Data Centers, Hackers, and AI: Oh My!

This week, high stakes political fallout, and concern about data centers in Ohio, an AI-based dispute between Meta and Amazon, and a major hack on the FBI, which exposed confidential information of thousands of applicants, agents, and even–reportedly–FBI Director, Kash Patel. To find out more, I talked with two ABC Radio News national correspondents; Technology Reporter, Mike Dobuski, and Former FBI Agent and Profiler, Brad Garrett, who is now working with ABC News as a Crime & Terrorism Analyst.

Pharmacies make it pretty easy these days to pick up a prescription, with convenient options like drive-through pickup windows, and mail order delivery. But, what if you’re too sick, injured, or disabled  to stop by the drugstore, or need your prescription more quickly than you can get it by mail? Well, now you can get it by drone, if you live within five miles of the Cleveland Clinic’s Beachwood Family Health and Surgery Center, in Northeast Ohio. Listen now as we talk about their first in the nation drone home delivery pharmacy service, with the Manager of that program; Pharmacist Bri Robinson.

This week it is all about big tech, big money, and big consequences, as Meta agreed to a nearly $18 billion dollar settlement with Attorneys General from dozens of States and four US territories, who sued over claims that their social media platforms were hooking and harming children and teens. $318 million dollars of that settlement, which will be paid in installments over the next ten years, is coming to the State of Ohio, where Attorney General Andy Wilson says it “marks a significant step toward fundamentally transforming how the entire social media industry designs products for kids and teens.” Also this week, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) settled a lawsuit with Tik-Tok and Byte Dance for $400 million dollars, to resolve children’s privacy issues, and the streaming platform Twitch and its parent company, Amazon, got hit with a class-action lawsuit related to non-consensual use of user data to train AI. Elon Musk is making headlines again as well, with plans to build a build a massive $100 billion commercial spaceport called Starbase, in Louisiana. But what really hit home for me this week, is Bill Gates coming out against allowing big tech companies to continue to “self regulate” AI. He’s calling instead for national coordinating bodies, and new international organization to manage what he describes as the “turbulent” transition to the AI era. But all is not doom and gloom. We’ve also got news about what sounds like a very cool and interesting event coming up next month in Northeast Ohio. “IngenuityFest: America Dreams” promises to transform Cleveland with art, music, technology and innovation, September 25-27. Listen now.

Turns out people don't like being spied on, having their jobs threatened, or having to pay more for electricity to support technology and infrastructure that is both powered by, and necessary to support AI. Huh. So, while we both celebrate Ohio as a great place to do business–particularly with regard to advanced manufacturing technology–we're also hearing that the natives are restless here, when it comes to police illegally using Flock license plate reader data to stalk and surveil citizens, and to build huge, energy-sucking data centers.  For example, this week, WTOL TV, in Toledo reports that vandals attacked at least three flock surveillance cameras in Toledo. We also have a report from ABC News, also centered on Toledo, about how a county official there tried to have their cameras shut down after it was revealed that 3,200 law enforcement agencies nationwide did more than 900,000 searches on their database in just one month. That didn't happen though, after pushback from the County Sheriff, who calls the technology a "game changer" when it comes to fighting crime. That's also the opinion of Akron's Police Chief, Brian Harding, who talked to us about how the City of Akron is both finding them extremely useful, and putting guardrails in place that limit how officers can access camera data. But those "guardrails" have not been holding everywhere. For example, in Reynoldsberg, OH, just east of Columubs, two police officers have resigned, two police officers have been placed on leave in Lynn, Massachusetts, near Boston, and a police officer was arrested and placed on leave in Lufkin, Texas. Ohio residents are also not particularly happy about big data center projects, which have become a political thorn in the side of Ohio's Republican US Senator, Jon Husted. He's facing criticism from his Democratic opponent, former US Senator, Sherrod Brown, and advice from Republican campaign experts who acknowledge his past, extremely enthusiastic support of data center construction while he was Lt. Governor, is an increasingly potent threat to his re-election campaign in November. But on the plus side, Ohio's current Lt. Governor, Jim Tressel, hit the road with Governor Mike DeWine this week, on their "Heart of Opportunity" tour, stopping in places like Toledo, Youngstown, Lima, and Cleveland, to talk up Ohio's renewed vigor when it comes to advanced manufacturing technology, particularly with regard to more eco-friendly, sustainable polymers. That is a huge deal here in Akron, where what was once "The Rubber City", is now gearing up to do some really cutting-edge research and development, thanks to a $160 million dollar National Science Foundation grant that is also being shared with other educational organizations in our area, including Case Western Reserve University. Listen now to find out how that is expected to supercharge the region's economy, from Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, Steve Millard, and from Team NEO Chief Executive Officer, Matt Dolan.

