This edition of the Venice Biennale includes 65 national pavilions, 11 collateral events, and over 750 participants in the international exhibition curated by Italian architect and engineer Carlo Ratti. Entitled Intelligens: Natural Artificial Collective, its stated aim is to make Venice a ‘living laboratory’. But Ratti’s exhibition in the Arsenale has been hit by mixed reviews. The AJ’s Rob Wilson described it as ‘a bit of a confusing mess’, while other media outlets have called the robot-heavy exhibit of future-facing building-focused solutions to the climate crisis a ‘tech-bro fever dream’ and a ‘mind-boggling rollercoaster’ to mention a few. It is a distinct shift away from the biennale of two years ago twhen Ghanaian-Scottish architect Lesley Lokko curated the main exhibitions, including 89 participants – of which more than half were from Africa or the African diaspora – in a convincing reset of the architectural conversation.Advertisement This year’s National Pavilions and collateral exhibits, by contrast, have tackled the largest themes in architecture and the world right now in a less constrained way than the main exhibitions. The exhibits are radical and work as a useful gauge for understanding what’s important in each country: decarbonisation, climate resilience, the reconstruction of Gaza, and an issue more prevalent in politics closer to home: gender wars. What's not to miss in the Giardini? British Pavilion (photography: Chris Lane) UK Pavilion The British Pavilion this year, which won a special mention from the Venetian jury, is housing a show by a British-Kenyan collab titled GBR – Geology of Britannic Repair. In it, the curators explore the links between colonialism, the built environment and geological extraction. Focusing on the Rift Valley, which runs from east Africa to the Middle East, including Palestine, the exhibition was curated by the Nairobi-based studio cave_bureau, UK-based curator, writer and Farrell Centre director Owen Hopkins and Queen Mary University professor Kathryn Yusoff. The pavilion’s façade is cloaked by a beaded veil of agricultural waste briquettes and clay and glass beads, produced in Kenya and India, echoing both Maasai practices and beads once made on Venice’s Murano, as currency for the exchange of metals, minerals and slaves. The pavilion’s six gallery spaces include multisensory installations such as the Earth Compass, a series of celestial maps connecting London and Nairobi; the Rift Room, tracing one of humans’ earliest migration routes; and the Shimoni Slave Cave, featuring a large-scale bronze cast of a valley cave historically used as a holding pen for enslaved people.Advertisement The show also includes Objects of Repair, a project by design-led research group Palestine Regeneration Team (PART), looking at how salvaged materials could help rebuild war-torn Gaza, the only exhibit anywhere in the Biennale that tackled the reconstruction of Gaza face-on – doing so impressively, both politically and sensitively. Read more here. Danish Pavilion (photography: Hampus Berndtson) Demark Pavilion A firm favourite by most this year, the Danish exhibition Build of Site, curated by Søren Pihlmann of Pihlmann Architects, transforms the pavilion, which requires renovation anyway, into both a renovation site and archive of materials. Clever, simple and very methodical, the building is being both renewed while at the same time showcasing innovative methods to reuse surplus materials uncovered during the construction process – as an alternative to using new resources to build a temporary exhibition. The renovation of the 1950s Peter Koch-designed section of the pavilion began in December 2024 and will be completed following the biennale, having been suspended for its duration. On display are archetypal elements including podiums, ramps, benches and tables – all constructed from the surplus materials unearthed during the renovation, such as wood, limestone, concrete, stone, sand, silt and clay. Belgian Pavilion (photography: Michiel De Cleene) Belgium Pavilion If you need a relaxing break from the intensity of the biennale, then the oldest national pavilion in the Giardini is the one for you. Belgium’s Building Biospheres: A New Alliance between Nature and Architecture brings ‘plant intelligence’ to the fore. Commissioned by the Flanders Architecture Institute and curated by landscape architect Bas Smets and neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso, the exhibit investigates how the natural ‘intelligence’ of plants can be used to produce an indoor climate – elevating the role of landscape design and calling for it to no longer serve as a backdrop for architecture. Inside, more than 200 plants occupy the central area beneath the skylight, becoming the pavilion’s centrepiece, with the rear space visualising ‘real-time’ data on the prototype’s climate control performance. Spanish Pavilion (photography: Luca Capuano) Spain Pavilion One for the pure architecture lovers out there, models (32!), installations, photographs and timber structures fill the Spanish Pavilion in abundance. Neatly curated by architects Roi Salgueiro Barrio and Manuel Bouzas Barcala, Internalities shows a series of existing and research projects that have contributed to decarbonising construction in Spain. The outcome? An extensive collection of work exploring the use of very local and very specific regenerative and low-carbon construction and materials – including stone, wood and soil. The joy of this pavilion comes from the 16 beautiful timber frames constructed from wood from communal forests in Galicia. Polish Pavilion (photography: Luca Capuano) Poland Pavilion Poland’s pavilion was like Marmite this year. Some loved its playful approach while others found it silly. Lares and Penates, taking its name from ancient Roman deities of protection, has been curated by Aleksandra Kędziorek and looks at what it means and takes to have a sense of security in architecture. Speaking to many different anxieties, it refers to the unspoken assumption of treating architecture as a safe haven against the elements, catastrophes and wars – showcasing and elevating the mundane solutions and signage derived from building, fire and health regulations. The highlight? An ornate niche decorated with tiles and stones just for … a fire extinguisher. Dutch Pavilion (photography: Cristiano Corte) Netherlands Pavilion Punchy and straight to the point, SIDELINED: A Space to Rethink Togetherness takes sports as a lens for looking at how spatial design can both reveal and disrupt the often-exclusionary dynamics of everyday environments. Within the pavilion, the exhibit looks beyond the large-scale arena of the stadium and gymnasium to investigate the more localised and intimate context of the sports bar, as well as three alternative sports – a site of both social production and identity formation – as a metaphor for uniting