Front Page Podcast: Trump, Xi acknowledge intense AI competition during state visit

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged their intense competition in the race to dominate artificial intelligence, but say they need to work together to make the technology a source of prosperity.

The technological rivalry between the world’s two largest economies took center stage during Xi’s state visit to Washington, his first trip to the U.S. capital in more than a decade.

Both leaders cast AI as an area of potential cooperation between the two countries, which are increasingly at odds over trade, rare earth minerals and global influence.

Neither leader said he was prepared to slow down the competition. The U.S. is trying to preserve its lead in advanced AI and computer chips, while China is pouring resources into closing the gap and reducing its dependence on American technology.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called allegations of genocide in the Gaza Strip a lie as dozens of world leaders walked out during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly.

Netanyahu said Israel had a right to wage war against Iran. Many of the speakers before the General Assembly this week called out what they described as flagrant violations of international law by the Israeli government, particularly in the West Bank and Gaza.

He said Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israelis in the region are far more extreme than settler violence, which plagues Palestinians living in the West Bank.

A bill to create nationwide rules for compensating college athletes is headed for passage in the Senate after clearing a cloture vote.

The measure, which guarantees athletes the right to profit from their name, image and likeness, passed cloture 74-25, well above the 60 votes needed. It also sets rules on athletes’ ability to transfer schools and requires major schools to maintain programs and scholarships for Olympic sports.

Supporters said the legislation is the only way to prevent an arms race among football programs that could overwhelm colleges. Some civil rights groups, including the NAACP, have argued the bill leaves too much power in schools’ hands.

The Government Accountability office says ICE’s effort to rapidly build detention capacity has wasted millions of dollars as the Trump administration took a spend-first, ask-questions-later approach.

The attempt to buy and convert warehouses to migrant detention centers has collapsed, with ICE now seeking to sell seven of the 11 properties it rushed to buy.

Yet even if the agency can sell, GAO says it’s already sunk $20 million that cannot be recovered, such as in zoning work, utilities and security.

And finally…The ramped-up missile and drone barrage recently targeting sites across Saudi Arabia is providing a test of its mutual defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan. 

So far, the Saudis’ new partners have shown little appetite for joining the widening Middle East war against Iran and its Houthi proxies.

Pakistan has been quiet about committing more forces to the Middle East as the Houthis escalate their attacks. The other leg of the new security triad, Turkey, was similarly noncommittal, offering only “technical” assistance to the Saudis.

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