Lost in the wild? AI could find you; Axios, August 10, 2025

• Ashley May, Axios ; Lost in the wild? AI could find you

"Hikers stranded in remote areas with no cell service or WiFi might have a new lifeline: AI.

The big picture: AI is helping some rescue teams find missing people faster by scanning satellite and drone images.

Zoom in: "AI's contribution is that it can dramatically reduce the time to process imagery and do it more accurately than humans," David Kovar, director of advocacy for NASAR and CEO of cybersecurity company URSA Inc., tells Axios.

Context: It's just one of many resources rescue teams use to help them, Kovar stresses.

AI already is eerily good at geolocating where photos are taken.

• Last month, the body of a hiker lost for nearly a year was found in Italy in a matter of hours after The National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps used AI to analyze a series of drone images.
• 
  

The intrigue: We also know when people are given the option to share their location as a safety measure, they do it.

What's next: AI agents could be trained to fly drones via an automated system. It's a theory Jan-Hendrik Ewers made the subject of his PhD at the University of Glasgow. 

• "You could have a fully automated system that monitors reports and triggers drone-based search efforts before a human has lifted a finger," Ewers tells Axios.
• 
  
• Barriers to implementing this kind of system are many: money, politics and the fact that when lives are at stake, relying on experimental AI could complicate efforts. 
• 
  

The other side: Some lost people don't want to be found. And, lost people can't consent.

• Nearly everyone will want this help, but "there will be cases where, for example, a person who is a victim of domestic violence says she's going out hiking, but she's not. She's not intending to come back," Greg Nojeim, senior counsel and director for Democracy & Technology's Security and Surveillance Project tells Axios.
• 
  

AI ethics depend on the circumstances, and who is using it, William Budington, senior staff technologist at nonprofit advocacy organization Electronic Frontier Foundation, tells Axios.

• If it's used to save lives and private data used in a rescue operation is wiped after a hiker is found, there is less of a concern, he says.
• 
  
• "But, using it to scan images or locate and surveil people, especially those that don't want to be found — either just for privacy reasons, or political dissidents, perhaps — that's a worrying possibility."

Boston Public Library aims to increase access to a vast historic archive using AI; NPR, August 11, 2025

Chloe Veltman, NPR ; Boston Public Library aims to increase access to a vast historic archive using AI

"Boston Public Library, one of the oldest and largest public library systems in the country, is launching a project this summer with OpenAI and Harvard Law School to make its trove of historically significant government documents more accessible to the public.

The documents date back to the early 1800s and include oral histories, congressional reports and surveys of different industries and communities...

Currently, members of the public who want to access these documents must show up in person. The project will enhance the metadata of each document and will enable users to search and cross-reference entire texts from anywhere in the world. 

Chapel said Boston Public Library plans to digitize 5,000 documents by the end of the year, and if all goes well, grow the project from there...

Harvard University said it could help. Researchers at the Harvard Law School Library's Institutional Data Initiative are working with libraries, museums and archives on a number of fronts, including training new AI models to help libraries enhance the searchability of their collections. 

AI companies help fund these efforts, and in return get to train their large language models on high-quality materials that are out of copyright and therefore less likely to lead to lawsuits. (Microsoft and OpenAI are among the many AI players targeted by recent copyright infringement lawsuits, in which plaintiffs such as authors claim the companies stole their works without permission.)"

Trump threatens Harvard patents worth hundreds of millions; Politico, August 8, 2025

 JUAN PEREZ JR., Politico; Trump threatens Harvard patents worth hundreds of millions

[Kip Currier: Trump's unsubstantiated and unwarranted threats to seize Harvard's patents look like another tactic out of Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban's road-to-authoritarianism break-the-universities playbook.

Stand tough, Harvard!]

[Excerpt] 

"The Trump administration is threatening the status of Harvard University’s lucrative patents as it continues to engage in hardball negotiations with the Ivy League school.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick declared Friday that the administration is launching an immediate review of the intellectual property Harvard has derived from federally funded research grants, in what amounts to yet another display of White House power over higher education institutions...

The university defended its research enterprise and denounced the Trump administration’s tactic on Friday.

“This unprecedented action is yet another retaliatory effort targeting Harvard for defending its rights and freedom,” a university spokesperson said in a statement to POLITICO. 

