While I focus on Technology, Innovation, and Publishing, because I have a platform, I also flag items that I think are important. I also try to include some resources & opportunities. Please let me know what you think.
Important Items
(There’s so much crazy stuff going on. Here’s some you may have missed.)
The State Department Really Doesn’t Want to Talk About the Office of Remigration
The office was created a year ago and seemingly named for a far right European plan to expel minorities and immigrants from Western nations. It now works, a source says, with little to no oversight.
White House Aliens.gov website teases UFOs, but touts immigrant arrests
DOJ Wants to Know Who on Reddit, X Criticizes ICE’s Tactics
The US Justice Department is seeking the names, addresses, and banking information of Reddit and X users, ratcheting up efforts to identify social media critics of government deportation efforts.
As Trump Politicizes Justice Dept., Prosecutors Struggle With Grand Juries
Multiple examples of Grand Jury malfeasance by appointed cronies with no experience.
Postal Service proposes requiring states to provide mail-in ballot voter lists
The proposal shifts USPS from recommending ballot-mail practices to mandating them for federal elections.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/29/postal-service-mail-in-ballot-voter-lists-trump.html
The Most Important Abortion Races You’ve Never Heard Of
HT @galeabrewer Via Abortion Every Day
Our election guide for sheriffs, prosecutors, and county coroners.
https://jessica.substack.com/p/2026-election-abortion-sheriff-prosecutor
You may now disenfranchise the bride
Trump still working on making the SAVE Act. It would change voter registration and ID requirements—& rule that the name on current ID has to match birth certificate… roughly 80% of married women take spouses’ name
https://wearethemeteor.com/you-may-now-disenfranchise-the-bride/
US Law Enforcement Warns of ‘Anti-Tech Extremism’ as AI Hatred Grows
As Americans stew over the looming risk of job-stealing AI and data centers in their backyards, the feds are raising the alarm about a new category of threat, documents obtained by WIRED show. More than 1,000 pages of unpublished reports from the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and fusion centers obtained by WIRED show a national shift taking place to surveil this new and worryingly broad category of people and activities deemed an emerging threat. This new effort follows President Donald Trump’s National Security Presidential Memo 7, which instructs the Department of Justice to target anyone holding “anti-American,” “anti-Christian,” and “anti-capitalism” beliefs.
https://www.wired.com/story/us-law-enforcement-warns-of-anti-tech-extremism/
Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country
Erin Brockovich, the environmental activist whose name and work you may recognize from the Oscar-winning movie Erin Brockovich, has created a tool to map data centers across the country.
Innovation
Technology
Book on Truth in the Age of AI Contains Quotes Made Up by AI
James Daunt Looks to Clarify B&N’s Position on AI-Generated Books
HT @inkbitspixels They don’t endorse/intentionally sell AI-generated books, try to exclude AI-generated books from online offerings, and never knowingly order any for in-store stock.
John Grisham’s New Legal Drama Is a Real Life Fight Against AI Audiobooks on YouTube
YouTube will now automatically label AI videos
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/27/youtube-will-now-automatically-label-ai-videos/
OpenAI is making it easier to check if an image was made by their models
They’re using open standard C2PA, which adds a clear signal in metadata that an image was generated by AI. OpenAI & Google partnering to include SynthID, an invisible watermark.
Can AI Detectors Be Trusted? The Authors Guild Put Five of Them to the Test
The results varied widely, and in some cases, dramatically. AI-detection tools are AI models trained to recognize statistical patterns associated with large language model output, such as sentence rhythm, vocabulary distribution, and predictability of word choice. But polished, edited prose written by experienced human writers shares many of those same characteristics, because LLMs were trained on polished, edited prose written by experienced human writers. The more refined and controlled a writer’s style, the more it may resemble the output these tools are designed to flag. This creates a troubling paradox. A writer who has spent decades honing clarity, economy, and precision is, by definition, writing in a way that overlaps with what AI has learned to produce. Detection tools cannot distinguish between a human writer who has mastered the craft and a machine that has learned to imitate it, because at the level these tools operate, there may be little difference to find.
https://authorsguild.org/news/can-ai-detectors-be-trusted/
Writing & Publishing Awards Have Difficult Decisions to Make Regarding AI
By @JaneFriedman “Writers are astute enough to claim, ‘This is my human work and you can’t prove otherwise,’ regardless of whether they’ve used AI. Since the very institutions that prohibit AI use are also unlikely to implement AI detection software, they may unwittingly bring attention and investment to work that incorporates AI output. If writers don’t see methods of enforcement, they will use AI if it suits them—not because they’re bad people but because they’re human.”
