NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-13-2025 7AM EDT

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

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As AI permeates every aspect of our lives, who are the people behind this huge inflection point? What keeps them up at night? I fear that what it means to be human may suddenly not be our own. We've got a special series from NPR's TED Radio Hour. It's called The Prophets of Technology. What they got right, wrong, and where these pioneers think we're headed next. Listen to the TED Radio Hour, wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kristen Wright.

The White House is managing expectations. of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war ahead of Friday summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. NPR's Tamara Keith says the White House is describing the summit as a listening exercise. This is a major summit that is being thrown together in about a week. What we know is that they will meet in Anchorage, Alaska, and there will be a one-on-one component with Trump and Putin meeting without their larger delegations. That is something that they did in Trump's first term that generated a lot of controversy because normally there are note takers, even in more intimate meetings between leaders.

Trump is meeting virtually with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and European leaders today. NPR has learned President Trump's cabinet official overseeing the country's headcount, has told Census Bureau employees that Congress has the authority over the census, not the president. NPR's Hansi Luong reports the officials' comments come after Trump said he has ordered a new census. Three Census Bureau employees who ask not to be named because they fear retaliation tell MPR that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik acknowledged during a town hall event that Congress has final say over the population count used to determine each state's share of seats in the House representatives. Trump's call for a new census comes as he pushes Texas and other states

to redraw voting maps before next year's midterm election to help Republicans keep control of the House. Two House Republicans have proposed allowing for a new census, redistribution of house seats, and congressional redistricting before the midterms. If passed, their bills will likely be challenged in court. Like Trump, they call for excluding some or all people living in the states without U.S. citizenship from census numbers that the 14th Amendment says must include the, quote, whole number of persons in each state. Hansi Luong and Pierre News. A legal filing to the Supreme Court by a former Kentucky County Clerk looks to overturn its pivotal decision allowing same-sex marriage nationwide. Shepard Snyder of member

station W.E.KU. reports. Kim Davis was briefly jailed in 2015 for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses on religious grounds. That came shortly after a landmark Supreme Court decision that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples. She's appealing a verdict that would have her pay more than $300,000 in damages and fees. She also claims the decision in Obergefell v. Hodges was wrongfully made. Davis's legal team argues Obergefell infringed on her right to free speech. She's represented by Liberty Council, a conservative Christian legal group. A gallop poll from last May says more than two-thirds of Americans support same-sex marriage.

But there's also a growing split along party lines since the Obergefell decision 10 years ago. For NPR News, I'm Shepard Snyder in Lexington, Kentucky. White House is ordering a review of Smithsonian museums. In a statement, the Smithsonian says its work is, quote, grounded in a deep commitment to scholarly excellence, rigorous research, and the accurate, factual presentation of history. The Smithsonian is reviewing the letter from the White House. This is NPR News from Washington. Lawsuits against the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the Air Force Academy over the use of race in admissions are officially dropped. Students for Fair Admissions sued the Defense Department during the Biden administration, but since President Trump began his second term, the government stopped defending those admissions policies.

Now the Justice Department has reached a settlement with the group, promising not to consider race or ethnicity in admissions. YouTube is rolling out an age verification system in the U.S. It uses artificial intelligence to guess if a user is underage. The move comes as pressure grows for platforms to protect kids from inappropriate content. And P.R. John Rewich has more. YouTube says it will use AI to assess a variety of signals, including account activity and longevity, to figure out if a signed-in user is a minor. If an account is determined to belong to someone who's under 18,

it says standard protections for minors will be automatically applied. Those include showing only non-personalized ads and enabling well-being tools, like reminders to take a break or go to bed. Users who think the AI model got it wrong can verify their true age with a photo ID or credit card. YouTube says its age inference approach has been used in other markets and it's worked well. Some critics say, though, it raises privacy concerns. John Rewich, NPR News. The Little League World Series starts today in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

It's youth baseball's biggest event. 20 teams are competing for spots in the championship happening on August 24th. I'm Kristen Wright, and this is NPR News from Washington.