NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-13-2026 9PM EDT

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Linda Kenyon. After the CEO of Anthropic published an essay yesterday, calling for a slowdown in the development of artificial intelligence, several more AI company leaders voiced their support for the idea. But as NPR's Jude Jaffe Block reports, it's still unclear what exactly the companies will agree to, while AI industry leaders also say China as well, should agree to take steps to ensure the safety of AI. Anthropic CEO Dario Amade called for pacing the frontier, which means slowing down cutting-edge AI development so risk prevention can keep up. Amade called for labs to embed third-party evaluators and for international cooperation. Sam Altman of OpenAI chimed in quickly, saying he would also use independent evaluators. That idea was also something Satya Nadella of Microsoft said he welcomed. Elon Musk said Amade was right, but in other posts he specified the oversight he wants to see is peer-refer.

review by competitors. Google's Demis Hasibis said Amade's essay points towards the right path forward, but said the details still need to be worked through. Jude Jaffe Block, NPR News. Anthropit, Google and Microsoft are among NPR's financial supporters. House Speaker Mike Johnson is offering no guarantees that the government will be able to deliver on President Trump's promise to give $5,000 checks to Americans if Republicans maintain control of Congress. I commit that Congress will work through it and find consensus on that like I have to do everything else. Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, Johnson insisted the president's pledge for $5,000 payouts is not a bribe to voters. The payments which require congressional approval could

add more than a trillion dollars to the national debt. Some fiscal conservatives in Congress have expressed misgivings because of that. The Republican candidate in Wisconsin's governor's race was forced to swim to safety last night after a plane he was traveling on made an emergency water landing on Lake Wausau. Wisconsin Public Radio's Hope Kerwin has the details. Republican Tom Tiffany said in a post on X that the single-engine airplane lost power as it approached the Wausau downtown airport. The pilot made an emergency water landing and a lake just north of the runway. Tiffany and the pilot were the only people on board. They were able to call 911 while standing atop the submerged plane, according to Lieutenant Corey Gladden of the Marathon County Sheriff's

Office. As the plane began to sink into the water, They were able to move to shallower water where a short time later they were rescued. Tiffany suffered a laceration above his right eye, and the pilot also sustained minor injuries. Both were treated and released from a local hospital Saturday night. Tiffany's opponent in Wisconsin's gubernatorial race, Democrat David Crowley, said in a post on X that he was grateful no one was hurt and wished Tiffany a quick recovery. For NPR News, I'm Hope Kerwin in LaCross, Wisconsin. You're listening to NPR News.

Celine Dionne returned to stage yesterday, nearly four years after announcing she'd been battling a rare and painful condition. NPR Chantelie Duster reports. Celine Dionne kicked off her 16-show residency in Paris at the Plenitude Arena on Saturday. Wearing a black dress, the Grammy award-winning singer opened the concert with a French song on a chand-j-pa, which means we don't change in English. Videos posted on social media by variety show Dion performing hits. such as power of love, and my heart will go on, an iconic classic from the Titanic movie soundtrack. Emotional and with tears in her eyes,

Dion thanked the audience throughout the night. It was her first performance nearly four years after announcing she had been battling stiff person syndrome, a rare neurological condition that causes stiff limbs and severe muscle spasms. Chandelice Duster, NPR News. Practical Magic 2 has managed to conjure up a box office victory this weekend. The movie has topped the North American charts nearly three decades after the original

film was released. The sequel, starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, brought in an estimated $30 million for more than 4,000 theaters. The film knocked Spider-Man brand-new day out of the top spot at the box office. That's where it had been sitting for six consecutive weeks. I'm Linda Kenyon. NPR News. in Washington.