“We are fully committed to complying with the Bayh-Dole Act and ensuring that the public is able to access and benefit from the many innovations that arise out of federally funded research at Harvard.”

How RFK Jr. Mastered Fake Science—and Screwed Us in the Process; The Bulwark, August 10, 2025

JONATHAN COHN , The Bulwark; How RFK Jr. Mastered Fake Science—and Screwed Us in the Process

"The year is 2035 and the world is dealing with another pandemic, only this time it’s even worse. A bird flu strain has made the leap that scientists have long feared, evolving into a virus that spreads as quickly as COVID-19 but kills at a much higher rate. Businesses and schools have shut down. Economies have crashed. The infected are overwhelming hospitals.

In a virtual press conference, officials announce that there is hope, because the same kind of vaccine that got us through COVID will work this time as well. The catch is that it will take a few more months to develop and produce. And the death toll, already in the millions for the United States alone, is rising fast.

A reporter on the zoom call asks: Why will it take so long? Well, the officials explain, we had a chance about a decade ago to prepare for this by creating a ready-to-deploy vaccine platform that would have shaved months from the process. But our predecessors who were in charge back then killed the funding. So we don’t have that head start.

EVERYTHING ABOUT THE ABOVE SCENARIO is hypothetical—except the final part about the funding. That part happened last week.

On Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the Trump administration was canceling about half a billion dollars of federal contracts with companies and institutions that have been working to develop the next generation of mRNA vaccines.

MRNA stands for messenger RNA, the naturally occurring genetic material that cells use as their guide for making proteins. Vaccines with mRNA have a synthetic version of the material, with “coding” instructing cells to manufacture proteins that are part of viruses or other hostile elements, so that the body’s immune system can learn to recognize and fight them."

Digital resurrection: fascination and fear over the rise of the deathbot; The Guardian, August 10, 2025

Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian; Digital resurrection: fascination and fear over the rise of the deathbot

 "Only a few years ago, the idea of “virtual immortality” was futuristic, a techno-dream beyond the reach of ordinary people. Now, interactive avatars can be created relatively easily and cheaply, and demand looks set to grow...

“Human beings have been trying to relate to the dead ever since there were humans,” said Michael Cholbi, a professor of philosophy at the University of Edinburgh and the author of Grief: A Philosophical Guide. “We have created monuments and memorials, preserved locks of hair, reread letters. Now the question is: does AI have anything to add?”"

News Corp CEO Robert Thomson slams AI firms for stealing copyrighted material like Trump’s ‘Art of the Deal’; New York Post, August 6, 2025

 Ariel Zilber, New York Post ; News Corp CEO Robert Thomson slams AI firms for stealing copyrighted material like Trump’s ‘Art of the Deal’

"The media executive said the voracious appetite of the AI firms to train their bots on proprietary content without paying for it risks eroding America’s edge over rival nations.

“Much is made of the competition with China, but America’s advantage is ingenuity and creativity, not bits and bytes, not watts but wit,” he said.

“To undermine that comparative advantage by stripping away IP rights is to vandalize our virtuosity.”"

AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified; Ars Technica, August 8, 2025

 ASHLEY BELANGER, Ars Technica ; AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified

"AI industry groups are urging an appeals court to block what they say is the largest copyright class action ever certified. They've warned that a single lawsuit raised by three authors over Anthropic's AI training now threatens to "financially ruin" the entire AI industry if up to 7 million claimants end up joining the litigation and forcing a settlement.

Last week, Anthropic petitioned to appeal the class certification, urging the court to weigh questions that the district court judge, William Alsup, seemingly did not. Alsup allegedly failed to conduct a "rigorous analysis" of the potential class and instead based his judgment on his "50 years" of experience, Anthropic said.

If the appeals court denies the petition, Anthropic argued, the emerging company may be doomed. As Anthropic argued, it now "faces hundreds of billions of dollars in potential damages liability at trial in four months" based on a class certification rushed at "warp speed" that involves "up to seven million potential claimants, whose works span a century of publishing history," each possibly triggering a $150,000 fine.

Confronted with such extreme potential damages, Anthropic may lose its rights to raise valid defenses of its AI training, deciding it would be more prudent to settle, the company argued. And that could set an alarming precedent, considering all the other lawsuits generative AI (GenAI) companies face over training on copyrighted materials, Anthropic argued."

