Could artificial intelligence give authoritarian governments an edge over democracies? On an upcoming episode of GZERO World, former White House AI advisor Ben Buchanan and author of the new book “The Bitter Struggle” warns that AI could supercharge surveillance, censorship and government crackdowns, giving autocracies new ways to tighten their grip on power. China is racing ahead on AI, but Buchanan says it may be dangerously overconfident in its ability to control the technology.
So how can democracies win the AI race without sacrificing the very values they’re trying to protect? Buchanan says the US needs to stay ahead of China in AI innovation, put that advantage to work in America’s national security, and ensure the technology doesn’t concentrate too much power in the hands of corporations and the state — one of the most challenging parts of the AI rollout and the race for technological supremacy.
New data shows cannabis dominates teens’ substance-related ER visits, often with alcohol or stimulants, urging better screening and intervention for psychosis, vomiting.
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Among adolescents with a substance-related emergency department visit, 84% had a cannabis-involved encounter, a recent study found.1 Kevin Xu, MD, lead investigator, said this finding supported prioritizing cannabis screening when assessing substance use.2 Xu cautioned that a cannabis diagnosis indicated documentation rather than causation, that cannabis seldom was the primary reason for hospitalization, and that approximately half of individuals with a cannabis-related encounter had exposure to another substance, such as alcohol or stimulants.Cannabis-related acute care presentations with diagnostic codes for vomiting, a surrogate for cannabis hyperemesis, and psychosis increased over the study period, with increases concentrated among adolescents and young adults, while alcohol as the primary reason for hospitalization rose sharply among adults ages 25 to 34. Xu stated that alcohol-related harm should not be presumed to have receded among younger adults and that these encounters represented a critical point for intervention for substance use disorders and co-occurring psychiatric disorders.
Psychiatric Times: Among adolescents with a substance-related emergency visit, 84% had a cannabis-involved encounter. What does this indicate about how clinicians should be assessing for drug use?
Kevin Xu, MD:This finding, taken in conjunction with other public health research illustrating rising cannabis use in the adolescent population, suggests that cannabis screening should be prioritized when assessing substance use. Our data includes both emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient admissions. ED claims do not designate a “primary diagnosis,” whereas inpatient claims do. Thus, in the ED, a cannabis diagnosis may be recorded even when cannabis was not the main reason for the visit. The presence of a cannabis diagnosis therefore indicates that it was documented, not that it caused the encounter.
PT: When cannabis was the primary reason for admission, the adolescent trend declined. How do you reconcile that with the rise in overall cannabis involvement?
Xu:To consider the extent to which cannabis was the “main” reason behind a substance-related admission, we conducted a number of sensitivity analyses across inpatient hospitalizations (in which we could restrict encounters that had cannabis listed as the primary diagnosis). We found that hospitalizations with cannabis as the main reason for admission were far less common than those for other substances, such as alcohol. In other words, cannabis is frequently documented in substance-related ED visits and inpatient admissions but appears to seldomly be the main reason for hospitalization.
Taken together, these findings suggest that the increase in cannabis involvement among adolescents reflects cannabis being documented more often as one of several diagnoses, rather than the primary diagnosis for admission.
However, this does not mean that cannabis is “harmless” when it is not the primary diagnosis. Cannabis use frequently occurs alongside other substances, and this co-occurring use may make a presentation more serious even when cannabis is not the main reason for the visit.
Additionally, it is noteworthy to add that cannabis related acute care presentations with diagnostic codes for vomiting (a surrogate for cannabis hyperemesis) and psychosis did increase over the study’s time period, with increases concentrated amongst adolescents and young adults.
PT: Nearly half of cannabis-related encounters involved another substance. What does that tell us about how these patients present?
Xu: This is an important finding we would like to emphasize. Our data indicates that when someone has an acute care encounter involving cannabis, co-occurring substance exposure needs to be evaluated before attributing the reason for presentation solely to cannabis. Approximately half of the individuals with a cannabis related encounter had exposure to another substance, such as alcohol or stimulants.The subset of individuals who use cannabis and land in the emergency room likely represent a particularly vulnerable population, enriched not only for polysubstance use, but also comorbid psychiatric disorders (eg, mood, anxiety disorders).
PT: How does increasing product potency factor into what you’re seeing in emergency departments?
