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Deception, Misinformation, and AI: A New Era of Election Influence in US Politics

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TThe New York mayoral election will likely be remembered not just for the impressive win of the young democratic socialists but also for a significant trend that could influence future campaigns: the rise of AI-generated campaign videos.

Andrew Cuomo, who lost last week to Zoran Mamdani, has notably engaged in the distribution of deepfake videos featuring his opponent, with one such video alleging racism against him.

Although AI has been utilized in political campaigns before—primarily for algorithms that target voters or create policy ideas—its evolution has seen the creation of sometimes misleading imagery and videos.

“What was particularly innovative this election cycle was the deployment of generative AI to produce content directly for voters,” stated New York State Representative Alex Boas, who advocates for regulations governing AI use.

“Whether it was the Cuomo team or not? Creating a housing plan with ChatGPT or AI-generated video ads targeting voters felt revolutionary during the 2025 campaign cycle, marking an unprecedented approach.”

Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who exited the race in September, also leveraged AI, utilizing it to generate a robocall and producing a feature in The New Yorker where he converses in Mandarin, Urdu, and Yiddish. An AI video depicted a dystopian view of New York and aimed critiques at Mamdani.

In a controversial move, Mr. Cuomo faced allegations of racism and Islamophobia after his campaign shared a video depicting a fictitious Mamdani eating rice with his fingers and included an unrelated portrayal of a black man shoplifting. The campaign also featured a black individual in a purple suit appearing to endorse sex trafficking, which was later deleted under the pretext of an error.

Boas, who is campaigning for a House seat, remarked that many AI-generated ads from the recent election cycle may have crossed into what could be deemed bigoted territories.

“We need to assess if this is due to algorithms perpetuating stereotypes from their training data, or if it’s simply easier to manipulate content digitally without the need to coordinate specific actions with actors,” Boas indicated.

“Digital creation simplifies the production of content that might be frowned upon by polite society,” he added.

In New York, campaigns are mandated to label AI-generated ads, but several—including one from Mr. Cuomo—failed to do so. The New York State Board of Elections oversees potential violations, but Boas pointed out that campaigns might risk penalties as the costs could be outweighed by the gains from winning.

“There will likely be campaigns willing to take that risk: if they win, the post-election fines become irrelevant,” Boas stated. “We need an effective enforcement mechanism that can intervene rapidly before elections to minimize damage, rather than simply impose penalties afterward.”

Robert Wiseman, co-director of Public Citizen, a nonprofit that has supported various AI regulations nationwide, noted that attempting to deceive the public is illegal in more than half of states and that campaigns must label AI-generated materials as such. However, he cautioned that the regulation of AI in political contexts remains a critical issue.

“Deception has historically been part of politics, but the implications of AI-generated misinformation are particularly concerning,” Wiseman explained.


“When audiences are shown a convincingly authentic video of someone making a statement, it becomes incredibly challenging for that individual to refute it, essentially forcing them to challenge viewers’ perceptions.”

AI technology can now generate convincing videos, but execution weaknesses still exist. A “Zoran Halloween Special” video released by Cuomo was clearly labeled as AI-generated yet showcased a poorly rendered image of Mamdani with mismatched audio and nonsensical dialogue.

With midterm elections on the horizon and the 2028 presidential campaign approaching, AI-generated political videos are poised to become a fixture in the landscape.

At the national level, this trend is already evident. Elon Musk shared an AI-generated video where Kamala Harris appeared to assert her role as a de facto presidential candidate and claimed she “knows nothing about running a country.”

While states are advancing in their efforts to regulate AI’s role in elections, there seems to be a lack of willingness to implement such measures at the federal level.

During the No King protests in October, Donald Trump released an AI video showcasing him in a fighter jet, dropping brown liquid on protestors, among his most recent AI content.

With President Trump’s evident support for this medium, it appears unlikely that Republicans will seek to impose restrictions on AI anytime soon.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Leftists Seek Each Other in Love While Yearning for Liberals: ‘Politics as a New Faith’

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zOhran Mamdani received an unofficial boost last month as a candidate for mayor of New York. It was revealed that he met his wife, Rama Duwazi, through a dating app. “There’s still hope for these dating apps,” he shared on the Bluwork Podcast just a week before his surprising win in the Democratic primary. This news quickly circulated on social media, strengthening his position among fellow millennials in the 33-year-old democratic socialist demographic. Cosmopolitan later headlined: “Zohran Mamdani has made history as the first NYC mayor who met his wife on Hinge.”

Hinge representatives declined to comment, but many hopeful New Yorkers have taken action amidst dating fatigue, with some re-downloading the app to celebrate Mamdani’s success. “Now I’m treating it like a full-time job,” remarked one user in a TikTok post. “If he found love on that app, I might be able to as well,” they noted in the caption.

