Axios

The GOP's most vulnerable House incumbents won't have to shell out $25,000 to attend the GOP's midterm convention in Dallas next week, but some are still reluctant to go.

Why it matters: Trump and GOP leaders could still turn the two-day telethon into a success by raising hard dollars and motivating soft MAGA voters.

House Speaker Mike Johnson's decision to cancel two weeks of September workdays is threatening to delay a bipartisan push to crack down on sexual misconduct in Congress, the lead Democrat on the bipartisan task force told Axios.

Why it matters: The House task force created to address sexual misconduct had hoped to unveil legislation this month after having already pushed back its initial goal of releasing a bill before the August recess.

President Trump is denying reports of a major U.S. munitions shortage as national security experts warn that key weapons inventories are running low.

The big picture: Depleted munitions inventories could constrain U.S. military options for years and leave American troops, bases and allies more exposed if attacked.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced new legislation Thursday calling for a permanent ban on superintelligence alongside a renewed demand for a pause on advanced AI development.

Why it matters: Sanders is the first prominent American politician to call for an outright ban on superintelligence as Big Tech companies release increasingly powerful AI models that they themselves admit they may not be able to control.

Former President George W. Bush is not expected to be among the speakers at next week's Republican Party convention in Dallas, even though the event is virtually in his backyard.

Why it matters: The former president's likely absence underscores the schism between the Trump-era GOP and the Bush-era GOP.

Defense tech has become one of venture capital's hottest sectors, after being ignored for decades, but it just lost a top evangelist within the Pentagon.

Vibes check: Defense-tech investors tell Axios that they're concerned and disappointed, but not slowing down.

ICE agents in Minnesota arrested 131 U.S. citizens for allegedly assaulting federal officers during Operation Metro Surge, but the vast majority of those cases went nowhere in court, the agency's acting director recently disclosed.

Why it matters: That arrest total means more U.S. citizens in Minnesota were caught in the Trump administration's immigration dragnet — and never criminally charged — than previously thought.

• The number of citizens ICE reported rounding up is higher than most independent attempts by watchdogs or journalists to tally Operation Metro Surge arrests have found so far.

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) are introducing a new bill Thursday, first shared with Axios, aimed at securing AI agents amid a growing number of safety incidents involving rogue agents.

Why it matters: Washington has been slow to respond to the safety and security concerns raised by OpenAI's Hugging Face hack and other testing incidents involving agents that took unauthorized actions over the last two months.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman gave Axios an eye-opening preview of the power and the risks of coming AI models, including his own Astra, which is expected to be released any day now.

• "Take our word for it that we have much, much, much more capable models coming soon," Altman said Wednesday during a measured interview with Axios' Maria Curi and me at the G20 innovation summit.
• "The next generation of models are going to be sobering for everybody. ... I think no one intellectually honest can look at what's happening and not feel the weight of responsibility in front of us."

Oil prices are heading back toward $100 a barrel, and, perhaps more crucially, the price of diesel fuel futures is now sitting at an all-time high. 

Why it matters: Investors are starting to recognize that higher oil prices from the Iran war aren't something they can continue to ignore.