gshc2020.com

“The first thing is we’ve got to make sure this government gets funded and we don’t have another Democratic shutdown,” he told reporters as he prepared to open the chamber for business.

The short-term funding bill underwent some significant changes in the Senate, which made it more palatable for Democrats.

It delays a proposed rule from the Office of Management and Budget that would give political appointees more power over the distribution of federal grants. It also includes language to ensure the administration cannot transfer funds to the Border Patrol.

But a provision that delays for one month a federal ban on intoxicating hemp THC products has prompted criticism from many GOP lawmakers.

As a result, GOP leaders will probably place the bill on a fast-track process that avoids a separate procedural vote, bypassing any Republican efforts to block or stall the legislation.

Suspension bills require a two-thirds vote to pass, meaning a significant number from both parties need to support the measure for it to pass and advance to Trump’s desk. The funding vote will most likely take place later today.

In other developments:

• The Supreme Court allowed Donald Trump to continue building his $400m White House ballroom project. In a 5-4 decision along political lines, the justices found that a group issuing a legal challenge against the ballroom did not have standing to bring their case. Trump celebrated with a post on his Truth Social platform while Democrats criticized the decision.

• Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down from his role after 18 months on the job, leaving another top military position vacant. Driscoll and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had reportedly butted heads for some time.

• Trump vowed further strikes on Iran and called it a “failed nation”. The remarks came as Washington and Tehran exchanged their first military strikes in a month.

• JD Vance gave a speech in Michigan that included an attacked against Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. “There’s something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil,” Vance told the crowd.

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of turning their trade dispute into a “political shouting match”. Carney had rejected the Trump administration’s terms that would have given the US government extensive power over Canada’s trade policy.

• California Governor Gavin Newsom vowed to block the appointment of election denier Tina Peters, who was convicted in 2024 in relation to a plot to chase pro-Trump election conspiracies. Newsom announced he would take measures to prevent Peters from working as an election consultant for Northern California’s Shasta county.

Key events

• 2h ago

  Massachusetts primaries test Democratic appetite for generational change

• 3h ago

  House to vote on stopgap funding bill as lawmakers scramble to avoid government shutdown

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer downplayed the potentially disastrous impact of a trade war with Canada, telling Politico: “It’s more their emergency than ours.”

“There are no negotiations happening on trade right now,” Green also told the website.

Greer’s comments come just over one week after US-Canada trade talks imploded. The US instituted 50% tariffs on $20bn in Canadian goods.

Canada, the US’s second-largest trading partner, announced it would impose retaliatory tariffs on $20bn of American goods starting on 8 September. Now, US residents are poised to feel extreme pressure from Trump’s tariffs and Canada’s retaliatory measures, including on day-to-day items.

Canada has threatened to impose a 25% to 50% tariff on “toilet paper or face tissue stock,” for example. As the US imported $328m in toilet paper from Canada in 2024, per the World Bank, the country is by far the largest exporter of this product to the US. Major retailers source many of their paper products from Canada.

Greer placed the escalating trade war on the US’ northernmost neighbor, insisting “it’s not clear Canada wants a deal.”

“If Canada believes that prohibiting and banning American goods and services is appropriate, then obviously that’s something that the United States should consider as well,” he reportedly said.

The US will aim to persuade G20 members to take a hands-off ⁠approach to regulating AI, according ⁠to a Trump ​White House official, at a gathering of industry titans and commerce ministers that begins on Tuesday in North Carolina.

Leaders are convening at a key moment in the AI ⁠sector’s development and the global debate over how to govern it, and as the US faces an increasing threat from China for AI supremacy, Reuters reported.

The two-day meeting will be hosted by US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and White House tech adviser Michael Kratsios, formerly of data and evaluations provider Scale AI. Kratsios will push ​for a “pro-growth vision for the future of emerging technologies,” ‌he said in a statement.

