• VIRGINIA FAM: early in person voting starts THIS FRIDAY, September 18. Make your plan now. And a personal one from me: my birthday is this Thursday, and the only gift I want is us at the polls. My family and friends are celebrating me by voting early together Friday. Come pull up. More below.
• The people building AI are now warning about AI. A researcher just resigned from Anthropic and its own CEO is calling for a slowdown. Today we talk about what that means for us, and why our voice at the table matters more than ever.
• Ask AI one hard question about a decision you are facing. Not to obey it, to pressure test your own thinking. Use it as a sharp advisor you can overrule.
• Show our partners some love. 🤝🏾 This newsletter reaches you free because our advertising partners believe in this mission. Take 30 seconds to visit their page. Every click tells them backing our community pays off, and keeps this work coming to your inbox.

Good Morning, Fam'!

Something rare just happened in the AI world, and we need to talk about it plainly. The people building the most powerful AI are now the ones warning about it. A researcher named Jacob Coxon publicly resigned from Anthropic, one of the top AI companies on earth, saying the industry is racing toward superintelligence without proper safeguards. His post drew tens of millions of views. Days later, Anthropic's own CEO, Dario Amodei, published an essay called We Must Pace the Frontier, arguing the whole industry needs to slow down so safety can catch up. Other researchers backed them, some estimating a real chance this technology could cause serious harm if rushed. When the folks with their hands on the machine say pump the brakes, we should listen closely.

Here is why this matters for Black America specifically, even though this debate is not framed around race. AI is already deciding who gets hired, promoted, approved for a loan, and accepted into programs. When these systems are trained on a world that already treats us unequally, they can quietly automate that same bias at massive scale, and a computer's no is much harder to fight than a person's. The Grio put it directly: Black Americans could be especially vulnerable when automated systems reproduce existing disparities and make decisions that are hard to challenge. This is not science fiction. It is happening in the systems around us right now.

But here is the empowering half, and it is the whole reason this newsletter exists. The answer is not to fear AI or avoid it. The answer is to understand it, use it, and be at the table where it gets shaped. The communities that master this technology and speak up about how it is built will help decide whether it lifts us or leaves us behind. That is exactly why we learn these tools together every week. And it is why the same principle applies to power in the real world: you either show up and shape the decisions, or you let others shape them for you. Which brings us to Friday. Virginia, early voting starts, and showing up is how we stay at the table.

The AI Whistleblower | Why the People Building It Are Sounding the Alarm

THE SCOOP

As The Grio reports, a former Anthropic researcher resigned and warned the industry is racing toward self improving AI without adequate safeguards, and the alarm spread fast. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei then called for the industry to pace itself, proposing independent evaluators, shared safety standards, and more oversight. Even other tech leaders agreed. The article notes this matters for Black Americans because AI already shapes hiring, evaluations, education, financial services, and access to information, areas where automated bias could hit our community hardest.

THE VIBE CHECK

Read this not with fear but with focus. The takeaway is not that AI is our enemy, it is that the communities most affected by AI need a seat at the table where it is built, tested, and regulated. History says accountability only comes when we push for it. The best thing you can do is get fluent, use these tools to build power and wealth, and stay loud about how they treat our people. Understanding beats avoiding every time. Be in the room, not on the menu.

Virginia, in person early voting starts Friday, September 18 for the November 3 election, which includes a U.S. Senate seat, all 11 U.S. House seats, and local races. We do not wait until November. We go early, and we go together. Voting alongside others is more joyful, more powerful, and far more likely to actually happen. So let's build a moment out of it.

Let me get personal for a second. My birthday is this Thursday, September 17. I have been blessed with more than enough, so I told my family and friends the only gift I want this year is for us to vote early together on Friday. No wrapping paper, no cake required, just our people showing up and using the power our ancestors bled for. That is the birthday of a lifetime to me. And you are all invited, because this family is bigger than blood.

We are calling it the #BirthdayBallotBash, and we are #PartyingToThePolls this Friday. When you go, snap a photo and tag us at [email protected] or on social, and we will reshare the celebration and show the world what showing up looks like. Let's flood the timeline with our people voting.

THE PLAY | HOST A LUNCHTIME VOTING PARTY

Pick a location near an early voting site. Rally your coworkers, your congregation, your barbershop, your line sisters and frat brothers, your block. Meet at lunch on Friday, walk in together, cast your ballots, then break bread. Make it food, music, and fellowship with a purpose. Our ancestors sacrificed everything for this right. Giving up one lunch hour to exercise it, together, is the least we can do, and the most fun way to do it.

ALSO STARTING FRIDAY, SEPT 18

Virginia is one of only a handful of states where early voting opens this early. In person early voting also begins Friday in Idaho, Minnesota, and South Dakota. If you have got family in those states, call them and get them to the polls too. Most other states open later in October, so wherever your people are, help them find their date and make a plan.

MEGA PROMPT | PLAN YOUR VOTING PARTY

STRATEGY 1 | THE GET OUT THE VOTE CONTENT PUSH

Use your platform, however big or small, to remind your people to vote early this week. A simple, heartfelt video reminder can move dozens of people to the polls. Make it fast with InVideo AI. Your voice matters, use it to lift turnout in your circle.

STRATEGY 2 | THE VALUES FORWARD BRAND

Customers increasingly support businesses that stand for something. Without being partisan, you can champion civic participation and community power. Record a message with ElevenLabs. A brand rooted in real values builds loyalty that price alone never can.

AFFILIATE SPOTLIGHT

InVideo AI: Turn a get out the vote message or a values story into a polished video in under 30 minutes. Move your community to action.

The Responsible AI Specialist | Get Paid to Keep AI Fair

The whole story in today's news points to a fast growing field: AI safety, ethics, and governance. As companies rush to adopt AI, they urgently need people who can spot bias, test systems for fairness, and make sure the technology does not harm the people it touches. Our community has a vital role to play here, because we see risks others miss. You do not need a PhD to enter this field in a business context, roles in responsible AI, AI auditing, and compliance are opening up, and lived understanding of how systems fail real people is a genuine qualification. This is a lane where doing well and doing good line up.

The Bias Detector | Check If an AI Decision Is Treating You Fairly

When AI increasingly influences decisions about your life and business, you need to think critically about its outputs. This prompt helps you interrogate an AI answer or an automated decision for hidden bias and blind spots, so you stay in control.

High Value Skill: Critical Thinking in the Age of AI 🧠

As AI gives fast, confident answers to everything, the most valuable human skill becomes knowing when to trust it and when to question it. AI can be confidently wrong, and it can carry hidden bias. The people who thrive will be the ones who use AI as a powerful tool while keeping their own judgment firmly in charge. That means asking where did this come from, who might this harm, and what is it missing. This skill protects you, your family, and your money, and it is exactly the mindset that keeps you the boss of the technology instead of the other way around.

This Week's Challenge: Take one AI answer you would normally accept and interrogate it using the prompt below. Practice being the one in charge.

SartorialAI: Build your business on AI you control. SartorialAI captures leads, follows up, and books customers around the clock, working for you and your community. Drop in your URL, free to start. Sign up free.

Aisha: The AI assistant built by us, for us. The more we build and use our own tools, the more our voice shapes where this technology goes. Use it and help it grow.