However, users may face ideological challenges while creating their profiles. In addition to basic questions like “Do you smoke, drink, or use drugs? Did you attend college?” Hinge asks singles to specify their political affiliation: liberal, conservative, moderate, political, or the more esoteric “other.”

Some on the left argue that the term “liberal” does not accurately capture socialist ideologies, associating it with figures like Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and former governor Andrew Cuomo, a competitor to Mamdani. Many liberals are viewed as too radical compared to the progressive proposals from their peers (e.g., freezing rent, taxing the super-rich, promoting public transport). Socialists want to distance themselves from mainstream liberalism while also addressing criticisms from hedge fund manager Daniel Roeb, who cautioned his fellow billionaires.

Abby Beauregard, chair of the Finance Committee for Democratic Socialists in New York, commented, “Leftists now have a real appetite.” She noted that Mamdani’s victory has invigorated the dating scene in the city. “Finding explicit leftist dating spaces is quite challenging. Most apps cater to liberals, with no options for more left-leaning views (e.g., far-right or communist).”

Therefore, leftist singles seek more transparent ways to express their politics in like-minded romantic matches, be it on Hinge or other platforms.




“The app now allows people to express pride in their communist and leftist beliefs,” says Caroline, 38, a Queens resident. Photo: Oatawa/Getty Images/Istockphoto

I transformed my dating profile into a minimal manifesto, articulating my entire belief system in response to the app’s prompts. It’s common for users to employ watermelon emojis as symbols of solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Some warn TERFs (an exclusive radical feminist acronym), police officers, or Donald Trump supporters to swipe left.

“Seeing those symbols matters to me,” stated Caroline, a 38-year-old florist from Queens. (She remains anonymous for privacy reasons.) “There’s a certain charm in apps where individuals openly identify as communists and leftists.”

However, she is cautious about those who excessively display their leftist views. “Too much leftism can come off as trying too hard,” she observed. “It feels performative if you’re centrist just looking to attract alt-girls or those from Bushwick.”

Unlike Hinge, Tinder and OK Cupid enable users to personalize their bios and decide whether to disclose their political affiliations. Ahead of the 2024 election, Tinder has even introduced profile “stickers” that allow users to express strong political beliefs, such as support for “reproductive rights.”

Caroline, who uses Feeld, framed her profile cautiously as “left-leaning,” saying that’s sufficient for her. “I say, ‘I love the vaccine!’ and follow it up with ‘Free Palestine!’ or ‘Screw Trump!’ It’s all implied.”

Dennis Murbena identifies as “very left-leaning” but previously categorized himself as a liberal, keeping his political affiliation concealed on Hinge.

“In light of Trump’s resurgence over the past two years, addressing political views is crucial,” said Murbena, 30, who is in customer service for an automotive company. “Many gay individuals in Brooklyn are left-leaning, but I’ve also dated someone who was a member of a young Republican club in college.” That experience shifted his assumption that all shared political views.

According to NBC News, the partisan divide among Gen Z women who identify as Democrats is at its widest compared to any previous generation. Increasingly, the political beliefs of men influence their desirability as partners. While earlier generations may have shrugged off political differences in romantic pairings, a striking 60% of 18-24-year-olds consider it essential to date or marry someone who shares their political beliefs.

“Politics has become a new religion,” remarked Dr. Jess Calbino, a former sociologist at Bumble and Tinder who researches dating apps. “It’s a lens through which people understand the world and their values.”

Lily, a recently unemployed 23-year-old socialist, is hesitant about matching with someone who identifies on Hinge as “not political.” “That raises immediate concerns for me,” they stated. “As someone who is deeply affected by the ongoing issues in this country, I need assurance that a partner cares about people and their communities.”

New York has seen a surge in voters aged 25 to 34. The recent elections highlight the vibrancy of leftist politics among this demographic, outpacing other age groups in the Democratic primary. Lately, Lily has observed young people state on Hinge that they only want to date those who supported Mamdani or who are not fans of Cuomo. They’ve seen many respond to Hinge prompts about “the last time you cried?” with “when Zohran won.” (They consider those tears happy.)

However, New York isn’t a utopia for young socialists. Conservative individuals in the city are also actively seeking partners. Some have left mainstream dating apps, creating alternatives of their own. “Our dating apps are awakened,” states the description for Date Right Stuff, a platform supported by Peter Thiel. “Connect with people who aren’t upset about everything.”

In March, Date Right Stuff hosted the “Make America Hot Again” singles event at Trump Tower in New York, catering to Republicans who prefer urban life to what the app’s former chief marketing officer, Raquel Debono, referred to as “urban conservatives,” or those seeking small-town vibes.

They aren’t the only ones departing the mainstream dating scene. The impact of leftist movements on dating in New York is evident beyond just Hinge.