Honestly, I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. I can't even tell you how many stories I've written over the past few years about how social media is harming kids. On the other hand, it's not like it is my imagination. Everybody has been talking about it for a long time, and now finally; somebody is doing something about it. Well, a whole group of "somebodies"; i.e., Attorneys General from states nationwide. Why, you might ask? Well, it's because the federal government isn't doing squat about it, that's why. While this administration (and to be fair; previous ones as well) cozies up to tech billionaires, and members of Congress collectively sit on their collectively inactive behinds; kids are getting "left-behind". So, in the absence of reasonable laws to keep kids safe; they're getting hurt by media platforms that are designed to both addict them, and leave them prey to pimps, perverts, and predators. Until now. That's because this week it is all about State authorities stepping up to fill the void left by a do-nothing federal government, and seemingly against all odds; actually winning. Listen now for the latest on massive judgement against Meta and Google out of New Mexico, another big trial centered on Meta and social media addiction getting underway this week in California, and a new lawsuit based a rather novel legal argument, filed by Ohio's new Attorney General, Andy Wilson, this week,  against Roblox.

The federal government is committing more than $5 billion dollars to a national effort to expand the Genesis Mission, which is aimed at harnessing AI for science. Part of that effort involves seeking domestic sources for critical and rare earth minerals that are vital for a wide range of industries, including aerospace, health care, and defense. According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), these minerals are also key inputs to many clean energy technologies, including solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries, and energy storage technologies. As a result; they’re giving out grants worth between $500 and $750 thousand dollars, to researchers who can help them find the these critical resources here home, instead of having to import them from other countries. I talked to one of those researchers this week, Dr. David Costello, from Kent State University, who tells us his team will work on the project over the next nine months. We’re also talking with ABC Radio News Correspondent Jim Ryan, about efforts to keep the Swift Observatory Telescope from crashing to earth as space junk, and taking a bit of a time trip back to the early 2000's when Myspace was the hottest thing in social media, and why the people who are running it now are are giving it a makeover. Biography Dr. David Costello's research broadly focuses on how human activities affect the structure and function of stream ecosystems. As an ecosystem ecologist, he studies how entire ecosystems respond to stress, and uses an interdisciplinary perspective to understand the abiotic and biotic forces that modify how sensitive an ecosystem is to human-derived stress. His research has shown that a nuanced understanding of complex interactions (e.g., multi-element cycles, food web interactions) is required to make informed management decisions about critical freshwater resources.

From soft-spoken but creepily bossy HAL on 2001 a Space Odyssey, to Arnold Schwarzenegger's killer robot on The Terminator, we've long been worried about out of control artificial intelligence. But so far, at least until this month; we never saw any actual evidence that what we feared could happen, actually did happen. Now, however; it has, twice--from our nation's two top AI companies--Open AI, the maker of ChatGPT, and Anthropic, the maker of Claude. So today, we're going to talk about how something like that could happen, and what we might be able to do about it, someday, because right now, our government has absolutely no laws on the books to control--nor have they stepped up and just seized control, of this now demonstrably out of control technology. When we recorded this program earlier this week; only Open AI was reporting their model had gone rogue on July 9. But then today, July 31, there is a new report that Anthropic's Claude did the same thing, on July 21. Clearly, something big and new is afoot, and it's of grave concern, especially as we also today had a report from ABC News, that hackers have attacked 30 water systems in Minnesota, and that federal officials put out a warning to water system operators nationwide. A source told ABC,  that the attacks were possibly related to Iran, though the FBI hasn't yet confirmed that for a fact. Now, while we don't know that advanced AI models were used to do it, or whether it was just plain old, really smart humans; what we do know, is that this new technology can make it easier for non-elite hackers to pull off daring and complex exploits. Both ABC and the New York Times they have sources that linked the attacks to Iran, but the FBI (at least at the time of this writing) had not definitively confirmed that's the case. According to ABC; they believe it is, because the hackers sought to cause harm to the systems, instead of asking for money, (which is more typical) and because Iran has a history of hacking US water systems. With all that in mind, let's go now to our conversation with a frequent contributor to our show, Dr. John Nicholas, who is the Associate Dean of Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Technology, at Cuyahoga Community College. Dr. John Nicholas, Bio: With over 20 years of experience in Computer Information Systems and Information and Communication Sciences, Dr. Nicholas is a passionate and innovative educator, administrator, and curriculum developer. He is currently the Associate Dean of Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) in Cleveland, Ohio. . Nicholas has a PhD in Education Curricular and Instructional Studies from The University of Akron, where he also taught and developed courses in cybersecurity, networking, programming, and digital forensics. He has been involved in statewide initiatives to standardize learning objectives and articulation agreements, and to launch the Ohio Cyber Range Institute. Dr. Nicholas has also been an invited speaker and a media commentator on cybersecurity and technology topics, including IoT, blockchain and Python. His mission is to prepare the next generation of professionals and leaders in the fields of cybersecurity and information and communication sciences.