ElevenLabs Adds 200K Audiobooks to Stream, Offers Premium Tier
They added 200K new audio titles to its ElevenReader app—incl hit novels by Elle Kennedy & R.F. Kuang—& launched an audiobook streaming subscription service to compete w Audible & Spotify.
ElevenLabs’ new music-generation model can switch genres mid-track
Spotify’s Audiobooks Play is Working
HT @publishingtrend >1M customers—accounting for $100M in annualized revenue—have subscribed to Audiobooks+ to access additional books and listening hours beyond those included in Spotify Premium. Audiobooks+ customers are super valuable, accounting for 3x more lifetime value than standard subscribers who listen to audiobooks. PageMatch, which makes it easier to bounce between audio and print formats of the same title, has resulted in increases of up to 55% more monthly listening, with some users completing books twice as fast.
https://bookriot.com/spotifys-audiobooks-user-data/
Spotify launches ‘narrated articles’ from publications like The Atlantic, Vogue, Rolling Stone
Spotify now lets you ‘clip’ moments from your favorite podcast
Spotify’s new Podcast Clips feature lets users easily cut and share key podcast moments to boost discovery and engagement.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/27/spotify-now-lets-you-clip-moments-from-your-favorite-podcast/
Spotify and Universal Music Announce Licensing Agreements for ‘Responsible’ AI-Generated Covers & Remixes
Universal Music Group and TikTok renew agreement to combat unauthorized AI music
The Economist’s new ChatGPT app allows users to interact with its Trump polling data
The app retrieves and visualizes polling data from The Economist’s Trump approval rating tracker.
https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/05/the-economist-launches-a-dedicated-chatgpt-app/
Amazon Launching AI Creators Fund, Picks Up Three Animated Prime Video Shows That Use Its New Tech
Amazon has launched a new fund to incentivize creators to use AI throughout the production of entertainment.
Apple announces Apple Intelligence-powered accessibility feature updates
Vision Pro users will be able to control a compatible wheelchair w their eyes. VoiceOver can look at a bill & read out the amount & due date. Real-time caption generation for videos.
Alibaba’s proprietary Qwen3.7-Max can run for 35 hrs autonomously & supports external harnesses like Anthropic’s Claude Code
Robinhood now lets your AI agents trade stocks
Robinhood is rolling out AI agents that can analyze portfolios, trade stocks, and even make payments on users’ behalf, while keeping user control through limits and approvals.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/27/robinhood-now-lets-your-ai-agents-trade-stocks/
Meta launches Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp subscriptions, with more to come, including AI plans
Google Search Goes Agentic—and Doesn’t Need You Anymore
https://www.wired.com/story/google-search-goes-agentic-and-doesnt-need-you-anymore/
Why Google’s AI can’t spell Google (or anything else)
These AI models — which can code an app in seconds, or solve problems that have stumped mathematicians for decades — are about as good as a kindergartener at spelling.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/27/why-googles-ai-cant-spell-google-or-anything-else/
The Filipino virtual assistants behind LinkedIn’s “thought leadership” content mill
For $7/hr, virtual assts. write LinkedIn posts & comments w AI for Western execs. “It’s all AI comments by fake people answered with fake replies by other fake people”
https://restofworld.org/2026/virtual-assistant-linkedin-engagement/
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Says Intelligence Will Be a Utility, and He’s Just the Man to Collect the Bills
AI Eats the World
New preso from @benedictevans
https://www.ben-evans.com/presentations
Predicting AI job exposure
By @benedictevans AI will take a bunch of stuff that used to be expensive and make it very cheap or free – what does that unlock and what does that break, and how many jobs is that?
https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2026/5/24/ai-job-exposure
Publishing & Media
Substack Plans New Tools for Big Publishers
Substack said it is developing tools for higher-volume publishers, aiming to prevent other media from defecting
Micropayments for news have failed everywhere. Can they succeed in Kenya?