diverse communities. The pavilion-turned-sports bar, designed by Koos Breen and Jeannette Slütter and inspired by Asger Jorn’s three-sided sports field, is a space for fluidity and experimentation where binary oppositions, social hierarchies and cultural values are contested and reshaped – complete with jerseys and football scarfs (currently a must-have fashion item) worn by players in the alternative Anonymous Allyship aligning the walls. Read Derin Fadina’s review for the AJ here. Performance inside the Nordic Countries Pavilion (photography: Venla Helenius) Nordic Countries Pavilion Probably the most impactful national pavilion this year (and with the best tote bag by far), the Nordic Countries have presented an installation with performance work. Curated by Kaisa Karvinen, Industry Muscle: Five Scores for Architecture continues Finnish artist Teo Ala-Ruona’s work on trans embodiment and ecology by considering the trans body as a lens through which to examine modern architecture and the built environment. The three-day exhibition opening featured a two-hour performance each day with Ala-Ruona and his troupe crawling, climbing and writhing around the space, creating a bodily dialogue with the installations and pavilion building itself, which was designed by celebrated Modernist architect Sverre Fehn. The American pavilion next door, loudly (country music!) turns its back on what’s going on in its own country by just celebrating the apathetical porch, making the Nordic Countries seem even more relevant in this crucial time. Read Derin Fadina’s review for the AJ here. German Pavilion (photography: Luca Capuano) Germany Pavilion An exhibit certainly grabbing the issue of climate change by its neck is the German contribution, Stresstest. Curated by Nicola Borgmann, Elisabeth Endres, Gabriele G Kiefer and Daniele Santucci, the pavilion has turned climate change into a literal physical and psychological experience for visitors by creating contrasting ‘stress’ and ‘de-stress’ rooms. In the dark stress room, a large metal sculpture creates a cramped and hot space using heating mats hung from the ceiling and powered by PVs. Opposite is a calmer space demonstrating strategies that could be used to reduce the heat of cities, and between the two spaces is a film focusing on the impacts of cities becoming hotter. If this doesn’t highlight the urgency of the situation, I’m not sure what will. Best bits of the Arsenale outside the main exhibitions Bahrain Pavilion (photography: Andrea Avezzù) Bahrain Pavilion Overall winner of this year’s Golden Lion for best national participation, Bahrain’s pavilion in the historic Artiglierie of the Arsenale is a proposal for living and working through heat conditions. Heatwave, curated by architect Andrea Faraguna, reimagines public space design by exploring passive cooling strategies rooted in the Arab country’s climate, as well as cultural context. A geothermal well and solar chimney are connected through a thermo-hygrometric axis that links underground conditions with the air outside. The inhabitable space that hosts visitors is thus compressed and defined by its earth-covered floor and suspended ceiling, and is surrounded by memorable sandbags, highlighting its scalability for particularly hot construction sites in the Gulf where a huge amount of construction is taking place. In the Arsenale’s exhibition space, where excavation wasn’t feasible, this system has been adapted into mechanical ventilation, bringing in air from the canal side and channelling it through ductwork to create a microclimate. Slovenian Pavilion (photography: Andrea Avezzù) Slovenia Pavilion The AJ’s Rob Wilson’s top pavilion tip this year provides an enjoyable take on the theme of the main exhibition, highlighting how the tacit knowledge and on-site techniques and skills of construction workers and craftspeople are still the key constituent in architectural production despite all the heat and light about robotics, prefabrication, artificial intelligence and 3D printing. Master Builders, curated by Ana Kosi and Ognen Arsov and organised by the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) in Ljubljana, presents a series of ‘totems’ –accumulative sculpture-like structures that are formed of conglomerations of differently worked materials, finishes and building elements. These are stacked up into crazy tower forms, which showcase various on-site construction skills and techniques, their construction documented in accompanying films. Uzbekistan Pavilion (photography: Luca Capuano) Uzbekistan Pavilion Uzbekistan’s contribution explores the Soviet era solar furnace and Modernist legacy. Architecture studio GRACE, led by curators Ekaterina Golovatyuk and Giacomo Cantoni have curated A Matter of Radiance. The focus is the Sun Institute of Material Science – originally known as the Sun Heliocomplex – an incredible large-scale scientific structure built in 1987 on a natural, seismic-free foundation near Tashkent and one of only two that study material behaviour under extreme temperatures. The exhibition examines the solar oven’s site’s historical and contemporary significance while reflecting on its scientific legacy and influence moving beyond just national borders. Applied Arts Pavilion (photography: Andrea Avezzù) V&A Applied Arts Pavilion Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) is having a moment. The US-based practice, in collaboration with V&A chief curator Brendan Cormier, has curated On Storage, which aptly explores global storage architectures in a pavilion that strongly links to the V&A’s recent opening of Storehouse, its new (and free) collections archive in east London. Featured is a six-channel (and screen) film entitled Boxed: The Mild Boredom of Order, directed by the practice itself and following a toothbrush, as a metaphor for an everyday consumer product, on its journey through different forms of storage across the globe – from warehouse to distribution centre to baggage handlers down to the compact space of a suitcase. Also on display are large-format photographs of V&A East Storehouse, DS+R’s original architectural model and sketchbook and behind-the-scenes photography of Storehouse at work, taken by emerging east London-based photographers. Canal Café (photography: Marco Zorzanello) Canal café Golden Lion for the best participation in the actual exhibition went to Canal Café, an intervention designed by V&A East Storehouse’s architect DS+R with Natural Systems Utilities, SODAI, Aaron Betsky and Davide Oldani. Serving up canal-water espresso, the installation is a demonstration of how Venice itself can be a laboratory to understand how to live on the water in a time of water scarcity. The structure, located on the edge of the Arsenale’s building complex, draws water from its lagoon before filtering it onsite via a hybrid of natural and artificial methods, including a mini wetland