The Emblem Recap - 9/30/26

In The News

• Rogue AI whistleblowers - The New York Times reported on Tuesday that OpenAI employees warned company leadership about its inadequate safety practices, which led to its AI hacking vulnerable services on the internet. The Australian government also revealed OpenAI’s apology for hacking Australian Medicare servers: a five paragraph email signed off “Best.”

• AmericaGPT - The federal government launched the America.gov chatbot based on Google’s Gemini AI model. The program, which currently only answers simple questions (and gives Minecraft references), intends to link with Social Security, Veterans Affairs and Medicare portals in the future.

• A prosecutor at the stand -  Former special counsel Jack Smith faced the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to defend his two criminal investigations into President Donald Trump. The career prosecutor and former acting U.S. attorney defended his investigations, saying he stands by the decision to charge the president.

• FBI needs witness protection - Pokémon-themed hacking group ShinyHunters says they breached the FBI, nabbing the personal information of over 4,000 employees — including confidential medical records and travel info. The FBI issued a warning to the hacking group: “We know how to find you.”

• A bathroom emergency - Early Sunday morning, Texas resident James Mansell Lancaster, 60, rammed his S.U.V. through the front of a Kroger store in Rosenberg, Texas, in order to get to the bathroom. Rosenberg Police Department spokesperson Lt. Sebastian Muñoz told the press that, “All he [Lancaster] said was the doors were locked and he had to use the restroom.”

• The return of the pandas - Zoo Atlanta received an usually fluffy delivery from FedEx on Sunday. Two pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, arrived at the zoo after an announcement by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his summit with Trump. Ping Ping and Fu Shuang are the first pandas to live in Zoo Atlanta since the departure of Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun and Xi Lun in 2024.

New Releases

• Film

  • Lance Oppenheim’s “Primetime” released last week under A24 Films’ distribution. The thriller starring Robert Pattinson tracks the story of Chris Hanson and the reality series “To Catch a Predator” as the television crew gets more than they bargained for. The film received praise from critics for its direction and Pattinson’s performance as Hanson.

• Music

  • Taylor Swift reissued an “Encore” version of her 2025 album “Life of a Showgirl” with four new songs. The original LP got critical flak for its endless album variants and middling lyrics, and the newly released songs haven’t fared any better with critics. The reissue’s controversy has also garnered a spate of memes online, calling the tracks “royalty-free.”

  • Phoebe Bridgers released a new single, “On Video,” from the soundtrack to “Primetime.” The song is Bridgers’s first original for a soundtrack since the track “Claw Machine” from the 2024 film “I Saw the TV Glow.” 

• Television

  • Producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin interviews rapper JAŸ-Z in the 8-part docuseries “JAŸ-Z in 8,” released on HBO Max. The first episodes released to the streaming platform over the past few weeks, giving the legendary rapper a platform to discuss his personal life and the stories behind his songs.

  • Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey star as themselves in the Apple TV comedy series “Brothers.” The show, documenting the pair’s fictional discovery that they may be blood relatives, debuted last week to mixed reviews from critics.