Xu: It is difficult to infer a causal relationship between increasing potency and our findings as claims data does not record potency of cannabis products. We are heartened by progress in this field, evidenced in recent work proposing weekly exposure thresholds associated with a higher risk of cannabis use disorder.3This is a very important first step for understanding how potency is factoring into the trends that we are seeing.
PT: Alcohol as the primary reason for hospitalization rose sharply among adults ages 25 to 34. What might explain that trend?
Xu:Much attention has focused on increasing cannabis use and declining alcohol use among younger adults.Reports of declining alcohol use among younger adults have raised hope for lower rates of serious alcohol-related morbidity within this demographic. Yet these data suggest that alcohol remains a substantial contributor among young adults who present to acute care with substance-related problems.
These findings are a reminder that alcohol remains an important contributor to severe substance-related adverse events While our study was not designed to identify the causes of these trends, we need to hold off on concluding that alcohol-related harm has somehow “receded” from younger adults. One possibility is that a smaller subgroup of young adults is experiencing more severe alcohol-related harm despite declining consumption overall, although this requires further study. We also measured alcohol’s share of substance-related admissions rather than population-based rates, so the increase may partly reflect declines in admissions involving other substances.
PT: What would you highlight about this data for the practicing psychiatric clinician?
Xu:We need to take into account individualized, patient level factors when assessing for substance use in patients, as the harms related to their use are clearly not uniform across the lifespan. The growing involvement of cannabis in acute care encounters among younger patients also merits attention, particularly because it frequently occurs alongside other substance-related problems.
An important next step is to understand how and when these patients receive treatment for their substance use disorders and co-occurring psychiatric disorders as these substance-related encounters represent a critical point for intervention.
Dr Xuis an assistant professor of psychiatry at WashU Medicine.
References
1. Steinle JT, Grucza RA, Buss JL, et al. Changing patterns of alcohol and cannabis acute care admissions by age in the U.S., 2016-2023. Am J Psychiatry. Published online November 4, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.20260023
2. Renny MH, Stecher Y, Vargas-Torres C, et al. Trends in substance use-related emergency department visits by youth, 2018-2023. Am J Emerg Med. 2025;92:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajem.2025.02.035
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Published: March 10, 2010Last Updated: November 09, 2026
At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. At 5 a.m. that morning, Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France. The First World War left 9 million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded, with Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, France and Great Britain each losing nearly a million or more lives. In addition, at least 5 million civilians died from disease, starvation or exposure.
The Great War
Explore U.S. involvement in World War I in the critical year of 1918.
On June 28, 1914, in an event that is widely regarded as sparking the outbreak of World War I, ArchdukeFranz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, and his wife were shot to death by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Ferdinand had been inspecting his uncle’s imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite the threat of Serbian nationalists who wanted these Austro-Hungarian possessions to join newly independent Serbia.Austria-Hungary blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the problem of Slavic nationalism once and for all. However, as Russia supported Serbia, an Austro-Hungarian declaration of war was delayed until its leaders received assurances from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support their cause in the event of a Russian intervention.
How a Wrong Turn Started World War I
Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination caused the outbreak of World War I, but what caused the assassination itself? It may have been something as simple as a wrong turn.
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On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers collapsed. On July 29, Austro-Hungarian forces began to shell the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and Serbia’s ally Russia ordered a troop mobilization against Austria-Hungary. France, allied with Russia, began to mobilize on August 1. France and Germany declared war against each other on August 3. After crossing through neutral Luxembourg, the German army invaded Belgium on the night of August 3-4, prompting Great Britain, Belgium’s ally, to declare war against Germany.
For the most part, the people of Europe greeted the outbreak of war with jubilation. Most patriotically assumed that their country would be victorious within months. Of the initial belligerents, Germany was most prepared for the outbreak of hostilities, and its military leaders had formatted a sophisticated military strategy known as the “Schlieffen Plan,” which envisioned the conquest of France through a great arcing offensive through Belgium and into northern France. Russia, slow to mobilize, was to be kept occupied by Austro-Hungarian forces while Germany attacked France.
The Schlieffen Plan was nearly successful, but in early September, the French rallied and halted the German advance at the bloody Battle of the Marne near Paris. By the end of 1914, well over a million soldiers of various nationalities had been killed on the battlefields of Europe, and neither for the Allies nor the Central Powers was a final victory in sight. On the western front—the battle line that stretched across northern France and Belgium—the combatants settled down in the trenches for a terrible war of attrition.