Scientists decry Trump energy chief’s plan to ‘update’ climate reports: ‘Exactly what Stalin did’; The Guardian, August 7, 2025

Mark Oliver , The Guardian; Scientists decry Trump energy chief’s plan to ‘update’ climate reports: ‘Exactly what Stalin did’

"The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, is facing growing criticism from scientists who say their “worst fears” were realized when Wright revealed that the Trump administration would “update” the US’s premier climate crisis reports.

Wright, a former oil and gas executive, told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins earlier this week that the administration was reviewing national climate assessment reports published by past governments.

Produced by scientists and peer-reviewed, there have been five national climate assessment (NCA) reports since 2000 and they are considered the gold standard report of global heating and its impacts on human health, agriculture, water supplies and air pollution.

“We’re reviewing them, and we will come out with updated reports on those and with comments on those reports,” said Wright, who is one of the main supporters of the administration’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda to boost fossil fuels, which are the primary cause of the climate crisis.

Wright was speaking days after his agency, the Department of Energy, produced a report claiming concern over the climate crisis was overblown. That energy department report was slammed by scientists for being a “farce” full of misinformation."

The Smithsonian Changes Its Description of Trump’s Role on Jan. 6; The New York Times, August 8, 2025

 Graham Bowley, The New York Times; The Smithsonian Changes Its Description of Trump’s Role on Jan. 6

"The Smithsonian put up new text on Friday that changed its description of President Trump’s impeachment following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol."

He could have been the GOP’s voice on crime, but his faith intervened; The Washington Post, August 7, 2025

 Emily Davies, The Washington Post; He could have been the GOP’s voice on crime, but his faith intervened

"“I want the world to know that I’ve forgiven Glynn,” Todd recalled saying to his parents, “and because of that, there have been benefits given to me.”

Incarceration, he felt, may not be the way to bring his assailant closer to God. Neal, now 44, already had served 13 years in prison after being convicted of luring two North Carolina women into prostitution in the District and repeatedly beating them when they resisted having sex with strangers, court records show. Neal, whose attorneys did not return requests for comment, was released on March 24, 2023 — the day before Todd was attacked.

“That clearly did not work,” Todd recalled telling his parents, meaning Neal’s years behind bars.

“At the same time,” he said to them, he recalled in an interview, “I also don’t want the world to misperceive forgiveness as ceding that this is okay.”"

Sued for Playing With Toys?; The New York Times, August 5, 2025

 Chantel Tattoli, The New York Times ; Sued for Playing With Toys?

"When Paul Welander, a health care worker in Britain, heard about a lawsuit that the maker of Calico Critters toys recently filed against a social media content creator, he wasn’t totally surprised.

The critters, introduced in 1985, are tiny velvety-bodied animals — rabbits, mice, moles, bears, beavers, badgers, pigs, penguins — dressed in modest clothes and sold in sets as families.

The lawsuit alleges that the creator committed copyright and trademark infringement by making videos that portray the twee toys in scandalous situations: having affairs, driving drunk, taking drugs. Videos not unlike the crassly captioned pictures of the toys, also known as Sylvanians, that Mr. Welander, 51, started sharing on social media back in 2016."

Fraudulent Scientific Papers Are Rapidly Increasing, Study Finds; The New York Times, August 4, 2025

 Carl Zimmer, The New York Times; Fraudulent Scientific Papers Are Rapidly Increasing, Study Finds

"Even as paper mills have worked to keep their efforts hidden, Dr. Abalkina has traced the output of companies in Russia, Iran and other countries, and found thousands of their papers in print. “You learn to see the patterns,” she said.

Dr. Amaral and his colleagues have now analyzed those patterns, using network theory and other statistical techniques. “We tried to give a picture of what’s below the surface,” said Reese Richardson, a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University and an author of the new study.

For their analysis, the scientists built a database of more than a million scientific papers. They searched for the papers in online forums where sleuths share duplicated images and tortured phrases, as well as the Retraction Watch Database, maintained by the Center for Scientific Integrity.

The researchers compiled a list of 30,000 papers that have either been retracted or show signs of having come from a paper mill. They discovered connections between the papers that strongly hinted that they were the product of large-scale fraud. Many of these connections linked clusters of editors and authors who often worked together.

“There are huge networks that are very densely connected, where they’re all sending their papers to one another,” Dr. Richardson said. “If that’s not collusion, I don’t know what is.”"

