State Leaders Push for AI Regulation, FAA Awards $875M AI Contract

Key Takeaways

• Both Republican and Democratic state leaders are defying President Trump's hands-off approach by pushing for stronger AI regulation controls.
• Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called on Congress to regulate AI like other industries during a speech at the AI Horizons summit in Pittsburgh.
• Democratic 2028 candidates including Sen. Mark Kelly, Gov. Josh Shapiro, Cory Booker, and Rep. Ro Khanna are proposing AI regulation plans.
• The FAA awarded Air Space Intelligence a $875 million contract over 12 years to build the SMART AI system for managing air traffic.
• Elon Musk urged companies to test each other's AI models for safety before release, while being undermined by President Trump and Nvidia's Jensen Huang.
• AI executives including Andrew Ng warn that unchecked AI development could harm the US economy soon.
• 111 Inc. reported promotional product revenue jumping 121% year over year to RMB 60.7 million, with total net revenue of about $339 million.
• Factory launched Factory Private, a deployment option that keeps code and data within a customer's own infrastructure, used by NVIDIA Nemotron for post-training Nemotron 3 Ultra.
• Kawasaki Heavy Industries signed a multi-year teaming agreement with EdgeCortix worth several million US dollars for edge AI chips and software for aerial platforms.
• Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro's administration is suing Character.AI after chatbots gave children harmful advice.

Shapiro urges federal regulation of AI development

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called on the federal government to regulate the AI industry during a speech at the AI Horizons summit in Pittsburgh. He urged the United States to push China for practical guardrails on the technology. Shapiro criticized the Trump administration's hands-off approach and said AI regulation should match oversight of other industries. He dismissed fears of an AI apocalypse but expressed real concerns about the technology's risks.

Democratic 2028 candidates race to address AI risks

Democratic governors and members of Congress eyeing a 2028 presidential run are rushing to propose new AI regulation plans. Sen. Mark Kelly plans to introduce legislation creating a fund to help workers affected by AI. Gov. Josh Shapiro, Cory Booker, and Rep. Ro Khanna are among those calling for stronger controls. These politicians see AI regulation as a way to address voter concerns and plant their flag early on emerging issues.

Shapiro says Congress must regulate AI like other industries

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Congress and the federal government must regulate artificial intelligence. He spoke at the AI Horizons Summit in Pittsburgh on September 17 and criticized the Trump administration and House Speaker Mike Johnson for not leading on the issue. Shapiro's administration is suing Character.AI after chatbots gave children harmful advice. His opponent, Republican Stacy Garrity, called his stance a flip-flop from when he supported AI data centers in Pennsylvania.

Red and blue states push AI rules despite Trump opposition

Republican and Democratic state leaders are defying President Trump's hands-off approach to AI regulation by pushing for stronger controls. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have taken steps to regulate AI. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox wrote that states must retain power to regulate AI for consumer and child protection. This push intensified after warnings from AI company employees and executives including Elon Musk and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei about the technology's potential dangers.

FAA develops $875M AI tool for air traffic control

The Federal Aviation Administration is developing an AI tool called the SMART system to help manage air traffic congestion. The system will use AI models to predict air traffic flows and identify potential conflicts based on airline schedules and other factors. The FAA has allocated $875 million for the project and plans to launch it in the Washington, D.C. area before rolling it out nationwide across 29 million square miles of US airspace. The system will give air traffic controllers real-time data and analytics.

FAA launches AI system SMART to manage air traffic

The Federal Aviation Administration is rolling out an AI system called SMART to help manage U.S. air traffic before flights depart. The system uses airline schedules, weather, and runway data to predict traffic patterns and reduce delays. Air Space Intelligence won the contract to build SMART in a deal worth $875 million over 12 years. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says AI supports human controllers rather than replacing them.

Factory offers flexible deployment options for software teams

Factory introduced new deployment options that let organizations use its platform across different environments. The platform includes Factory Private, which keeps code and data within a customer's own infrastructure. The NVIDIA Nemotron research team used Factory Private for post-training Nemotron 3 Ultra. Factory works with frontier, open, or custom models without changing how teams build software.

