvidia
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are trying to diversify their AI supply chains, but geopolitical constraints and Nvidia's technological lead leave them with few viable alternatives.
- AI governance
- media and technology
- geopolitics
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Google is better at playing the EU regulations game
Today, the European Union ordered Google to give its AI rivals greater access to Android, the open-source operating system that powers billions of devices worldwide. The demand is hardly surprising. It may look like a defeat on paper for Google, which has spent years resisting exactly this kind of a…
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Google ordered to open Android and Search to rivals in Europe
Google must give rival AI assistants and search engines greater access to key parts of Android and Google Search after the European Union ordered the company to comply with the bloc's digital antitrust rules. The two decisions, handed down Thursday, could weaken Google's control over two of the tech…
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China Wants to Regulate AI Companions
With the latest rules, Beijing hopes to rein in a booming industry.
- geopolitics
- structural power
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DOGE Used AI for Housing Policy. The Government Won’t Say How
In response to a public records request, HUD has withheld documents about DOGE’s use of AI—in part by citing a privilege that doesn’t exist.
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Researchers warn AI-generated ads could evade Canada's greenwashing rules
A new study published by researchers at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University warns of “programmatic greenwashing” — ads that make unsubstantiated environmental claims, written by AI, shown to a user, often with no public record of what was claimed.
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The Party That Screams About The Evils Of Socialism Wants To Nationalize AI Companies
It’s hard to believe that the same people who spent the Biden years screaming that Democrats were “socialists” out to destroy free market capitalism are now cheerfully handing the federal government ownership stakes in private companies. And yet here we are. Just as Trumpists have decided that their…
- media and technology
- AI governance
- structural power
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Gen Z is pushing back against AI – a reminder to all of us that the future isn’t written
Nathan Kuczmarski/Unsplash Martin Scorsese recently announced he will be joining generative artificial intelligence (AI) company Black Forest Labs. He said he would embrace AI for storyboarding – the practice of creating a visual outline in the early stages of developing a movie or TV show. The anno…
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Wherever AI is heading next, older people want a say
Older people are being left out of decisions about how artificial intelligence is being built. Many older adults are highly skilled, curious about emerging technologies and keen to learn about AI; they’re interested in its potential for our society. However, research shows that many employers still…
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Australia wants to ‘manage’ AI. What will that look like?
Today, prime minister Anthony Albanese laid out how his government plans to manage artificial intelligence (AI) and ensure the rapidly advancing technology works in Australia’s interest. In a major speech at the University of Sydney, Albanese declared that AI “is a bigger challenge and a bigger oppo…
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