World War I Armistice Day Celebrations
On November 11, 1918, World War I finally came to an end after four-plus years of combat. Armistice Day was wildly celebrated throughout the world, and in this rare footage, we see how New York, Washington D.C. and Paris took to the streets with pure joy.
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In 1915, the Allies attempted to break the stalemate with an amphibious invasion of Turkey, which had joined the Central Powers in October 1914, but after heavy bloodshed, the Allies were forced to retreat in early 1916. The year 1916 saw great offensives by Germany and Britain along the western front, but neither side accomplished a decisive victory. In the east, Germany was more successful, and the disorganized Russian army suffered terrible losses, spurring the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917. By the end of 1917, the Bolsheviks had seized power in Russia and immediately set about negotiating peace with Germany. In 1918, the infusion of American troops and resources into the western front finally tipped the scale in the Allies’ favor. Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies on November 11, 1918.
World War I was known as the “war to end all wars” because of the great slaughter and destruction it caused. Unfortunately, the peace treaty that officially ended the conflict—the Treaty of Versailles of 1919—forced punitive terms on Germany that destabilized Europe and laid the groundwork for World War II.
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More soldiers died on the last day of WWI than on D-Day. Find out why Allied leaders found outrageous excuses to send 13,000 men to their deaths against a defeated enemy. The senseless 11th-hour slaughter captures the whole of WWI.
Jeff Merkley (left) and Elizabeth Warren (right) sent a letter to the White House counsel on Monday.ANDREW HARRER—GETTY IMAGES
Two Democratic senators are pressing the White House to disclose whether employees have used inside information to trade on prediction market platforms. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) sent a letter to White House counsel Will Scharf on Monday asking what safeguards the administration has in place to prevent staff from using confidential government information to profit from bets.
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The request follows a July report that Gabriel Perez, President Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator, allegedly made over $100,000 on prediction market Kalshi by betting on which words Trump would use in more than a dozen speeches. Perez later reached a settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that required him to surrender his profits, pay a penalty, and agree to a three-year trading ban.
“It has been four months since this White House insider trading scandal came to light, and we write to you to understand what further steps—if any—your office is taking to prevent abuses of power,” read a copy of the letter shared with Fortune.
The letter also asked whether White House staff receive training on rules against using nonpublic information to trade or bet and whether officials contacted the CFTC or Justice Department about Perez’s case. They requested a copy of a memo warning staff against such bets and answers to their questions by Nov. 23.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
The case is one of several that have raised concerns about insiders using nonpublic information to profit on prediction markets. In April, federal prosecutors charged a U.S. soldier with using classified information to make more than $400,000 on Polymarket bets tied to the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. In February, six newly created Polymarket accounts drew scrutiny after earning roughly $1 million in combined profits betting the U.S. would strike Iran before the month ended.
The letter offers a preview of the scrutiny the Trump administration could face when Democrats retake control of Congress in January. Warren is expected to chair the Senate Banking Committee, giving her a powerful platform to investigate financial firms and potential conflicts involving the president’s family businesses.
Other Democrats are also pushing for restrictions on prediction markets. On Tuesday, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) called on Congress to ban sports prediction markets, describing them as “sports betting disguised as financial trading.”
The Trump family has expanded its ties to the prediction market industry during Trump’s second term. Donald Trump Jr. advises both Kalshi and Polymarket, and 1789 Capital, the venture firm where he is a partner, has invested in Polymarket. Trump Media, the company behind Truth Social in which the president holds a stake through a trust, announced plans in October 2025 for a prediction market service called Truth Predict with crypto exchange Crypto.com. It later scaled back the initial offering to a marketing partnership.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters during the G7 foreign ministers summit in Paris yesterday. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
When Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his G7 counterparts in Paris yesterday, he told them that President Trump had considered resuming the war with Iran or cutting a deal — but chose a third option: strangling the Iranian regime, Axios’ Barak Ravid reports.
Rubio explained:“It’s not just return to war or sign a ridiculous peace deal. We won’t do a stupid deal. The third option we have is to continue to do what we do now,” Rubio said, according to three people in the room.
He went on to say that the U.S. is imposing devastating costs on Iran’s economy, making it harder for it to fund terrorist organizations or rebuild its military. And there’s no end date.
