Philanthropy Today

A group of governments, philanthropies, and tech companies is launching an effort to harness artificial intelligence for the public good. The Current AI Foundation is being spearheaded by France, in collaboration with billionaire philanthropist Pierre Omidyar’s AI Collaborative, along with other donors, countries, and tech companies. It will seek to build A.I. models using public datasets currently held by governments, and ultimately to ensure that the technology is widely available and does not become a tool for a powerful few. The foundation, whose other backers include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur, Patrick J. McGovern, and Ford foundations, starts with a $400 million endowment, and aims to raise $2.5 billion over five years. (Fortune— subscription)

• Plus: Elon Musk Leads Bid to Buy OpenAI for $97.4 Billion (New York Times)
• Background from the Chronicle: How Philanthropy Built, Lost, and Could Reclaim the A.I. Race

The Trump administration and its allies have levelled attacks on religious groups for helping migrants, reflecting an escalating attack from the White House on the role of nonprofits. Vice President JD Vance accused the Catholic Church of helping “illegal immigrants” in order to collect government grants, while right-wing provocateur Michael Flynn’s accusations of money laundering against Lutheran nonprofits was amplified by Elon Musk on X. Experts said it is a turnaround from decades of cooperation between the government and religious nonprofits that help the needy, including immigrants. They also said this new posture, combined with international-aid cutoffs, could imperil the human rights of religious minorities around the world that the United States has sought to protect. (Washington Post)

• Plus: Opinion: JD Vance Lances the Bishops, but No Checkmate (Washington Post)

Cuts to Science and Medicine

• 22 States Sue to Block Trump Cuts to Medical Research Funding (New York Times)
• ‘We Are a Target’: Scientific Society Under Pressure After Trump DEI Crackdown (Nature)
• Trump Administration Cuts Put Medical Progress at Risk, Researchers Say (New York Times)

The USAID Shutdown

• Visualizing the International Reach of U.S. Funding Cut by Trump (Washington Post)
• The Conservative Case for Keeping USAID (Boston Globe)
• Trump Wants to Clear Bombs From Gaza. He’s Sidelined Groups That Would Do It. (New York Times)

Arts and Culture

• Museums as Medicine? The Growing Trend of Art Prescriptions (Observer)
• Sale of New England Conservatory’s Stradivarius Raises More Than $11 million for Scholarships (Boston Globe)
• Brooklyn Museum Will Lay Off Employees and Scale Back Exhibitions (New York Times)

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