Authored by Thomas Neuburger via Naked Capitalism,
Yves here. News you can use! And advice that helps readers limit their exposure to two longstanding abuses. One is the unending efforts of the surveillance state to extend its reach. Two is the way AI companies steal original work without consent or compensation to feed into training sets.
By Thomas Neuburger. Originally published at God's Spies
The glorifyingly named Googleplex headquarters in Mountain View, California.As most have noticed, AI is entering our lives in a very big way.
Doctor's offices are using AI to replace human scribes, which means whole visits must be recorded and saved. For how long? This can vary or be changed. And AI will soon decide whether you're too disabled to drive your own car (for that, see here).
The rush toward AI - a rush to prop up the stocks and cut employees - is producing an AI fence between you and all of the corporate entities that run your life. For example, AI now guards the door between you and your next job or loan.
AI has also entered your dealings with the state. Will you be audited this year? AI will decide. How will your Social Security struggles be handled? AI will replace the humans who deal with your needs. And of course, AI policing is already here.
AI is not only "changing what it means to be human," but for us little folks, us muppets, it's replacing the human entirely in corporate and government interactions - because money, despite its propensity for massive mistakes.
And that doesn't begin to discuss AI battlefield murder, a use no one but those in control want to grow.
Gmail And AIWhich leads us to discuss AI's intrusion into our digital lives. On most computers and websites, AI is ubiquitous. Today, let's take a look at Gmail and AI.
The latest versions of Gmail, a web-based email client, have AI mail scanning and analysis turned on. If you want AI watching, no problem. Leave it turned on.
If you want to de-AI your Gmail account - to extent you can, at least - these are the steps. I found this thanks to this Twitter account. The thread begins as follows (slight editing mine):
If you have a Gmail account, you need to read this.
Google's AI now scans your emails and attachments, bank statements, tax files, medical letters, all of it. It turned on by default, and there's a class-action lawsuit over how. [...]
Google automatically turned on AI features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet for many users in late 2025. These features can read your emails, messages, and attachments to create summaries and suggestions.
Google says your emails don't train Gemini, but some users say they never clearly agreed to these AI features being enabled. Unless you turn them off, the AI can still analyze your inbox to provide these features.
The thread details the steps. As I worked through them, I found differences between his steps and mine, so here are the steps as modified by my own experience.
Change Your Gmail SettingsChange the main Gmail and Google Workspace settings as follows:
The writer advises doing the following as well:
Your Phone. The settings don't always sync between devices, so check the Gmail app separately.
Gmail app - Menu - Settings - Select your account - Turn off "Smart features and personalization" - Confirm.
And if you've used Gemini already:
Delete Gemini History. If you've used Gemini before, your chats may be saved, and some could be reviewed by humans.
Go to http://myactivity.google.com/product/gemini - Turn off Gemini Apps Activity - Delete Activity - All Time.
This removes your past Gemini chat history and stops future conversations from being saved.
I had no Gemini history, but that won't be true for everyone.
Does All This Stop Google From Watching You?You could say that Google is always watching you. This is their profit model: watching and selling you ads, watching and selling your profile. It's why they're so rich.
But it seems, at least for now, that turning smart features off in your Gmail and Google Workspace account means AI is no longer used to power those feature, and indeed is turned off. In addition, as of this writing, Google claims that Gmail smart features is not a backdoor way of training its AI. At least so far.
The murdered girls of Minab, Iran (Ons Abid/AP Photo) Tyler Durden Thu, 06/18/2026 - 18:25Iran and the US have a peace deal? check (for 60 days, allegedly).
Strait of Hormuz open? check (for 60 days, allegedly).
Ships transiting freely? check (not really)
Massive build up of Gulf oil desperate to reach Asian refiners? check.
All great news, which means that oil should now flow freely and in huge amounts, right?
Wrong: two of Asia's largest refiners, PetroChina and Indian Oil, failed to secure very large crude carriers to lift Iraqi Basrah crude in late June, Reuters reported, while another Chinese major Sinochem is on the hunt for a tanker.
The inquiries from the state energy firms followed an interim deal between the United States and Iran to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. PetroChina had sought a VLCC (which can carry up to 2mm barrels) to load from Iraq's Basrah Oil terminal between June 25 and 30. And while the Chinese major received at least six offers at worldscale points of 650 to 750, these rates were nearly triple those charged before the Iran war broke out in late February. The worldscale measure is used by the shipping industry to calculate freight rates.
"There are tankers available, but the problem is it's too expensive and there is no guarantee you can exit the strait," a PetroChina official said.
Indeed, a quick look at the latest gulf tanker rates shows that while not nearly as bad as when the war broke out, rates on tankers from the Gulf to various Asian destinations have doubled in the past weeks as buyers scramble to secure their shipments. Expect these prices to soar much higher in the coming days.
The punchline: securing supplies from the Gulf will remain complicated despite the peace deal, and not just due to the soaring tanker prices.
"It'll be still difficult to fix a vessel due to the rate, and I assume that both parties need to agree to some special clause (in the contract for transiting the strait)," the source said.
On Thursday, another Chinese state major, Sinochem, sought a VLCC to load oil in the Gulf between June 20 and 30 for Asia, the shipping sources said. It was not immediately clear if the company would succeed in finding a vessel.
Remarkably, as this was taking place, India's giant oil company IOC did not receive any offers in a tender last week seeking a VLCC to lift oil from Iraq on June 22 and 23 and deliver to Paradip port on India's east coast, a Reuters source said.