In early July, young individuals gathered for a “Sexy Socialist Singles” event hosted by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in New York. Attendees seeking casual connections—or as the host described, “if you want to be as fast and free as a Zohran bus”—were directed to one area of the bar, while those looking for “slow, rich-taxing relationships” were guided to another. At one point, the organizers even had the polyamorous attendees interact in a designated space upstairs.

Sven, a 25-year-old economics master’s student in Bushwick, noted that many young people view DSA as as much a social club as a platform for leftist candidates. “I saw a Reddit post stating that all of Zohran’s supporters are attractive. There are soccer leagues and book clubs; it’s an excellent opportunity to make friends.”

Meanwhile, Lauren, a video editor living in Astoria (whom Mamdani represents in the Queens district as a member of the New York assembly), was at the Monogamy Building hopeful for a flirtatious connection. “Wearing a Zohran T-shirt definitely gives off a vibe,” she said. “People do a double take, calling from across the street, expressing enthusiasm for him. It’s such a great conversation starter!”

The NYC DSA continues its “Sexy Socialist Mixer” series across neighborhoods like the Upper West Side, Bushwick, and Williamsburg, catering to both young singles and those over 30—all while singles navigate their political identities on dating apps.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Elon Musk’s Feud with Trump Mask Reveals the Consequences of Unregulated Money in Politics

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Elon Musk has remarked on the loud and public nature of money’s role in American politics, pointing out that it’s typically a quieter affair.

“Without me, Trump would lose the election, the Democrats would control the House, and Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate. That kind of dissatisfaction,” he stated on his X social media platform amid an ongoing feud with Donald Trump.

When right-wing commentator Laura Rumer mentioned Capitol Hill Republicans debating their allies in the intraparty conflict, Musk hinted at the extent of his influence. “Ah, food for thought, as they consider this: Trump has 3.5 years left as president, but I’m over 40 years old…” Musk wrote on X.

US billionaires frequently wield significant influence in politics, using their wealth to sway government actions. However, few have been as overt and impactful as Musk in the past year, demonstrating the transactions and dysfunction within US governance.

The Trump Judicial War offers a united snapshot of American politics. As the world’s richest individual, Musk has played a notable role in a new governmental initiative targeting the dismantling of unfavorable agencies after financially backing his preferred candidates.

We find ourselves amidst a clash between a billionaire president and an even wealthier Republican donor, both vying over how to reduce aid to the impoverished. As one satirical website observed: “Yeah! These billionaires are arguing over how much money they can siphon from the poor.”

Fifteen years ago, the US Supreme Court determined that corporations and outside groups could spend unlimited amounts on elections, leading to a ruling by Conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy:

Since then, it has become clear that such wealth injections are undermining democracy. Musk’s actions exemplify the already soaring levels of money’s influence in politics, with reports indicating he spent nearly $300 million to support Trump in 2024. We are now witnessing a government dominated by billionaires.

“Fifteen years post-decision, we observe the full consequences of living in a society where not just elections are for sale, but the entire government structure is for sale,” he told Bluwork earlier this year.

Musk is not alone in this arena. During election cycles, ultra-wealthy donors frequently fund candidates of their choice. This has become the standard landscape in current American politics across both parties. Bernie Sanders challenged the Democrats at last year’s convention, stating, “Billionaires in both parties cannot buy elections, even primaries.”

Earlier this year, Musk invested heavily in Wisconsin’s judicial elections but lost to a Democratic opponent. He also donated a smaller amount to Republicans seeking to oppose a judge who resisted the Trump administration. Despite an inconsistent success record, his financial threats remain significant for both parties.

However, due to his unelected status, Musk has been somewhat restricted in his ability to block Trump’s key spending bill. Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” didn’t meet Musk’s stringent expectations for budget cuts or support, and once the administration ceased to fulfill his wishes, he publicly expressed his discontent.

This reflects the volatile alliance between Trump and Musk, which began with mutual affection and a central role for billionaires during Trump’s administration. The fact that Musk has such sway over the budget process is troubling. Trump indicated that Musk was aware of the bill’s contents, suggesting that the administration sought his approval before any public fallout.

Musk has adopted a bold approach to political spending, which is rare among the ultra-wealthy, who generally let their financial contributions do the talking. A charitable expert previously noted to the Guardian that Musk’s distinctiveness lies in his “permanent discretion as a mode of political engagement.”

Now, Musk rallies his followers on X to sway Congress and halt the bill. This could prove effective as Republican lawmakers grapple with the ideological pressures of a president and a mega-donor known for his vindictive tendencies.

Within right-wing media, these conflicts have created divisions. At Breitbart, one commentator remarked that Trump “pokes a finger in the eyes of his biggest donor and it never ends well.” Another piece in American Spectator claimed Musk hadn’t picked Trump. However, the Washington Examiner praised Musk’s opposition to the bill, suggesting that Trump’s budget plan “deserves to fail.”