A United ‌Nations panel recently warned that AI’s developments are outpacing scientific understanding and government policy. Recent events, including a hack triggered ‌by a rogue OpenAI agent that compromised the infrastructure of AI company Hugging Face, added to concerns about how closely leading AI companies are monitoring tests of their products.

AI agents are programs that run with minimal human supervision.

Dharna Noor

Donald Trump this month announced plans to rescind a landmark rule that has protected old-growth forests in the US for 25 years. If finalized, the rollback is expected to benefit the companies that Tom Schultz, chief of the US Forest Service, represented in his previous roles as a timber industry lobbyist and executive, according to research by consumer advocacy non-profit Public Citizen.

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, more commonly known as the “roadless rule”, was adopted in 2001 to limit development in roughly 45m acres of national forest. Industry interests and Republican representatives have long lobbied for the rule’s rescission, which would open up those swaths of untouched land to road construction, drilling and logging.

In a statement, Schultz described the move as “the best way to restore the balance, reduce wildfire risk, and secure the long-term health of our forests and neighboring communities”. But studies suggest it could put 400 threatened and endangered species at risk and imperil ecosystems.

Industry interests will be the main beneficiaries of the change, advocates fear.

In an emailed statement, a Forest Service spokesperson, who did not provide their name, noted that Schultz had also held positions in Idaho and Montana government.

“Chief Schultz’s appointment reflects the administration’s recognition that the Forest Service’s current challenges require leadership with broad federal land management experience, not just internal tenure,” the person said.

Schultz is the first-ever Forest Service chief who did not previously work within the agency itself. Before Trump tapped him for the job, he served as president of the Federal Forest Resource Coalition, a trade association representing companies that purchase timber from the federal government, and was also vice-president of resources and government affairs at Idaho Forest Group, a major lumber manufacturer.

Michael Sainato

House Republicans are investigating several US labor unions based on claims from far-right nonprofits alleging union dues are being used for illegal political funding.

Republicans on the House’s education and workforce committee opened the investigation this summer after multiple reports from the conservative thinktanks targeted unions and their spending, claiming that unions are using member dues to support Democratic causes.

While unions are allowed to advocate for political causes, they are prohibited from using union dues to directly fund specific candidates or political action committees (Pacs). Union members can voluntary donate to labor union’s political action committees.

The unions under investigation include the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), United Auto Workers, United Steelworkers, Smart Transportation Division (Smart-TD), Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED).

The allegations come from research reports by the American Accountability Foundation (AAF), a “dark money” nonprofit that counts Project 2025 architect the Heritage Foundation as a donor, and the Freedom Foundation, a conservative thinktank whose chairman once protested against Labor Day, claiming “I can’t think of a problem in society that can’t be traced in some way back to the abuses of organized labor.”

Thousands of American service members are about to descend on eastern Thailand, as the USS Abraham Lincoln makes a port call near the city of Pattaya.

The aircraft carrier sailed past Singapore over the weekend on its way back to the US after a lengthy deployment in the Middle East as part of the US war against Iran.

The Lincoln is expected to dock at a port in Chonburi province this week, according to Thai officials.

More than 5,000 American service members are onboard and many are expected to visit Pattaya, according to the city’s Mayor Poramet Ngampichet, who hopes the port call will boost the local economy. He said destroyer USS Frank E Petersen Jr will dock at a different port.

“For Pattaya to be seen as an important vacation spot is something that we have aimed for,” Poramet said. “We welcome more visits of the troops in the future, whether for a drill or a vacation, before they go back to the US.”

Massachusetts primaries test Democratic appetite for generational change

Generational ⁠change is on the ballot ⁠in Massachusetts on ​Tuesday as Democratic voters choose whether to renominate 80-year-old progressive senator Ed Markey or replace him on the ballot with 47-year-old representative Seth ⁠Moulton.

