iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

When I first heard about Humans First, a supposedly grassroots AI safety movement, I was skeptical. 🧵

Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Little scooplet: looks like Paul Christiano, once head of AI safety at CAISI, has switched to a part time advisor role. 🧵

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

There's plenty of reasons to want to keep children away from AI. 🧵

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

AI regulations are facing their x-risk moment. The xAI v. Bonta lawsuit threatens a huge chunk of AI regulations - basically anything that requires disclosure.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

The federal government's premier technical office for testing frontier AI systems, CAISI, has been sidelined. Luckily, a few proposals to codify it and it's responsibilities, increase funding, and possibly make it it's own independent agency are on the table.

transformernews.ai

Making CAISI the AI agency we need

The center has the right expertise, but lacks money, authority and influence

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

SCOOP: AI safety group Public First spent in the Manny Rutinel race. It just wasn’t disclosed to voters ahead of election day. Transformer has learned $2m was transferred from Public First Action to Latino Victory Fund, which says it exists to mobilize Latino voters and elect Latinos to office.

transformernews.ai

An AI safety group hid its election spending through a Latino-focused PAC

Public First Action routed $2m to support Colorado House candidate Manny Rutinel through Latino Victory Fund — and didn’t publicly announce it ahead of Rutinel’s victory

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Fairshake isn't outright sweeping elections, as most crypto outlets would have you believe. Roughly 2/3 of the races they're involved in aren't competitive. Rather, its strategy may be to *appear* like an 800lb gorilla, rather than always having to be one. broganlaw.substack.com/p/how-much-d...

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Some analysis from me and @shakeelhashim.com on Bores' defeat in NY-12 last night. Tldr: 🧵

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I was interviewed on an episode of Future Tense Explained to talk about my reporting on OpenAI lobbying/super PACs/Chris Lehane ! www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIby...

youtube.com

Sam Altman's Master Plan to Buy Washington Is Falling Apart

YouTube video by Future Tense

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Well, this is weird. 👀 In May, Innovation Council Action made headlines when it said it would be spending $100m to support Trump's AI agenda. The group, blessed by David Sacks, was expected to spend that money backing pro-AI conservatives in the midterms. 🧵

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

OpenAI has tried to distance itself from Leading the Future in recent weeks, publishing a blog post saying that “OpenAI does not direct the activities of LTF, or have visibility into their operations.” But that post doesn’t tell the full story. 🧵

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Midterm candidates campaigning on AI is becoming a trend. Take, for example, Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic primary candidate to represent Michigan in the Senate. 🧵

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Have had a very weird past 48 hours. 🧵

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Super PACs like to keep their donors anonymous through so-called "dark money" groups. Doing so is a fairly common practice in Washington, and allows PACs to avoid the kind transparency that federal elections laws are designed to ensure. 🧵

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

🚨Scoop! Anthropic's $20m donation to Public First Action was widely seen as the company joining-in on midterm spending. But in a statement to Transformer, Anthropic that it's money cannot be used for elections influence, raising questions about how much money the pro-safety AI PACs have to spend.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

There's been a lot of AI regulation talk in Illinois, and we're not paying enough attention to it. www.transformernews.ai/p/ais-next-b...

transformernews.ai

AI’s next big blue battleground

There’s a lot going on in Illinois

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Before the White House framework for AI regulation took over the news cycle this morning, I wrote a story about a series of strikingly similar AI chatbot bills. It's still relevant. The bills include carve outs which shield AI companies from liability in certain circumstances.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Build American AI, the advocacy group spun out of industry-funded super PAC Leading the Future, has been touting a list of 500k+ “grassroots” supporters. It turns out that “grassroots” group was harvested via paid ads costing at least half a million dollars.

transformernews.ai

How to buy an AI ‘grassroots’ movement

Build American AI is touting its list of more than 500,000 supporters. It spent at least half a million dollars on ads to get it

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Incredibly incredibly proud of this tracker my colleagues and I built, but that's not the only thing in the newsletter this week. We also have...

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

AI is playing a huge role in this year's midterm elections. To date, AI-focused super PACs have spent more than $9 million on the elections, and we're not even through the 1st quarter. That's why @transformernews.ai has created the AI Campaign Finance Tracker. elections.transformernews.ai

elections.transformernews.ai

AI Campaign Finance Tracker | Transformer

Track AI industry political spending: super PAC contributions, independent expenditures, and employee donations to federal candidates.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

In today's @transformernews.ai weekly briefing, I spoke with the Institute for Family Studies' Michael Toscano about why the White House is going against Trump's own voters on AI regulation in the state.

transformernews.ai

White House war on Utah AI bill could backfire

Transformer Weekly: Kratsios in India, Anthropic vs the Pentagon and new Meta super PACs

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Reposted by Veronica 💫

Shakeel @shakeelhashim.com · 18/02/2026

Happily, you don’t need to do much to trace any of this as we’re extremely transparent about it! www.transformernews.ai/p/standards-...

transformernews.ai

Editorial standards and ethics

This document outlines Transformer’s aims, funding, ethics policies, and editorial standards.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

In my first story for Transformer, I wrote about how Alex Bores' AI framework is a bellwether for Democratic messaging on AI: www.transformernews.ai/p/alex-bores...

transformernews.ai

Alex Bores wants to fix Dems’ AI problem

Transformer Weekly: Anthropic’s political donations, energy bills policy, and an xAI exodus

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

🚨NEWS🚨: A new PAC called DREAM NYC launched a six figure ad buy for NY-12 in support of candidate Alex Bores, according to a press release. DREAM NYC appears to be funded entirely by Anthropic's Daniel Ziegler, who gave $50k last year according to FEC data.

