Two forces are shaping AI right now: Those making bold moves to control it and those failing, often falling on their own sword, to contain it.
This week, a CEO and his Chief People Officer were identified within minutes after a jumbotron moment at a Coldplay concert went viral. Within minutes - no press release. No confirmation. TikTok sleuths identified all parties involved with reverse image search, LinkedIn breadcrumbs, and algorithmic precision. By 1:52AM EST, this story was already live on Forbes.
The company involved? Astronomer. A $740M data engineering firm that builds infrastructure for AI and analytics.
The irony? Their own tech stack powers the kind of traceability that turned this private moment into a public spectacle.
This fail is already a top contender for Meme of the Year. It was a live demo of what happens when AI driven systems scale faster than governance leaving business leaders exposed with no crisis protocol, no privacy and no safeguards. Incidentally? these are the very things consumers yearn for.
In this issue:
🧠 Top 5 AI governance power moves this week
🤡 Top 5 governance fails that turned risk into reality
🪑 Saying the hard thing
🔥 Top 5 Power Moves in AI Governance
1. DoD Looks to AI to Modernize Civilian Workforce Management
The U.S. Department of Defense is deploying AI to overhaul its civilian HR systems, including hiring, job classification, and retention strategies.
AI tools will streamline federal hiring and improve workforce analytics, but concerns remain around data privacy and algorithmic fairness.
This marks a shift toward automation-first governance in national defense infrastructure.
This has a pretty severe blast radius. As of today, the DoD has over 700k employees,
This one scores in the ethical gray area for me. Because employers have done a poor job with effectively leveraging AI tools within the workforce. We’ll have to wait and see.
This move scores an 56/100 on the Accountability vs Exploitation index.
2. China and Brazil Sign Strategic AI & Infrastructure Agreements
China and Brazil inked a series of deals to deepen cooperation on AI research, infrastructure, and industrial development.
A new China-Brazil AI Application Cooperation Center will focus on open-source development, workforce training, and foundational research.
This aligns Brazil’s national growth plans with China’s Belt and Road Initiative—a geopolitical fusion of tech and trade.
Is anyone else jealous at the proactive measures China and Brazil are taking to empower their workforce? They are not making pledges, they are making deals because they recognize that economies only work when citizens are gainfully employed.
This move scores an 80/100 on the Accountability vs Exploitation index.
3. Google Faces EU Antitrust Complaint Over AI Overviews
A coalition of publishers filed a formal complaint against Google, accusing its AI Overviews feature of siphoning traffic and revenue.
The complaint argues that publishers can't opt out of AI training without disappearing from search results.
This could trigger regulatory limits on AI-generated content and reshape how search engines integrate generative AI.
The EU demonstrates once more that they have a firm handle on regulation and thus far, they have not been ‘bought’ by big tech. This antitrust complaint signals that they are interested in protecting business owners in the EU even if big tech isn’t willing to do so.
This move scores an 80/100 on the Accountability vs Exploitation index.
4. Governor Hochul Launches Empire AI Beta Supercomputer in New York
New York State approved $40 million to launch Empire AI Beta, a supercomputer 11x more powerful than its predecessor.
Housed at the University at Buffalo, it will support public-interest AI research across 10 academic institutions.
The hope is that this positions New York as a national leader in ethical, scalable AI infrastructure.
This is encouraging news and honestly, it’s great to see this type of investment in NY State. As a New Yorker myself, I’d like to see state leadership do more to address the ad hoc layoffs and lack of workforce reskilling in the age of AI.
This move scores a 68/100 on the Accountability vs Exploitation index.
5. Vietnam Passes Landmark Personal Data Protection Law
Vietnam’s National Assembly passed its first comprehensive Personal Data Protection Law, effective January 2026.
It introduces sector-specific rules, cross-border data transfer regulations, and fines up to 10x revenue for violations.
A major leap toward data sovereignty and digital rights enforcement in Southeast Asia.
Vietnam has emerged as an unexpected leader in 2025 for AI policy and personal data protection laws. These regulations suggest that they are gearing up for a future where they invite AI innovation while proactively building in the accountability frameworks.
This move scores an 73/100 on the Accountability vs Exploitation index.
🤡 Top 5 AI Governance Flops This Week
And now for the flops. The failures and incidents that indicate that while AI use is prevalent, AI assurance, testing and even communication processes are lacking even at the highest level within the most prominent organizations. I’m tossing out the scale for these because they’re all bad.