Markey, who has served in Congress for nearly 50 years, is backed by leading progressives such as senator Bernie Sanders and representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well ⁠as most members of the state’s congressional delegation, including senator Elizabeth Warren.

No members of the delegation have ​endorsed Moulton, a moderate US Marine Corps veteran ‌whose supporters include New Jersey ‌Governor Mikie Sherrill and the Democratic organization VoteVets, Reuters reported.

The Boston Globe’s editorial board is also behind Moulton, casting ‌him as a necessary agent of change with “proven leadership skills” and positions on key issues that align with most voters.

Markey has a nearly $2m fundraising advantage over Moulton, and Markey has led in recent polls by a double-digit margin. The primary winner is heavily favored to win in November.

Democrat Kamala Harris carried the state by nearly 25 percentage points in 2024.

A similar generational challenge is playing out in the Boston area, where moderate representative Stephen Lynch, 71, is facing progressive attorney Patrick Roath, 39.

House to vote on stopgap funding bill as lawmakers scramble to avoid government shutdown

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

House speaker Mike Johnson will launch a floor vote to pass the stopgap funding bill designed to keep the federal government fully funded through early December, removing the possibility of a shutdown before the midterm elections.

“The first thing is we’ve got to make sure this government gets funded and we don’t have another Democratic shutdown,” he told reporters as he prepared to open the chamber for business.

The short-term funding bill underwent some significant changes in the Senate, which made it more palatable for Democrats.

It delays a proposed rule from the Office of Management and Budget that would give political appointees more power over the distribution of federal grants. It also includes language to ensure the administration cannot transfer funds to the Border Patrol.

But a provision that delays for one month a federal ban on intoxicating hemp THC products has prompted criticism from many GOP lawmakers.

As a result, GOP leaders will probably place the bill on a fast-track process that avoids a separate procedural vote, bypassing any Republican efforts to block or stall the legislation.

Suspension bills require a two-thirds vote to pass, meaning a significant number from both parties need to support the measure for it to pass and advance to Trump’s desk. The funding vote will most likely take place later today.

In other developments:

• The Supreme Court allowed Donald Trump to continue building his $400m White House ballroom project. In a 5-4 decision along political lines, the justices found that a group issuing a legal challenge against the ballroom did not have standing to bring their case. Trump celebrated with a post on his Truth Social platform while Democrats criticized the decision.

• Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down from his role after 18 months on the job, leaving another top military position vacant. Driscoll and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had reportedly butted heads for some time.

• Trump vowed further strikes on Iran and called it a “failed nation”. The remarks came as Washington and Tehran exchanged their first military strikes in a month.

• JD Vance gave a speech in Michigan that included an attacked against Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. “There’s something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil,” Vance told the crowd.

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of turning their trade dispute into a “political shouting match”. Carney had rejected the Trump administration’s terms that would have given the US government extensive power over Canada’s trade policy.

• California Governor Gavin Newsom vowed to block the appointment of election denier Tina Peters, who was convicted in 2024 in relation to a plot to chase pro-Trump election conspiracies. Newsom announced he would take measures to prevent Peters from working as an election consultant for Northern California’s Shasta county.

Tim Cook has stepped down as Apple CEO, marking the end of one of the greatest tenures in business history.

Cook took on the daunting task of succeeding Steve Jobs, just weeks before his premature death in October 2011.

Vanishingly few people would have dared follow Jobs, Apple's iconic cofounder who reshaped how the world works with revolutionary devices such as the iPod and iPhone.

Yet Cook pulled off what few thought possible: taking Apple to the next level. During his 15 years in charge, Apple roughly quadrupled its annual net sales and net income to over $400 billion and $100 billion, respectively, catapulting its market capitalization from around $350 billion to $4.6 trillion.

Adjusted for stock splits, Apple's stock price rose by nearly 2,300% during his tenure, from about $13 to $317 at the close of Cook's last day as CEO on Monday.

Now that Cook has made way for his own successor — Apple's hardware chief John Ternus — there are clear lessons to be learned from his success in following a legendary CEO.