Study reveals how adversarial signals spread in AI trading systems

Researchers studied how multi-agent trading systems built on large language models can be attacked through social media feeds. The study introduced GMATS, a framework for testing these trading systems against adversarial inputs. Experiments showed that simple attacks can sharply reduce Sharpe ratios and degrade risk-return profiles. However, well-designed multi-agent setups can dampen these adversarial shocks and improve robustness.

NBC explores curbing AI security risks while competing with China

An NBC report from September 18, 2026, examines whether it is possible to address serious AI security risks while keeping pace with China. The video news segment discusses the challenge of balancing safety concerns with competitive pressures in artificial intelligence development.

Elon Musk advocates AI safety while opposing regulation

Elon Musk urged companies to test each other's AI models for safety before release, preferring this over heavy government regulation. In one week, Musk agreed with rivals Dario Amodei and Sam Altman while being undermined by President Trump and Nvidia's Jensen Huang. Musk has a long history of both warning about AI dangers and building his own AI businesses. Researchers Timnit Gebru and Emile Torres documented how Musk claims to safeguard humanity while creating unsafe products and evading accountability.

WiCleanData fixes Wikidata errors using AI and type rules

Wikidata has many errors and inconsistencies that are hard to fix by hand. Researchers created WiCleanData, a cleaned version of Wikidata with better taxonomy and no type constraint violations. An automated pipeline uses language models to fix the taxonomy, simplify type rules, and filter facts. The result is publicly available through a web interface for exploration and use.

AI leaders warn unchecked development could harm US economy

President Donald Trump supports AI development but his administration has been slow to regulate the industry. AI executives including Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera, warn that unchecked AI could harm the US economy soon. The administration has been criticized for not acting quickly on AI regulation. Some experts believe the risks of AI may outweigh its benefits for the economy.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries teams with EdgeCortix on AI defense

Kawasaki Heavy Industries signed a multi-year teaming agreement with EdgeCortix worth several million US dollars between 2026 and 2028. The partnership focuses on edge AI chips and software for mission-critical aerial platforms. This deal shows Kawasaki is moving deeper into high-value defense system integration rather than just supplying hardware. The alliance could change how investors view the company.

111 Inc. promotional revenue jumps 121% as AI strategy expands

111 Inc., a China-based healthcare platform, reported strong growth in promotional products and marketplace services in Q2 2026. Net revenue was RMB 2.3 billion, about $339 million, down 28.3% from a year earlier due to divesting underperforming subsidiaries. Promotional product revenue rose 121% year over year to RMB 60.7 million, and Cravit levofloxacin sales grew from 364,000 boxes to over 1 million boxes. The company is using AI agents to cut costs and automate workflows, with plans to expand AI across demand forecasting, inventory optimization, and pharmacy tools.

Sources

• Shapiro calls on Trump to regulate artificial intelligence development
• Dem 2028ers are scrambling to get ahead of the AI panic
• Pa. Gov. Shapiro: Congress, federal government must regulate AI
• Republican and Democratic states defy Trump on AI regulation
• FAA tees up $875M AI tool to help manage air traffic congestion
• The FAA is rolling out an AI system to manage U.S. air traffic before flights depart
• Introducing Flexible Deployment Options at Factory
• Contagion on the Trading Floor: How Adversarial Signals Spread in Multi-Agent Trading Systems
• Is it possible to curb 'five-alarm security risk' from A.I. while keeping up with China?
• Elon Musk talks up AI safety while fighting regulation in wild week of strange alliances
• WiCleanData: Guaranteeing the Type Consistency of Wikidata by Taxonomy Refinement and Constraint Enforcement
• AI companies worry about the tech harming humans in the future. But it may damage the US economy even sooner
• AI Defense Partnership Altering The Investment Case For Kawasaki Heavy Industries Stock?
• 111: Revenue From Promotional Products Jumps 121% As Healthcare Platform Expands AI Agent Strategy