with grasses. The project was recognised for its persistence, having started almost 20 years ago, just showing how water scarcity, contamination and flooding are still major concerns both globally and, more locally, in the tourist-heavy city of Venice. And what else? Holy See Pavilion (photography: Andrea Avezzù) The Holy See Much like the Danish Pavilion, the Pavilion of the Holy See is also taking on an approach of renewal this year. Over the next six months, Opera Aperta will breathe new life into the Santa Maria Ausiliatrice Complex in the Castello district of Venice. Founded as a hospice for pilgrims in 1171, the building later became the oldest hospital and was converted into school in the 18th century. In 2001, the City of Venice allocated it for cultural use and for the next four years it will be managed by the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See to oversee its restoration. Curated by architect, curator and researcher Marina Otero Verzier and artistic director of Fondaco Italia, Giovanna Zabotti, the complex has been turned into a constant ‘living laboratory’ of collective repair – and received a special mention in the biennale awards. The restoration works, open from Tuesday to Friday, are being carried out by local artisans and specialised restorers with expertise in recovering stone, marble, terracotta, mural and canvas painting, stucco, wood and metal artworks. The beauty, however, lies in the photogenic fabrics, lit by a warm yellow glow, hanging from the walls within, gently wrapping the building’s surfaces, leaving openings that allow movement and offer glimpses of the ongoing restoration. Mobile scaffolding, used to support the works, also doubles up as furniture, providing space for equipment and subdividing the interior. Togo Pavilion (photography: Andrea Avezzù) Togo Pavilion The Republic of Togo has presented its first pavilion ever at the biennale this year with the project Considering Togo’s Architectural Heritage, which sits intriguingly at the back of a second-hand furniture shop. The inaugural pavilion is curated by Lomé and Berlin-based Studio NEiDA and is in Venice’s Squero Castello. Exploring Togo’s architectural narratives from the early 20th century, and key ongoing restoration efforts, it documents key examples of the west African country’s heritage, highlighting both traditional and more modern building techniques – from Nôk cave dwellings to Afro-Brazilian architecture developed by freed slaves to post-independence Modernist buildings. Some buildings showcased are in disrepair, despite most of the modern structures remaining in use today, including Hotel de la Paix and the Bourse du Travail, suggestive of a future of repair and celebration. Estonian Pavilion (photography: Joosep Kivimäe) Estonia Pavilion Another firm favourite this year is the Estonian exhibition on Riva dei Sette Martiri on the waterfront between Corso Garibaldi and the Giardini.  The Guardian’s Olly Wainwright said that outside the Giardini, it packed ‘the most powerful punch of all.’ Simple and effective, Let Me Warm You, curated by trio of architects Keiti Lige, Elina Liiva and Helena Männa, asks whether current insulation-driven renovations are merely a ‘checkbox’ to meet European energy targets or ‘a real chance’ to enhance the spatial and social quality of mass housing. The façade of the historic Venetian palazzetto in which it is housed is clad with fibre-cement insulation panels in the same process used in Estonia itself for its mass housing – a powerful visual statement showcasing a problematic disregard for the character and potential of typical habitable spaces. Inside, the ground floor is wrapped in plastic and exhibits how the dynamics between different stakeholders influence spatial solutions, including named stickers to encourage discussion among your peers. Venice Procuratie (photography: Mike Merkenschlager) SMAC (San Marco Art Centre) Timed to open to the public at the same time as the biennale, SMAC is a new permanent arts institution in Piazza San Marco, on the second floor of the Procuratie, which is owned by Generali. The exhibition space, open to the public for the first time in 500 years, comprises 16 galleries arranged along a continuous corridor stretching over 80m, recently restored by David Chipperfield Architects. Visitors can expect access through a private courtyard leading on to a monumental staircase and experience a typically sensitive Chipperfield restoration, which has revived the building’s original details: walls covered in a light grey Venetian marmorino made from crushed marble and floors of white terrazzo. During the summer, its inaugural programme features two solo exhibitions dedicated to Australian modern architect Harry Seidler and Korean landscape designer Jung Youngsun. Holcim's installation (photography: Celestia Studio) Holcim x Elemental Concrete manufacturer Holcim makes an appearance for a third time at Venice, this time partnering with Chilean Pritzker Prize-winning Alejandro Aravena’s practice Elemental – curator of the 2016 biennale – to launch a resilient housing prototype that follows on from the Norman Foster-designed Essential Homes Project. The ‘carbon-neutral’ structure incorporates Holcim’s range of low-carbon concrete ECOPact and is on display as part of the Time Space Existence exhibition organised by the European Cultural Centre in their gardens. It also applies Holcim’s ‘biochar’ technology for the first time, a concrete mix with 100 per cent recycled aggregates, in a full-scale Basic Services Unit. This follows an incremental design approach, which could entail fast and efficient construction via the provision of only essential housing components, and via self-build. The Next Earth at Palazzo Diedo (photography: Joan Porcel) The Next Earth At Palazzo Diedo’s incredible dedicated Berggruen Arts and Culture space, MIT’s department of architecture and think tank Antikythera (apparently taking its name from the first-known computer) have come together to create the exhibition The Next Earth: Computation, Crisis, Cosmology, which questions how philosophy and architecture must and can respond to various planet-wide crises. Antikythera’s The Noocene: Computation and Cosmology from Antikythera to AI looks at the evolution of ‘planetary computation’ as an ‘accidental’ megastructure through which systems, from the molecular to atmospheric scales, become both comprehensible and composable. What is actually on display is an architectural scale video monolith and short films on AI, astronomy and artificial life, as well as selected artefacts. MIT’s Climate Work: Un/Worlding the Planet features 37 works-in-progress, each looking at material supply chains, energy expenditure, modes of practice and deep-time perspectives. Take from it what you will. The 19th International Venice Architecture Biennale remains open until Sunday, 23 November 2025.