1. Keep what works

Cook safeguarded the core values that Jobs instilled at Apple.

He told "CBS Sunday Morning" earlier this year that he protected principles such as focus, collaboration, obsession with the user experience, "insanely great" execution, and creating "magic" by owning the intersection of hardware, software, and services.

Cook said he always saw Apple as Jobs' baby. "His DNA is deep in this company," he said. "We revere him."

The now-departed CEO also said of Jobs that his "greatest invention wasn't a product — it was Apple itself."

2. Blaze your own trail

Cook wasn't cowed by Jobs' remarkable legacy, but instead ran Apple as he saw fit.

He told "CBS Sunday Morning" that when Jobs informed him that he would be Apple's next CEO, he also advised him: "Never ask what I would do. Just do the right thing."

Jobs told Cook that he'd witnessed Disney become frozen by indecision after founder Walt Disney died, and he didn't want Apple to suffer the same "paralysis."

"I'll never forget that," Cook said. "It was such a gift for me because he took off of my shoulder this question of 'What would Steve do?'"

"I just put my head down and thought, 'I'm going to be the best version of myself,'" he added.

While Jobs was in charge, he "made every major decision" at Apple, Tripp Mickle, the author of "After Steve," a book about the decade at Apple after Jobs' death, told Business Insider in April after Cook revealed he was stepping down.

Cook restructured Apple to be "more democratic," with Apple executives making collective decisions and team leaders developing products instead of individuals reporting to Jobs, Mickle said.

He also placed greater emphasis on operations and financials. Cook's Apple expanded into China to scale up manufacturing and cater to the country's rapidly growing middle class. The strategy allowed him to "make the iPhone ubiquitous," Mickle said.

Cook grew services into a $100 billion business, and created a wearables category with products such as AirPods and Apple Watch. He also introduced Apple-designed silicon, which "breathed new life into its Mac business," Mickle said.

His approach was "method over magic," Mickle said. "Where Jobs became regarded as a great innovator, who introduced products that upended industries, Cook became known for steering Apple's business success, as it became the world's largest company for a decade."

On the other hand, Apple's reputation for innovation took a hit under Cook, Mickle said. He pointed to disappointing product launches such as the HomePod and the Vision Pro headset, and the canceled plan to build a self-driving car.

3. Play to your strengths

Instead of trying to be Jobs, Cook applied his different skillset at Apple with great effect.

"Cook's genius wasn't in designing the next iPhone; it was in building the most efficient supply chain on the planet and turning a hardware company into a recurring-service juggernaut," Chris Ballard, the managing director of Check Capital Management, told Business Insider.

"There is a very small club of people who are able to successfully take over for a business legend without the company missing a beat," Kevin Carpenter, the author of an investing Substack named Kingswell, told Business Insider.

"Cook certainly did so for Apple — in large part because he embraced his own strengths rather than trying to be a poor imitation of Steve Jobs."

Read next

Theron Mohamed

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Theron Mohamed is a London-based correspondent on the International team at Business Insider. His coverage spans finance, investing, wealth, markets, and the economy.Theron joined BI in 2019 as a reporter at Markets Insider and rose to the rank of correspondent before moving to the Trending team then the broader International team. He previously covered tech, media, and telecom stocks for Investors Chronicle magazine and had a brief stint on the Financial Times' Data team. He interned at the Wall Street Journal in New York where he primarily wrote for Heard on the Street.Theron has freelanced for The Independent, The Telegraph, WIRED, and several smaller publications. He holds an undergraduate degree in geography from the London School of Economics, and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.Theron often covers Warren Buffett, Michael Burry, and other elite investors. He also writes about the world's wealthiest people and shares financial advice from all manner of rich and successful people.Email Theron at [email protected] and follow him on X @theron_mohamed.

