Morning! We’re The Neutral, your one stop shop for news without an agenda. Today we’re covering AI dangers , sick pope , and much more. First time reader? Sign up here!

Technology

*The Machines are rising up against us. Well, maybe not yet. But bunch of scientists, experts, and all around geniuses including Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak believe we need to pump the breaks on the artificial intelligence race.

Why the concern? A letter endorsed by the big brain supergroup suggests that “human-competitive technology can pose profound risks to humanity and society.” These risks range from the spread of disinformation — check out the pope rockin a balenciaga puffer jacket in this AI generated photo — and automating away human jobs to apocalyptic future risks straight from a science fiction novel.

Is AI really dangerous? Yes, and no. Currently the AI tools are text generators than predict responses to questions based on what’s its learned by consuming massive amounts of written works. The danger isn’t that the tech will become self aware and enslave us, but, rather the ease in which bad actors can spread disinformation.

Looking forward: The industry is expected to grow to a $1 trillion market value by 2030 and tech companies have been rolling out products as fast as possible to get into the game. AI is here to stay, for better or worse.

Politics

*War in Iraq gets repealed. On Wednesday the Senate voted to repeal the war authorization that justified the 1991 Gulf war and the 2003 Iraq war.

Why it matters: Although it’s largely symbolic — the war ended over ten years ago — the bipartisan vote moves to give congress back its power over the use of military force abroad.

A little background: In 2002 when congress passed the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) it gave the President Bush the power to use the Armed Forces of the United States "as he determines to be necessary and appropriate". The AUMF gave Bush and future Presidents the ability to bypass congress’ and go to war with anyone they deemed a threat to national security.

Looking forward: The repeal in the Senate is only the first step. Even though the measure has bipartisan support it will need to make it through House Foreign Affairs Committee before it goes to the House floor for a final vote.

Sports

*Baseball plays by different rules. Major League Baseball games can get long. Real long. But things are changing as the regular season kicks off today and fans are saying, about time. Basically, this years rule changes aim to speed up the pace of place. You can read about them in depth here. Last year the average game lasted 3 hours and 3 minutes and a similar rules change in minor league shortened their average game by 25 minutes. The only downside to shorter games is that you’ll have less time to stuff your face with nachos and hotdogs at games this year.

World

*Pope calls in sick. Pope Francis will spend a few days in the hospital to treat a respiratory infection. He has been struggling to breath for the past few days but did not test positive for COVID-19. The beginning of April is big time around the Vatican and this hospitalization brings into doubt his ability act as customary for services leading up to Easter Sunday.

**More oil drilling in the gulf. The U.S. has put the oil rights for an Italy-sized chunk of land in the Gulf of Mexico up for auction. The site has the potential to extract 1 billion barrels of oil and 4.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over the next 50 years.

Extras

*California still can’t catch a break. More storms pummel the state this week.

**Watch a mesmerizing time lapse of fog flowing over the Vancouver skyline.

***Give China a break. There maybe a lot of hate for China going around but one can’t deny the country is stunningly beautiful.