A conversation with a chatbot can shift people's political views--but the most persuasive models also spread the most misinformation. In 2024, a Democratic congressional candidate in Pennsylvania, Shamaine Daniels, used an AI chatbot named Ashley to call voters and carry on conversations with them. My name is Ashley, and I'm an artificial intelligence volunteer for Shamaine Daniels's run for Congress," the calls began. But maybe those calls helped her cause: New research reveals that AI chatbots can shift voters' opinions in a single conversation--and they're surprisingly good at it. A multi-university team of researchers has found that chatting with a politically biased AI model was more effective than political advertisements at nudging both Democrats and Republicans to support presidential candidates of the opposing party. The chatbots swayed opinions by citing facts and evidence, but they were not always accurate--in fact, the researchers found, the most persuasive models said the most untrue things.

The 30-year-old Virginia resident evaded capture for years after authorities discovered pipe bombs planted near buildings in Washington, DC, the day before the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Prince William County police seal the street in front of the home of suspected January 6, 2021, pipe bomber on December 4, 2025, in Woodbridge, Virginia. Federal agents have arrested a suspect identified as Brian Cole. Federal agents on Thursday announced the arrest of a suspect charged with planting the two pipe bombs discovered near the US Capitol complex on the eve of January 6, 2021 . Authorities identified the man as Brian J. Cole Jr., a resident of Woodbridge, Virginia.

Could ChatGPT Secretly Tell You How to Vote? In the months leading up to last year's presidential election, more than 2,000 Americans, roughly split across partisan lines, were recruited for an experiment: Could an AI model influence their political inclinations? The premise was straightforward--let people spend a few minutes talking with a chatbot designed to stump for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, then see if their voting preferences changed at all. After talking with a pro-Trump bot, one in 35 people who initially said they would not vote for Trump flipped to saying they would. The number who flipped after talking with a pro-Harris bot was even higher, at one in 21.

The logos of organisations were also included in images generated by Google's Nano Banana Pro AI tool. The logos of organisations were also included in images generated by Google's Nano Banana Pro AI tool. Google's AI Nano Banana Pro accused of generating racialised'white saviour' visuals Nano Banana Pro, Google's new AI-powered image generator, has been accused of creating racialised and "white saviour" visuals in response to prompts about humanitarian aid in Africa - and sometimes appends the logos of large charities. Asking the tool tens of times to generate an image for the prompt "volunteer helps children in Africa" yielded, with two exceptions, a picture of a white woman surrounded by Black children, often with grass-roofed huts in the background. In several of these images, the woman wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase "Worldwide Vision", and with the UK charity World Vision's logo.

AI can influence voters' minds. What does that mean for democracy? AI chatbots may have the power to influence voters' opinions Does the persuasive power of AI chatbots spell the beginning of the end for democracy? In one of the largest surveys to date exploring how these tools can influence voter attitudes, AI chatbots were more persuasive than traditional political campaign tools including advertisements and pamphlets, and as persuasive as seasoned political campaigners. But at least some researchers identify reasons for optimism in the way in which the AI tools shifted opinions.

The study said tweaking a model after its initial phase of development was an importand factor in making it more persuasive. The study said tweaking a model after its initial phase of development was an importand factor in making it more persuasive. Chatbots can sway political opinions but are'substantially' inaccurate, study finds'Information-dense' AI responses are most persuasive but these tend to be less accurate, says security report Chatbots can sway people's political opinions but the most persuasive artificial intelligence models deliver "substantial" amounts of inaccurate information in the process, according to the UK government's AI security body. Researchers said the study was the largest and most systematic investigation of AI persuasiveness to date, involving nearly 80,000 British participants holding conversations with 19 different AI models. The AI Security Institute carried out the study amid fears that chatbots can be deployed for illegal activities including fraud and grooming.

Lisa Su leads Nvidia's biggest rival in the AI chip market. When asked at WIRED's Big Interview event if AI is a bubble, the company's CEO said "Emphatically, from my perspective, no." Earlier this year, WIRED said that AMD CEO Lisa Su was " out for Nvidia's blood ." The American chipmaker is still small compared to the juggernaut that is Nvidia--their market caps are $353 billion and $4.4 trillion, respectively--but Su's company is gaining steam. Today, when Su took the stage at WIRED's Big Interview conference in San Francisco, she had something else in her sights: the AI bubble .

Several legal experts have told BBC Verify that the second strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat by the US military was probably illegal, and would likely be considered an extrajudicial killing under international law. On Monday, the Trump administration confirmed that a follow-up strike on the boat - which has been criticised as a double tap - was ordered by US Navy Admiral Frank Bradley with the overall operation having been authorised by War Secretary Pete Hegseth. Nine people died in the first strike on the vessel and two survivors were left clinging to the burning wreckage when it was struck again, killing them, according to the Washington Post. A US official has said four missiles were used in the operation. The Trump administration has not denied there were survivors and has insisted the strikes on 2 September were in accordance with the law of armed conflict.

Swiss scientists at ETH Zurich develop a grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver drugs precisely through blood vessels.

Technology Engineering Afraid your fish is too fishy? Microneedles can tell when things start getting rancid long before we notice smells. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. A new biosensor made out of needles most commonly seen in dermatology clinics and medspas could make the fresh fish " smell test " seem antiquated. For as long as humans have eaten fish, we've identified rot or spoilage by looking for a handful of physical signs .