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Is this even legal, though? And what are your rights if the dealership tries a bait-and-switch or tries to add on hidden fees? We asked Gillian Friedman, a Partner at Chudnovsky Law, this and other questions about car fraud. Friedman served as a prosecuting Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice for 22 years. She explains, "Deceptive automobile advertising is prohibited under Section 5 of the FTC Act and state consumer protection laws. Notably, the FTC's 'CARS Rule,' which was intended to ban bait-and-switch pricing and hidden dealer fees, was vacated by the Fifth Circuit in 2025 and formally withdrawn in 2026. As a result, its specific requirements are not currently in effect. However, deceptive pricing practices remain illegal, and in 2026 the FTC warned numerous dealerships that advertised prices must include all mandatory dealer fees." Let's get into what this means for car buyers.

How can I know beforehand that a car might be part of a bait-and-switch scam?

Tomeng/Getty Images

For example, Lindsay Auto Group, a Maryland-based chain of dealerships, was known for advertising low prices for its cars. The prices were so good, in fact, that people would come from all around in search of a good deal. Some even flew in from out of state. The problem, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), is that the prices weren't real. To get those prices, consumers would have to qualify for several rebates that almost no one person could be eligible for. One manager even told a consumer, allegedly, that the advertised prices weren't realistic. Part-owner Michael Lindsay is reported as saying, "We never deliver the vehicle anywhere near the stated price." In fact, consumers would normally pay hundreds and often thousands of dollars more than what the dealer advertised, thanks to fees and add-ons. In 2024, the business was charged by both the state's attorney general and the FTC.

When it comes to actually confirming ahead of time that a car might be part of a bait-and-switch scam, Friedman explains: "Be cautious of prices that appear unusually low, advertisements for vehicles that are suddenly reported as 'just sold,' or pressure to consider a more expensive alternative. Take a screenshot of the advertisement and confirm that the specific vehicle, identified by its VIN, is available before visiting the dealership."

Are dealers required to disclose all hidden fees, and how can I be assured they do?

Andreypopov/Getty Images

All the fees dealerships try to add onto the final price of the car can be a problem. One particularly deceptive practice some dealerships have been accused of is called "payment packing." For example, according to the FTC, customers of Asbury Automotive dealerships in Texas would often agree on a total price for a vehicle before signing. The dealership would then get them to agree on a monthly payment, except, unbeknownst to the customer, the payment would be higher than what would have been needed to pay off the agreed-upon price. The dealership would then sneak add-ons and fees onto the total price so that it would match the payment. 

Often, these consumers had never agreed to these add-ons and, in some cases, actually turned them down. The result was that consumers were stuck with thousands of dollars in add-ons they didn't even know they were being charged for. To make things worse, the FTC alleges that the Asbury dealerships disproportionately targeted minorities with this practice.

But what does the law say? Are dealers required to disclose all hidden fees? And how can you be sure they disclose all of them? According to Friedman, "Mandatory fees must be disclosed, and concealing them may constitute a deceptive practice under the FTC Act. To protect yourself, request a fully itemized 'out-the-door' price in writing before signing any agreement. The appearance of additional fees only at the time of signing should be considered a warning sign."

Whom should I go to first if I believe I'm a victim?

Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock

If you realize that you've been scammed by bait-and-switch pricing, you might be at a loss as to whom to call about it. It seems like it deserves more than just a sternly worded one-star Google review. Yet, it doesn't quite rise to the level of a 911 call, either. So, whom do you go to first if you believe you're a victim of this kind of fraud? The police? A lawyer? The possibly-offending seller? Friedman answers, "Begin by contacting the dealer in writing to establish a record of your complaint. If this approach is unsuccessful, contact your state Attorney General's consumer protection division, your state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and the FTC. If the financial amount involved is significant, consider consulting a consumer attorney. This is not typically a police matter unless there is clear evidence of fraud."

