U.S. Food and Drug Administration employees told CNN that Elsa — the AI model that’s supposed to help speed up approvals of pharmaceuticals and medical devices — isn’t working great. Instead, it cites nonexistent studies, misrepresents research, fails to access crucial documents, and wastes a bunch of their time. Not quite the “AI revolution” RFK Jr. promised.
Purportedly searching for illegal cannabis grow houses, the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD) has been tipping off police about “high” electricity usage based on smart meter readings.
The EFF is suing, saying it’s flagged Asian customers specifically, as “SMUD analysts deemed one home suspicious because it was ‘4k [kWh], Asian,’ and another suspicious because ‘multiple Asians have reported there,’” while the cops sent accusatory “nastygrams” to suspected homes in only English and Chinese. SMUD also admitted that “high” readings could come from air conditioning, electric vehicles, and even Christmas lights.
Edward “Big Balls” Coristine’s latest career moves have been shrouded in “internal miscommunication.” It appears that instead of fully resigning from the government, the DOGE-installed minion has moved on to help continue wreaking havoc at the Social Security Administration. The “special government employee” will be “focused on improving the functionality of the Social Security website,” according to a SSA spokesperson. Sources tell Wired “Big Balls” was on site at the SSA Monday, looking “nervous, almost embarrassed.” Around 70 million people receive Social Security benefits.
[nytimes.com]
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” which would ban gender-affirming care for Medicaid recipients as well as those insured under the Affordable Care Act. House Republican leadership struck the phrase “for minors” with an amendment last night. Some Democrats are pushing back. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) told The Independent, “It’s horrible, and obviously the fight doesn’t end here.”
The bill now heads to Senate.
Beyond using ChatGPT to do their homework for them, some college students are not even real, SFGATE reports. Many community colleges are being flooded with “ghost students,” or bots likely using Claude AI and Manus to enroll into courses and even complete introductory homework in order to get ahold of state financial aid. Last month, Voice of San Diego reported on colleges using AI to combat this AI fraud.
The teachers are struggling.
or stop using passwords all together. Oh, no reason.
Researchers claiming to be from the University of Zurich used bots to post 1,783 comments in the 3.8-million-member subreddit over four months, and all they got was a non-peer reviewed paper claiming their bots were more “persuasive” than humans.
Reddit users are enraged for having been subject to “psychological manipulation.”
ProPublica zooms in on DOGE cuts’ destructive effect on the collection and distribution of critical data tracking fatal shootings, sexually transmitted infections, child welfare cases, greenhouse-gas emissions, and infinitely more, resulting in a “black hole of information.”
As one dataset after another falls by the wayside, the nation’s policymakers are losing their ability to make evidence-based decisions, and the public is losing the ability to hold them accountable for their results.