The intrigue: U.S. officials say that Rubio was among the members of Trump’s national security team who pushed for the strangulation strategy, along with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Jared Kushner, Trump’s adviser and son-in-law.
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A week of political upheaval, financial turmoil and salacious scandal delivered one final indignity to the AI industry yesterday, as Anthropic’s staggering IPO target fell short of expectations, Axios’ Zachary Basu and Ben Berkowitz write.
Why it matters:The bubble is wobbling. Investors, businesses and governments need a spectacular success from Anthropic to stave off a crisis of confidence that could tear through the broader economy
.Zoom in: Anthropic announced plans yesterday to raise as much as $64.4 billion in one of the largest IPOs in history, targeting a valuation of up to $1.4 trillion.
That’s roughly $600 billion below what investors envisioned just months ago.
Zoom out: Anthropic’s valuation reset caps a punishing stretch of new challenges that began with last week’s stunning midterm results
A blue wave of AI-skeptical Democrats will arrive in Congress armed with subpoena power and an appetite for investigating the industry’s safety failures and vast political influence
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the central cog in AI’s global gears, was swept up in an espionage scandal after admitting to an affair with a suspected Chinese spy. His board, the FBI and Congress are investigating. Nvidia has shed more than $1 trillion in market value since the first revelation
Wall Street went into a tailspin as investors reckoned with the implications of the Democratic sweep — including in data-center havens like Texas — for AI’s sprawling infrastructure ambitions. The Nasdaq lost $2.5 trillion in market value Thursday before staging a sharp rebound.
Stephen Miller and Natalie Harp walk to Marine One on Friday. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Stephen Miller wants to use his new role as White House chief of staff to win back young and minority men who helped elect President Trump in 2024 but swung toward Democrats in the midterms, two people familiar with the administration’s plans tell Axios’ Alex Isenstadt.
Why it matters:Miller, named last week to replace Susie Wiles, plans to focus on reviving the populist agenda that helped the president build his 2024 coalition, with an emphasis on working-class voters.
Young, working-class and minority men fled the GOP in droves in last week’s elections, amid high prices fueled by Trump’s tariffs, the war in Iran, and concerns about AI’s impact on the job market.
Trump won men under 30 by 14 points in 2024, according to a Tufts study. Last week, Democrats won them by 22 points in House races — a 36-point shift.
Latino men also swung sharply toward Democrats, as the administration’s hard-line immigration crackdown became an increasingly contentious political issue
Zoom in: Miller wants to spend more time highlighting administration policies he believes haven’t gotten enough attention, and that will appeal to working-class voters concerned about the economy, insiders tell Axios.
His priorities will sound familiar to Trump watchers: eliminating what the administration considers “woke” policies from colleges and workplaces, lowering prescription drug prices, and rooting out government and health-care fraud.
He also wants to emphasize reducing the federal bureaucracy and push for permitting reform, while highlighting how those efforts could help address affordability.
Sources in the business community say Miller’s ideological drive makes him mostly impervious to typical Washington lobbying
Between the lines: With Democrats taking control of Congress in January, Miller will have to advance that agenda without the help of Republican majorities in either the House or Senate.
Some of his plans could be pursued through executive orders by Trump. Others, including permitting reform, would require bipartisan cooperation.
Reality check: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who’s in line to become House speaker in January, has said he has “zero interest” in working with Miller, whose immigration policies have made him a frequent target of Democratic attacks.
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Trump’s third way on Iran
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters during the G7 foreign ministers summit in Paris yesterday. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
AI industry’s week from hell
Zoom in: Anthropic 
Data: 
A blue wave of AI-skeptical Democrats will arrive in Congress armed with subpoena power and an appetite for investigating the industry’s safety failures and vast political influence
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the central cog in AI’s global gears, was swept up in an espionage scandal after 
Wall Street went into a tailspin as investors reckoned with the implications of the Democratic sweep — including in data-center havens like Texas — for AI’s sprawling infrastructure ambitions. The Nasdaq lost $2.5 trillion in market value Thursday before staging a sharp rebound.
Stephen Miller and Natalie Harp walk to Marine One on Friday. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Zoom in: Miller wants to spend more time highlighting administration policies he believes haven’t gotten enough attention, and that will appeal to working-class voters concerned about the economy, insiders tell Axios.
Between the lines: With Democrats taking control of Congress in January, Miller will have to advance that agenda without the help of Republican majorities in either the House or Senate.