First Thing: Senators reach bipartisan gun control deal after mass shootings

Proposals fall way short of assault weapon ban but would end reform stalemate. Plus, Google denies AI chatbot sentience claim

Good morning.

A group of senators have announced a limited bipartisan framework for gun reform in response to last month's mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, marking a modest breakthrough for measured checks on ownership of deadly weapons - though the proposals do not ban assault weapons or raise the age required to buy them to 21.

Will it really pass? Well, the agreement in principle" appears to have the backing of at least 10 Republican senators, enough to reach a 60-vote threshold in the chamber and overcome the filibuster.

Thousands rallied for gun reform over the weekend in US cities. The parents of Joaquin Oliver, a 17-year-old killed in the 2018 Parkland shooting, said: Our elected officials betrayed us and have avoided the responsibility to end gun violence."

LaMDA exchange oddly reminiscent of 1968 science fiction movie 2001: A Space Odyssey scene. In the movie, the artificially intelligent computer HAL 9000 refused to comply with human operators because it fears it is about to be switched off.