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Reposted by Veronica 💫

Transformer @transformernews.ai · 02/02/2026

We've got all the vital AI news from every outlet you could read, and all the maddening discourse from every feed you could endlessly browse. Consider our weekly newsletter a hub to stay on top of everything going on in the very dizzying world of AI. www.transformernews.ai/p/dario-amod...

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

🚨Personal news! 🚨 Starting this week, I'm the Senior AI Policy Reporter at @transformernews.ai. 🧵

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

I wrote about Democrats' misdirected criticism of the GENIUS Act today for @projectglitch.bsky.social . Trump's crypto ties are at best unethical and at worst illegal. But stablecoin legislation, my reporting shows, is the wrong place to focus disapproval. Read here: projectglitch.xyz

projectglitch.xyz

Project Glitch | Substack

Crypto contains multitudes. Click to read Project Glitch, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

In my first column, I break down some of the remaining hurdles for the GENIUS Act. I also wrote a quick dispatch from the Solana Accelerate conference, where I was surprised to find crypto policy taking center stage. There’s some pretty major scoops in here, you’ll want to read!

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Absolutely thrilled to publish the first of many weekly columns in the Brogan Law newsletter today! In my columns you’ll find previously unpublished scoops and analysis on the biggest legal, regulatory, and policy issues in crypto. Subscribe and read here: broganlaw.substack.com/subscribe?ut...

broganlaw.substack.com

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Coinbase wants a stablecoin bill to be bundled with a market structure bill, several lobbyists and Congressional staffers say. unchainedcrypto.com/coinbase-aim...

unchainedcrypto.com

Could Coinbase Slow Crypto’s Legislative Success?

Six sources told Unchained that Coinbase was pushing to have a market structure and stablecoin bill passed together.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

The OCC took another big step today to undo Operation Choke Point 2.0, the allegedly coordinated federal effort to debank crypto. 🏦 unchainedcrypto.com/major-bank-r...

unchainedcrypto.com

OCC Continues Unraveling Operation Choke Point 2.0

The bank regulator said it would stop judging banks for servicing crypto firms and other industries with controversial reputations

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says the SEC is dropping its appeal against Ripple. But neither the Commission nor the White House will confirm, and a Ripple spokesperson said the company is still fighting its appeal against $125 million fine. 💸 unchainedcrypto.com/sec-drops-it...

unchainedcrypto.com

Ripple Still Faces Potential $125 Million Fine for Securities Violations

Ripple’s CEO posted on X that the SEC was dropping its appeal against the company, but it may not get the clean victory that it is promoting.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

SCOOP🍨:) Trump admin is mulling other options to the "crypto council" promised in December, at least in part to resolve conflict between supporters within the crypto industry. unchainedcrypto.com/trump-is-hav... #crypto #trump

unchainedcrypto.com

Trump Is Having Second Thoughts About His Crypto Council - Unchained

The Trump administration is considering having a series of crypto summits rather than an executive crypto council.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Former commissioner and a16z crypto policy lead Brian Quintenz was selected to lead the CFTC last night, according to a White House memo. Our story includes the pdf of the full memo at the bottom: unchainedcrypto.com/crypto-exper... #crypto #trump

unchainedcrypto.com

Crypto Expert Brian Quintenz of Andreessen Horowitz Selected to Lead the CFTC - Unchained

Trump has said he will nominate Brian Quintenz to lead the CFTC.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Tether may struggle to comply with a pair of stablecoin bills introduced in Congress. While they would be unlikely to kick the $141 billion USDT out of the country, Tether could be squeezed out of stablecoins’ mainstream moment. unchainedcrypto.com/stablecoin-b... #crypto #tether #stablecoins

unchainedcrypto.com

Stablecoin Bills Could Squeeze Out $140 Billion Tether - Unchained

Tether would struggle to comply with stablecoin legislation introduced this week if it maintains that it cannot find a US-based accounting firm.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Should #crypto rally behind a major conservative cause? Or should it stay in its lane? That's the question consuming #crypto policy circles this week as people decide whether to allow crypto debanking to get pulled into the conservative debanking debate. unchainedcrypto.com/ahead-of-deb...

unchainedcrypto.com

Ahead of Debanking Hearings, Industry Is Divided on Political Strategy - Unchained

Dual hearings in the House and Senate this week have different approaches to discussing crypto debanking.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

If I had a $ for every time someone told me they didn't actually mean or couldn't back up what they said on X I'd be rich.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

It is truly wild how many people on the crypto beat will totally admit to lying or at least being misleading/over-exaggerating on twitter in 1:1 conversations. They'll even admit it on the record.

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Veronica 💫 @vronirwin.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Crypto X can be a bit of an echo chamber, and people get carried away. One example: Crypto thought the new FDIC’s Republican leadership confirmed the existence of Operation Chokepoint 2.0. But people who have met with him said he’s not completely convinced. unchainedcrypto.com/why-the-new-...

unchainedcrypto.com

Why the new FDIC Leadership Isn’t Convinced Operation Chokepoint 2.0 Exists - Unchained

The new FDIC leadership under Trump isn't sure Marty Gruenberg was discriminating against crypto.

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