00:01AI's biggest players now writing their own safety rules.
00:05President Trump's new voluntary deal with tech leaders and why Democrats say self-policing isn't enough.
00:11Plus, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth takes aim at the top, his new plan to cut the number of generals and
00:18admirals by 20 percent.
00:20And Jack Smith isn't backing down.
00:23The former special counsel defends his Trump prosecutions and tells senators he'd make the same call again.
00:31The stories that matter, the facts you can trust from across the country to around the world.
00:39This is unbiased updates from straight arrow.
00:43Hey, everybody, I'm Christian Bryant. Hope your morning is off to a great start.
00:47Let's get you caught up and ready for the day ahead.
00:50President Trump has a new plan for keeping artificial intelligence safe, and he's putting much of the responsibility in the
00:56companies building it.
00:57Trump met with some of the industry's biggest names at the White House Tuesday and announced a new voluntary safety
01:04agreement.
01:04The companies are committing to internal controls and outside reviews as they develop more powerful AI systems.
01:11Well, there's a belief that there should be tremendous self-regulation, and we automatically have regulation with the Department of
01:18Justice, the FBI, all of that.
01:20But the self-regulation is very important.
01:23Trump says the agreement will be morally binding and plans to name someone to oversee it.
01:28That's well short of the government guardrails some AI leaders and lawmakers have been calling for.
01:34But Democratic Senator Mark Warner says self-policing isn't enough.
01:38He pushed the Senate Tuesday to require safety testing and incident reporting for the most advanced AI systems, saying,
01:46Are we really going to trust the industry to self-police on something that goes beyond what is happening?
01:51I'm not an AI doomer, but the ability to have these AI agents take over, shut down part of the
01:56financial system, is real.
01:58We should heed the call from the experts.
02:01Earlier in the day, Trump also launched America.gov, a new AI-powered portal designed to give people one place
02:08to search for federal information and services.
02:10With America.gov, the federal government no longer stands in your way, and it stands only at your service.
02:18And that's what we're doing.
02:19We're simplifying it.
02:20We're glamorizing it.
02:21We're making it what it should be.
02:22Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to begin integrating their public services into America.gov within 90 days.
02:31For now, the site can search government information.
02:34The plan is to eventually let people do things like renew passports or enroll in Medicare directly through it.
02:42Notably missing from President Trump's meeting with top AI executive Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
02:49He was in San Francisco unveiling his company's new always-on AI agent.
02:54Just a day after OpenAI held back a more advanced model over safety concerns, Altman unveiled a series of new
03:01products, including Dots.
03:03He described Dots as an AI helper that, quote, always has your back, inspired by the kind of AI we've
03:09seen in movies.
03:10Dots is designed to work more proactively, handling ongoing tasks without users having to spell out every step.
03:18It will compete with other personal AI agents, including Meta's Muse.
03:23Think about that AI from the future that you imagined.
03:25It knows what's going on.
03:27It knows what matters to you.
03:29You don't have to tell it every little thing to you to do.
03:32We want AI to feel like that.
03:34We want it to feel like magical things that it just does for you without you having to ask.
03:39Dots are remarkably capable, always-on agents, built to handle really anything you can think of.
03:45Altman didn't address the model OpenAI held back Monday during his keynote, but he later said the company is investing
03:52more in safety, security, and monitoring as its AI agents become more capable.
03:57Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to announce another round of cuts to the military's top ranks today.
04:05The Pentagon plans to cut 20% of the positions reserved for generals and admirals according to multiple reports.
04:12That doubles the overall 10% reduction Hegseth ordered last year, part of his push to streamline the military's senior
04:19ranks.
04:20At the time, Hegseth said the cuts were needed to drive innovation and operational excellence, arguing that, quote, unnecessary bureaucratic
04:28layers were hurting the military's effectiveness.
04:30As of July, there were 851 active-duty generals and admirals across the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and
04:39Space Force.
04:40The new cuts are expected to be completed by January 1.
04:43Hegseth is set to lay out the plan during his State of the Force address at 3 p.m. Eastern
04:48at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.
04:51Former Special Counsel Jack Smith says he stands by the decisions he made while investigating President Trump and would make
04:59them again.
05:00At a contentious Senate Judiciary hearing Tuesday, Smith defended his decision to prosecute Trump, saying his team developed proof beyond
05:08a reasonable doubt that Trump committed serious crimes.
05:11Smith also said he will not be silenced by threats of prosecution against him.
05:16If asked whether to prosecute a former president today based on the same facts, I would do so regardless of
05:24whether that president was a Republican or a Democrat.
05:29The charges against President Trump were the result of the evidence.
05:33Grand juries in two separate districts reached this conclusion based on his actions, as alleged in the indictments they returned.
05:43Rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the
05:51results and prevent the lawful transfer of power.
05:55After leaving office in January of 2021, President Trump illegally kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago Social Club
06:05and repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his continued retention of those documents.
