AI Regulation Push: Vermont Sen. Peter Welch and Sen. Michael Bennet unveiled the AI Regulator Act, proposing pre-certification for frontier AI, a delay on risky releases, and a new independent federal regulator with penalties up to 15% of global revenue. AI Safety at the UN: UN Security Council leaders heard warnings from AI figures like Yoshua Bengio and CEOs including OpenAI and Anthropic, as debate intensifies over whether AI needs enforceable global controls. “Super Intelligence” Rebrand: The State Department told diplomats to swap “artificial intelligence” for “super intelligence” after Trump’s UN remarks. Agentic Commerce Stakes: Mastercard is partnering with Alchemy to let AI shopping agents use Mastercard-backed virtual cards—raising the big investor question of whether agents will eventually shift spending off card rails. Semiconductor Supply Chain: Oregon State researchers patented a greener, water-based method to separate zirconium and hafnium, targeting a bottleneck for both chips and nuclear tech. Surveillance Guardrails: Atlanta lawmakers renewed calls for federal and local rules on camera systems like Flock Safety amid privacy and misuse concerns. Energy Demand & Data Centers: A Sidley Austin discussion highlighted AI-driven data center growth as a major driver of rising U.S. energy demand. Manufacturing Tech Showcase: IMTS 2026 reported strong participation and a clear tilt toward AI and automation in U.S. manufacturing.