NPR News: 09-13-2026 3PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbs. The leaders of three rival AI companies are issuing a stark warning that the technology is advancing faster than safety protections and regulations can keep up. Ampere's Windsor Johnson reports they're calling for a slow-dum but it's not clear who would set the rules or who would enforce them. The CEO of Anthropic is urging AI companies to slow the development of the most powerful models. The leaders of open AI, Google DeepMind and SpaceX AI are backing the call. Sarah Krebs is a technology policy expert at Cornell University. She says the companies could benefit from helping shape any new rules but their unusual agreement is difficult to dismiss. When all of those companies in the lead are speaking with one voice and our competitors with each other, there might also be something going on. Web says Congress could impose regulations but the technology may evolve faster than

1:01lawmakers can respond. Windsor Johnson and NPR News Anthropic and Google are among NPR supporters. Delaware is holding its primary this week as voters pick House Senate and Attorney General candidates less than two months to go to the midterm elections. Meanwhile, Republicans held an unusual midterm convention last week where President Trump promised $5,000 to each American adult if Republicans keep the Senate in house. NPR's moralize and has more. The reaction has been surprisingly tepid even among Republicans. Some are worried that even if Congress would approve such a payout because the president can't give away this money himself, it would cost more than a trillion dollars adding to the already historically high national debt unless it was paid for by raising other taxes or more budget cuts. And then there's the element of whether this promise has any credibility with voters. NPR's moralize and reporting. Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson says there's no guarantee about the $5,000. Like every idea that the president comes up with, he's a great idea generator.

2:02We're going to process that in Congress and figure it all out. Speaking there on NBC's Meet the Press. Investors on Wall Street are awaiting a decision from the Fed this week on interest rates. And here's Rafael NAM has more. The Fed has held Ray Stetty throughout the year even though inflation has remained fairly high. The rising energy cost because of the war with Iran now has most investors expecting a rate hike when policymakers announced their decision on Wednesday. But it's not a done deal. The Fed has been fairly divided. And some economists believe the Fed may choose instead to keep waiting. A rate hike would come with the midterm elections coming up in November. And it would be the first under Chair Kevin Wars, who was nominated by President Trump in the hopes that he would lead the Fed into lowering rates and not raising them. Rafael NAM, NPR News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Voters in Sweden are going to the polls today in an election that's expected to be extremely

3:06close. And here's Esmi Nicholson reports, recent polls show the gap is narrowing between left and right wing blocks. People say the ferry was carrying more than 240 people when its sank in heavy seas on a trip from Surabaya in East Java to Bunchar Masin in South Kalimantan province. Authorities say the captain of the vessel had reported waves of up to 10 feet and issued a distress message in the early morning hours before the ship sank. Officials deployed rescue teams aboard several vessels as well as a helicopter to search for survivors. Indonesia is an archipelago of some 17,000 islands where ferries are a common form of travel. Hundreds of relatives of the missing have gathered at Bunchar Masin's Trasak-D port waiting for news of the missing. For NPR News, I'm Michael Sullivan in Changri. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is warning that rising geopolitical tensions, supply change disruptions and climate change issues are affecting people around the world.

4:12He made the comments at the BRICS summit in New Delhi today where he called for stronger cooperation around the global south. BRICS has 11 members representing about half the world's population, looking for greater representation for developing countries in global institutions. The leaders expressed concern over escalating tensions in various regions and supported a multipolar world order. I'm Janine Herbst in NPR News in Washington. This is Ira Glass. From this American life, we tell stories about when things change. Like for this guy David, whose entire life took a sharp, unexpected and very unpleasant term. And it did take me a while to realize that this is basically because the monkey pressed the button. That's right, because the monkey pressed the button. Rising stories every week, wherever you get your podcasts.