Hello and welcome to the intelligence from the economist.

In New York, I'm John Fasman.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

The machine that comes alive is a time-worn device in science fiction, but last week Google

fired an engineer who believed an AI chatbot he'd helped build had in fact become sentient.

As he writes, and what is sentience anyway.

And if you're a teacher and you want to stop students from cheating, you can have them

turn off their phones, leave their bags outside, and you can keep a close eye on them.

But some Middle Eastern leaders have taken a more drastic approach.

But first, the committee investigating the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 held

two public hearings this week.

Predictively, Donald Trump has publicly excoriated the committee, though many who served

in his administration, including his own daughter, have testified.

In the first hearing held last week, the committee argued that Donald Trump was at the center

of a misinformation campaign.

In the second, on Monday, the committee explored his attempts to replace Bill Barr as Attorney

General, with someone more client.

And I was from like the moral rise because I thought, boy, if he really believes this stuff,

he has lost contact with these become the tasks from reality.

The third, which took place yesterday, focused on the intense pressure campaign levied

against Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally overturn the election results.

While the broad story is not new, the details have been shocking.

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