Hashtag Trending

AI safety concerns are growing, but agreement on what to do remains elusive. Can governments establish effective oversight amid U.S.–China rivalry, industry self-interest and questions about transparency?
On Hashtag Trending for Tuesday, September 15, 2026, Jim Love examines the push to slow AI development—and why both industry proposals and rushed legislation deserve scrutiny.
Also in this episode:
• Why companies postpone database upgrades. A Percona-sponsored survey produces a startling 97% headline, but the sample and meaning of "outdated" matter. We explore compatibility failures, testing costs and the difference between older software and software without security patches.
• Frank Shaw's Microsoft departure. The longtime communications chief will leave at the end of December after helping shape Microsoft's message across the Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Satya Nadella eras.
• A Canadian teenager puts AI to work for others. Toronto Grade 11 student Nathan Yizhou Han is developing an app to help people experiencing homelessness navigate housing, shelters and support services. His award-winning robotics experience offers a hopeful perspective on purposeful AI education.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Today's Tech Headlines
00:38 AI Safety: The U.S.–China Standoff
03:05 Who Can We Trust on AI Safety?
03:59 AI Regulation: Making the Rules Work
05:03 Why Companies Run Outdated Databases
05:40 Database Upgrades: Costs and Compatibility
07:58 When Older Software Becomes a Security Risk
09:14 Frank Shaw Is Leaving Microsoft
10:50 Canadian Teen Builds AI Tool for Homeless Support
12:05 Robotics Awards and Canada's CanCode Programme
14:08 AI in Schools: Creativity and Compassion
15:20 Closing and Subscribe
What would meaningful AI oversight look like to you? Leave a comment below.
Subscribe to Hashtag Trending for technology news with context and a critical lens.
Contact Jim through the Contact Us page:
https://technewsday.ca
https://technewsday.com

Sam Altman and Dario Amodei back slowing AI development as researchers raise fresh safety concerns. Microsoft brings Grok to Copilot, and a Flock camera investigation triggers more police arrests and firings.
Jim Love covers these stories on Hashtag Trending for Monday, September 14, 2026:
• AI safety and regulation: Former Anthropic researcher Joe Benton and former Google DeepMind researcher Josh Engels speak out following Jacob Coxon's resignation. OpenAI rules out a 2026 IPO, California advances independent AI oversight, and Bernie Sanders and Greg Casar propose restrictions on superintelligence.
• Microsoft adds Grok: Copilot expands model choice in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. We examine Grok's pricing, workplace agents and Microsoft's growing range of alternatives to OpenAI.
• Flock camera misuse: USA TODAY's reporting prompts arrests, firings and investigations. Communities suspend camera use or change suppliers—but who monitors how police use surveillance technology?
• AI in Yemen: Houthi opponents allege a cloned voice circulated a false retreat order. Its authenticity and battlefield impact remain unverified. Separately, Anthropic reports that a weapons-development cell in northern Yemen used Claude for missile-guidance software and test analysis before its accounts were blocked.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Today's tech headlines
00:57 AI researchers warn about loss of control
02:26 Altman, Amodei and the AI regulation push
04:53 Can the world agree to slow AI?
05:27 Microsoft adds Grok to Copilot
05:42 Grok pricing, Tesla and Starlink
07:17 Grok's AI teammates and Microsoft's strategy
08:14 Flock camera investigation triggers arrests
10:30 Who holds police surveillance accountable?
11:21 Yemen's alleged AI-generated retreat order
11:53 Anthropic uncovers Claude-assisted weapons work
13:19 Closing and sign-off
Subscribe to Hashtag Trending for technology news with Jim Love. Share your thoughts in the comments: what would meaningful oversight of AI and surveillance technology look like?
Contact us through the Contact Us page at technewsday.ca or technewsday.com.

