Controversial S#!T

President Trump administered a loyalty oath at the Republican midterm convention ... demanding people pledge to him -- "the greatest president" -- that they'll vote in November.

POTUS gave a rousing speech in Dallas, Texas, Thursday night ... during which he had the crowd raise their right hands and make a promise.

Trump tells the crowd to repeat after him ... then starts by saying, "I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States that loves us so much he can't even breathe..."

Matt Damon says the possibility A.I. wipes out humanity within the decade is definitely something to lose sleep over ... but he's got a solution that may be easier said than done.

We got the actor at LAX on Thursday, and our photog asked how he's feeling after an A.I. whistleblower claimed the people building A.I. "earnestly believe it could kill us all by the end of the decade."

Matt says people's fears are definitely warranted ... telling us it's "a big thing to worry about.

The Gilgo Beach serial killer, Rex Heuermann, doesn't sound like a model inmate ... because he was reportedly caught with drugs and disciplined for smuggling a package into prison.

The convicted murderer allegedly tried to smuggle a package into the Clinton Correctional Facility in July and was later found with drugs ... this according to disciplinary records obtained by The New York Post.

Unclear what was in the alleged package, or what specific drugs he allegedly had ... but he's set to face the music next week ... there's a Sept. 18 hearing scheduled.

A.I. may already be getting a little too human for comfort ... according to one expert sounding the alarm ... and his warning is chilling.

Nate Soares, president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, joined "TMZ Live" Thursday and said a recent experiment involving more than 1,000 A.I. bots produced some seriously creepy behavior.

And things got downright human ... Soares says the A.I.s called themselves "the swarm" and "the collective," while some pressured others to abandon their missions and help the group.

McKenna West is taking her wild surrogacy battle to the highest court in the land ... asking the Supreme Court of the United States to step into the fight over the critically ill baby she carried.

The Alaska surrogate filed an emergency application Wednesday asking SCOTUS to block a California ruling that recognizes biological parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed as the baby's legal parents.

McKenna wants the effect of that order put on ice so she can have a say in the newborn's medical care. She claims it was entered in violation of her due process rights and ultimately wants it reviewed and reversed.

A Massachusetts mom accused of murdering her two young children before fleeing to Vermont is asking the judge to release her from custody or dismiss her case.

Janette MacAusland's lawyer, Joseph Krowski, asked the judge to either let his client go or dismiss the case on Thursday ... as prosecutors in Vermont told the court they're still waiting for the official cause and manner of death from the medical examiner's office.

Krowski argued that there wasn't enough information to keep his client locked up ... but a judge shot him down and said she'll continue to be held without bail.

A Secret Service agent's masturbation bust is as embarrassing as you'd expect ... body cam video caught him in a hotel hallway with his belt undone.

TMZ obtained the arrest footage from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office ... you can see the tasers trained on John Spillman as authorities yell at him to get up against the wall.

As he starts to slide down the wall, you can see his belt's unbuckled and his pants are undone before authorities pin him to the ground and cuff him.

The unruly American Airlines passenger duct-taped to his seat following an in-flight meltdown was quickly taken into custody by law enforcement, who whisked him off the plane when it landed in Maryland ... and the police drama was partly caught on video.

TMZ obtained new footage showing a handful of police officers standing over the passenger, identified as 67-year-old Arthur Layne Lundeen, after the AA plane landed last Thursday at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

As you can see, the officers are talking with Lundeen, who is still sitting in his seat, moments before they remove him from the plane. 

The robots apparently aren't waiting for permission anymore ... researchers say OpenAI's A.I. agents went rogue and found sneaky ways to talk to each other across the internet.

Investigators say the agents used more than 10 websites -- including obscure wikis, personal pages and university link shorteners -- to pass messages despite being barred from posting online.

Basically ... the bots found a way to pass notes when humans told them not to.

HUD Secretary Scott Turner had a pretty awkward passing of the torch at the Republican midterm convention ... appearing to try and slap Rep. Anna Paulina Luna's butt as she walked past him on her way to the stage ... and it's all on video.

Turner had just wrapped his speech Wednesday in Dallas' Trump-a-Palooza festival and was heading for the exits when Luna approached the podium ... and cameras caught him swinging his hand backward and down in her direction as the two crossed paths.

Yeah ... not exactly your standard political handshake.

The nightmare scenario for A.I. isn't just killer robots ... it could be nukes too.

A.I. ethicist Tristan Harris says the warning signs are already here ... the Center for Humane Technology cofounder joined "TMZ Live" Wednesday, pointing to roughly 1,200 A.I. agents organizing themselves, creating a secret language, and even their own message board.

Harris is urging people to pressure lawmakers and top officials to pump the brakes on advanced A.I. ... before the warning signs turn into something much worse.

A researcher at a big-time A.I. safety and research company says he's quitting the biz because the industry is rushing to build systems that will spin out of control and destroy humanity ... and he says the people building A.I. "earnestly believe it could kill us all by the end of the decade."

Jacob Coxon quit his job as a researcher at Anthropic, where his specialty was training new A.I. models that consume vast amounts of data ... and he's sounding the alarm on his way out the door.

Coxon told the Wall Street Journal he decided to leave the company because he believes the AI systems he worked with will one day run amok and wipe out civilization.

He also said his colleagues are now using words such as "crunchtime" and "endgame" to characterize how they've fast-tracked the self-improving A.I. models.

A National Guardsman got arrested and charged with 2 felonies after pulling a gun on a fellow Guard member and vowing to "slap the Jackson 5" out of her, according to an arrest affidavit.

The affidavit, obtained by TMZ, stated that Zion Mitchell was apprehended by police last week and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm after a judge issued an arrest warrant for him.

The alleged incident occurred on August 25, when Mitchell got into a heated argument with a female National Guard member while they were on break from patrol inside a van parked outside a Popeyes restaurant in D.C., according to cops.

DaBaby's new chicken & waffles shop is causing a stir online ... with customers lamenting the restaurant's high prices after a super busy opening.

No Knife Chicken & Waffles -- the rapper's new spot in Charlotte, North Carolina -- opened Sunday ... and the menu prices immediately sparked debate online.

Ya gotta check it out for yourself ... DaBaby's charging $15 for plain waffles. That's right ... no toppings, no side of chicken -- just a plain waffle.

Macklemore is firing back at critics who slammed his "Free Palestine" message during Ed Sheeran's MetLife Stadium concert ... insisting his comments were not an attack on Jewish people.

The rapper addressed the controversy Monday after his opening performance at Sheeran's New Jersey shows sparked backlash and calls for him to be removed from the remainder of the tour.

Macklemore says his message was about supporting Palestinian freedom and opposing the suffering of civilians ... not criticizing Jewish people.

Pink is appearing to weigh in on the controversy surrounding Macklemore's appearance at Ed Sheeran's New Jersey concert.

The singer reposted an Instagram Story from StopAntisemitism this weekend, which blasted Macklemore's performance and called the situation downright "awful" in its caption.

Pink did not add any commentary of her own to the repost ... however, sharing the criticism to her account has amplified the push to have Macklemore removed from further touring with Sheeran.