Scams, Schemes, Ruthless Cons: The Untold Story of How Jeffrey Epstein Got Rich

The New York Times Magazine [no paywall]: For years, rumors swirled about where his wealth came from. A Times investigation reveals the truth of how a college dropout clawed his way to the pinnacle of American finance and society. “For years, rumors swirled about where his wealth came from. A Times investigation reveals the truth …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Turning Public Money into Amazon’s Profits

Institute for Local Self Reliance:  The Hidden Cost of Ceding Government Procurement to a Monopoly Gatekeeper – ILSR has conducted a sweeping investigation that reveals Amazon has quietly become a major force in how cities, counties, and school districts purchase basic supplies — and that its tightening grip is driving up costs, eroding competition, and …

Subjects: Economy, Education, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

The new ChatGPT Images is here

OpenAI: “Today, we’re releasing a new version of ChatGPT Images⁠, powered by our new flagship image generation model. Now, whether you’re creating something from scratch or editing a photo, you’ll get the output you’re picturing. It makes precise edits while keeping details intact, and generates images up to 4x faster. Alongside, we’re introducing a new …

Subjects: AI, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

I freed 50GB on my iCloud without losing important files with these tricks

MakeUseOf: “Apple gives its users just 5GB of free iCloud storage, which is barely enough for one device, let alone several. Between backups, photos, and documents, that space fills up fast, forcing many users to upgrade to a paid plan. Even then, you’ll likely hit your limit again. I recently faced this exact issue and …

Subjects: E-Records, Internet, Knowledge Management

Can Bibliotherapy Heal the Pain of the World?

Literary Hub – “As a librarian, I’ve often felt like a part-time therapist. People confide in librarians the way they do with bartenders; we form bonds with our regular customers, listen to their troubles and serve up more than just books. After I learned the word “bibliotherapist,” during library school 20 years ago, I became …

Subjects: Education, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Libraries, Medicine

Google AI summaries are ruining the livelihoods of recipe writers: ‘It’s an extinction event’

The Guardian: “This past March, when Google began rolling out its AI Mode search capability, it began offering AI-generated recipes. The recipes were not all that intelligent. The AI had taken elements of similar recipes from multiple creators and Frankensteined them into something barely recognizable. In one memorable case, the Google AI failed to distinguish …

Subjects: AI, Copyright, Food and Nutrition, Intellectual Property, Internet, Search Engines

AP introduces AP Verify to strengthen, streamline online content verification

“The Associated Press today introduced AP Verify, a verification dashboard combining AI-powered features with established digital verification tools to transform the way newsrooms authenticate online photos, videos and other digital content. The unified web-based interface features: AI-driven capabilities such as geolocation, object and landmark detection, and transcription An AI chatbot assistant Generative AI text detection …

Subjects: E-Records, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Secret Documents Show Pepsi and Walmart Colluded to Raise Food Prices Across the Economy

The Big Newsletter: “The Trump FTC tried to hide a complaint showing Pepsi forced shoppers to pay higher prices everywhere but Walmart. But now it’s unsealed. And the politics of affordability are explosive Last month, the Atlanta Fed came out with a report showing a clear relationship between consolidation in grocery stores and the rate …

Subjects: Economy, Food and Nutrition, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Mapping Global Oil Reserves

“The New York Times has created a map showing where the planet’s proven oil reserves are located [no paywall] using data from the Oil & Gas Journal. The visualization sizes each country’s circle according to the number of barrels it holds. The smallest circles represent about 10 billion barrels, while the largest exceed 300 billion. …

Subjects: Climate Change, Defense, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System

Is a giant data center planned for your area and CRS Report Data Center Energy Infrastructure

Washington Post and no paywall: “They are part of an AI moon shot, driven by an escalating U.S.-China war over dominance in the field. The projects are starting to transform landscapes and communities, sparking debates about what our energy systems and environment can sustain. The price includes increasing power costs for everyone and worrying surges …

Subjects: AI, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Health Care

AI in Finance and Banking, December 15, 2025

Via LLRX – AI in Finance and Banking, December 15, 2025 – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, conferences, industry white papers and reports, academic papers and speeches, and central bank actions on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided …

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Financial System, Housing