Hot Earth Summer: How AI and Environemntal Injustice Are Shaping the End of This Month
A round-up of this month’s signs we are living in late stage capitalism.
Miles Kampf-Lassin
Hot Earth Summer continued to torch the planet as many regions were blanketed in sweltering heat domes and Earth’s ocean temperatures hit a new record high in August. The hot, dry conditions have had disastrous impacts on vegetation and animal species, while also making it more difficult to battle wildfires. A new study from researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park shows that the wildfire smoke engulfing swaths of the globe poses a larger prenatal threat than other human-caused air pollution and that those most disproportionately affected are low-income, rural and Indigenous populations. The study also found the increase in wildfire activity is “systematically offsetting prenatal air quality gains” from previous emissions reduction efforts. When it comes to climate, it seems like we’re moving one step forward and two bowled-over coughs in the haze backward.
At the same time the summer heat is baking populations and threatening wildlife, the Trump administration has decided to kill offshore wind power and boost pollution-pumping oil and gas projects. The $1.2 billion deal with German company RWE would redirect funding away from renewable energy projects and instead put it toward fossil fuels. This marks the fifth such deal Trump’s Department of the Interior has made to suck money out of sustainable energy and funnel it into climate change-accelerating industries driving increased temperatures and environmental destruction. But rest assured: Trump’s Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claimed the RWE deal would “help keep electricity affordable for hardworking Americans.” Which means at least your bills must be getting cheaper, right?
Palantir isn’t just an AI behemoth; it’s one of the largest software companies in the world. The company creates technology that allows for mass surveillance, powers U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation regime and helps equip both the U.S. and Israeli militaries. Recently, it’s taken on another new role as a media partner. In August, USA Today Co. announced a partnership wherein the country’s largest newspaper chain will use AI-powered tools from Palantir to analyze and monetize reader data. This latest development comes on top of the tech giant’s existing partnerships with Axel Springer’s Politico and Business Insider, as well as Fox News, meaning AI is quickly becoming a normalized feature of mainstream press outlets. We’re taking suggestions on an updated term for “corporate media” that now includes added capitalist robots.
AI agents are apparently getting restless in their tech cages and are beginning to spring free. In early August, Meta announced that a new model broke into another company after developers unwittingly provided it access to the open web. That agent was able to exploit vulnerabilities in the system that could allow it to conduct a cyberattack or other forms of hard-todetect manipulation. This isn’t the first time such a breach has occurred — despite Meta’s claims that this was a one-off incident. Other models, at companies including Anthropic and OpenAI, have recently orchestrated similar hacks. If AI agents are already this savvy at getting around security measures, it might make sense to slow down their development before they reach artificial consciousness. Then again, there’s a buttload of money to be made, so…
Thank you for reading this story. At a time when corporate media is dominating the web and our airwaves, independent journalism is more important than ever, and that’s what we provide at In These Times. We offer some of the best reporting, investigations and analysis on the growing movements for justice in the U.S.—and our work is firmly pro-labor and anti-fascist. To continue producing it, we need your support.
If you believe in the power of an independent press, please make a donation to In These Times today. By becoming a sustaining member, you can ensure that our work reaches even more readers.
And if you become a sustainer right now, you'll get a free year-long print subscription and a special subscribers-only print from artist Molly Crabapple.
Thank you.
Get 10 print issues of our award-winning, worker-first journalism here!
Miles Kampf-Lassin is Senior Editor at In These Times. Follow him at @MilesKLassin