IOC, India's largest refiner, subsequently issued a force majeure on the cargo.
Tyler Durden Thu, 06/18/2026 - 18:00LIVE NOW:
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 18, 2026****************************
S&P 500 and Nasdaq remain near record highs despite yesterday’s post-Fed freakout. Risk-on is still in fashion as investors remain hopeful of a lasting U.S.-Iran peace. Though the question remains: Is the rally sustainable or are markets poised for a painful reversal before year-end?
Tonight at 7pm ET, Adam Taggart of Thoughtful Money hosts a debate between two of Wall Street's closely followed technical strategists: Jonathan Krinsky, Chief Market Technician at BTIG, and Mark Newton, Head of Technical Strategy at Fundstrat.
Bull Case (Newton):Newton sees the upward trend in tech/AI continuing higher, which will lift the broader market into 2027… even if there’s a little chop.
While he expects periods of volatility and some consolidation, easing energy prices and continued investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure will support further gains into year-end, even in the already-lofty tech/AI trade. With oil retreating sharply from wartime highs and investors increasingly focused on the long-term productivity benefits of AI (economic benefits that are real and not merely a bubble), Newton sees pullbacks as opportunities.
Oil was sent sharply lower on the news of a ceasefire, something Newton sees continuing into year end in the broader energy sector:
Energy could be a "source of real underperformance" in the months ahead.@MarkNewtonCMT of @Fundstrat tells @RemyBlaireNews healthcare and financials are his top picks, with $NKE "starting to finally show some evidence of rallying." pic.twitter.com/p2C988c584
— FINTECH.TV (@FINTECHTVglobal) June 15, 2026 Bear Case (Krinsky):Krinsky has maintained a more cautious stance as equities push further into historically stretched territory.
While the recent peace agreement between the U.S. and Iran has boosted risk appetite and eased inflation concerns, Krinsky has argued recently that elevated valuations, particularly in tech, are due for a correction at some point… especially with a seemingly hawkish fed. Krinsky has also pointed to the recent decoupling of bond yields and oil prices, having risen in tandem until post-peace deal where yields continued rising (possibly Fed-related) while oil tanked.
Recent gains have been driven largely by AI-related technology shares, semiconductors, and the Magnificent Seven, while many other areas of the market have failed to keep pace. Both Newton and Krinsky agree on this, though only one sees it as fuel to further propel markets higher… the other sees a ticking time bomb.
Both panelists rely on technicals and regularly change their market outlooks based on data. Neither guest is a perma-bull or bear… so no broken clocks tonight.
Tune in tonight at 7pm ET on the ZH homepage, X Feed, and Youtube channel to watch live to see how they’re looking at Iran, Fed chair Warsh, and markets.
Tyler Durden Thu, 06/18/2026 - 17:45Authored by Neetika Walter via Interesting Engineering,
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded Parallel Works, an Illinois-based software company spun out of Argonne National Laboratory, a contract to provide a unified platform that connects military supercomputing centers with secure commercial cloud infrastructure.
Representative stock image of a supercomputer. iStock PhotosThe contract, granted under the department's High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP), will allow scientists, engineers, and acquisition professionals across the DoD to access both on-premises and cloud-based computing resources through a single interface. The goal is to speed up the development and deployment of high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) workloads used for defense research and operations.
Parallel Works said its ACTIVATE High Security Platform (HSP) will act as the control plane linking Defense Supercomputing Resource Centers (DSRCs) with commercial cloud services. The platform is designed to let users move workloads across environments while maintaining security requirements for sensitive data.
The company said researchers will be able to test and deploy workloads on emerging cloud infrastructure before those capabilities are integrated into the DoD's supercomputing centers.
Connecting Defense ComputingThe platform has been approved at Impact Level 5 (IL5), one of the highest security classifications for non-classified DoD cloud environments. According to the company, it is among a small number of software platforms approved to handle export-controlled workloads, including International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).
The system is intended to address growing demand for computing power driven by AI development, simulation workloads, and digital modernization programs across the military.
"AI-driven warfare and the ramp to digital modernization are demanding far more model-sharing options than legacy infrastructure can provide," said Keith Obenschain, Chief Technology Officer at HPCMP.
The platform offers on-demand access to cloud compute resources, allowing users to avoid traditional queue delays associated with shared supercomputing systems. It also enables organizations to expand computing capacity by distributing workloads across multiple environments and cloud providers.
Parallel Works said users will have access to cloud infrastructure from providers including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud.
Accelerating Mission DeploymentAs part of the contract rollout, the Naval Research Laboratory has already implemented the platform to support weather forecasting workloads.
According to the company, the system automates forecasting workflows while securely coordinating computing resources across defense and cloud environments. The approach is intended to improve reliability, speed up processing, and help redistribute workloads when demand spikes.
"The HPCMP contract allows our platform to support a broad range of mission-critical HPC and AI workloads across the DOD teams," said Matthew Shaxted, CEO of Parallel Works.
The company said the environment can also serve as a secure testing ground for AI development tools and next-generation cloud architectures before they are adopted within the DoD's existing supercomputing infrastructure.
The contract reflects a broader push by the U.S. military to combine traditional supercomputing resources with commercial cloud services as AI models and data-intensive applications continue to increase computing requirements across defense operations.
Tyler Durden Thu, 06/18/2026 - 17:40