Make America Read Again
Exempt books from sales taxes.Invest in library collections & reduce waitlists. Open nonprofit/hybrid bookstores. Reading in laundromats; libraries in transit systems; books in barbershops, classrooms, homes & pediatric offices.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/31/opinion/books-reading-crisis-libraries.html
Love books, will travel – How literary tours are building real-life adventure
HT @publishingtrend The literary tourism market is projected to be worth over $3.3 billion in 2034, up from about $2.3 billion in 2024
In the US, TX Asks Court to Resurrect ‘Unconstitutional’ Book Rating Law, Alarming Publishers & Booksellers
Resources & Opportunities
WMG Member Panel at U.S. Book Show
All WMG Members can get 30% off the U.S. Book Show and if you want to come to this WMG panel and reception on 6/2 only, it’s complimentary for the first 10 WMG members to register; discounted $20 admission for additional WMG members.
https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6703608
Own Your Power: The Next Laws of Success
This isn’t just a panel – It’s a room full of women thinking strategically about what comes next. Hear a convo w Rhonda Joy McLean & Elaine Meryl Brown w Publisher Porscha Burke, moderated by Tiffany Dufu at Penguin Random House 6/4 5:30-7:30. All welcome! $20 for Women’s Media Group members, $25 nonmembers.
https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6683133
WMG Small Group Socials
Take a look at WMG’s exciting mix of 8 in-person and virtual members-only small group socials! I’m hosting one in July and hope to see you there!!
https://www.womensmediagroup.org/events
PRH Banned on the Run Fundraiser
As a book lover & PRH employee, I am a passionate advocate for protecting the right to read. I hope you’ll join me in supporting this cause! The Freedom to Read Foundation protects & defends the 1st Amendment. From 6/8-6/12, I’ll be tracking my activity and on 6/12 I’ll be participating in a walkathon at PRH. #teamPRH
https://penguin-random-house.charityfootprints.com/bannedontherun26/participant/kathryn-sandler
JAWS Webinar: Journalism & AI – Promise or Threat?
FREE @womenjournos webinar: Join NYU Professor Meredith Broussard to discuss the upsides & downsides of AI for journalism. Learn about the acronyms, platforms, how journalists have used AI, & the many cases where journalists have investigated AI systems.
https://www.jaws.org/news/jaws-webinar-journalism-amp-ai-promise-or-threat
Call for Creatives: NASA Seeks Help Illuminating Mission Storytelling
USC Center for Health Journalism Data Fellowship
Five-month program equips Fellows with the tools to find and obtain data and perform analyses that can yield new and important investigative insights.
https://centerforhealthjournalism.org/fellowships-grants/data-fellowship
We Need Diverse Books accepting applications for 2027 Mentors
Applications are open for 2026–27 Poetry Coalition Fellowships
Paid, part-time fellowships offer hands-on experience with nonprofit literary arts organizations. Fellows work 20 hours per week from Sept. 2026–June 2027 and receive a $20,000 stipend, plus $1,100 toward health care.
https://poets.org/academy-american-poets/poetry-coalition-fellowships/2026-27
Apply for Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech
Deadline 6/12
https://www.fastcompany.com/apply/next-big-things-in-tech
The Green Card Rules Just Changed: What Employers and Foreign Nationals Need to Know Now
NYPL Pride Month Events & Book Recommendations
https://www.nypl.org/spotlight/pride
Applications Open for NYPL Schomburg Junior Scholars Program
Deadline 6/29. Students in grades 6–12 to explore Black history & culture. Free Saturdays Oct-May academic program for historical literacy thru lectures, presentations, & project-based learning
https://www.nypl.org/about/fellowships-institutes/schomburg-junior-scholars-program
NYC Website to find fun for kids this Summer
https://www.nyc.gov/content/summer/pages/
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