FACT FOCUS: RFK Jr.'s reasons for cutting mRNA vaccine not supported by evidence; AP, August 6, 2025

MELISSA GOLDIN , AP; FACT FOCUS: RFK Jr.'s reasons for cutting mRNA vaccine not supported by evidence

"Although mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. incorrectly argued they are ineffective to justify the Department of Health and Human Service’s recent decision to cancel $500 millionin government-funded research projects to develop new vaccines using the technology.

The longtime vaccine critic said in an X video posted Tuesday evening that mRNA vaccines do not adequately prevent upper respiratory infections such as COVID-19 and the flu, advocating instead for the development vaccines that use other processes.

COVID-19 is the only virus for which real-world data on mRNA vaccine effectiveness is currently available, as mRNA vaccines for other diseases, including the flu, are still under development. The two scientists whose discoveries enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 won a Nobel Prize in 2023 for their work."

What if You Can’t Believe the Official Numbers?; The New York Times, August 8, 2025

 Jeff Sommer, The New York Times; What if You Can’t Believe the Official Numbers?

"Imagine living in a country where you can’t trust the government’s numbers."

After years of lap-dog performances, Oklahoma’s Ethics Commission has finally found its bite; Oklahoma Voice, August 4, 2025

Janelle Specklein , Oklahoma Voice; After years of lap-dog performances, Oklahoma’s Ethics Commission has finally found its bite

"Hats off to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, which over the course of the past few months has seemingly transformed itself from a toothless shih tzu into an aggressive, but well-trained pitbull that’s going for the jugular.

For years, the agency and its governing board inspired about as much fear as a cute baby bunny would into the state employees, lobbyists and political candidates that they were supposed to hold accountable. 

The body had also demonstrated a propensity for secrecy, which kept the public in the dark about what they were doing. In 2023, Attorney General Gentner Drummond accused the public board of violating the state Open Meeting Act by discussing the candidate qualifications and details of the search process for their next executive director behind closed doors.

But in recent months something — or someone — has knocked the board’s rose-colored glasses askew, and politicians, lobbyists and statewide political campaigns have been in for a rude awakening. Democrats and Republicans are suddenly discovering they’re dealing with a board that has plenty of teeth and is willing to fight for Oklahomans, consequences be damned.

It’s been an inspiring sight to behold following years of lackluster performance.

In the past few months, Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters agreed to pay an $18,300 settlement in connection with an improper transfer of funds for a school board election in Jenks and a $5,000 penalty for using his state social media account for personal reasons. Shelley Zumwalt, who once served as a Cabinet secretary for Gov. Kevin Stitt, agreed to pay a $20,000 fine and not to hold any position funded with state dollars for two years to resolve an ethics case involving contracts awarded to a firm her husband worked at. The Commission entered into a settlement agreement with Rep. Ajay Pittman, D-Oklahoma City, to pay the agency $35,000 for a variety of ethics issues related spending campaign funds.

Earlier this month, the Commission disclosed that they’re planning to open another formal investigation into Pittman and will pursue the case in court after she missed payments.

They’ve also disclosed that they’re pursuing a case against the Gamefowl Commission on accusations that it violated financial disclosure rules. The group had been lobbying to reduce the penalty for cockfighting from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Oklahomans appear to finally have the type of board they’ve long deserved and hoped for since 1990 when they voted to create the Ethics Commission and enshrine it into the state’s Constitution so that lawmakers couldn’t abolish it."

‘We have to clear our names’: Venezuelan makeup artist who survived Ice detention tries to rebuild his life; The Guardian, August 4, 2025

Clavel Rangel, The Guardian ; ‘We have to clear our names’: Venezuelan makeup artist who survived Ice detention tries to rebuild his life

"Hernández, a makeup artist, was one of 251 Venezuelan men flown from Texas to the notorious Cecot maximum security prison in El Salvador as part of Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration. They endured months in a facility described as the “cemetery of the living dead” before finally being repatriated in late July, following a deal between the US and Venezuelan governments...

Life inside Cecot followed a bleak rhythm. There was no sunlight, no answers, no information. But always, there was the sound of handcuffs. “I think they used it as emotional control – that sound of the cuffs and the doors,” he recalled.

The yelling never stopped. “For everything. Because we spoke. Because we asked questions. For everything.

