Episodes

  • Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 10, 2026

    Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 10, 2026
    May 13 2026
    Hosts: Amina Clark & Owen Price In this episode: • Welcome to Pivot Public for Sunday, May 10th, 2026. I'm Amina Clark. • And I'm Owen Price. Today: a Justice Department indictment that blurs the line between Russian cybercrime and the Russian state, a Pentagon blacklist ... • Let's start with DOJ. Prosecutors this week unsealed charges against members of a ransomware crew alleging they didn't just operate from Russia, they ... • And the use case is the part to sit with. The indictment says the leaders used that access to dodge the military draft, falsify tax filings, and prote... • For public-sector security leaders, the practical takeaway is about threat modeling. If you've been treating Russian ransomware groups as independent ... Subscribe to the newsletter at pivotnews.ai for the full written briefing.
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    7 mins
  • Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 8, 2026

    Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 8, 2026
    May 13 2026
    Hosts: Amina Clark & Owen Price In this episode: • Good morning, this is Pivot Public for Friday, May 8th, 2026. I'm Amina Clark. • And I'm Owen Price. If you run procurement, IT, or policy in a public agency, here's what's actually changing on your desk today. • Top of the brief: GSA finalized the second tranche of its AI Acquisition Schedule overnight. Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Public Sector, and Cohere are n... • Critically, the schedule includes a standardized FedRAMP High authorization addendum. Agencies no longer need bespoke ATOs for each model swap, which ... • If you're a contracting officer, the practical move this week is to review your existing task orders against the new ceiling. Modifications are allowe... Subscribe to the newsletter at pivotnews.ai for the full written briefing.
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    7 mins
  • Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 9, 2026

    Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 9, 2026
    May 13 2026
    Hosts: Amina Clark & Owen Price In this episode: • Today we're covering critical water infrastructure breaches in Poland, Jonathan Porat's move to Code For America, and a breakthrough in wildfire AI th... • Let's start with Poland. Five water treatment plants just had their industrial control systems breached, and here's what's terrifying — the attackers ... • This is exactly the nightmare scenario water utility managers have been warning about. When hackers can change chemical dosing levels or pump operatio... • What strikes me is the coordinated nature. Five facilities hit simultaneously suggests this wasn't opportunistic — it was planned. And if they can do ... • Right, and here's what every water utility director needs to understand: most municipal water systems are running legacy industrial control systems th... Subscribe to the newsletter at pivotnews.ai for the full written briefing.
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    5 mins
  • Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 11, 2026

    Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 11, 2026
    May 13 2026
    Hosts: Amina Clark & Owen Price In this episode: • Today we're diving deep into the shifting landscape of AI governance across federal, state, and local agencies. • That's right. We've got some fascinating developments to unpack, including new procurement frameworks, accountability measures, and real-world impleme... • So let's start with what I think is the most significant development we've seen in months. The General Services Administration just announced their ne... • Yeah, and the timing couldn't be more critical. We've had three major AI procurement failures in the past year alone—remember the VA's patient schedul... • What's really interesting is the tiered approach they're taking. Category One covers basic automation tools, Category Two is for predictive analytics,... Subscribe to the newsletter at pivotnews.ai for the full written briefing.
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    7 mins
  • Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 12, 2026

    Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 12, 2026
    May 13 2026
    Hosts: Amina Clark & Owen Price In this episode: • Today we're looking at major developments in AI governance and public sector technology that are reshaping how government operates. • Yeah, and some of these changes are happening faster than most agencies can adapt to. We've got breaking news on federal AI procurement standards, a m... • Let's start with what just dropped from the Office of Management and Budget. They've announced mandatory AI impact assessments for any federal contrac... • The timing here is brutal. Agencies are already stretched thin with the FY27 budget prep, and now they need to retroactively assess every major AI ven... • What's really interesting is the specificity. OMB is requiring agencies to document false positive and false negative rates, audit trails for every au... Subscribe to the newsletter at pivotnews.ai for the full written briefing.
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    7 mins
  • Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 13, 2026

    Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 13, 2026
    May 13 2026
    Hosts: Amina Clark & Owen Price In this episode: • Today we're covering MRI Software's massive AI-driven layoffs, GPT-5.5 catching errors in frontier AI benchmarks, and a startup rethinking how AI conv... • Starting with those MRI Software cuts — 200 jobs gone in Ohio, and here's what should worry every public sector IT director: this is a private equity-... • The timing is brutal. They're not just cutting support staff — these are technical roles that government contractors rely on for property management s... • Yeah, and I've been tracking similar moves across PE-owned government vendors. They acquire these companies, implement AI automation, slash headcount,... • Exactly. I'm seeing procurement officers scramble to add workforce stability clauses to contracts now. If your vendor is PE-backed and talking about '... Subscribe to the newsletter at pivotnews.ai for the full written briefing.
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    5 mins
  • Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 7, 2026

    Pivot Public AI Briefing — May 7, 2026
    May 7 2026
    Hosts: Amina Clark & Owen Price In this episode: • Today we're breaking down the Pentagon's messy Alibaba-Baidu blacklist reversal, Palantir's CEO embracing his company's villain status, and CISA's new... • Let's start with this Pentagon debacle. So the Defense Department adds Alibaba and Baidu to their Chinese military companies blacklist on Monday, then... • Right, and the timing couldn't be worse. We're three months into Trump's second term, Xi Jinping just agreed to restart military communications last w... • The whiplash is incredible. Monday's blacklisting triggered an immediate eight percent drop in Alibaba's Hong Kong shares. By Wednesday's reversal, yo... • Here's what matters for public sector folks: This signals major instability in how we're classifying foreign tech threats. If you're a procurement off... Subscribe to the newsletter at pivotnews.ai for the full written briefing.
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    6 mins