“I don’t care if Elon disagrees with me, but he should have voiced that a few months ago,” Trump said as he wrapped up a series of critiques targeting Musk. The president also remarked that Musk had “lost his nerve” during a recent television interview.

So far, Republican figures have rallied behind Trump, with JD Vance proclaiming, “President Trump has done more than anyone else in my lifetime to gain the movement’s trust.”

If Musk ultimately falters, he could take his wealth and seek influence elsewhere. He has floated the idea of forming a third political party, a notion that has failed in the past, but his financial clout and forceful personality might invigorate this endeavor. The Democrats already rely heavily on wealthy benefactors and would welcome a potential shift from Musk. Democratic Representative Ro Khanna proposed that the party should reach out to him.

Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley and encourages the left to embrace economic populism, faced significant backlash from his party for his comments but stood by them.

“If Biden criticized a major supporter, Trump would have embraced him the next day,” he posted on X.

Source: www.theguardian.com

If Keir Starmer Doesn’t Feel Robotic Enough, His AI Doubles Are Here to Answer Your Questions

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For those rare individuals who dream of conversing with Keir Starmer, a new AI model has arrived.

The former Chief of Staff to the Tories has developed a platform called Nostrada, designed to enable users to engage with AI representations of all 650 UK Parliament members.

Founded by Leon Emirali, who previously worked with Steve Berkeley, Nostrada is built to allow users to converse with the “digital twin” of each MP, replicating their political views and mannerisms.

This service targets diplomats, lobbyists, and the general public, helping users explore each MP’s position on various matters and find relevant colleagues.

“Politicians are never short of opinions, which provide us with ample data sources,” Emirali stated. “They have a viewpoint on everything, and the quality of an AI product relies heavily on the data it is built upon.”

The reliability of chatbots may come into question from the politicians themselves.

The Guardian challenged the digital avatars of cabinet members; most chose not to respond, while Health Secretary Wes Street’s representation voted for himself.

These models draw on a vast range of written and spoken material from politicians available online. No matter how hard you attempt to sway them, their stances won’t change. This is due to their inability to learn from new input, meaning that every interaction remains static. The Guardian aims to shed light on the nature of these AI models.

Emirali’s concept originated in 2017 when he attempted to convince conservatives to create a chatbot for then-Prime Minister Theresa May, who was nicknamed “Mabot” to provide brief overviews of key issues.

The AI is already in use among various politicians, including accounts associated with cabinet office emails as well as two distinct accounts linked to foreign embassy emails for investigating the prime minister and his cabinet. Emirali mentioned that several notable lobbying and marketing firms have utilized this technology over recent months.

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Despite the numerous applications of Nostrada, Emirali concedes that AI could be a “shortcoming” for future voters who might rely entirely on it to shape their understanding.

He remarked, “Political nuances are too intricate. AI may not be adequately comprehensive for voters to depend on fully. The hope is that for those already familiar with politics, this tool proves to be incredibly beneficial.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Trump Cabinet Refugee hails his wealthy allies Caesar and Elon | American Politics

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onOn Tuesday, just over a mile from the White House, classicist Mary Beard spoke to the audience about the Roman Emperor. “A dictator is the one who kills you when he is his most generous,” she said. “You go to dinner, you think, wow, this is amazing! But the generosity of a dictator is always fatal.”

On Wednesday, Donald Trump held his first full cabinet meeting. Some may say the mood is warm, cheerful and generous. Housing Secretary Scott Turner offered prayers, including “Thank you, President Trump.”

Was it just an accident that made the TV cameras assemble the scene as Day’s antithesis? Viewers could see Trump in the middle of the seven men in suits, then another row of seven men in suits sitting behind him. Almost all of them were white. (Yes, there were women and people of color at the meeting, but not many.)

Vice President JD Vance was present, but there was no doubt who appointed the emperor as consul. Trump invited Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who runs the so-called “Doctor of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), to speak in front of his cabinet secretary after all attending claimed to be supportive.



Wearing a black “make America great again” hat, Musk jokingly called it “humble tech support” – people laughed faithfully – and insisted that his unplanned efforts to steal the federal government’s chainsaw could save a trillion dollars and delve into the country from debt. “It’s not about options, it’s important,” he said. “If we don’t do this, America will go bankrupt.”

In theory it’s fine. But Doge, composed primarily of young male software engineers fueled by pizza and Red Bull, was a disaster. They fired people who oversee the nuclear weapons stockpile and quickly tried to rehire them, but found it difficult to contact them because they were unable to access their working email account. This claimed it saved $8 billion on a termination agreement that was actually worth just $8 million. Musk mistakenly stated that the US spent $50 million on Gazan condoms. And this week, Doge appeared this week. Doge quietly deleted the top five items from the suspected savings public book after it turned out they weren’t that kind of thing.

