This week, the White House announced a new framework for regulating A.I. models, but it isn’t letting the public read it. We break down what we know about the rules and what the implications are for the industry and A.I. safety as a whole.  Then, yet another report details new incidents in which A.I. agents have gone rogue. Chris Painter, the president of METR, an independent A.I. evaluation organization, joins to discuss how we get these models under control.  And finally, we're hopping on the Hot Mess Express for the very last time. We’ll rate the craziest tech headlines from the week, including Google’s announcement that Demis Hassabis is stepping into a new role.    Guests: * Chris Painter, [https://metr.org/team/chris-painter/]president of METR.    Additional Reading: * White House Readies A.I. Framework to Review Security Risks [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/technology/white-house-ai-framework.html] * Inside Trump's AI framework [https://www.axios.com/2026/08/04/trump-ai-framework-open-models] * How Do You Measure an A.I. Boom? [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/technology/how-do-you-measure-an-ai-boom.html] * METR’s Frontier Risk Report [https://metr.org/blog/2026-05-19-frontier-risk-report/#executive-summary-and-guide-to-the-report] * Google Shakes Up A.I. Leadership [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/technology/google-ai-leadership.html] * Did an A.I. Music App Just Snitch on the Song of the Summer? [https://www.wired.com/story/ai-music-app-treblo-just-snitched-on-rubberz-song-of-the-summer/] * This AI Assistant Wants to Make Up for Your Boyfriend’s Incompetence [https://www.wired.com/story/this-ai-assistants-whole-pitch-is-making-up-for-your-boyfriends-incompetence/] * Google Earth’s AI deepfake tool only lasted one day [https://www.theverge.com/tech/973943/google-earth-ai-image-generation-deepfake-tool] * US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference [https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/us-government-map-africa-mislabels-every-country-global-conference-2026-07-30/] * Contractor who built Colossus and Colossus II says Elon Musk owes him colossal amount of money [https://www.actionnews5.com/2026/08/01/contractor-who-built-colossus-colossus-ii-says-elon-musk-owes-him-colossal-amount-money/]   We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/hardfork] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork].   Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.