“If that’s how they treated us, knowing we were just migrants, I don’t even want to imagine how they treat the regular inmates – the ones who’ve actually committed crimes,” he said.

As a gay man, Hernández endured relentless harassment and taunting by the guards.

“In El Salvador, believe me, human rights don’t exist. And LGBTQ rights? Even less. People in there who belong to the community have to be brave... we carry an extra burden. It’s hard for a regular prisoner to accept that he shares a cell with someone from the community. Someone different. Someone who loves the same sex. Who sees the world differently.”"

Why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose; NPR, August 4, 2025

Rebecca Hersher, NPR ; Why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose

"The Trump administration has asked NASA employees to draw up plans to end at least two major satellite missions, according to current and former NASA staffers. If the plans are carried out, one of the missions would be permanently terminated, because the satellite would burn up in the atmosphere.

The data the two missions collect is widely used, including by scientists, oil and gas companies and farmers who need detailed information about carbon dioxide and crop health. They are the only two federal satellite missions that were designed and built specifically to monitor planet-warming greenhouse gases.

It is unclear why the Trump administration seeks to end the missions."

All Nations LibGuide: Introduction, 2025

 

All Nations LibGuide: Introduction

"Librarians will continue to ensure that everyone has equal access to information. It is one of the tenets of librarianship, and it is something that we are here to do as trusted service professionals in our communities." 
—Cindy Hohl, Dakota of the Santee Sioux Nation, American Library Association President 2024-2025

The All Nations resource guide highlights the impact of Indigenous Librarianship and the importance of serving the library and information needs of Indigenous and Native peoples. It contains information on equitable access to information, literacy, welcoming spaces, and sustainability for future generations of library staff and patrons. The collection of resources throughout the guide are primarily Indigenous-centric and includes scholarly works from allies and non-Native librarians in tribal and mainstream libraries. As sovereign nations, the guide includes references to treaties and federal and state resources. 

This introductory page features a guide on terminology, allyship, stereotypes, and land acknowledgments, as well as digital maps for use in learning and teaching and an informative video on why treaties matter."

We need a new ethics for a world of AI agents; Nature, August 4, 2025

  

Iason Gabriel, 

Geoff Keeling, 

Arianna Manzini & 

James Evans,

 Nature; We need a new ethics for a world of AI agents

"Artificial intelligence (AI) developers are shifting their focus to building agents that can operate independently, with little human intervention. To be an agent is to have the ability to perceive and act on an environment in a goal-directed and autonomous way1. For example, a digital agent could be programmed to browse the web and make online purchases on behalf of a user — comparing prices, selecting items and completing checkouts. A robot with arms could be an agent if it could pick up objects, open doors or assemble parts without being told how to do each step...

The rise of more-capable AI agents is likely to have far-reaching political, economic and social consequences. On the positive side, they could unlock economic value: the consultancy McKinsey forecasts an annual windfall from generative AI of US$2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion globally, once AI agents are widely deployed (see go.nature.com/4qeqemh). They might also serve as powerful research assistants and accelerate scientific discovery.

But AI agents also introduce risks. People need to know who is responsible for agents operating ‘in the wild’, and what happens if they make mistakes. For example, in November 2022 , an Air Canada chatbot mistakenly decided to offer a customer a discounted bereavement fare, leading to a legal dispute over whether the airline was bound by the promise. In February 2024, a tribunal ruled that it was — highlighting the liabilities that corporations could experience when handing over tasks to AI agents, and the growing need for clear rules around AI responsibility.

Here, we argue for greater engagement by scientists, scholars, engineers and policymakers with the implications of a world increasingly populated by AI agents. We explore key challenges that must be addressed to ensure that interactions between humans and agents — and among agents themselves — remain broadly beneficial."

Police nationwide are embracing a new first responder: Drones; The Washington Post, August 4, 2025

Marie-Rose Sheinerman , The Washington Post; Police nationwide are embracing a new first responder: Drones

"Law enforcement and drone industry leaders praise the technology as lifesaving, with the potential to help authorities in situations ranging from missing persons cases to active shooter incidents. But critics worry the programs encourage mass surveillance and violate the public’s privacy."