Musk brought similar unholy confusion to Twitter when he bought it – to the cabinet, Doge admitted to making a mistake, but that said it would fix them quickly. “For example, with USAID, one of the things we accidentally cancelled temporarily was Ebola prevention. So we quickly restored Ebola prevention, but there was no interruption.”

I don’t feel safe.

Then came the most dictatorial episode of the conference. The generous and deadly Trump asked his cabinet. If so, we’ll throw him out of here. ”

For crocodiles? Or through a high window, in favor of his fellow Vladimir Putin? There was a nervous laugh and applause from this fawn, flattering, this reunion.

Winning, the President assured reporters: “They have a lot of respect for Elon, he does this, and a bit opposed to some, but I think most of the time everyone is happy – I think they’re excited.”

Games respect the game. A boy who is a fan of the far-right movements across Europe, Musk showed an impressive instinctive sense of totalitarianism.

He states: This is an incredible group of people. I don’t think we’ve ever had such a talented team. I think it’s literally the best cabinet this country has ever had…”

Then came the slips that spoke from the wealthiest man in the world. [sic] We should be very grateful to the people in this room. ”

The cabinet that Musk lavished with such praise include Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host, accused of sexual assault and alcohol abuse, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine conspiracy theorist who once abandoned a bear cub who died in New York’s Central Park. Less than Marvel’s Avengers Star Wars Cantina.

Kennedy was asked by a reporter about the outbreak of measles in Texas, where a child was reportedly killed. His inactive response: “That’s not uncommon. There’s an outbreak of measles every year.”



The entire conference worshiped authoritarianism and was another sorry to normalize bullies. Musk tried to protect government officials from emails they sent to government employees and asked them what they did last week. It’s not a “performance review,” but a “pulse check review” because some people on the government’s salary are dead.

Trump concluded the meeting with the observation that “the country is bloated, fat, disgusting, incompetent.”

Still as John Stewart It’s been attracting attention this week At Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Doge will not build fighter jets that will soon become obsolete on subsidies given to oil and gas companies, loopholes for hedge funds worth $1.3 billion a year, or $20 subsidies given to defense contractors. “This is the real place for money,” Stewart said.

Even a functioning democracy did not do much about them. Therefore, he wants a country run by aspiring Caesar and his fellow oligarchs.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Elon Musk and the astronaut lamented how politics hindered space flights

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Musk referred to Mogensen as an “idiot” and used a light pejorative term that escalated quickly.

“SpaceX could have brought them back a few months ago.” The tweet was posted. “I presented this directly to the Biden administration, and they rejected it. The return was delayed for political reasons. Idiot.”

Mogensen, who shuttled between the space station on a SpaceX rocket and capsule, replied 13 minutes later, acknowledging Musk’s earlier praise for his work with SpaceX.

“Like me, you know that Butch and Suni are back with Crew-9, just like me, as planned since September last year.” He mentioned in another tweet about NASA’s plan to bring Willmore and Williams back to Earth alongside two current space station crews. “Even now, you haven’t sent a rescue ship to bring them back. They’ve returned to the Dragon Capsules they’ve been working on with the ISS since September last year.”

Mogensen was the commander of the Space Station from September 2023 to March 2024, continuing to be stationed at his recent orbital post.

Neither the White House nor NASA immediately responded to requests for comment.

Former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who led the space station in 2013, also reiterated his initial comment on X on February 14th.

“Suni and Butch have never been ‘stuck’ in space,” Hadfield stated. “They are well-prepared and dedicated to their missions, like all professional astronauts. Leading the Space Station Commander is Suni, and they are onboard spacecraft working diligently on behalf of NASA and all their partners. I commend their dedication.”

Spatt’s role as one of Trump’s top political advisers has raised new questions about his tendency to disseminate false and misleading information. Musk has also recently spread several misleading claims regarding fraud and spending within the US government.

Wilmore and Williams were launched on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in June 2024 to the International Space Station, intending to spend about a week as part of their test flight.

However, the capsule encountered several issues and was forced to prolong its stay at the space station. Ultimately, NASA decided to return the Starliner to Earth in September.

Elon Musk in Washington on February 13th.
Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Under the Biden administration, NASA has requested SpaceX to bring Willmore and Williams back to Earth. Their return, initially set for this month, was postponed to late March. NASA cited the need to “finalize” the new SpaceX spacecraft that will transport four new crews to the space station.

This flight, called Crew-10, is scheduled to carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers, Russian astronaut Kiril Peskov, and Japanese astronaut Onishi to the space station.

Upon their arrival, Wilmore and Williams will depart the station in another Dragon capsule, alongside NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian astronaut Alexander Golbunov.

