Deciding with fake images: More candidates are using AI in political ads to get your vote; NBC NEWS, October 23, 2026

Anagilmara Vílchez, NBC; Deciding with fake images: More candidates are using AI in political ads to get your vote

At least 220 ads — mostly Republican — generated or enhanced with artificial intelligence have circulated in the lead-up to the midterms, at a cost of almost $137 million.

"Evette is not the only one whose image was manipulated in the lead-up to the midterm elections. The Wesleyan Media Project, a group of experts that tracks political propaganda in campaigns, identified at least 220 ads produced or enhanced with artificial intelligence by candidates or political action committees this election cycle. They cost just under $137 million.

It’s a significant leap in the use of this technology compared to 2024, when the investment in AI was less than $50,000 during the presidential election. As of May of this year, the money spent on these AI ads was already $20 million."

What Hundreds of Focus Groups With Trump Voters Revealed; The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times, October 23, 2026

Ezra Klein

Produced by Annie Galvin and Jack McCordick

, The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times; What Hundreds of Focus Groups With Trump Voters Revealed

[Ezra Klein] "What changes in politics — or what have you watched change in politics — as it has become more, in your language here, vibe oriented?

[Sarah Longwell] "I think it’s the big difference between news seekers and news receivers.

We used to live in a world where you spent time with the news, and it was a specific time. You sat down at the breakfast table, and you read a newspaper. You watched the evening news. You made time for the news.

I just think that the news receiver means: I didn’t sit down to find something out. Information just washed over me, and there was no mechanism to verify it. I didn’t really sit and spend time with it and ask: Is this true? Does it even matter to me? It just hit me for a second.

It just flashes over them. So they wake up with an opinion without any idea of how it was formed."

A TikTok Tarot Card Reader Accused Me of Murder. My Life Turned Upside Down.; The New York Times, October 12, 2026

Rebecca Scofield, The New York Times; A TikTok Tarot Card Reader Accused Me of Murder. My Life Turned Upside Down.

"So, before you, too, are accused of murder on the internet, question the content you are consuming or creating. Ask yourself if the platforms that profit from enabling the spread of unverified information should continue to remain insulated from accountability. And remember that what seems like harmless entertainment could shape not only individual lives, but the course of history."

Trump’s AI chatbot turns on its master; The Guardian, September 30, 2026

Adam Gabbatt, The Guardian; Trump’s AI chatbot turns on its master

"Donald Trump, in a development that could almost be from a Greek tragedy, appears to have invented something that is willing to do what no one in his orbit will: tell him the truth.

The president launched America.gov on Tuesday, an AI platform which the White House says will make it easier for Americans to interact with the federal government and eventually complete services like renewing passports and enrolling in Medicare.

At the heart of the website is a chatbot. You plug in questions. It gives you answers.

Unfortunately for Trump, America.gov – which, according to the executive order he signed, is a place where Americans can “receive accurate answers” to all sorts of questions – is providing the kind of answers that he will not want to hear. It stands ready to debunk his false claims on all sorts of things, including election fraud, inflation and the impact of wind turbines on whales.

I would really recommend testing it out, as I did on Tuesday. I started off by asking Trump’s flagship product: Who won the 2020 election? Trump, famously and wrongly, argues that he did.

America.gov does not have time for such claims. “Joseph R Biden Jr won the 2020 US presidential election,” the bot said, before listing the number of electoral college votes Biden won by."

Multiple Investigations Refuted Trump’s Claims That Fraud Altered the Outcome in 2020; The New York Times, July 16, 2026

Luke Broadwater, The New York Times ; Multiple Investigations Refuted Trump’s Claims That Fraud Altered the Outcome in 2020

Dozens of investigations, audits, recounts and court proceedings examined the 2020 election. None found the widespread voter fraud that President Trump claimed tilted the vote.

"After he lost the 2020 election, President Trump and his allies promoted a series of conspiracy theories about the integrity of the vote, claiming that the election was stolen from him through widespread voter fraud.

They alleged that China hacked voting machines through thermostats. They floated the notion that Italian satellites were directed to flip votes. They accused election officials of smuggling in votes for Joseph R. Biden Jr. in suitcases.

Each of these fantastical claims was debunked.

In fact, there were dozens of investigations, audits, recounts and court proceedings at the local, state and federal levels that examined the 2020 election, which experts said may have been the most scrutinized election in U.S. history. None uncovered the extensive voter fraud that Mr. Trump alleged had tilted the outcome of the election.

