The Free Press
Good afternoon from the skies between San Francisco and New York! I’m buzzing from our debate last night (don’t worry; if you missed it, we’ll post the video here on Thursday for paying subscribers).
Okay! This was a big week, and not just because of last night’s event. We published some epic stories. Starting with our major, monthslong investigation on Qatar.
In How Qatar Bought America, Frannie Block and Jay Solomon show how the tiny Persian Gulf nation spent almost $100 billion over the last 20 years to ingratiate itself with American institutions and our power elite:
“The influence built by Qatar in the U.S. has no modern parallel, The Free Press found, whether compared with large American companies seeking to influence antitrust policy, energy firms trying to win new drilling rights, or other foreign governments aiming to shape U.S. policy—or shield themselves from it. For comparison, Qatar spent three times more in the U.S. than Israel did on lobbyists, public-relations advisers, and other foreign agents in 2021—and nearly two-thirds as much as China did, according to the government’s latest reports.”
It’s a blockbuster story that we delivered right on the heels of Qatar offering President Donald Trump a 747-8 jumbo jet to use as his personal plane. (For more on that, check out our editorial on the matter here and a dive into the legality of such a move from Jed Rubenfeld.)
And in the days since we published the story there’s been even more news: Trump announced a deal with the Qataris that the White House says will “generate an economic exchange” of $1.2 trillion, including Qatar buying hundreds of Boeing jets.
Our story has been getting plenty of traction on social media and on networks like MSNBC and Fox News, where Bret Baier asked Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani directly about it.
How to Survive the AI Revolution
A lot has been written about how artificial intelligence, which some have compared to the discovery of electricity or even fire, will change our world in the coming years. But our columnist Tyler Cowen teamed up with Avital Balwit of Anthropic—the company behind the popular large language model Claude—to write something different this week: a survival guide.
It’s a sober and sobering look at where AI is headed, the risks it poses, and how it will challenge us to reflect on what it means to be human. And it comes from two people who really know what they’re talking about.
So how will AI affect your work, your leisure time, your status, and everything else about your life? And what’s the best way to anticipate and prepare for your changes? Go and read the answers.
And, as a bonus, check out a recording of their live conversation with me and Free Press subscribers here. This is one of the many benefits for paying subscribers, so if you’re not yet one . . . whaddaya waiting for?
Calling All AI Visionaries…
As I mentioned at the top, last night I moderated a debate on whether truth will survive the age of AI, sponsored by our friends at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), America’s premier free speech warriors. And I want to alert you to a new $1 million grant program that FIRE and its partners at the Cosmos Institute just unveiled to support open-source AI projects that are designed to help people find the truth rather than to censor information.
It’s a way to try to ensure that the future of AI is one in which people get answers that actually reflect reality. Very cool project. Click here to learn more.
Gen Z Goes Home
Americans like moving around. Immigrants come to cities. Their children move to the suburbs. Their kids move back to the cities, then often back to the suburbs to have children who will then move to cities. And this just seems to keep going until one day someone like our reporter Maya Sulkin, staring down at an $8 latte she’s just purchased, wonders: Is this the best way to live?
And Maya isn’t alone: many members of Gen Z are discovering that we have a giant, beautiful country outside of our vast metropolitan areas. So why not ditch the rat race for a farm, or at least a property with a chicken coop? And when Gen Z flees the cities, is it possible they’re helping not just themselves, but America itself? It’s a fantastic piece. Read the whole thing here:
Our Friends at Tablet Magazine Go Back to the Future
Do you feel like the algorithm is rotting your brain? Our brilliant friends at Tablet have a plan for you. It’s called a magazine. A real one, made of glossy paper, and thick at 120 pages. It will come in the mail and offer their signature work: iconoclastic politics coverage, culture writing, and insights about Jewish life.
As editor in chief Alana Newhouse writes, “Politics, war, religion, art, technology, culture, celebrities, health, sex, money—we’re going to cover it all. And it will all ultimately be linked together not by partisanship or social conformity but instead by a feeling of enchantment with the world and what it can be, and the belief that it’s our job to help you see that.”
This isn’t an ad. It’s just something I’m excited about. If this sounds like it’s for you, click here.
I would love a print version of The Free Press.
My dream is some application that sends it to my printer every morning and prints it out. Maybe I could select the categories of articles that I want, or specific authors, and then each morning or maybe a couple times a week, I just go to my home printer and grab out my copy of The Free Press.
I wasn’t able to listen to the Haviv Rettig Gur livestream. Is there a way to find and listen to a recorded version?