Typically, incoming crews overlap with outgoing ones during handover periods, allowing astronauts to exchange information about ongoing experiments, maintenance tasks, and other protocols.

Musk also reiterated on Thursday. He suggested that the space station should be deorbited, proposing a timeline of two years instead of NASA’s plan to deorbit the facility by 2030.

“It has served its purpose. There are limited further utilities,” he stated. “Let’s aim for Mars.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Nick Clegg’s exit signals the dawn of a new era in Meta Politics

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Hello. Welcome to TechScape. Happy new year! Headaches are less common in dry January. Today’s highlights from TechScape include Meta’s promotion of a Trumpian bulldog, TikTok facing challenges beyond bans, Meta receiving backlash over AI, and Elon Musk’s foreign involvement.

Former British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has resigned from Meta after six years as head of international affairs. He played a role in bridging technology and politics, earning approximately $19 million during his tenure.

Clegg, a centrist, may return to British politics following his party’s success in the last election. His departure marks a shift towards more partisan times at Meta under new appointee Joel Kaplan.

Meta’s approach to AI integration has faced criticism, with the company recently removing AI-powered profiles following negative feedback. Elon Musk’s political involvement extends to international affairs, with interests in Germany, France, and Canada.

TikTok faces second war in US: child exploitation lawsuit

Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters

TikTok faces legal challenges in the US over child exploitation allegations, with multiple states suing the app. Concerns have been raised about misuse of its livestreaming feature to harm children.

Meta’s AI strategy has stirred controversy, particularly with its AI-generated profiles causing backlash. The company plans to introduce more AI characters despite previous issues.

Elon Musk intervenes overseas

Photo: Argi February Sugita/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Elon Musk’s political influence extends across multiple countries, including Germany, France, and Canada. His support of far-right parties and involvement in international affairs has raised concerns about interference in elections.

Musk’s recent actions suggest a deepening involvement in Canadian politics, aligning himself with conservative figures and advocating for specific political initiatives.

Wider TechScape

Source: www.theguardian.com

Elon Musk’s Influence on British Politics: How Farage’s Support with Funding, Legal Support, or X Will Shape the Future

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Elon Musk seems to have many preferences. The world’s richest man is evangelical about electric cars, space travel, and Donald Trump. Another of his interests could have a significant impact on British politics.

The billionaire is reportedly considering paying a rumored £80m to Nigel Farage’s British Reform Party, becoming its biggest donor in history.

Musk watchers say that, like many who supported Trump’s militant brand of right-wing populism, he became radicalized by frustration with the lockdowns.


Frustrated by the damage to manufacturing at Tesla car factories, he began spending more time online and testing the limits of the misinformation rules set by Twitter, as it was then known. Ta.

Now that he helped propel Trump to the White House, he is reportedly turning his attention to Britain.

Reform officials say they have no knowledge of Mr. Musk’s spending plans, which Mr. Musk also denies. But if the Tesla and X owners back up their online criticism of Keir Starmer’s government with huge donations to the Labor opposition, it could be one of the most significant political moves of this parliament.

Within two years of acquiring Company X (formerly Twitter) in October 2022, Mr. Musk has already become a darling of the international far-right, and under the banner of free speech has previously suspended his account. Thank you for reviving it. But Musk went further, using his account to amplify the messages of far-right activist and convicted criminal Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.

By the time riots erupted in British cities this year, Mr Musk had engaged in a full-scale onslaught against the Labor government, claiming “a civil war is inevitable” and echoing that position, calling the prime minister “two-tiered”. Police reportedly treated white far-right “protesters” more harshly than minorities.

But over the weekend there were hints that Mr Musk might trade words and actions regarding the UK when the Sunday Times reported: He may be about to donate £80m He was a supporter of Nigel Farage’s British Reform Party and believed that the MP would be the next British Prime Minister.

Mr Musk denied the claims on Thursday, but Reform UK has remained noticeably silent on the matter, while Mr Farage boasted last month that he was counting on the support of his “new friend Elon” in the next general election. I was doing it. A major donor to his party even said quite bullishly to the Guardian this week: “Keep an eye on this area.”

Mr Musk’s wealth has increased by $133bn (£104.4bn) so far this year, reaching $362bn from his roughly 13% stake in Tesla and ownership in a number of companies.

The reasons behind Mr Musk’s apparent hostility towards Starmer and interest in Britain may be more complex.

Various theories about why the UK has been targeted by Mr Musk include the idea that he has come to view the UK as the epicenter of what he calls the ‘waking mind virus’. , blames Musk for his estranged daughter’s gender change. .

An even more outlandish theory, based partly on Musk’s time with X, is that Musk’s tweets in response to breaking news in the UK are a result of his tendency to stay up late in the US is.

