Biden’s AI national security memo calls for heavy lift

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s directive to all U.S. national security agencies to embed artificial intelligence technologies in their systems sets ambitious targets amid a volatile political environment.

That’s the first-blush assessment from technology experts after Biden on Oct. 24 directed a broad swath of organizations to harness AI responsibly, even as the technology is rapidly advancing.

“It’s like trying to assemble a plane while you’re in the middle of flying it,” said Josh Wallin, a fellow at the defense program at the Center for a New American Security. “It is a heavy lift. This is a new area that a lot of agencies are having to look at that they might have not necessarily paid attention to in the past, but I will also say it’s certainly a critical one.”

Federal agencies will need to rapidly hire experts, get them security clearances and set about working on the tasks Biden lays out as private companies are pouring in money and talent to advance their AI models, Wallin said.

—CQ-Roll Call

The polls say the presidential election is a dead heat. But online bettors are leaning to Trump. Who’s right?

According to the prediction market PredictIt, online bettors on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election now seem to feel a Trump victory is more likely.

In the countdown to the 2024 American presidential election, the polls indicate that it’s still a neck-and-neck race. With two weeks to go, The New York Times said Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump were essentially tied in the battleground states, while national polling averages had Harris leading Trump by only 1%.

The FiveThirtyEight website also had Harris ahead of Trump by less than 2% as of Oct. 24, while an average of polls tracked by RealClearPolitics put Harris ahead by about .02%. But bettors are telling a different story.

In the past couple of weeks, people who are staking money on the outcome of the election in so-called “prediction markets” are indicating that the momentum is swinging toward Trump. One market, the New Zealand-based PredictIt, showed that traders betting on the outcome of the election were pricing Trump’s odds at winning at close to 60% in the third week of October.

—The Minnesota Star Tribune

Minnesota, North Dakota the latest to join outdoor recreation confluence of states

Minnesota and North Dakota are the latest states to sign on to the Outdoor Recreation Industry Confluence Accords, a framework designed to promote and support the outdoor recreation economy in the U.S.

Representatives from the two states signed on to the accords Oct. 16 on behalf of their governors — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum — at the 2024 Outdoor Media Summit in Missoula, Montana.

The two additions bring the number of states now in the confluence to 20.

The Confluence of States is a bipartisan network of state leaders advancing the outdoor economy through a collective voice. Established in 2018, the confluence Accords embody 15 principles contained in the pillars of conservation and stewardship: education and workforce training, economic development, public health and wellness, opportunity and experience.

—Duluth News Tribune, Minn.

Hezbollah replaces slain leader Nasrallah with deputy Kassem

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah announced that Naim Kassem will become its new leader, replacing long-standing chief Hassan Nasrallah, who Israel assassinated just over a month ago.

Hezbollah’s main decision-making body, the Shura Council, agreed to make Kassem, who has been deputy leader since 1991, the new secretary-general, the group announced on Telegram on Tuesday.

Kassem, who is in his early 70s and used to teach chemistry, was not the obvious successor. Most analysts thought that would be Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah. Yet he was killed in a separate Israeli airstrike on Beirut in early October.

Kassem's election “signals continuity rather than change for both Hezbollah and its backer Iran,” said Lina Khatib, associate fellow at Chatham House, a London-based think tank. It “sends a message of reassurance to Hezbollah’s constituents and of resilience to Hezbollah’s opponents.”

—Bloomberg News