Trump Rejects AI Warnings, America's First Space Weapon & Macklemore's Tour Exit - Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Erica Mandy (0:00)

Today is Tuesday, September 15th. We're talking about how the world is responding as AI giants call for a slowdown. There's now pushback from China, the White House and Silicon Valley. And why the US says it now has a weapon in space.

Also, the Supreme Court's ruling on mail ballots is in, while voters head to the polls in the final primary before the midterms. Plus what Senator Mitch McConnell said about his return to the Capitol. Why a popular concert tour is breaking up over politics. And who won the biggest prizes at last night's Emmy Awards. Those stories and even more news coming up.

Welcome to The NewsWorthy. All the day's news in less than 15 minutes. I'm Erica Mandy. Thanks so much for being here. Let's do this.

The debate over whether to slow down the AI race is now turning into a global showdown involving some of the most powerful people in the world. As we told you yesterday, the CEO of Anthropic proposed the US hold talks with China to put limits on rapidly developing technology, warning that it could be a matter of existential risk. The essay was endorsed by the leaders of OpenAI, XAI, and Google DeepMind. But now heads of state from both China and the US are pushing back. China's foreign ministry called the warnings fear-mongering, saying they only make it harder for the world to work together to advance AI in an open, inclusive manner that's beneficial to all.

President Trump is taking a similar position. He says the US already has enough guardrails while claiming he's already stopped AI companies from doing bad things. And now one of the most powerful figures in the AI industry is publicly backing him. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Wong put Trump on speakerphone during an AI industry event in Los Angeles yesterday. And on that call, Trump called fears about AI a hoax, saying the push to slow AI development is either political or a Chinese scheme, but that the US cannot afford to fall behind China.

Wong agreed, saying the president had seen through the complexities of the debate. And his opinion is important since NVIDIA supplies many of the chips needed to build advanced AI systems.

American voters finally have some clarity about mail ballots ahead of the November midterms. The US Supreme Court officially blocked the new rules the Trump administration was trying to put in place. So states can keep using the mail ballot procedures they have been using. Of course, this is significant because mail ballots account for nearly a third of all votes cast. And remember, the Trump administration wanted to require states to give voter information to the Postal Service and more. And it would have been up to the USPS to refuse to deliver ballots that don't meet new requirements. But states and local election officials said there wasn't enough time to make those changes, especially now that some states have already started sending mail ballots to voters. Now the Supreme Court's order says there's no emergency that would justify lifting the lower court's block on the rules before the general election. Though some justices seemed open to supporting the rules if the issue came back to the court later when there isn't such a time crunch.

A new federal Watchdog report is shedding light on what happened inside the immigrant detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz. For example, there were apparently outdoor metal cages about the size of phone booths that faculty staff called calming areas. The Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General found dozens of detainees were put in these cages for about an hour at a time on average. The Inspector General called the practice highly unconventional and said it did not meet basic standards for humane treatment. Investigators also found the nearly 1,500 detainees were living in cramped, windowless housing pods with about three times as many people per pod as recommended by state standards. Showers were infested with the bugs, detainees weren't allowed to shower every day, and some people reported not having access to clean drinking water. The Homeland Security Department says the state of Florida managed alligator Alcatraz, but that conditions were consistent with the same federal detention standards that have been around for years. It says any allegations of inhumane treatment are not true. The facility has since closed. The Pentagon's watchdog also put out a new report yesterday contradicting the president by acknowledging that the war with Iran has left the US military with shortages of some advanced weapons. The report also gives the most detailed official counting yet of the damage the war has done, though it only covers the first four months of the war. It says Iranian attacks damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and other structures at US bases across eight Middle Eastern countries. Iran also damaged or destroyed dozens of American aircraft and drones and caused critical munitions shortfalls. Now, the Trump administration is working to replenish the weaponry.