“I don’t think you should tweet after 3am,” Musk told the BBC last year.

But one of the most obvious explanations is Musk’s own liberal, ultra-free speech vision that X is the true “town square” of the internet, and Labor’s mission to crack down on online hate speech. It is related to a clear conflict between

Mr Musk is “not accountable to anyone”, Peter Kyle, the UK science and technology secretary who is directly responsible for the government’s engagement with social media companies, complained in August. Also irritating Mr. Musk, Mr. Starmer’s current chief of staff has been involved in the creation of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which criticizes Mr. Musk for stripping away guardrails against hate speech on Twitter. This is likely a role played by Labor Party officials, including Morgan McSweeney, who is the head of the party. . In October, Musk issued a “declaration of war” on CCDH, calling it a “criminal organization” and saying he would “go after” it.

But there is no sign that holding Mr Musk to account will stop Britain’s move into right-wing politics. Beyond the near-relentless torrent of tweets, it’s even more uncertain how Mr Musk will expand his footprint in British public life.

Mr. Musk could avoid strict regulations on overseas donations by providing the funds through Company X’s British arm or by securing British citizenship. Her father, Errol, claims he is eligible because his grandmother is British.

Mr Musk may also be tempted to take further discussions with British industry and engage further with Starmer’s government.

Mr Musk was last in the spotlight in the UK last November when he attended the first AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, home of the Enigma codebreakers. People who encountered him at the Bletchley summit said he was polite, talkative, surrounded by a surprisingly minimal entourage, and appeared to handle much of the official email about the event himself.

This convinced one former government adviser that discussing AI policy was probably the best way for Labor to forge a beneficial relationship with Mr Musk. The tech mogul, who founded his own AI company xAI, has consistently warned about the dangers of unchecked technology development. Speaking at the summit, he said, “There is a greater than zero chance that AI will kill us all.”

The former adviser said the creation of the UK AI Safety Institute by Rishi Sunak’s government, then the world’s first, could carry some weight for Mr Musk.

“He cares about the safety of AI, and has done so for years. A grown-up conversation with him about the UK’s world-leading work on national security risks from AI is a good place to start.” “I think Rishi Sunak will be a good ambassador even if Starmer finds out next,” the former adviser said. Politically undesirable. “Musk doesn’t suffer fools and Sunak really knows what he knows about AI.”

Another option would be to send Mr. Kyle and National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, who were impressed with their understanding of the brief. “It would show seriousness,” the former adviser said.

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Curious about the effects of AI on government and politics? Bots hold the key

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circlehat Intention How will AI affect jobs? After “Will AI destroy humanity?”, this is the most important question about technology and it remains one that is extremely difficult to pin down, even as the frontier moves from science fiction to reality.

At one extreme there is the somewhat optimistic assertion that new technologies will simply create new jobs. At the other extreme there are fears that companies will replace their entire workforce with AI tools. The debate is often about the speed of the transition rather than the end state. A cataclysmic change that is completed in a few years is devastating to those caught in the middle, whereas a cataclysmic change that takes 20 years may be survivable.

Even the parallels with the past are not as clear-cut as we would like: the internal combustion engine eventually put an end to horse labor, but the steam engine, on the other hand, had a much bigger impact. increase Number of draft animals employed in the UK. Why? The arrival of the railways increased freight traffic in the country, but deliveries could not be completed from warehouse to doorstep. Horses were needed to do the things that steam engines could not do.

Until it isn’t.

Steam power and the internal combustion engine are examples of general-purpose technologies, breakthrough technologies that revolutionize the entire structure of society. There are not many such technologies, even if you count from writing, or even before that, from fire itself. It is pure coincidence that the initial letters of the term “Generative Pretrained Transformer” are the same, which is why GPT looks like GPT.

That’s not a job, idiot

Humans are not horses, and AI tools are not humans.

Humans are not horses [citation needed]It seems hard to believe that AI technology will be able to do everything humans can do. Becoming HumanThis is an inconveniently circular argument, but an important one: horses still race, because if you replace horses with cars, it’s no longer a horse race. [citation needed]people will still provide the services they want for one reason or another, and as culture warps around the rise of AI, some of those services will teeth You might be surprised. For example, AI in healthcare is underrated because for many people, the “human touch” is bad The problem is the doctor who worries they are judging your drinking, or the therapist who lies to you because they want you to like them.

As a result, many people like to think in terms of “tasks” rather than jobs: take a job, define it in terms of the tasks it contains, and ask whether an AI can do them. In doing so, we can identify some jobs that are at risk of being completely cannibalized, some jobs that are perfectly safe, and a large intermediate group of jobs that will be “impacted” by AI.

