Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column:

Six facts. No hyperbole. All in the past 60 days.

1. AI is the fastest-growing product category in world history.
2. One of the latest models is so powerful that its maker won't release it to the public.
3. OpenAI and Anthropic say their most powerful AI coding models are now building themselves.
4. AI companies are growing less transparent as models grow more powerful. The federal government requires zero transparency.
5. AI resentment is building fast. In early April, the San Francisco home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was the target of two attacks in the same week. Shaken, he wrote: "The fear and anxiety about AI is justified … Power cannot be too concentrated."
6. AI havoc is no longer theoretical: This year's great software rout erased $2 trillion in value as investors realized, week by week, new human tasks that the latest models would wipe out, from coding to real estate services to legal research to financial management.

Why it matters: A year ago, we wrote a wake-up call to business leaders. This one is for everyone: We've been warned — by the data, by the technology, and by the people most responsible for building it — that we've unleashed something powerful, something growing exponentially, and something understood by very few, especially those in power.

🔎 Between the lines: Think of this as the dawn of a new Atomic Age. The atomic race that culminated in 1945 was the last time our species grappled with the advent of such a transformative, awe-inspiring technology. Its possibility — for both prosperity and destruction — led to the creation of science fiction that imagined everything from utopia to apocalypse.

• Much of the most viral writing about AI can be considered modern science fiction. "AI 2027," a 2025 attempt to game out superhuman intelligence led by a former OpenAI researcher, ends with AI either supporting a pro-democracy revolution that spans the solar system or the tech undertaking the harvesting of humanity's brains.
• This year's discourse did much the same. Matt Shumer's viral "Something Big Is Happening" conflated AI's code-generating ability with the arrival of an intelligence with real taste. Citrini Research's "The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis" imagined a worst-case economic scenario that involved zero effective response from either governments or markets.
• These pieces drove so much discussion and, in some cases, moved markets because they could be right. To be clear, they're probably not. They imagine edge cases and extremes. But we can't promise you they're wrong. The president can't. The heads of AI companies can't. If anyone claims they can, that's science fiction, too.

🖼️ The big picture: We've no clue where this ends and the good or bad that might be unleashed along the way. No one does. But it's increasingly clear that absent better leadership, collaboration and understanding, American society, workers, academic institutions and government aren't remotely ready for what's unfolding.

The bottom line: Any one of these six facts would be the business story of the decade in a normal industry. Together, in a 60-day window, they describe a technology whose growth, power and risk have outrun the public's understanding — and whose builders are saying so, in their own words.

• We've been warned.

Read the whole column to better understand each of these 6 realities ... Shane Savitsky contributed.

President Trump summoned oil and gas execs to the White House yesterday to gauge how energy markets would react under various scenarios for the Iran war, including dragging on or heating up, Axios' Alex Isenstadt and Ben Geman have learned.

• Among the attendees was Chevron CEO Mike Wirth.
• White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner also attended, per a source familiar with the meeting.

Topics included domestic production, progress in Venezuela, oil futures, natural gas and shipping, a White House official told us.

• Keep reading.

The Trump administration moved yesterday against three enemies of the MAGA coalition: Jimmy Kimmel, a former Anthony Fauci adviser and Somali-run daycare centers in Minneapolis, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

• A fourth, former FBI director James Comey, was indicted for a second time after a federal judge dismissed the Justice Department's case against him last year.

Why it matters: The retribution campaign at the heart of President Trump's second term is escalating, not easing, as gas prices climb, the Iran war grinds past 60 days and his approval rating sinks to record lows.

• Much of the activity has come in the 26 days since acting Attorney General Todd Blanche assumed leadership of the Justice Department following the ouster of Pam Bondi.

🔭 Zoom in: Each of yesterday's actions channels federal power against a long-running MAGA grievance.

1. COVID: The Justice Department indicted David Morens, a former senior Fauci adviser at the National Institutes of Health, on charges of using a personal email to evade public records laws and hide communications about COVID's origins.

• Fauci is a foundational MAGA villain, blamed by Trump's base for COVID lockdowns, school closures, vaccine mandates and an alleged cover-up of the virus' origins in a Chinese lab.

2. Minneapolis: Federal authorities executed 22 search warrants in the Twin Cities, almost all at Somali-run childcare centers suspected of bilking taxpayer-funded programs.

