Ashley Gold

Senior Tech Correspondent

Ashley is a senior technology correspondent, based in Washington, DC. She has covered global technology policy for a decade, spending six years as senior tech policy reporter at Axios, with earlier stints at Politico, The Information and the BBC.

Democratic pro-AI regulation PAC spends against Senate Republicans

Tomorrow Together is moving into Senate races with $2.5 million in ads against Republican Sens. Jon Husted in Ohio and Roger Marshall in Kansas.

Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via Reuters

SpaceX-Tesla merger could face antitrust scrutiny

One former Justice Department official told Semafor that the risks for the merger are real.

Evan Vucci/Reuters

Meta tops Big Tech lobbying as AI labs talk antitrust

Meta spent $5.9 million lobbying Washington lawmakers in the third quarter of 2026 — the most of any Big Tech firm during that period — as the AI race grew more competitive.

Tech leaders at an event with US President Donald Trump.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Youth-led AI safety group demands protections for young users

Its top goals: Prevent catastrophic risk, allow states to pass their own laws, protect against digital fakes, and focus on design that helps and protects people.

Dado Ruvic/Illustration via Reuters

Mamdani takes on AI chatbot ‘doom loops’ in New York

A new rule would require businesses to connect people to a human customer service agent quickly if a chatbot cannot fulfill their requests.

Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Anthropic’s leaked AI bill sparks backlash

Anthropic, long seen as the safety-promoting frontier lab, found itself on the defensive.

Carlos Barria/Reuters

The national intelligence chief steering AI

“He is hyper-competent and a problem-solver with good instincts, and that’s why he’s so valued.”

Conservative AI safety group proposes export controls, visa restrictions

Humans First, a conservative-led group advocating for stronger AI guardrails, is out with an “America First AI Policy” platform.

White House’s AI task force gets to work

The White House’s AI task force has formally adopted its charter.

White House played central role in antitrust probe of TV networks

Multiple people told Semafor that the idea of an inquiry was first discussed inside the White House before being pursued by the DOJ.

AI task force readies for first meeting

It’s still not clear what exactly will be discussed at the task force’s first meeting, as the group scrambles to organize following its formation earlier this month.

Trump AI directive sparks questions

An Anthropic incident in which a testing model submitted visa applications, according to a State Department spokesman, spurred the task force’s first “action.”

FTC advancing on its AI safety probe

The agency still faces questions about how deep its investigation will get, given the Trump administration’s light touch.

Progressive groups lay out AI demands for candidates

Guardrails Action warns politicians in a new letter that they’ll face ‘active, mobilized opposition’ if they don’t commit to safety regulations.

Democrats press White House on still-secret AI framework

It’s the latest indication that Democrats are not giving up on a sustained push for answers from the administration.

Reflection AI unveils an open-source Western answer to Chinese labs

Its new model, Beam, could give more options to Western companies and governments that don’t want to — or can’t — use Chinese models.

Meta parts ways with Virtue AI

“Unfortunately, the arrangement didn’t work out as planned,” a Meta spokesperson told Semafor.

The AI industry balances Trump and a changing Washington

Despite the warm welcome at the White House, industry leaders are bracing for a Democrat-controlled Congress.