It’s worth pointing out an obvious fact: this approach results in a higher number of jobs that are mechanically “influenced” and a lower number of jobs that are “destroyed.” (Even the jobs most influenced by AI are likely to have some tasks that the AI ​​finds difficult.) That may be why the technique was pioneered by OpenAI, who in a 2023 paper wrote: The researchers in the lab:“80% of workers are in occupations where at least 10% of the work requires a law degree, and 19% of workers are in occupations where more than half of the work requires a law degree.”

The report claimed between 15 and 86 professions were “completely at risk”, including mathematicians, legal secretaries and journalists.

I’m still here. But a year on, the idea is trending again, thanks to a paper from the Tony Blair Institute (TBI). The giant think tank, powerful and influential even before Labour’s landslide victory two weeks ago, is now seen as one of the architects of Starmerite thought. And it believes the public sector is ripe for disruption through AI. According to the TBI paper: The potential impact of AI on the public sector workforce (pdf):

More than 40% of the tasks performed by public sector workers could potentially be partially automated through a combination of AI-based software, such as machine learning models and large-scale language models, and AI-enabled hardware, ranging from AI-enabled sensors to advanced robotics.

Governments will need to invest in AI technology, upgrade data systems, train employees to use the new tools and cover the redundancy costs of early retirement – costs that are estimated to amount to £4 billion under ambitious implementation plans.That averages $1 billion a year for the term of this Congress.

Over the past few weeks TechScape has been keeping a close eye on the new Government’s approach to AI. Tomorrow, the King’s Speech is expected to announce the AI Bill, and we will hear more. The TBI paper makes one takeaway worth watching: Will investment in transformation approach £4 billion a year? There is a lot that can be done for free, but much more could be done with more money. The institute estimates that spending would return more than nine times, but a £20 billion bill would be hard to get through Parliament without question.

AI Geek

Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke at the Tony Blair Institute’s Britain’s Future conference on 9 July. Photo: Yui Mok/PA

The report drew renewed attention over the weekend as critics took issue with its methodology. From 404 Media:

The problem with this prediction is that POLITICO, Technology

Breaking down work into tasks is already done by a huge database created by the US Department of Labor. But with 20,000 such tasks, describing which ones should be exposed to AI is a daunting task. In a similar paper from OpenAI, “the authors personally labeled a large sample of tasks and DWAs, and hired experienced human annotators who reviewed the output of GPT-3, GPT-3.5, and GPT-4 as part of OpenAI’s tuning efforts,” but they also had the then-new GPT-4 perform the same tasks and found a 60-80 percent match between robots and humans.

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Source: www.theguardian.com

Exploring the impact of TikTok on the 2024 general election in UK politics

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If a week is a long time in politics, five years between elections feels like an eternity in the UK. The political landscape has changed dramatically since the Conservative Party’s landslide victory in 2019, but so has the social media landscape.

In 2019, TikTok was “the video-sharing app that became phenomenally popular among teenagers,” according to a commentator at The Guardian.

Fast forward to 2023 and an Ofcom investigation has found that: 10% of people aged 16 and over The number of people saying they get their news from TikTok is higher than BBC Radio 1 and on par with the Guardian, a significant increase from 1% in 2020 after the last election.

While some say the so-called battle over TikTok has been exaggerated, the platform’s creators are well aware that there is an audience among TikTok users, young and old, who enjoys political content.

To understand how the 2024 election unfolded on TikTok, we monitored the platform for one hour per day for a week using four separate accounts, searching for the widely used tag “#ukpolitics” as well as campaign-specific hashtags and terms.

Before we begin, a few disclaimers: No one outside TikTok knows how TikTok’s algorithm works, nor do we know whether and how the algorithm can be manipulated to promote certain content.

The platform is also notoriously difficult to measure: there’s no “most popular” section, so the sample is just a snapshot of what people saw on the site for one hour each day for one week over the duration of the campaign.

Straight TikTok: “Traditional” News for a New Audience

If you think of TikTok as all dance crazes, lip-sync challenges, and make-up artist tutorials, you’d be right – but you’ll also find some familiar faces, including BBC and ITV news anchors, LBC radio presenters, and broadcast journalists.

…

Conspiracy theorist

We found very few accounts spreading conspiracy theories, at least in the sample we collected, but they do exist.

While we do not intend to help conspiracy theorists by spreading their videos more widely on this platform, topics we saw included false claims that Labour would introduce Sharia law if it came to power.

Again, it is not known why such content was served, but AI Forensics warns that such content could be amplified by a “secret recipe” hidden in the platforms’ algorithms.

“Engagement can be both good and bad, so polarized discussions around extreme views and hate speech can drive up engagement metrics,” Romano said.

At least three accounts initially identified as containing conspiracy theories were removed during the investigation, though it is unclear whether this was of the accounts’ own volition or if they were removed by TikTok.

Source: www.theguardian.com