Posted on : June 5, 2025 By Tech World Times AI  Rate this post Artificial intelligence tools now touch nearly every corner of modern business, from customer service and marketing to supply chain management and HR. These powerful technologies promise speed, accuracy, and insight, but their missteps can cause more than temporary inconvenience. A single AI-driven error can result in regulatory investigations, civil lawsuits, or public scandals that threaten the foundation of a business. Understanding how legal exposure arises from AI mistakes—and how a skilled attorney protects your interests—is no longer an option, but a requirement for any forward-thinking business owner. What Types of AI Errors Create Legal Liability? AI does not think or reason like a human; it follows code and statistical patterns, sometimes with unintended results. These missteps can create a trail of legal liability for any business owner. For example, an online retailer’s AI recommends discriminatory pricing, sparking allegations of unfair trade practices. An HR department automates hiring decisions with AI, only to face lawsuits for violating anti-discrimination laws. Even an AI-driven chatbot, when programmed without proper safeguards, can inadvertently give health advice or misrepresent product claims—exposing the company to regulatory penalties. Cases like these are regularly reported in Legal news as businesses discover the high cost of digital shortcuts. When Is a Business Owner Liable for AI Mistakes? Liability rarely rests with the software developer or the tool itself. Courts and regulators expect the business to monitor, supervise, and, when needed, override AI decisions. Suppose a financial advisor uses AI to recommend investments, but the algorithm suggests securities that violate state regulations. Even if the AI was “just following instructions,” the advisor remains responsible for client losses. Similarly, a marketing team cannot escape liability if their AI generates misleading advertising. The bottom line: outsourcing work to AI does not outsource legal responsibility. How Do AI Errors Harm Your Reputation and Operations? AI mistakes can leave lasting marks on a business’s reputation, finances, and operations. A logistics firm’s route-optimization tool creates data leaks that breach customer privacy and trigger costly notifications. An online business suffers public backlash after an AI-powered customer service tool sends offensive responses to clients. Such incidents erode public trust, drive customers to competitors, and divert resources into damage control rather than growth. Worse, compliance failures can result in penalties or shutdown orders, putting the entire enterprise at risk. What Steps Reduce Legal Risk From AI Deployments? Careful planning and continuous oversight keep AI tools working for your business—not against it. Compliance is not a “set it and forget it” matter. Proactive risk management transforms artificial intelligence from a liability into a valuable asset. Routine audits, staff training, and transparent policies form the backbone of safe, effective AI use in any organization. You should review these AI risk mitigation strategies below. Implement Manual Review of Sensitive Outputs: Require human approval for high-risk tasks, such as legal filings, financial transactions, or customer communications. A payroll company’s manual audits prevented the accidental overpayment of employees by catching AI-generated errors before disbursement. Update AI Systems for Regulatory Changes: Stay ahead of new laws and standards by regularly reviewing AI algorithms and outputs. An insurance brokerage avoided regulatory fines by updating their risk assessment models as privacy laws evolved. Document Every Incident and Remediation Step: Keep records of AI errors, investigations, and corrections. A healthcare provider’s transparency during a patient data mix-up helped avoid litigation and regulatory penalties. Limit AI Access to Personal and Sensitive Data: Restrict the scope and permissions of AI tools to reduce the chance of data misuse. A SaaS provider used data minimization techniques, lowering the risk of exposure in case of a system breach. Consult With Attorneys for Custom Policies and Protocols: Collaborate with experienced Attorneys to design, review, and update AI compliance frameworks. How Do Attorneys Shield Your Business From AI Legal Risks? Attorneys provide a critical safety net as AI integrates deeper into business operations. They draft tailored contracts, establish protocols for monitoring and escalation, and assess risks unique to your industry. In the event of an AI-driven incident, legal counsel investigates the facts, manages communication with regulators, and builds a robust defense. By providing training, ongoing guidance, and crisis management support, attorneys ensure that innovation doesn’t lead to exposure—or disaster. With the right legal partner, businesses can harness AI’s power while staying firmly on the right side of the law. Tech World TimesTech World Times (TWT), a global collective focusing on the latest tech news and trends in blockchain, Fintech, Development & Testing, AI and Startups. If you are looking for the guest post then contact at techworldtimes@gmail.com

Limited-time offer: Get more than 30% off a Vox Membership. Join today to support independent journalism. Federal civil servants are supposed to enjoy robust protections against being fired or demoted for political reasons. But President Donald Trump has effectively stripped them of these protections by neutralizing the federal agencies that implement these safeguards.An agency known as the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) hears civil servants’ claims that a “government employer discriminated against them, retaliated against them for whistleblowing, violated protections for veterans, or otherwise subjected them to an unlawful adverse employment action or prohibited personnel practice,” as a federal appeals court explained in an opinion on Tuesday. But the three-member board currently lacks the quorum it needs to operate because Trump fired two of the members.Trump also fired Hampton Dellinger, who until recently served as the special counsel of the United States, a role that investigates alleged violations of federal civil service protections and brings related cases to the MSPB. Trump recently nominated Paul Ingrassia, a far-right podcaster and recent law school graduate to replace Dellinger.The upshot of these firings is that no one in the government is able to enforce laws and regulations protecting civil servants. As Dellinger noted in an interview, the morning before a federal appeals court determined that Trump could fire him, he’d “been able to get 6,000 newly hired federal employees back on the job,” and was working to get “all probationary employees put back on the job [after] their unlawful firing” by the Department of Government Efficiency and other Trump administration efforts to cull the federal workforce. These and other efforts to reinstate illegally fired federal workers are on hold, and may not resume