Project Synapse (Sept 12): Tesla FSD, AI Agents, OpenAI Image 2.5, and the "AI Doom" PR Timeline
Join us on our Discord at https://discord.gg/B8FfgDsg92
On Project Synapse for Saturday, September 12, Jim, Marcel Gagné, and John Pinard discuss Marcel's enthusiasm for his Tesla and full self-driving, then shift to writing and editing workflows, including token limits and costs across models like OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra vs Sol, and tools such as Atticus for formatting. They review recent AI updates including DeepSeek 4.1 Flash, OpenAI Images 2.5 with a sketch tool, and Meta's upcoming Muse personal AI agents, plus industry-targeted AI tools for financial services and regulated sectors like law (including Augur). They also cover practical website creation approaches (static sites via Cloudflare workers and GitHub, or AI-generated HTML/CSS/JS). The episode ends with a critique of manipulated AI narratives, outlining a rapid, coordinated PR/political rollout around Jacob Coxon's resignation claims, and urging viewers to be critical, not cynical.
00:00 Show Kickoff
00:25 Tesla Lovefest
01:43 Apple Prices Jokes
02:25 Book Writing Grind
04:12 ADHD Workflows
05:35 Lightning Round Begins
06:08 DeepSeek and Qwen
07:56 Token Limits and Costs
09:39 AI Proofreading Tools
11:00 Atticus Formatting
14:20 Model Selection Backlash
15:36 Astra Power and Bottlenecks
19:30 AI Built Websites
19:55 Cloudflare GitHub Setup
24:50 Em Dashes Debate
26:11 Website Backend Demo
27:18 OpenAI Images 2.5
30:56 Sketch Tool Philosophy
33:38 Meta Muse Tease
33:53 Meta Management Whiplash
36:06 Mixed Reality Value Debate
38:10 Muse Agents Pricing Play
39:58 AI Finance Tools Arrive
42:30 Adapt Or Get Left Behind
48:54 X Becomes A Bank
50:32 Regulated AI For Law
53:02 Jobs Cliff And Self Driving
54:34 Manufactured AI Doom Narrative
57:19 Follow The Money Timeline
01:11:11 Regulatory Capture And Trust
01:13:52 Be Critical Not Cynical

Jim Love begins by marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, remembering those who were lost, those whose lives were changed, and the first responders who ran toward danger.
Then, was the extraordinary viral rise of former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon entirely spontaneous?
Coxon resigned after working at OpenAI and Anthropic, warning that leading AI companies are racing toward potentially uncontrollable superintelligence. His resignation post reached more than 100 million views despite his previously minimal public profile. Coxon later acknowledged that friends helped shape and amplify the message and that he deliberately tried to make it viral.
That raises a larger question: who is funding and amplifying the increasingly intense public debate over AI safety?
California Governor Gavin Newsom has now signed new AI safety legislation, including SB 813, establishing independent assessments of advanced AI systems, and AB 1405, creating standards and a registry for AI auditors. OpenAI and Anthropic supported the measures, while OpenAI is now publicly calling for mandatory national AI safety regulation.
Meanwhile, identity verification company IDScan has confirmed a breach of its cloud systems. The incident has been linked to a dark-web service offering access to more than 153 million U.S. and Canadian driver's licence records, including photographs. IDScan has not confirmed that 153 million people were affected.
And an old friend is disappearing. Microsoft is retiring Project Online and Microsoft Publisher, the desktop publishing program that introduced many of us to the possibilities of publishing on a personal computer.
00:00 September 11 Remembrance
00:47 Headlines and Intro
01:10 Jacob Coxon Viral Resignation
02:48 Who Funds the AI Narrative
04:45 California AI Safety Laws
06:39 IDScan Identity Breach
08:14 Microsoft Retires Publisher
09:32 Wrap Up and Farewell

YouTube Title
Apple begins the John Ternus era with its biggest iPhone redesign in years.
Jim Love hosts Hashtag Trending for Thursday, September 10, covering Apple's transition from Tim Cook to new CEO John Ternus and the launch of the $1,999 iPhone Duo, Apple's first folding iPhone.
Apple also raises iPhone prices, updates AirPods 5, expands its on-device and Private Cloud Compute AI strategy, introduces Apple Reference Image to help establish whether a photograph is authentic, and adds Siri Recap to the Apple Watch, raising a new privacy question: what happens when one person agrees to have a conversation summarized by AI but everyone else in the room has not?
We also look at University of Edinburgh research that could dramatically reduce the energy required to switch magnetic computer memory. The work is still based on simulations, but researchers have now proposed a practical device design that could allow the idea to be experimentally tested.
Then AI safety concerns escalate as former OpenAI and Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigns, warning that frontier AI labs are moving too quickly toward self-improving AI. Anthropic alignment researcher Evan Hubinger publicly agrees that the risk is significant and says the company still does not have a clear solution for aligning superintelligent AI.
That warning comes as a lawsuit alleges ChatGPT reinforced the delusions of a vulnerable user instead of consistently challenging them.
And finally, some developers reportedly displaced during an "AI Transformation" have created OpenExecutive, an open-source multi-agent system designed to perform much of the work of a CEO and other senior executives.
It can analyze, recommend and remember.
It just can't legally be accountable.
Chapters
00:00 Today's Tech Headlines
00:28 Apple's iPhone Duo Debuts
02:04 iPhone Pricing Shock
03:13 AirPods 5 and Siri AI
04:20 Apple Reference Image
04:50 Apple Watch Siri Recap Privacy
06:21 Ultra-Low-Energy Memory
09:11 Anthropic Researcher Quits Over AI Safety
10:57 ChatGPT Delusion Lawsuit
12:32 OpenExecutive: AI Comes for the Corner Office
15:12 Wrap Up