The Department of Justice and Mr. Trump’s own attorney general, William P. Barr, found the claims lacking. Cybersecurity agencies declared the 2020 election the most secure in history. States undertook audits and hand recounts, with none finding what Mr. Trump was alleging."

Taylor Swift trademarking her voice and likeness points to a new legal frontier in combating AI deepfakes; The Conversation, May 28, 2026

 Daryl Lim, Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Partnerships, Penn State, The Conversation; Taylor Swift trademarking her voice and likeness points to a new legal frontier in combating AI deepfakes

"As a law professor, I was struck by Swift’s filings because they highlight a new legal frontier in artificial intelligence.

Most AI-related litigation has centered on copyright law, which protects creative works such as songs, books, photographs and recordings from being copied, distributed, adapted or publicly performed without permission.

But TAS Rights Management’s recent move involves trademark law, not copyright. The filings aren’t really about protecting Swift’s lyrics or albums. Instead, they’re about preventing AI-generated voices and images from misleading people into believing she has endorsed a product, political message or cause."

Deepfakes are testing the limits of IP law; Politico, May 21, 2026

 AARON MAK , Politico; Deepfakes are testing the limits of IP law

"Nonconsensual deepfakes have become one of the most reviled applications of AI, and Congress is now looking to use the might of intellectual property law to keep them in check.

On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers reintroduced the NO FAKES Act, which would essentially give all Americans an IP right to their voice and likeness. The act’s sponsors promote it not only as a way to protect artists and entertainers from having their creative output co-opted by AI, but as a safeguard for everyone else against pornographic deepfakes, fraudulent impersonation and a host of other ills.

NO FAKES would considerably expand the ambit of IP, which was originally aimed at incentivizing innovation and creativity. Using IP to also address issues like misinformation and sexual exploitation arguably brings this body of law into uncharted territory. Legal scholars told DFD that marshaling IP as an all-purpose shield against malicious deepfakes may have unintended consequences.

“The challenge posed by deepfakes is real, urgent and human, but not every human harm is an intellectual property harm,” said Georgetown IP law professor Madhavi Sunder. “Intellectual property can’t be everything everywhere all at once.”"

Hegseth Cites Falsehood to Defend His Firing of Senior Officers; The New York Times, April 29, 2026

 Greg Jaffe, The New York Times; Hegseth Cites Falsehood to Defend His Firing of Senior Officers

The defense secretary said at a House hearing that President Barack Obama had fired 197 generals, a figure that the Pentagon previously acknowledged was false.

"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday defended his decisions to fire or sideline nearly 30 generals and admirals over the past year with little explanation by falsely comparing his record to that of President Barack Obama.

“I would also note that under Barack Obama, 197 general officers were removed,” Mr. Hegseth said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. “So this is not something specific to this administration.”

The number Mr. Hegseth gave has no basis in fact. It originated with an unsigned 2018 editorial in Investor’s Business Daily, which cites the right-wing news site “Breitbart.com’s Facebook page” as its source.

Mr. Hegseth’s actions to fire senior military leaders are without precedent in recent decades and have come with little explanation."

Measles Is Back. What Comes Next Will Be Worse.; The New York Times, April 25, 2026

The Editorial Board, The New York Times; Measles Is Back. What Comes Next Will Be Worse

"The resurgence of measles — a terrible disease that can swell the brain and cause permanent disabilities or death — is alarming enough on its own. There have been more than 1,700 cases reported in the United States already this year, up from about 70 per year in the early 2000s. Three children died last year.

The rise of measles may also be a harbinger of something even worse, public officials say. “Measles is basically a canary in the coal mine for our entire system,” says Dr. Scott Harris, the state health officer in Alabama’s Department of Public Health. “When it surges like this, it signals that our vaccination programs are starting to fail, and that other diseases won’t be far behind.” Already, cases of whooping cough have surged, too. And after two Florida children died of Hib, a bacterial infection, epidemiologists worry that disease is resurgent.

The most maddening aspect of this situation is that it was almost certainly avoidable. It stems in large part from a yearslong scare campaign by vaccine conspiracists including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who now serves as President Trump’s secretary of health and human services."

Hundreds of Fake Pro-Trump Avatars Emerge on Social Media; The New York Times, April 17, 2026

 Tiffany Hsu, The New York Times ; Hundreds of Fake Pro-Trump Avatars Emerge on Social Media

"In the months leading up to the midterm elections, hundreds of accounts have emerged on social media featuring A.I.-generated pro-Trump influencers posting at a rapid pace about the “radical left” and “America First.” They tend to appear as ordinary — if very good-looking — men and women, gazing flirtatiously at the camera while pontificating about the war in Iran, abortion or Bad Bunny.

