Morning Scan

The press-freedom fight has moved from a concerning trend to a full institutional standoff, with the White House, courts, and state AGs all drawing lines this week. AI governance, meanwhile, keeps splitting into two tracks: lawmakers debating kill switches and loophole-riddled bills, Washington pushing to build faster and sort consequences out later.

Connected World

CNN, MS NOW and Politico Barred From White House After Trump's Ban (paywall)

A press-credential fight headed for court, with First Amendment lawyers already engaged. (NYT)

Trump treads further on free speech with new journalist bans

The pattern matters more than any single ban — this is a sustained campaign. (The Verge)

AGs Must Not Cave to Paramount's Empty Threat to Leave California

David Ellison is using a relocation threat to pressure California's AG into dropping his challenge to the $111B Warner Bros deal — a naked test of whether state regulators fold under corporate pressure. (The Contrarian)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a law that will penalize influencers who do not properly disclose paid political content

$5K per undisclosed post — small money for the creators California is actually worried about, but a real deterrent for micro-influencers running ad campaigns on the side. (NYT)

Machines & Minds

Trump says he will appoint an AI czar and form an "AI Force" (paywall)

Calling safety concerns a "hoax" while standing up a military-flavored AI unit is a striking two-step. (Bloomberg)

Experts say AI kill-switch legislation is far harder to implement than lawmakers assume

Turns out "just unplug it" was never a real policy. (NYT)

US state-level AI chatbot safety bills included language that could provide loopholes for tech companies

The regulation-is-coming narrative keeps colliding with the regulation-has-holes reality. (NPR)

The AI regulation smackdown isn't over

Industry's brief truce on regulation lasted about a week — read this for the timeline. (The Verge)

“Rejects AI safety concerns as a 'hoax.'” — Bloomberg, on Trump's Truth Social post announcing the AI czar

Connected World

Sources: the USPTO and US Copyright Office were surprised by the DOJ's brief supporting OpenAI and Microsoft

When the administration's own IP agencies didn't see the filing coming, that's a tell about how it's picking AI winners. (Axios)

In China, A.I. Is Moving Forward While the Economy Lags Behind (paywall)

Xi's state visit arrives with a split-screen story: AI breakthroughs stacked on top of a wobbly broader economy. (NYT)

Rivian C.E.O. RJ Scaringe Has Some Ideas for How to Make More Cars in America (paywall)

His answer is robots, tariffs, and diplomacy — the entire industrial-policy debate in one CEO's to-do list. (NYT)

Chinese DRAM chipmaker CXMT says its new fifth-gen memory platform enters mass production

Another data point in China's push to stop needing anyone else's memory chips. (Reuters)