Thursday, September 10th

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman made a surprise prerecorded video appearance at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday, introducing Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Dave McCormick and drawing cheers from the Pennsylvania delegation. Fetterman called himself a “common-sense Democrat,” said he rejects “extremes and socialism,” and pledged to work with President Donald Trump and McCormick on steel policy. The appearance intensified Democratic concerns that Fetterman could switch parties as the party tries to regain the Senate. Trump headlined the two-day GOP gathering, which Republicans framed around midterm messaging and fundraising.

U.S. Central Command said it destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and near Kharg Island on Sept. 8 after the IRGC twice targeted U.S. Navy warships with ballistic missiles. Iran said it attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz; U.S. officials said strikes on a U.S.-used base in Jordan caused minimal damage and no deaths. Brent crude topped $100 for the first time since July, and Trump said on Sept. 9 that the war and high gasoline prices would last until after the midterms.

Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned Tuesday and posted on X that Anthropic and OpenAI are “gambling with our lives” by racing toward self-improving AI systems that could “kill us all by the end of the decade.” Coxon said he spent three years on pre-training research at OpenAI and Anthropic and left two months before his equity would have vested. Anthropic Alignment Science Lead Evan Hubinger wrote that he sees a greater than 10% chance AI could kill all humans within the next decade, while saying current models pose low risk.