It’s Thursday, November 12. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Rod Dreher reviews Ben Shapiro’s new movie. Ross Douthat on the legacy-defining decisions Donald Trump now faces. Yuval Levin on the tech that may stunt our next generation of leaders. And more.
But first: The man trying to save his own life with AI.
This week, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted that, thanks to the help of artificial intelligence, cancer will become a “relic of the past within a decade.”
Dr. Bryant Lin might not have that long. In the spring of 2024, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. A physician himself, he’s tried all kinds of treatments to beat the disease. “There is one class of therapies approved by the Food and Drug Administration that I haven’t tried yet, but after that, I join the millions of patients left with nothing but clinical trials and hope,” writes Bryant in our pages today in a piece inspired by his new book, Sunshine: An Exploration of Living While You Are Dying. “And thus, with very little to lose, I have turned to AI.”
There is a burgeoning field of researchers using AI to help cure cancer. But can it actually save a patient’s life? Bryant is putting that question to the ultimate test. Read how in his essay for us today.
Rod Dreher • Culture and Ideas
This week, conservative media mogul Ben Shapiro released his first film as a screenwriter. It’s called Confession, and it’s set in Moscow’s infamous Lubyanka prison in 1938. Its star-studded cast includes Rob Lowe as a literature professor faced with a Dostoyevskian dilemma and James Franco as his interrogator. We asked Rod Dreher, whose book Live Not by Lies is all about Christian dissidents in the Soviet Union, to watch it for us. His verdict? A masterpiece, and “one of the most profoundly Christian films I’ve ever seen.”
Ross Douthat • U.S. Politics
As you may know, our columnist Ross Douthat has a day job as a correspondent for “60 Minutes.” It was in that role that, in the wake of the Republicans’ midterm defeat, he sat down with President Donald Trump last week. The gripping interview covered everything from the Iran war and the future of his party to whether he thinks he’s going to heaven. Now, in our pages, Ross reflects on his conversation with Trump, and the choices the commander in chief faces as he enters his last two years in office.
Aaron MacLean • School of War
What role should AI play in American life? Voters gave something of an answer in the midterms last week, passing a series of ballot measures to impose new guardrails on the technology, but the debate is far from settled. On the latest episode of School of War, political analyst Yuval Levin joins Aaron MacLean to discuss how AI transcends traditional left-right political divisions, what he learned on a recent visit to Anthropic, and how the technology threatens to stunt the development of America’s next generation of leaders—including in the military.
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THE NEWS
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reportedly had an affair with an executive who reports to him, according to several sources within the company. The latest revelation comes just days after he admitted to another extramarital relationship with Alice Huang, an alleged Chinese spy, which triggered calls for his resignation.
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The White House sent a letter cautioning Rep. Robert Garcia, the Democrat set to become House Oversight Committee chair, against pursuing illegal investigations into the Trump administration. The document states that some lines of inquiry “may cross the line into blatant criminality,” and threatened to counter those actions with investigations of their own.
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Hundreds of schools in Italy were evacuated on Wednesday, due to a massive wave of bomb threats. The country’s education ministry says that about 6,300 schools have received threats, placing the region on high alert as they continue to investigate the source.
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Judge Richard A. Posner has died at 87. The most-cited legal scholar of the second half of the 20th century leaves behind a towering legacy after 36 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago, more than 3,300 judicial opinions, and more than 40 books.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has moved from his home in Washington, D.C., to a military base. The relocation comes as Iran issues a series of threats to Bessent, who has pursued an “economic onslaught” against Tehran.
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The head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said Wednesday that the country will not give up “a single particle of enriched nuclear material” in peace negotiations. One of President Trump’s major goals in the war is now further out of reach, as Americans continue to endure the conflict’s economic consequences.
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United Airlines announced a new policy preventing AI bots from booking flights. The company attributed the decision to major privacy concerns, as the new technology continues to pose hacking risks.