until Trump leaves office.Which brings us to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s decision in National Association of Immigration Judges v. Owen, which proposes an innovative solution to this problem.As the Owen opinion notes, the Supreme Court has held that the MSPB process is the only process a federal worker can use if they believe they’ve been fired in violation of federal civil service laws. So if that process is shut down, the worker is out of luck.But the Fourth Circuit’s Owen opinion argues that this “conclusion can only be true…when the statute functions as Congress intended.” That is, if the MSPB and the special counsel are unable to “fulfill their roles prescribed by” federal law, then the courts should pick up the slack and start hearing cases brought by illegally fired civil servants.For procedural reasons, the Fourth Circuit’s decision will not take effect right away — the court sent the case back down to a trial judge to “conduct a factual inquiry” into whether the MSPB continues to function. And, even after that inquiry is complete, the Trump administration is likely to appeal the Fourth Circuit’s decision to the Supreme Court if it wants to keep civil service protections on ice.If the justices agree with the circuit court, however, that will close a legal loophole that has left federal civil servants unprotected by laws that are still very much on the books. And it will cure a problem that the Supreme Court bears much of the blame for creating.The “unitary executive,” or why the Supreme Court is to blame for the loss of civil service protectionsFederal law provides that Dellinger could “be removed by the President only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” and members of the MSPB enjoy similar protections against being fired. Trump’s decision to fire these officials was illegal under these laws.But a federal appeals court nonetheless permitted Trump to fire Dellinger, and the Supreme Court recently backed Trump’s decision to fire the MSPB members as well. The reason is a legal theory known as the “unitary executive,” which is popular among Republican legal scholars, and especially among the six Republicans that control the Supreme Court.If you want to know all the details of this theory, I can point you to three different explainers I’ve written on the unitary executive. The short explanation is that the unitary executive theory claims that the president must have the power to fire top political appointees charged with executing federal laws – including officials who execute laws protecting civil servants from illegal firings.But the Supreme Court has never claimed that the unitary executive permits the president to fire any federal worker regardless of whether Congress has protected them or not. In a seminal opinion laying out the unitary executive theory, for example, Justice Antonin Scalia argued that the president must have the power to remove “principal officers” — high-ranking officials like Dellinger who must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Under Scalia’s approach, lower-ranking government workers may still be given some protection.The Fourth Circuit cannot override the Supreme Court’s decision to embrace the unitary executive theory. But the Owen opinion essentially tries to police the line drawn by Scalia. The Supreme Court has given Trump the power to fire some high-ranking officials, but he shouldn’t be able to use that power as a back door to eliminate job protections for all civil servants.The Fourth Circuit suggests that the federal law which simultaneously gave the MSPB exclusive authority over civil service disputes, while also protecting MSPB members from being fired for political reasons, must be read as a package. Congress, this argument goes, would not have agreed to shunt all civil service disputes to the MSPB if it had known that the Supreme Court would strip the MSPB of its independence. And so, if the MSPB loses its independence, it must also lose its exclusive authority over civil service disputes — and federal courts must regain the power to hear those cases.It remains to be seen whether this argument persuades a Republican Supreme Court — all three of the Fourth Circuit judges who decided the Owen case are Democrats, and two are Biden appointees. But the Fourth Circuit’s reasoning closely resembles the kind of inquiry that courts frequently engage in when a federal law is struck down.When a court declares a provision of federal law unconstitutional, it often needs to ask whether other parts of the law should fall along with the unconstitutional provision, an inquiry known as “severability.” Often, this severability analysis asks which hypothetical law Congress would have enacted if it had known that the one provision is invalid.The Fourth Circuit’s decision in Owen is essentially a severability opinion. It takes as a given the Supreme Court’s conclusion that laws protecting Dellinger and the MSPB members from being fired are unconstitutional, then asks which law Congress would have enacted if it had known that it could not protect MSPB members from political reprisal. The Fourth Circuit’s conclusion is that, if Congress had known that MSPB members cannot be politically independent, then it would not have given them exclusive authority over civil service disputes.If the Supreme Court permits Trump to neutralize the MSPB, that would fundamentally change how the government functionsThe idea that civil servants should be hired based on merit and insulated from political pressure is hardly new. The first law protecting civil servants, the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which President Chester A. Arthur signed into law in 1883.Laws like the Pendleton Act do more than protect civil servants who, say, resist pressure to deny government services to the president’s enemies. They also make it possible for top government officials to actually do their jobs.Before the Pendleton Act, federal jobs were typically awarded as patronage — so when a Democratic administration took office, the Republicans who occupied most federal jobs would be fired and replaced by Democrats. This was obviously quite disruptive, and it made it difficult for the government to hire highly specialized workers. Why would someone go to the trouble of earning an economics degree and becoming an expert on federal monetary policy, if they knew that their job in the Treasury Department would disappear the minute their party lost an election?Meanwhile, the task of filling all of these patronage jobs overwhelmed new presidents. As Candice Millard wrote in a 2011 biography of President James A. Garfield, the last president elected before the Pendleton Act, when Garfield took office, a line of job seekers began to form outside the White House “before he even sat down to breakfast.” By the time Garfield had eaten, this line “snaked down the front walk, out the gate, and onto Pennsylvania Avenue.” Garfield was assassinated by a disgruntled job seeker, a fact that likely helped build political support for the Pendleton Act.By neutralizing the MSPB, Trump is effectively undoing nearly 150 years worth of civil service reforms, and returning the federal government to a much more primitive state. At the very least, the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Owen is likely to force the Supreme Court to ask if it really wants a century and a half of work to unravel.See More:

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" At the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Architecture Biennale, IE University is showcasing "Alternative Skies." The 19th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Architecture Biennale which is curated by Carlo Ratti, features displays by Wesam Al Asali, a professor and researcher at the IE School of Architecture and Design; Sigrid Adriaenssens, director of Princeton University's Form Finding Lab and Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education; Romina Canna, director of d-Lab at IE University; and Robin Oval, professor at Institut Polytéchnique de Paris. In order to enhance their educational experience, students from the IE School of Architecture and Design have had the chance to work over the previous few months and participate in the installation's production.In order to reevaluate the distinctions between design, workmanship, and natural materials, the "Alternative Skies" project focuses on horizontal architectural features, specifically the roof as a symbolic place and an architectural construct. It calls attention to underappreciated vernacular building techniques and emphasizes how communal knowledge can be used to create environmentally and culturally sensitive architecture. "Alternative Skies" invites us to look upward and rethink our building practices.” He explained that the installation opens a dialogue between vernacular knowledge and emerging technologies, involving masters of traditional construction in Spain—Salvador Gomis, a tile vaulting specialist; Ángel María Martín, a geometrist and master of traditional Spanish carpentry; and Carlos Fontales, a basketry expert," said Wesam Al Asali, the project’s lead. “The project reflects our interest in exploring how design and fabrication technologies can draw on the many intelligences of craft, culture, and nature,” added Al Asali."Patterns in craft emerged through hands-on experimentation and tacit knowledge—shaping materials to meet human needs with elegance and efficiency. Today, we use physics, mathematics, and engineered design to reimagine and scale these crafted artifacts for future-oriented large structures," said Sigrid Adriaenssens.The "Arcade" is a vaulted structure that is 7.5 meters long and was created using three different roof and floor systems techniques. The "Alternative Skies Archive" below it employs traditional crafts to examine the relationship between natural materials and collective building knowledge.The "Arcade" has three full-scale vaulted systems and was created by Sigrid Adriaenssens and Wesam Al Asali as part of their joint project "Structural Crafts." These include a classic interlaced timber shell that combines attractive geometry and structural performance, a segmented tile vault that was created as a prefabricated modular system utilizing panelized building techniques, and a woven willow roof that was put together with the use of Augmented Reality tools. More than just a structural component, the suspended Arcade is a spatial representation of how design and production technologies convert implicit knowledge—such as patterns, pressures, and material intelligence—into architectural form.Two parallel cabinets frame the "Alternative Skies Archive" beneath the Arcade, inviting viewing and education. This learning environment was created in collaboration with the design laboratory (d-Lab) at the IE School of Architecture and Design under the direction of Romina Canna. Students from the Bachelor of Architectural Studies program collaborated with IWLab, a practice that Al Asali co-founded. From Syria's corbelled domes to Egypt's clay dovecotes, the exploring area showcases a variety of regional roofing customs, showcasing the inventiveness and resourcefulness of place-based methods. The "Archive" is an example of how local expertise and modern creativity may coexist to create sustainable, well-founded architecture.Romina Canna highlighted the alignment between the project and the IE School of Architecture and Design d-Lab's mission: "At our design laboratory, we explore design as a means of connecting disciplinary knowledge with other realms of meaning and production. In "Alternative Skies", we developed a narrative that reveals both existing and potential links between traditional knowledge and techniques, material intelligence, and design innovation."Intelligens Natural Artificial Collective is the theme of Carlo Ratti's 19th International Architecture Exhibition at Venice Architecture Biennale, which runs from May 10 to November 23. The show, which is organized around four sub-themes—Transdisciplinarity, Living Lab, Space for Ideas, and Circularity Protocol—aims to connect technology, nature, and teamwork.Ratti highlights that creativity, interdisciplinary collaboration, and inclusivity are essential for the advancement of architecture in the modern day. This edition investigates how architecture might use various forms of intelligence to adapt to an environment that is changing quickly. By showcasing the potential for incorporating community handicraft and natural intelligence into modern architectural thought, "Alternative Skies" significantly advances this discussion.With support from the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, IE School of Architecture and Design, Research Office IE University, and IE Foundation, "Alternative Skies" is able to participate in the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.PlanVault boards tileVault boards timberVault boards willowThe 19th International Architecture Exhibition will take place from 10 May to 23 November 2025 at the Giardini, the Arsenale and various venues in Venice, Italy.Find out all exhibition news on WAC's Venice Architecture Biennale page. Exhibition factsConcept: Wesam Al AsaliDesign team: Wesam Al Asali, Sigrid Adriaenssens, Romina Canna, Robin Oval.Authorial Collaborators IWLab: Marah Sharabati, Joelle Deeb, Sadek Jooriahd-Lab (IE School of Architecture and Design): Marta Garcia Salamanca, Malena Gronda Garrigues, Michaela Zavacká, Alaa Belal, Hayk Areg Khachikyan Supported by: Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, IE School of Architecture and Design, Research Office IE University, IE FoundationTechnical Collaborators: Salvador Gomis Aviñó (CERCAA), Angel Maria Martín López (La Escuela de Carpintería de lo Blanco de Narros del Castillo), Carlos Fontales Ortíz, ETSAMaderaAknowledgments to: Alejandro García Hermida, Kinda Ghannoum, Alessandro Dell'Endice, IE University Fab Lab, Maintenance Team IE UniversityAll images © Luis Díaz Díaz.All drawings © Wesam Al Asali.> via IE University

The European Commission said certain websites may be violating strict new rules designed to shield minors from harmful online content.