06:12Republicans press Smith over his team's efforts to obtain phone records from GOP lawmakers as part of the 2020 election
06:19investigation.
06:20Smith defended the move.
06:22Do you believe in the tooth fairy?
06:25I do not.
06:27How about how about the Easter Bunny?
06:31I no longer believe in the Easter Bunny.
06:33Do you think Jimmy Hoffa died of natural causes?
06:37I do not.
06:38OK.
06:40Now, you you you sought the phone records of a bunch of US senators, right?
06:51We sought the toll records, non-content records, any any any Democrats or just Republicans?
06:59If President Trump had reached out to Democrats.
07:03But I'm just trying to get the facts.
07:04Were there any Democrats?
07:05He sought their phone records.
07:07Just Republicans.
07:08Right.
07:08The toll, the toll records that we sought were relevant to the investigation and they were Republicans.
07:15I'm asking you.
07:16Then came this exchange over a basketball game.
07:19Missouri's Republican Senator Eric Schmidt suggested Smith had been in Atlanta in 2024 and raised the possibility he was there
07:26in connection with Fulton County District Attorney Fonnie Willis.
07:30What would you say if I had a series of text messages from your team that said you were in
07:34Atlanta at a Warrior Hawks game on February 3rd, 2024, the day after Willis and Wade announced their affair?
07:47Yeah, I don't think you know that we have this stuff.
07:49So I'll give you a second to process it so you don't, you know, perjure yourself.
07:54But Schmidt appeared to have the wrong Hawks.
07:56Smith said he was at an Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball game that day against Maryland in Maryland, not an Atlanta
08:04Hawks game.
08:05Records confirm the Hawkeyes played at Maryland that day.
08:08Neither of Smith's cases against Trump ever went to trial.
08:12Both were dismissed after Trump won the 2024 election because of Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
08:19A former American Idol singer is now a convicted murderer found guilty of killing his wife inside their Ohio home.
08:28A jury took just over two days Tuesday to convict Caleb Flynn on all nine counts against him.
08:34Flynn broke down in tears as the verdicts were read, then left the courtroom in handcuffs.
08:39Prosecutors say Flynn shot and killed his wife Ashley in February, then staged the scene to look like a home
08:45invasion.
08:46Flynn told police he was asleep on the couch when gunshots woke him up.
08:51But prosecutors said data from his electronic devices showed he was awake and moving around the house.
08:57Then there were the text messages.
08:59Flynn was having an affair with Aaliyah Botner, who testified that he talked about hating his wife and wanting her
09:06dead.
09:06About six months before the killing, Flynn texted her that he was trying to think of ways to kill Ashley
09:12and not go to jail.
09:14The defense argued there was no concrete evidence Flynn fired the gun and told jurors, quote,
09:19being unfaithful doesn't equal murder.
09:22The jury convicted him on murder, assault and evidence tampering charges.
09:27Flynn is set to be sentenced Monday and could spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.
09:33Finally this morning, we don't shame here at Straight Arrow, but we do want to recognize a sizable achievement.
09:39The winner of Fat Bear Week 2026, Meet Bear 89, better known as Backpack, an adult male at Katmai National
09:47Park and Preserve in Alaska.
09:50He got that nickname as a cub when he would climb onto the back of his mom, Holly, as they
09:54crossed the river.
09:55And there are some good genes there.
09:58Holly won Fat Bear Week herself back in 2019.
10:02Backpack had a rough start, though.
10:03At about two years old, he suffered a serious leg injury that park rangers say put his survival in question.
10:09He recovered and has since grown into a large adult known for what park officials call his quiet toughness.
10:17And now in the 12th year of Fat Bear Week, Backpack has his own title, winning the final with more
10:23than 103,000 votes.
10:25And a little bit of nepotism, but it's okay in this particular situation.
10:30Before we head out, here's what we're tracking today.
10:32At 1130 Eastern, top Justice Department and Homeland Security officials hold a news conference expected to focus on election integrity.
10:40At one, President Trump hosts a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.
10:45Ten minutes later, Vice President Vance joins Texas Governor Greg Abbott in Brownsville for the groundbreaking of a new Saronic
10:52Technologies manufacturing facility.
10:55And at three, Trump makes an announcement with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
10:59We will be watching it all.
11:02There's always more to the story.
11:04That's why we created Off Script.
11:06It's a new podcast where we go beyond the headlines and talk with straight arrow journalists behind the reporting.
11:13I host my first episode this week.
11:16Very excited.
11:17So be sure to watch Off Script Thursdays on our app or at san.com slash off script.
11:23If you have any questions or comments for me or the team, email us unbiased updates at san.com.
11:30We read them and we like hearing from you guys.
11:34I'm still new here and I want to get to know the straight arrow audience.
11:38That's unbiased updates at san.com.
11:41And that is unbiased updates for this Wednesday.
11:43We'll see you here tomorrow for the unbiased updates team and all of us at straight arrow.
11:48I'm Christian Bryant.
11:49Have a great one and we'll see you again soon.