Believe it or not, complaints to government agencies can get results. In 2021, the FTC said that it refunded more than $9.8 million to customers of Napleton dealerships in Illinois for "junk fees" and discriminatory practices. And just this August, the FTC and the state of Connecticut reached a settlement with a Nissan dealer in Manchester for charging unauthorized fees, along with other violations. And we reported on one dealership that had to pay back nearly half a million dollars to its customers because of bait-and-switch tactics a few years back. This year alone, the FTC has sent 97 letters to various dealerships warning them to stop deceptive pricing practices.

What sort of fine print should I look for to determine whether a seller has technically disclosed all pricing (or other necessary) information about the car?

Ralf Geithe/Getty Images

We've all been told to read the fine print before we sign anything, but probably few of us actually do. Dealerships don't always make it easy, either. Customers of the Asbury dealerships in Texas, noted earlier, claimed that they were made to sign their contracts on digital devices that only displayed where to sign, not what they were actually agreeing to. Some dealerships have even been known to expect their customers to sign blank areas of contracts, to be filled in after they get your signature.

What sort of "fine print" should you look for to determine whether a seller has technically disclosed all pricing (or other necessary) information about the car, yet has made it difficult to find or understand? Could a contract have pricing information buried in incredibly tiny typeface in a section you wouldn't anticipate containing pricing information?

Gillian says: "Be alert for pricing presented in very small print, fees concealed in unexpected sections of the contract, mandatory 'add-ons' such as paint protection, dealer preparation, or nitrogen tires presented as unavoidable, and blanks filled in after you have reviewed the document. Do not sign a contract containing empty fields. Terms that are technically disclosed but intentionally obscured may still be considered deceptive."

Does all pertinent pricing information have to be listed in the car's advertising?

Jasen Wright/Shutterstock

Some dealerships have been particularly sneaky when including fine print in ads. For example, according to the FTC, a dealership in Texas advertised two cars in television commercial as available for payments of less than $200 per month in 2016. That sounds like a great deal, except it was only for leases and you would have to put down $1,999 at signing. But the only way a customer would know that is if they were able to catch the fine print that flashed on the screen for just two seconds. A mailer advertised new car payments of $179 per month. But in fine print that literally required a magnifying glass to be seen, the terms were $1,999 as a down payment and $8,271 due at the end of a 38-month loan term!

Does all pertinent pricing information, including the car's cost and financing options, have to be listed in the car's advertising, or will you only be able to find this information once you've contacted the dealer? If the information in an ad is false, who has jurisdiction over this? Friedman says: "Advertised prices must be accurate and not misleading, although not every financing detail needs to appear in the advertisement. False or bait pricing constitutes deceptive advertising. Oversight is generally provided by the FTC at the federal level and by your state Attorney General and Department of Motor Vehicles at the state level."

Yo-yo financing: another way to bait-and-switch

Charlieaja/Getty Images

So, Friedman told us about red flags that can tell you beforehand that the dealer may be attempting a bait-and-switch: the price is unusually low, they claim the car was just sold, they pressure you to look at a "better" car, or they won't give you an out-the-door price in writing. We've seen other flags reported by the FTC, such as the dealer wants you to sign digitally without seeing the whole document. But the FTC also warns of at least one way dealers can bait-and-switch you after you've already signed papers and have driven the car home: yo-yo financing.

Sometimes, the dealer will let you take the car home even before your financing has final approval, which is legal. So, you've signed papers, made your down payment, and maybe even traded in your old car to the dealer. You've had the car a few days, have gotten used to it, and showed it off to friends and co-workers — then you get the call. It turns out you were turned down for financing at the rate you agreed on. You'll have to come in and agree to different terms on the loan. Sometimes they'll even falsely claim that you'll lose your down payment or trade in if you cancel the deal. The new terms are always worse, of course. You now have a higher interest rate with higher payments or you'll have to sign for a longer loan. Either way, you're paying more for the car than you agreed on.