• Alleged fraud in Minnesota's Somali community has become a MAGA obsession, ignited by a viral video last year from YouTuber Nick Shirley that drew the White House's attention.

3. Liberal late-night: The FCC ordered Disney to file early license renewals for its eight owned-and-operated ABC stations in major markets, citing an ongoing probe into the company's DEI programs.

• The move comes amid fresh outrage over late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who joked that first lady Melania Trump "had the glow of an expectant widow" two days before a gunman allegedly tried to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

4. Comey Round 2: The Justice Department indicted Comey again, this time charging him with making threats against the president over a 2025 social media post showing seashells arranged to read "86 47" — which prosecutors allege was "a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States."

• Comey, who led the FBI before Trump fired him in 2017, has been a fixture of MAGA grievance for nearly a decade.

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King Charles III packed plenty of jokes for his trip to Washington — defusing tensions in the special relationship with quasi-comedic routines at the White House and on Capitol Hill yesterday.

• Why it matters: The charm offensive had a purpose. Charles wrapped warnings about Ukraine, NATO and global engagement in self-deprecating wit.

During last night's state dinner at the White House:

• The ballroom: "I'm sorry to say that we British made our own small attempt at real estate redevelopment of the White House in 1814."
• Boston Tea Party: "Thank you, Mr. President and Mrs. Trump, for your splendid dinner this evening — which, may I say, is a very considerable improvement on the Boston Tea Party."
• Europe: "You recently commented, Mr. President, that if it were not for the United States, European countries would be speaking German. Dare I say that if it wasn't for us, you'd be speaking French."

From his address to Congress:

• American independence: "Two hundred and fifty years ago — or, as we say in the United Kingdom, just the other day — they declared independence."
• His royal predecessor: "King George never set foot in America and, please rest assured, I am not here as part of some cunning rearguard action."
• Quoting Oscar Wilde: "We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language."

▶️ Watch: Highlights from his address to Congress ... State Dinner pics ... Guest list.

👓 Above: First lady Melania Trump sports Meta AI glasses while chatting with Queen Camilla and two students on the White House tennis court. Go deeper.

The White House is developing guidance that would allow agencies to get around Anthropic's supply chain risk designation and onboard new models, including Mythos — its most powerful yet, Axios' Maria Curi and Ashley Gold write.

• Why it matters: The Trump administration appears to be performing a 180 on a company it previously claimed was such a grave security risk that it had to be ripped out of the federal government.

A draft executive action in the works could, among other steps related to the government's use of AI, give the administration a way to dial down the Anthropic fight, two sources said.

• One source described the White House efforts as a way to "save face and bring 'em back in."

🔬 Between the lines: Multiple sources have told Axios that while key players at the Pentagon are dug in on this issue, others in the administration believe the fight has been counterproductive and are ready to find an off-ramp.

• Keep reading.

Axios AI editor Megan Morrone, reporting from a federal courthouse in Oakland, writes:

Elon Musk took the stand as the first witness in his billion-dollar lawsuit seeking legal limits on OpenAI's transformation from charity-backed research lab to AI superpower.

• Why it matters: A verdict against OpenAI could reshape who controls one of the most valuable private companies in the world.

Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and now runs rival xAI, made his case simple: "It's not OK to steal a charity."

• His lawsuit accuses OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, president Greg Brockman and Microsoft of betraying the company's original nonprofit mission to benefit humanity.
• Jurors were shown a 2017 email from Musk that said: "Guys, I've had enough. … Either go do something on your own or continue with OpenAI as a nonprofit."

The other side: OpenAI says Musk donated $38 million to the OpenAI nonprofit, which was "spent exactly as intended and in service of the mission."

• Expect "a tale of two Elons," attorney William Savitt, representing OpenAI, said in his opening statement.

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U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly rose in April despite growing anxiety over energy prices and the war in Iran.

• The Conference Board's consumer confidence index inched up to 92.8 in April from 92.2 in March.

🥊 Reality check: Though the gauge has ticked up the past two months, the reading remains near its lowest level since the pandemic.

• Go deeper.

The State Department plans to release a limited number of passports featuring President Trump's image on the inside cover "to commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence."

• The passports will be available only for those who apply in person at the D.C. passport office starting shortly before July 4.