President Trump has reposted content from at least one of the accounts — a platinum blond avatar making unfounded claims about California’s governor.

The New York Times began tracking MAGA-boosting, A.I.-generated TikTok posts in January and discovered at least 304 accounts sharing the content, some of which have since disappeared. Researchers with the Governance and Responsible A.I. Lab at Purdue University, known as GRAIL, found another dozen accounts across TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. Eric Nelson, a special investigations analyst from Alethea, a digital threat mitigation company, identified another nine accounts on YouTube."

Cascade of A.I. Fakes About War With Iran Causes Chaos Online; The New York Times, March 13, 2026

 Stuart A. Thompson and Alexander Cardia, The New York Times; Cascade of A.I. Fakes About War With Iran Causes Chaos Online

"A torrent of fake videos and images generated by artificial intelligence have overrun social networks during the first weeks of the war in Iran.

The videos — showing huge explosions that never happened, decimated city streets that were never attacked or troops protesting the war who do not exist — have added a chaotic and confusing layer to the conflict online.

The New York Times identified over 110 unique A.I.-generated images and videos from the past two weeks about the war in the Middle East. The fakes covered every aspect of the fighting: They falsely depicted screaming Israelis cowering as explosions ripped through Tel Aviv, Iranians mourning their dead and American military vessels bombarded with missiles and torpedoes.

Collectively, they were seen millions of times online through networks like X, TikTok and Facebook, and countless more times within private messaging apps popular in the region and around the world."

The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling; The Guardian, February 13, 2026

Editorial,The Guardian; The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling

[Kip Currier: This is the "money quote" for me in this persuasive Guardian Editorial on supporting the BBC World Service:

Accurate journalism is the strongest weapon in the war of information.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/13/the-guardian-view-on-the-bbc-world-service-this-is-london-calling]

With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported

"The programmes will neither be very interesting nor very good,” said the then BBC director general John Reith, when he launched its Empire Service in December 1932. Nearly a century later, the BBC World Service, as it is now known, broadcasts in 43 languages, reaches 313 million people a week and is one of the UK’s most influential cultural assets. It is also a lifeline for millions. “Perhaps Britain’s greatest gift to the world” in the 20th century, as Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general, once put it.

But this week Tim Davie, the corporation’s director general, announced that the World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Most of its £400m budget comes from the licence fee, although the Foreign Office – which funded it entirely until 2014 – contributed £137m in the last year. The funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.

Meanwhile, Russia and China are pouring billions into state-run media. And American news organisations are crumbling under the Trump administration. Last week the Washington Post axed 300 jobs including its Ukraine reporter, and hundreds were lost at Voice of America, the closest US equivalent to the BBC, last year.

Although some question why licence-fee payers should subsidise services largely consumed abroad, it is also loved by many at home. In the small hours, it is a window on a dark world, an alternative to doomscrolling and a pushback against parochialism. Jeremy Paxman summed it up when he compared the World Service to a cords- and cardigan-wearing “ageing uncle who’s seen it all. It has a style that makes understatement seem like flamboyance”. But we should not allow this cosy, slightly fusty image to obscure its purpose.

For many it is not just life-enhancing, but life‑saving. Last month, during the internet blackout in Iran, the BBC’s Persian service provided additional radio programmes over shortwave and medium wave. Emergency services were also launched in response to conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Gaza and Sudan, and after the earthquake in Myanmar. It remains the only international news organisation still broadcasting inside Afghanistan, setting up an education programme for Afghan children in 2024.

But it has been beleaguered by cuts, closures and job losses. In 2022, radio broadcasts in 10 languages including Arabic, Persian, Chinese and Bengali were replaced by digital services, a decision criticised for disproportionately affecting women, who rely most on radios. Wherever the BBC has been forced to withdraw – for financial or political pressures – propaganda has been quick to fill the gap.

No one doubts the World Service’s value as an instrument of soft power. But, as BBC bosses argue, it is also part of our national security. Accurate journalism is the strongest weapon in the war of information. The World Service must not be allowed to stumble into decline. Mr Davie is right – if optimistic – to urge the government to back it decisively and urgently.

During the second world war, radio was “scattering human voices into the darkness of Europe”, Penelope Fitzgerald wrote in her 1980 novel Human Voices, based on her time working for the BBC. Amid the AI noise and disinformation, the World Service must be enabled to keep scattering human voices in our own dark times."