From the relatively low-tech thermostat that tells your home HVAC system when to turn up the AC, to the incredibly complex strategic early warning systems that help keep our nation safe from nuclear missiles; sensors are a vital part of our daily lives. In fact, they are so ubiquitous that you just take them for granted, from the motion sensor that opens the door at the grocery store, to the GPS chip built into your phone. But what if there was something so mind-bindingly different and fantastic, that you’d swear it was powered by science fiction, instead of just plain old everyday science–and even better– what if it already exists today? Well, it turns out that it does, it’s called “next generation quantum sensing”, and they’re researching it right now at Ohio State University, thanks in part to a $4 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation. Listen now, as we talk about how it works, what it can do already, and what it could do in the future, with Physics Professor, Dr. Ezekiel “Zeke” Johnston-Halperin, who Co-Directs OSU's Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering. Bio Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin received his PhD in Physics from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2003. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Physics at The Ohio State University, Columbus. Prof. Johnston-Halperin’s research focuses on studies of coherent spin and magnetization dynamics, synthesis of magnetic materials, and prototype device development for spintronics and quantum information applications. Prof. Johnston-Halperin is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and served on the Executive Committee of the Division of Materials Physics (DMP), has held science leadership positions such as IRG and Thrust co-leadership in NSF MRSEC and DOE EFRC centers, respectively, and is leading the NSF-funded education initiative QuSTEAM: Convergent Undergraduate Education in Quantum Science Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics.

While there is no doubt that AI is a transformative and extremely useful technology; there is also a lot to well-founded concern about how it is being deployed, where the resources needed to support its proliferation are coming from, and who is in charge of ensuring that it won’t destroy our economy, democracy, and global security. In Ohio, a number of cities in our area, including Cleveland, Berea, Twinsburg, and North Ridgeville, have put a moratorium on the construction of new data centers, because citizens are worried about issues including noise, pollution, power outages, and electricity price hikes. Citizens are also questioning the cost and wisdom of deals such as former Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich’s 40 year, 100 percent state sales tax exemptions, for Amazon, Google, and Meta, which never came up for public discussion or debate when they were negotiated between 2014, and 2018. But today we’re going to focus not just on the increasingly expensive effects of AI expansion at the state level, but also on how the lack of effective federal AI regulation could affect our national security, as illustrated by recent policy changes and reversals related to leading AI developer, Anthropic. Listen now as I discuss the federal government’s chaotic and contradictory approach to that company’s incredibly powerful and sophisticated AI models, and what that could mean going forward, with Brennan Center For Justice Senior Counsel and Manager, Amos Toh, who recently co-authored a report called “The Business of Military AI”, in which he argues that a lack of oversight and regulation could lead to the loss of both civil liberties, and lives.

Ohio lawmakers made it very clear they wanted to protect children from online harms back in 2023, when they passed a law mandating that minors under the age of 16 could not use social media unless they obtained parental consent. But just one month after the new law went into effect in 2024; a big tech advocacy group called NetChoice went to federal court and obtained a preliminary injunction keeping the law from going into effect, because, they argued; it violated children’s First Amendment right to free speech, guaranteed by the US Constitution. Then, in 2025, a federal judge made that preliminary injunction permanent, barring it from going into effect–until now. That’s because the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this month that NetChoice not only had no legal standing in the case, but also, that the companies they were representing were actually harming the children whose free speech they were purportedly trying to protect. But will this new law actually do anything to really protect children from online threats associated with social media including cyberbullying, sexual predators, anxiety, depression, self-harm, and more? To find out, and to explore some of complex legal issues surrounding the case; we talked with University of Akron Associate Law Professor, Jess Miers. Her professional background includes working in the tech industry, and she teaches classes on technology-related legal issues. Listen now. Biography Jess Miers is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Akron School of Law. A lawyer and technologist, Jess focuses on the intersection of law and technology, with recent research and scholarship centered on Generative AI. Jess is recognized as an expert in U.S. online intermediary liability law and has extensively written, spoken, and taught on issues such as online speech and Section 230, content moderation, intellectual property, and cybercrime. Previously, Jess served as Senior Counsel and Senior Copyright Counsel for Chamber of Progress, a progressive tech trade association based in Washington, D.C., where, among many things, she helped build and lead the organization's recent AI initiative, "Generate and Create." During her time at Chamber of Progress, Jess authored numerous appellate amicus briefs, including a brief in the recent Supreme Court cases NetChoice & CCIA v. Moody & Paxton. Before joining Chamber of Progress, Jess was a Senior Government Affairs & Public Policy Analyst at Google, where she oversaw state and federal content policy portfolios and collaborated with litigation teams on key online speech issues currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Jess earned her Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University School of Law in 2021, where she also received the Tech Edge J.D. Certificate. She holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from George Mason University and previously worked as a Software Engineer in Northern Virginia. Throughout her legal education, Jess worked at various organizations, including Twitter, TechFreedom, The UCLA Technology Law and Policy Institute, and Google, cultivating a deep expertise in Internet law and policy.