Zuckerberg fired the fact-checkers. We tested their replacement.; The Washington Post, August 4, 2025

 Geoffrey A. Fowler, The Washington Post; Zuckerberg fired the fact-checkers. We tested their replacement

"Zuckerberg fired professional fact-checkers, leaving users to fight falsehoods with community notes. As the main line of defense against hoaxes and deliberate liars exploiting our attention, community notes appear — so far — nowhere near up to the task."

Seventy Years Ago, Johnny Cash Recorded ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ and Became a Folk Hero for the Ignored and Downtrodden; Smithsonian Magazine, July 30, 2025

Raj Tawney, Smithsonian Magazine; Seventy Years Ago, Johnny Cash Recorded ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ and Became a Folk Hero for the Ignored and Downtrodden

"Throughout his five-decade career, Cash performed for thousands of incarcerated people across the country, appearing in-concert at over 30 prisons, where he’d always include “Folsom Prison Blues” in his set. By showing them his respect, the inmates often felt he was one of their own and treated him in kind. Though he’d been arrested seven times for minor offenses, some due to his struggles with substance abuse, he never served prison time. Yet somehow, he found a way to relate to and empathize with prisoners while the rest of society turned their backs on them. He even testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee on prison reform in 1972 and continued to advocate for prison conditions with six sitting presidents."

The truth hurts; The Washington Post, August 4, 2025

Michael Ramirez, The Washington Post ; The truth hurts

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/08/04/trump-bls-commissioner-firing/

Trump firing of statistics chief puts US data credibility at risk, experts warn; The Guardian, August 5, 2025

Robert Tait  , The Guardian; Trump firing of statistics chief puts US data credibility at risk, experts warn

"Donald Trump’s firing of the head of the main agency for producing jobs figures risks propelling the US into the same category as countries notorious for “cooking the books” such as Argentina and Greece, experts have warned.

Donald Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioner last Friday, after accusing her agency of “faking” the latest employment figures for “political purposes,” which showed the US economy adding a lower-than-expected 73,000 jobs in July.

The BLS, the US government official source for labor statistics since 1884, also revised down the estimates of new positions created in May and June by a combined 258,000.

Trump provided no evidence for his accusations against McEntarfer, which he reinforced in social media posts on Monday, calling the bureau’s latest reports “rigged” and concocted.

But his decision jeopardizes the US’s tradition of impartial and reliable statistic collection on which the country’s economic stability and international reputation depends, specialists have told the Guardian.

Erica Groshen, McEnterfer’s predecessor as BLS commissioner during Barack Obama’s presidency, warned earlier this year that an impending civil-servant rule change that presaged last Friday’s sacking could usher in a “politicization” of government statistical bodies – whereby experts are pressured to produce massaged numbers that fitted an incumbent president’s agenda.

She raised the specter of Greece and Argentina, where official statistics became discredited as a result of government-instigated misrepresenting of figures."

Superman’s Squirrel Scene Is Deeper Than You Think; ScreenRant, August 2, 2025

TC Phillips, ScreenRant; Superman’s Squirrel Scene Is Deeper Than You Think

r

"While test audiences may have had questions about Superman’s titular superhero performing an unexpected wildlife rescue, the DC movie’s co-composer has offered his insight into the hotly contested moment. During a recent interview following Superman’s release, James Gunn revealed that some test audiences had taken issue with David Corenswet’s Superman saving a squirrel while fighting a rampaging Kaiju.

Nonetheless, Gunn decided to keep the moment in his movie’s final edit, despite the feedback he had received and additional protests from some of his crew. Since then, the pivotal moment has become a major focus of online discussion and has even spawned a slew of memes and other viral content...

Ultimately, however, Fleming revealed that he is fond of the moment and explained how Superman’s actions are true to his character. He also suggested they were a perfect counterpoint to the more callous and careless actions of the Justice Gang. Check out his final comments below:

I kind of think the squirrel's great. To go back to the Justice Gang being a great foil for Superman, the fun of the scene is how haphazard they are versus him trying to make sure everyone is safe all the time, which is a real hallmark of his character and at the core of the creation of the character.

Over the years, DC’s Superman has been reimagined and recontextualized countless times. While the character’s previous big-screen iteration had largely centered on depicting the Last Son of Krypton as a god-like being attempting to find his place among mortals, Gunn’s version intentionally leans into the strength of his humanity, and his concern for all living creatures...

In a comic book universe already filled to bursting with metahumans parading as heroes and villains, it is Superman’s boundless empathy that truly sets him apart from his many contemporaries."