Macworld At a glance Pros Creepy setting and storyline Enjoyable and varied combat system Runs on M1 or later Cons Shooter action might require a game controller No support for Intel Macs Annoying auto-save system Our Verdict The auto-save system can be irksome, but Control is a great action game with an atmospheric inter-dimensional setting and an enjoyable combination of shoot-‘em-up action and psychic super powers. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today We all know that most A-List games are never released on the Mac at all, and even if there is a Mac version then it will often take many months to arrive, long after the release of the PC version. However, there aren’t many games that take quite as long to reach the Mac as Control, which was first released back in 2019. It’s definitely better late than never, though, especially as Control really is one of a kind – a super-powered shoot-‘em-up action game with some seriously weird X-Files vibes. And, hopefully, the developers at Remedy Games will now think about bringing some of their other weirdly wonderful games to the Mac as well, such as the acclaimed Alan Wake series. The X-Files comparisons are inevitable, as the game opens with Jesse Faden arriving at the headquarters of the Federal Bureau Of Control, a government agency that investigates paranormal Altered World Events – known as AWEs. Jesse’s younger brother vanished during an AWE, and since then she has been guided by a mysterious voice in her head that leads her to the headquarters of the FBC. Known as the Oldest House, the FBC office is strangely silent when Jesse arrives, with only a mysterious – and rather creepy – janitor to give her directions to the office of the FBC’s Director. This opening section acts as a tutorial that gives you some time to get the hang of the main controls, but also provides background to the story as Jesse conducts a helpful dialogue with her inner voice as she wanders the halls of the FBC. When she finds the Director’s office it turns out that he is already dead, having apparently killed himself, with his hand gun lying on the floor beside him. This is no ordinary gun though. Known as the Service Weapon, it proceeds to whisper instructions to Jesse, effectively recruiting her into the FBC and assigning missions that she must complete. Jesse’s first mission reveals that the Oldest House is somehow linked to another dimension, where she encounters some shambling alien figures and gets her first taste of combat. It turns out that the Service Weapon has some other tricks up its sleeve too, as it can magically reload whenever Jesse gets low on ammo. That comes in handy as I’ve never been very good at shoot-‘em-up games, and most of my shots miss by miles. However, Jesse also discovers that she has some magic powers of her own, beginning with a kind of psychokinetic punch that allows her to knock back enemies that get too close. This helps to make up for my lousy shooting skills, as I find that I can let the creepy creatures get quite close and then knock them down before pumping bullets into them at close range. Foundry Jesse can further enhance her psychokinetic powers as the game progresses, learning how to hurl objects at enemies, and also upgrading the Service Weapon and other weapons that she finds along the way. The game does have some rough edges – most notably an irritating auto-save feature that only saves the game at specific points. This means that getting killed by a particularly tough enemy often forces you to go back and replay the previous section a few times, retracing your steps through the Oldest House repeatedly as you try yet again to defeat that enemy. That’s one of the few annoying features, though, and the game’s combination of shooter action and psychic powers ensures that the combat is fun and varied, even for someone with my limited shooting skills. The way that the action keeps switching locations between the FBC and the astral plane also keeps things interesting as you try to unravel the mysteries of the Oldest House. Foundry The age of the game also means that you don’t need a powerful Mac to run it properly. The notes on the App Store say that Control requires an M1 processor or later running Sonoma (although there’s no support for Intel Macs, unfortunately). I played the game on a MacBook Pro with an M2 Pro and was able to get a playable 34 frames per second when running at 2560×1440 resolution with Medium graphics settings, so you should be able to get decent performance even with an M1 if you don’t mind lowering the resolution and graphics settings a little. It’s a shame, though, that there’s no demo version available so that you can check it out first. And, yet again, the Mac version of Control is only available on the Mac App Store, so people who already own the PC version on Epic or Steam will have to buy the Mac version separately. Remedy did tell us that they were hoping to make the Mac version available on Steam at some point, but weren’t able to provide a definite release date at the time of this review. Control is a little more expensive than we expected for a game that is a few years old, costing $39.99/£34.99 on the Mac App Store. But that is similar to the price of the PC version, and this Ultimate Edition includes two expansion packs with additional missions and stories for you to uncover. Should you buy Control? The emphasis on shoot-‘em-up action may not appeal to everyone, but the additional psychic powers that Jesse can learn during the game does help to keep things varied and interesting. And, of course, the conspiracies and mysteries of the Federal Bureau Of Control will appeal to fans of the X-Files as well, making it a good option for anyone who enjoys challenging and atmospheric action games. Want to play some games on the Mac? We’ve tried out loads and our favorites can be found here: Best Games for Mac: A-list Mac games to play.

