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Big Tech is spending trillions on AI. Investors now want proof it will pay off.

"The current push for AI adoption that we're seeing is directly coming from the financial incentives of AI firms," she added. Because of the massive capital expenditures, the hyperscalers and other AI firms are making a "deliberate push for AI everywhere — no matter whether the demand is there or if customers want it or not."

Gig workers are endlessly exploited. AI could make more of us share their fate

Over the past few years, some hospital networks have outsourced parts of their core workforces to AI-powered labor platforms like ShiftMed, CareRev and Clipboard Health. These platforms have been described as “Uber for nursing”, with a sales pitch that mirrors the early days of the platform economy.

AI Now Co-Executive Director Sarah Myers West Testifies Before Senate Banking Committee

AI Now Senior Fellow Dr. Katie J. Wells Testifies before the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections

Here’s How Long It Will Take for AI to Reach Its Potential

“What is being sold is this idea of productivity and efficiency,” says Kate Brennan, associate director of the AI Now Institute, an AI-policy research center, “and what that means for the people doing the actual work is rarely part of the conversation.”

Your boss’s AI may already be reading your Slack messages

Amba Kak, executive director of the AI Now Institute at New York University, previously told CNBC that the rise in message monitoring is concerning—not just because of what employees might say, but because of how doing so infringes on their rights.

Nurses Sound Alarm as ‘Uber for Nursing’ Apps Push to Deregulate Healthcare

A new AI Now Institute report published April 21, 2026, warns that gig-work platforms marketed as "Uber for nursing" are aggressively lobbying states to rewrite healthcare staffing rules, a push that could leave nurses with less pay, fewer protections, and less control over their shifts, according to The Guardian.

‘Uber for nurses’: gig-work apps lobby to deregulate healthcare, report finds

Billion-dollar tech platforms are aggressively pushing for deregulation of the “Uber for nursing” industry in an effort to expand gig work in the healthcare sector, according to a report published on Tuesday.

‘Safety first’ puts Anthropic ahead in game of AI spin

But Dr Heidy Khlaaf, chief AI scientist at the AI Now Institute and a former OpenAI safety engineer, is sceptical. She notes Anthropic provides no comparison with existing automated security tools, nor any false-positive rates. “It also serves their ‘safety first’ image, as they’re able to justify the lack of public release, even a limited one for independent evaluation, as a public service – when it simply obscures experts’ abilities to independently validate their

The Great AI Grift

Tech leaders want you to believe that AI is the key to a new golden age. The reality looks more like a bold, government-backed heist.

AI Giants Go on Charm Offensive to Avert Public Backlash

But broad skepticism and fear about the impact of AI have made opposing all regulation untenable for tech company CEOs, said Kak, who is co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, which has advocated for AI regulation. If they can’t oppose every policy, “What’s the next best move?” she asked. “It’s to place yourself in the driver’s seat, and that is what every single one of them is doing.”

U.S. military is using AI to help plan Iran air attacks, sources say, as lawmakers call for oversight

“It’s very dangerous that ‘speed’ is somehow being sold to us as strategic here, when it’s really a cover for indiscriminate targeting when you consider how inaccurate these models are,” Khlaaf said.

The one question everyone should be asking after OpenAI’s deal with the Pentagon

“In terms of safety guardrails for ‘high-stake decisions’ or surveillance, the existing guardrails for generative AI are deeply lacking, and it has been shown how easily compromised they are, intentionally or inadvertently,” Heidy Khlaaf, the chief AI scientist at the nonprofit AI Now Institute, told me. “It’s highly doubtful that if they cannot guard their systems against benign cases, they’d be able to do so for complex military and surveillance operations.”

Iran and AI on the battlefield

Today we're talking about AI military capabilities, how companies like Anthropic and OpenAI have become, or are on their way to becoming deeply enmeshed in the military. And what happens when these companies and governments start building systems that help decide who lives and who dies in a war. I'm joined today by Heidy Khlaaf. She is the chief AI scientist at the AI Now Institute and an expert on AI safety within defence and national security, including in autonomous weapons systems.

Can Anthropic’s AI Claude be trusted in combat? | The Take

Can Anthropic’s AI Claude be trusted in combat?| The Take Tools from Anthropic and OpenAI are being used by the Pentagon to make military decisions in Iran, guiding decisions could cost lives. Fast, powerful, or flawed, how have AI systems already changed how wars are fought?

Key Questions on the Role of Technology in the Expanding Middle East War

Tech Policy Press asked experts working at the intersection of technology policy, security, and international affairs to share what they are watching as the situation unfolds.

AI Now Team Updates

AI company Anthropic amends core safety principle amid growing competition in sector

But Heidy Khlaaf, chief AI scientist at independent research group the AI Now Institute, says despite Anthropic’s safety-first reputation, it has always fallen short when it comes to its attempts to prevent human harm.