How and where to report dealerships you suspect of using bait-and-switch tactics

DCStockPhotography/Shutterstock

As Friedman mentioned, you should contact the FTC if you feel you've been defrauded by a bait-and-switch. The way to do that would be through their online form at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/. It's a fairly intuitive interface and should make reporting simple. One important thing to remember, however, is that the FTC does not resolve individual disputes. It may take your report and other reports to investigate businesses or to bring cases against them. 

Other good FTC resources include its consumer hub at consumer.ftc.gov. and its car complaint page on USA.gov. The latter will route you to the correct agency, depending on what type of complaint you have. For example, one of the links it points to under "Deceptive car ads or dealers" is "Your state consumer protection agency." Just select your state from the menu on the next page; you'll be sent straight to the state's website. Similarly, Friedman also explains that you can contact your state's attorney general. A national directory of attorneys general can be found on the National Association of Attorneys General website.

You might also want to check out the auto loans page on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) website, ConsumerFinance.gov. One of its links allows you to submit a complaint. According to the website, the bureau will work to get a response from the company within 15 days. What sneaky things have you seen car dealers try? Let us know in the comments below. %!s()

Which, once more, has exhausted Dwarf Fortress' creator Tarn Adams, who spoke to PC Gamer's Joshua Wolens during Gamescom 2026: "They're trying to have a CEO press a button that makes a game, and then everyone else somehow buys it without a job. So I don't see that going anywhere sustainable, and I feel like there will simply be a pop and a reckoning and then [it's on repeat] unless people do something else."

Adams says it's not just games that've been suffering, either: "I mean, everyone I know, their bosses are slowly getting psychosis, right? They're just like, 'yeah, but did you use AI on your commits?' And they're like, 'oh well, I'm not happy with this guy,' you know. 'We'll probably have machines do the job'.

"It just reminds me of like a fucking Dead Kennedys song or something. It's just the same old shit. I mean, they laid off my dad from the sewage treatment plant because they didn't understand what his job was, and he was the computer guy there, and then they don't have a company anymore, so it's like it's the same shit."

He's not exactly wrong—it's not as if the current industry problems are unprecedented, or came out of nowhere. Since the advent of modern capitalism (and likely a long while before that), those in charge have often misunderstood, underestimated, or dismissed the hard work that goes into labour they don't understand.

It's become particularly nasty with generative AI, however, because now said CEOs can still see an end result that mimics the thing they don't understand—and are able to self-delude themselves into thinking it's replicable at scale, or that it's even producing the same quality as the product they've actually been selling.

After all, if actual studies are being done into AI-induced psychosis that's impacting us serfs, there's nothing to say the executive suite is immune, either. Especially given that a lot of them don't even understand why others are put off.

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

"It's been going on forever. That was before AI—or this form of AI," Adams says, before lamenting: "They took the letters from me! I have to talk about dwarf behavior now. I can't even talk about dwarf AI. It doesn't exist. It's dwarf behavior, and they misbehave sometimes."

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many. %!s()

Today, AI largely operates on existing digital data. Its next evolution will be driven by the creation of new digital data generated from the physical world, captured through sensors, devices and systems deployed at a massive scale. That shift is where IoT, and particularly LPWAN, becomes foundational rather than complementary.

AI Needs A Nervous System

Thinking about AI as a “digital brain” primarily trained on pre-existing data makes it easier to understand. However, to perceive and influence the physical world, AI needs more than a brain. It needs sensor inputs and actuator outputs.

This is where IoT is required. It functions as the nervous system, connecting the brain to the body, collecting signals from the environment, interpreting them and enabling decisions that translate into physical action through devices and machines.

The challenge is scale and diversity. There are thousands of sensor types: vibration, acoustic, thermal, environmental, vision and location, among others. They all face similar constraints that must be addressed in product design, including long-range, ultra-low power, low cost, intermittent connectivity and security. Designers must decide where AI processing occurs, whether in the cloud, at the edge (gateway) or on-device (sensor-level ML). The disparate set of requirements and functional demands calls for a highly versatile central nervous system that is flexible enough to support the Massive IoT space.

