Nick Cave said something interesting last week. On this occasion, he was reacting to a question from a fan. Cave does this a lot on the Red Hand Files, his online repository where he answers any number and range of enquiries from devotees. This one was about artificial intelligence. There is an open access AI bot, ChatGPT, that some people have been playing with to see if it can create as well as a human. Mark, from Christchurch in New Zealand, fired in a load of Cave's lyrics, got a resulting set of lyrics and sent them to Cave asking for his reaction.

Fox News Flash top headlines for Oct. 31 are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com New Zealand has banned an "abhorrent" video game that the country's chief censor said glorifies the mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch that killed 51 worshipers last March, according to a report. Chief Censor David Shanks said in a statement that the creators of the game set out to "produce and sell a game designed to place the player in the role of a white supremacist terrorist killer." He classified the game as objectionable, adding that in the game "anyone who isn't a white heterosexual male is a target for simply existing," Reuters reported.

But it also provides "live video broadcasting of brutal killings", he continued, citing the recent attack in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, where dozens of Muslim worshippers were killed by a self-avowed white supremacist. "This is done in order to spread fear and split society", maintained the UNOCT chief, warning of more serious developments, such as attempts by terrorists to create home-made biological weapons. He pointed out that terrorists have the capacity to use drones to deliver chemical, biological or radiological materials, which Mr. Voronkov said, "are even hard to imagine." But the international community is "not sitting idly by", he stressed, noting that developments in this area allow the processing and identification of key information, which can counter terrorist operations with lightning speed. "The Internet content of terrorists is detected and deleted faster than ever", elaborated the UNOCT chief.

The rise in online hate speech and the way it is reflected in the offline world is a hot topic in politics right now. The internet has given everyone a voice, which clearly has positive implications for the way citizens can publicly challenge authority and debate issues. It's fairly commonly assumed that this form of hate speech, particularly when encountered alongside other factors such as social deprivation or mental illness, has the potential to radicalize individuals in dangerous ways, and inspire them to commit illegal and violent acts. Just as terrorist organizations like ISIS can be seen using hate speech in videos and propaganda material intended to incite violence, racist and anti-Islamic material is thought to have inspired killers like Anders Breivik, who killed 69 youths in a 2011 shooting spree, and the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting in which 51 died. So far these links between online and real-world actions, though common sense tells us they are likely to exist, have been difficult to prove scientifically.

In the fall of 2010, I traveled to New Zealand, and one of the places I visited was the small south island city of Christchurch. I was charmed by the tree-lined Avon River, the English-style cathedral in the main square, and the mountains looming in the distance. Inside the cathedral was a stack of poems with a moving message of peace. I saved one to tack on my cork board at home, where it remains to this day. Three months later I turned on the news to see the Christchurch cathedral splintered and broken, its spire crumbled to the ground.

In the fall of 2010, I traveled to New Zealand, and one of the places I visited was the small south island city of Christchurch. I was charmed by the tree-lined Avon River, the English-style cathedral in the main square, and the mountains looming in the distance. Inside the cathedral was a stack of poems with a moving message of peace. I saved one to tack on my cork board at home, where it remains to this day. Three months later I turned on the news to see the Christchurch cathedral splintered and broken, its spire crumbled to the ground.