Students listen as Valerie Ziegler speaks during a session on digital literacy at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco, Nov. 7, 2025. “One recent report found that only 18% of Gen Zers feel hopeful about AI, and almost half say the risks outweigh the benefits,” Michelle Goldberg writes. (Minh Connors/The New York Times) By MICHELLE GOLDBERG When Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, started talking about artificial intelligence during a commencement speech at the Univer

Baseball fans wait in line to enter Fenway Park in Boston on June 26, 2024. (Simon Simard/The New York Times) By ROSS DOUTHAT Very soon I will be going to a Boston Red Sox game with my son and a friend and his son. We will sit in the shadow of the Green Monster, cheer and boo, eat Fenway franks and sing “Sweet Caroline” and otherwise perform the rituals of fandom. And afterward I will feel guilty because the Red Sox, the obsession of my first two decades of conscious life, no

A student dons a cap and gown at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 4, 2022. (Dumebi Malaika Menakaya/The New York Times) By MAUREEN DOWD Humans may be on the way out. But at least the humanities are back. Or so some of the tech gods tell us. After decades of dismissing liberal arts and humanities studies as useless and insisting that the mastery of science, engineering, math and tech is essential to future success, the tech world is coming around to the idea that l

President Xi Jinping of China walks with President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing during their two-day summit, on Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times) By ROSS DOUTHAT A grand summit in Beijing is a natural time to assess the state of the U.S.-China competition, the dynamics of great power conflict, the balance of forces in this new Cold — or maybe just Cool? — War. It’s also a good time to revisit my own predictions. Six years ag

President Donald Trump listens to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as he makes remarks about the war with Iran, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, March 24, 2026. President Trump returned from China on Friday facing major decisions on Iran, as his top aides have drafted plans for a return to military strikes if Trump decides to try to break the impasse with more bombs. (Doug Mills/The New York Times) By CARLOS LOZADA The war with Iran had barely been joined wh

President Donald Trump arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China, on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, for a two-day summit with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times) By THE EDITORIAL BOARD U.S.-China summits can change the world. President Richard Nixon’s 1972 trip to Beijing gave the United States an advantage over the Soviet Union in the Cold War. President Jiang Zemin’s 1997 tour of the United States eased China’s entry into the gl

President Donald Trump, center, arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China, on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, for a two-day summit with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times) By BRET STEPHENS As President Donald Trump visits Beijing this week, he should have the satisfaction of knowing that time, in the long run, is on America’s side. Unfortunately, that’s also the problem. That’s the opposite of a conventional wisdom that holds that

In one possible timeline, the advent of artificial intelligence is widely understood as a win for atheism; in another potential future, the mystery of consciousness ends up seeming more profound in the shadow of machine intelligence, Ross Douthat writes. (Hannah Whitaker/The New York Times) By ROSS DOUTHAT The implications of artificial intelligence for religion have earned slightly less attention, thus far, than its implications for the job market or the U.S.-China arms race

Maria, 9, right, a malnourished child, in Renk, South Sudan, on March 5, 2025. (Malin Fezehai/The New York Times) By NICHOLAS KRISTOF A year after some of the world’s richest men cut aid for the world’s poorest children, they’re trying to roll out a new public relations narrative: Aid continues! We’re saving lives from AIDS! Anyway, aid never really worked, so we’re focused on trade! Building opportunities for American companies while saving babies! As Jeremy Lewin, the actin

A probe is lowered into the Potomac River near the area impacted by a raw sewage spill in Maryland, March 3, 2026. The preventable spill serves as an extreme example of “how well-meaning permitting laws have stymied vital projects in the United States,” the Times Editorial Board writes. (Michael Noble Jr./The New York Times) By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Eight years ago, local officials in Washington learned a section of a sewage line next to the Potomac River had become corroded an