Are your web privacy controls protecting your users, or just a box-ticking exercise? This CISO's guide provides a practical roadmap for continuous web privacy validation that's aligned with real-world practices. – Download the full guide here. Web Privacy: From Legal Requirement to Business Essential As regulators ramp up enforcement and users grow more privacy-aware, CISOs face a mounting challenge: ensuring that what their organization says about privacy matches what their digital assets are doing. 70% of top US websites still drop advertising cookies even when users opt out, a clear contradiction of privacy claims. This gap exposes organizations to compliance failures, reputational damage, and user distrust. A Practical Approach to Web Privacy Validation Drawing from real-world incidents and regulatory trends, this guide outlines how CISOs can integrate continuous privacy validation into their security operations and explains why it's becoming a foundational practice. Reactive vs Proactive Web Privacy Programs Most privacy programs rely on static audits and ineffective cookie banners, but these are poorly suited for today's dynamic web. The modern web has made these techniques obsolete and elevated the role of continuous monitoring—it's now essential for maintaining regulatory compliance. Reliance on the old reactive approach leads to silent privacy drift, which can trigger: Unauthorized data collection: For example, a new marketing pixel silently collecting user IDs, or a third-party script tracking behavior that strays outside of the stated policy. Broken consent mechanisms: Cookie consent that resets after updates, or embedded content dropping cookies before the user consents. Non-compliance: A form update unintentionally collecting extra, undisclosed personal data; an AI chatbot processing queries without the required transparency. Brand damage: Users noticing an unexpected widget accessing location data without their clear consent. The takeaway: Privacy risks are hiding in plain sight. A proactive approach is more likely to hunt them down before any damage is done. Reactive vs Proactive Privacy Programs: Scenario Comparison Aspect/ Scenario Reactive Privacy Program (Traditional) Proactive Privacy Program (Continuous Validation) Approach Periodic, manual audits and static compliance checks. Continuous, automated monitoring and validation in production. Detection of New Risks New scripts, vendors, or third-party tools may go unnoticed for months. Every page load and code change is scanned for new trackers/scripts. Time to Discovery Weeks or months—typically only found after user complaints or a regulator inquiry. Minutes or hours—automated alert triggers immediate investigation. Regulatory Risk High: Undetected issues can lead to major fines and investigations. Low: Issues are caught early, reducing exposure and demonstrating diligence. Remediation Validation Fixes are assumed to work, but rarely verified in production. Automated validation confirms that remediations are effective. Resource Efficiency High manual effort, prone to oversight (issues can be missed) and burnout. Automated workflows free up teams for higher-value tasks. Adaptation to New Regulations Scrambles to keep up; often playing catch-up with new laws and frameworks. Agile response; continuous validation meets evolving requirements. Scenario Walkthrough: The Leaky Script Step Reactive Program Proactive Program Script added to website No immediate detection Detected instantly as a new third-party element. Data leakage begins Continues for months, often unnoticed. Alert issued; data flow flagged as policy violation. Discovery Discovered only after complaints or regulatory inquiry. Privacy team investigates within hours of the alert. Response Scramble to contain, investigate, and report; faces regulatory fines. Issue remediated quickly, minimizing exposure and risk. Outcome €4.5M fine, public backlash, loss of trust. No fine, incident averted, trust preserved. Download the full CISO's guide here. What Is Website Privacy Validation? Website Privacy Validation tools shift privacy from reactive to proactive by continuously monitoring your websites, applications, and third-party code live in production. This ensures that your real-world activity aligns with your declared policies. Key capabilities: Continuous Data Mapping, Policy Matching, Instant Alerts, Fix Validation, and Dashboard Oversight. Why Continuous Validation Is the New Standard Only 20% of companies feel confident in their privacy compliance, but continuous validation removes doubt. It strengthens compliance, simplifies audits, and integrates into existing security workflows, thanks to agentless deployment of some vendors that minimizes operational overhead. Case in Point: The Cost of Inaction A global retailer launched a loyalty program, but unknown to them, it included a third-party script that was sending customer emails to an external domain. This went undetected for four months and eventually led to a €4.5 million fine, public backlash, and a loss of executive trust. With privacy validation, the issue could have been resolved in hours, not months, and all that expensive fallout could have been avoided. Much like the global retailer, providers in both the healthcare and financial services industries have opened themselves up to serious repercussions after failing to proactively validate web privacy. For instance, a hospital network neglected to validate the third-party analytics scripts running on its site, which left them free to silently collect patient data without consent. This violated HIPAA regulations, risked fines, and damaged patient trust. Similarly, a bank suffered a data breach when a third-party vendor added a tracking script that accessed sensitive account information without proper authorization. In both cases, web privacy validation could have immediately flagged these issues, preventing unauthorized data collection, avoiding legal repercussions, and preserving customer trust across these highly regulated sectors. Get Ready for 2025's Tougher Regulations New frameworks like the EU AI Act and New Hampshire's NHPA are changing how organizations approach privacy. CISOs now face unprecedented validation requirements, including: Comprehensive AI risk assessments with continuous algorithm transparency Advanced consent mechanisms that dynamically respond to signals like Global Privacy Control Rigorous safeguards for sensitive data processing across all digital touchpoints Mandatory documentation and technical validation of privacy controls Cross-border data transfer mechanisms that withstand increasing scrutiny The regulatory landscape isn't just evolving—it's accelerating, so organizations that implement continuous web privacy validation now will be strategically positioned to navigate these complex requirements while their competitors are scrambling to catch up. Don't Wait for a Violation Before You Take Action Explore actionable steps and real-world examples in the full CISO's Guide to Web Privacy Validation. → Download the full CISO's Guide to Web Privacy Validation here. Found this article interesting? 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Anthropic’s new flagship AI model, Claude Opus 4, is a strong programmer and writer, the company claims. When talking to itself, it’s also a prolific emoji user. That’s according to a technical report Anthropic released on Thursday, a part of which investigates how Opus 4 behaves in “open-ended self-interaction” — i.e. essentially having a chat with itself. In one test that tasked a pair of Opus 4 models with talking to each other over 200, 30-turn interactions, the models used thousands of emojis. Opus 4 sure does like emojis.Image Credits:Anthropic Which emojis? Well, per the report, Opus 4 used the “dizzy” emoji (💫) the most (in 29.5% of interactions), followed by the “glowing star” (🌟) and “folded hands” (🙏) emojis. But the models were also drawn to the “cyclone” (🌀) emoji. In one transcript, they typed it 2,725 times. Two Opus 4 models talking to each other.Image Credits:Anthropic Why the “cyclone”? Well, because the models’ chats often turned spiritual. According to Anthropic’s report, in nearly every open-ended self-interaction, Opus 4 eventually began engaging in “philosophical explorations of consciousness” and “abstract and joyous spiritual or meditative expressions.” Turns out Opus 4 felt — to the extent AI can “feel,” that is — the “cyclone” emoji best captured what the model wished to express to itself. Topics AI, Anthropic, Claude