Google’s AI Overview Recommends Eating Rocks Pulled from a satirical Onion article.
The Governance Fail: With Google’s power house of data and intelligence it’s a bit shocking to see that no content validation filters were in place.
Wimbledon’s AI Line Judge System Accidentally Shut Off Mid-Match A server-side error by system operators deactivated Hawk-Eye’s electronic line-calling system during a crucial Centre Court match between Sonay Kartal and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The umpire wasn’t informed, three points went untracked, and a pivotal rally was replayed which obviously sparked outrage and accusations of bias.
The Governance fail: A glaring absence of fail-safe protocols in high-stakes, AI-assisted sports environments. Wimbledon replaced 147 years of human line judges with automation but failed to build in basic contingency systems, real-time alerts, or video review. The result? A tech breakdown that undermined trust, fairness, and the very match it was meant to protect.
McDonald’s AI Hiring Bot Breach Default password ‘123456’ exposes 64 million applicants.
The Governance fail: a shocking lack of enterprise-grade security protocols in consumer-facing AI systems. Hash passwords can be generated with ease, but the option to use ‘123456’ won out.
AI-Generated Summer Reading List Dupes Major Newspapers. Only 5 of 15 books were real. Sources confirms that the list was published in outlets like the Chicago Sun-Times and Philadelphia Inquirer, and that only 5 of the 15 books were real. The content was syndicated by King Features and partially generated by AI without proper editorial review.
The Governance fail: There were no editorial safeguards against AI misinformation in syndicated print content. I’m sorry, I have to call it the way it was - careless and lazy.
Xbox Exec Suggests Laid-Off Workers Use ChatGPT for Emotional Support
An executive producer at Xbox Game Studios faced backlash after recommending that recently laid-off employees turn to ChatGPT for emotional support. The now-deleted LinkedIn post was widely criticized as tone-deaf and emblematic of corporate detachment from real human impact.
Governance fail: Treating AI as a substitute for empathy and mental health support without ethical guardrails or context.
🪑 Saying the Hard Thing
AI is the driving force behind so many revelations in 2025—tone-deaf statements, hate speech, mass layoffs, and leadership behaviors that feel increasingly privileged and disconnected.
Some of the most powerful business leaders are showing us who they really are—and it’s not pretty. The prestige of leadership seems to be cracking under the weight of more power, more profit, and less accountability.
Meanwhile, workers are being laid off in staggering numbers. And lawmakers continue to stall on meaningful federal AI regulation. Best practices? Missing. Basic humanity? Often absent. Accountability? Still optional.
So we ask the uncomfortable question: Where has leadership gone?
🚀 Final Thought
AI Governance is different things to different people. For executives, it’s business armor, for brands, it saves your reputation and for consumers it helps us differentiate which companies prioritize our safety and which don’t.
Whether you’re leading AI strategy or just living with its consequences, this newsletter is your front-row seat to the power plays and policy gaps shaping our future.
📬 Forward this to someone who still thinks AI “is safe, objective and just works.” 🪑 Subscribe for weekly breakdowns that cut through all that noise.
🌍 Source URLs
DoD and AI Workforce Modernization https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3775453/modernizing-dods-civilian-workforce-with-ai/
China–Brazil AI Cooperation Agreements https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202507/1302758.shtml https://www.brazilgovnews.gov.br/en/news/2025/07/china-brazil-deepen-ai-cooperation
EU Antitrust Complaint Against Google AI Overviews https://www.ft.com/content/b4a4cebe-9b99-45c1-871c-fcfe834c21b0 https://www.politico.eu/article/google-antitrust-ai-european-union-publishers/
Empire AI Beta Supercomputer Announcement (New York) https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-40-million-launch-empire-ai-beta-supercomputer-new-york https://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2025/07/010.html
Vietnam Personal Data Protection Law Passed https://vietnamnews.vn/society/1652456/national-assembly-passes-personal-data-protection-law.html https://www.zingnews.vn/vietnam-enacts-comprehensive-data-protection-law-post1548303.html
McDonalds AI Hiring Tools Incident https://www.csoonline.com/article/4020919/mcdonalds-ai-hiring-tools-password-123456-exposes-data-of-64m-applicants.html
Wimbledon’s AI Judge Fail
https://sports.yahoo.com/article/wimbledon-ai-could-not-tell-142028237.html
AI Generated Reading List published in major newspapers
https://www.vpm.org/npr-news/npr-news/2025-05-20/how-an-ai-generated-summer-reading-list-got-published-in-major-newspapers
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