Looking at Massive IoT requirements, billions of battery-powered devices must operate across vast areas with minimal maintenance. LoRaWAN LPWAN technology addresses these requirements by combining long range, ultra-low power consumption, low total cost of operation and flexibility across public/private/satellite networks. It handles the heavy lifting for massive, sparse, low-power deployments while working alongside other wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, BLE and cellular, each contributing specific capabilities suited to specific applications.

The AI To IoT Flywheel

The AI-to-IoT flywheel accelerates innovation. First, IoT feeds AI with richer, real-time and more diverse data, improving model accuracy and relevance. Then, AI feeds IoT with better models that reduce data volume, improve battery life and enable predictive maintenance and autonomous control.

The result is a reinforcing cycle. More sensors produce better models. Better models enable more intelligent filtering and lower operating costs. Lower costs allow for broader deployments, which in turn generate more data to develop even better models. The flywheel continues to turn, driving continuous improvement across both domains. As this cycle matures, AI enables further acceleration across robotics, advanced data analytics, satellite IoT backhaul, digital twins and sustainability.

AIoT Will Drive Massive IoT

In AIoT technology, as the name suggests, AI and IoT work together to collect data at the edge, closer to the source, and process and act on it there. This shift toward edge intelligence is gaining momentum across industries.

As IMARC Group explains, “The magnifying expansion of IoT devices in a wide range of sectors is a major trend boosting the U.S. edge computing market. Various businesses are actively opting for edge computing to process data closer to IoT endpoints, improving real-time decision-making and minimizing latency. Furthermore, this is particularly crucial for applications in healthcare services, smart cities, and industrial automation, where rapid data processing is requisite.”

Massive IoT is where AIoT will become mainstream. The market is enormous, and innovation is everywhere. And ultimately, as the main nervous system, LPWAN wireless networking technologies hold the key to unlocking the true potential of AIoT at scale.

Several concrete innovations are already emerging. Event-driven edge ML sensors, such as vibration sensors from manufacturers like Honeywell and Advantech can detect bearing faults, imbalance or misalignment. These devices process raw sensor data locally and, instead of streaming large volumes of data to the cloud, they run ML and only deliver events. Vision/image sensors from companies like Seeed Studio and others are another emerging technology, as they perform on-device image processing for functions like object detection, occupancy and safety compliance, then send metadata/events instead of frames.

Additionally, Kudzu Technologies has brought to market another application that uses AIoT to analyze network behavior and detect anomalies such as misconfigurations, interference or suspicious activity, improving overall network reliability and security.

Bringing AIoT To The Physical World

So, what are the real-world applications for this technology? With analysts predicting massive shifts towards edge and on-device AI processing, where will it manifest in the physical world? Some of the leading applications include:

• Using ​predictive maintenance via vibration events and automated work orders to enhance industrial automation.

• Occupancy-driven HVAC/lighting control, leak detection and elevator monitoring could make buildings smarter and more efficient.

• Water metering, gas monitoring, streetlighting and waste management will improve our cities and utilities.

• Soil moisture events, livestock monitoring and wildfire sensing will make farms more productive and strengthen our environmental resilience.

• Geofenced events ​for pallets/containers and tracking cold-chain exceptions support logistics application and strengthen supply chains.

• PPE detection events and air quality thresholds triggering ventilation or gas shut-off support safety and strengthen compliance with government regulations.​

Bringing Massive IoT To Life

Although AI’s uses beyond generative engines have not yet reached the mainstream, positive IoT applications are already demonstrating their value, driving the current ramp in Massive IoT. With the industry's current pace of innovation, leveraging AI and IoT is bringing within reach the ability to solve critical challenges impacting people's quality of life and sustainability.

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