Author: Harris L

Republicans believe misinformation on the COVID vaccine

40% of Republicans say the COVID-19 vaccine has probably or definitely killed more people than the COVID-19 virus.

— Michael Hobbes (@michaelhobbes.bsky.social) 2025-05-20T14:51:57.712Z

Large majorities of the public are confident in the safety of vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella, the flu, and, among those ages 50 and up, pneumonia and shingles. Just over half have confidence in the safety of COVID-19 vaccines: on.kff.org/3Z2MaRG

— KFF (@kff.org) 2025-05-06T19:58:04.826Z

Examples of AI hallucinations

And advice about swallowing a cat

AI-Powered Coca-Cola Ad Celebrating Authors Gets Basic Facts Wrong

Judge admits nearly being persuaded by AI hallucinations in court filing

In its official trending news section, X (formerly, Twitter) promoted a story with the headline “Iran Strikes Tel-Aviv with Heavy Missiles,” but it was fake — and it was created by X’s own AI chatbot, Grok.That was a year ago. And we thought that was bad.

— philmandelbaum.com (@philmandelbaum.bsky.social) 2025-05-15T23:55:59.559Z

I spoke to the person who AI-generated the Chicago Sun-Times reading list. Says he's very embarrassed. This was part of a generic package inserted into newspapers and other publications, so likely to run elsewhere. He didn't know it'd be in Chicago Sun-Timeswww.404media.co/chicago-sun-…

— Jason Koebler (@jasonkoebler.bsky.social) 2025-05-20T14:47:27.261Z

OMG — it's a viral/syndicated hallucination. Paging @ryancordell.org and @dasmiq.bsky.social and Viral Texts.

— Ted Underwood (@tedunderwood.me) 2025-05-20T14:27:02.514Z

AI itself is neither evil nor good. It’s a tool to use—and for some, to use against others. The peril comes when we accept information to feed our emotional reaction rather than our considered response. And that peril exists across the political spectrum. (Thread)www.axios.com/2025/05/14/m…

— Jeff Roush (@jeffroushwriting.bsky.social) 2025-05-19T00:51:15.703Z

thanks google AI

— Bill Corbett (@billcorbett.bsky.social) 2025-05-18T22:00:55.778Z

Oh, sweet merciful fire, two notes:(1) Even Latham & Watkins, ya'll.(2) The lawyer defending an AI company for using stolen IP to train their AI/LLM used the company's AI/LLM to cite check her brief, which hallucinated results.fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldoc…

— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor.bsky.social) 2025-05-15T19:49:05.202Z

This may be my new favourite hallucination. Thanks to @arynn.bsky.social for finding

— Dr Joe McIntyre (@drjoemcintyre.bsky.social) 2025-05-15T23:21:59.937Z

An AI leaderboard suggests the newest reasoning models used in chatbots are producing less accurate results because of higher hallucination rates. Experts say the problem is bigger than that

— New Scientist (@newscientist.com) 2025-05-16T09:59:13.016Z

Anthropic's lawyers take blame for AI 'hallucination' in music publishers' lawsuit reut.rs/4dhKCt0

— Reuters (@reuters.com) 2025-05-15T19:45:14.946Z

incredible: a lawyer acting for one of the world's biggest AI companies, Anthropic, had to apologise to a US court because they had cited an AI hallucination in their submission.techcrunch.com/2025/…

— CAMERON WILSON (@cameronwilson.bsky.social) 2025-05-16T00:13:47.000Z

AI will take your job as soon as it figures out what year it is

— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell.com) 2025-05-28T18:45:39.117Z

Fining Trump officials won’t work

Against a defiant White House, the courts should use this powerful tool

This Washington Post column suggests fining officials if they don’t obey the court. See my comment below. I don;t think it would work.

Why would you expect the Trump administration to obey the court and pay the fine when disobedience is what got them there in the first place? Look at Trump’s personal history. Have fines changed his disgusting behavior? If the fines are paid (which I doubt). Trump and his cabinet of billionaires will provide the money if lower officials don’t have it.

More on the brain drain caused by Trump

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com Three Yale professors who have written extensively on authoritarianism are leaving the U.S. “We’re like people on the Titanic saying our ship can’t sink,” Marci Shore said. “And what you know as a historian is that there is no such thing as a ship that can’t sink.”

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-05-14T19:03:27.758Z

In the short run, loss of America’s appeal to scientists around the world. In the medium term, economic depression. In the long term, the US reverses its development.www.statnews.com/2025/05/08/t…

— Timothy Snyder (@timothysnyder.bsky.social) 2025-05-14T15:59:17.968Z

good for europealso this is extremely small potatoes tbf

— Zander Furnas (@alexanderfurnas.com) 2025-05-12T20:37:28.064Z

The Trump administration’s slowdown in science funding has left U.S.-based scientists and researchers scrambling to find homes for promising work that could lead to medical treatments and cures.Now, many are looking abroad.

— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) 2025-05-10T00:15:04Z

I think racism is a main reason Trump won

This doesn’t get discussed much. Trump voters aren’t going to tell pollsters they are bigots. I think what’s happening is that white Christians know that they will be the minority in a few decades and they worry that minorities will treat them as badly as they have treated minorities for 400 years. (I think minorities won’t do that.

“In the 1990s, when one of his advisers mentioned a news item projecting that nonwhite people could become the majority in the United States, Mr. Trump shot back that there would be a revolution should that happen. “This isn’t going to become South Africa,’” http://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/u…

— City Nolan (@ndhapple.bsky.social) 2025-05-15T01:15:25.847Z

Sociologists are shocked, shocked.

— Benjamin Dreyer (@bcdreyer.social) 2025-05-20T03:32:06.190Z

the "multi-racial, working-class" Republican revolution has resulted in a coalition that is… 82% white

— G Elliott Morris (@gelliottmorris.com) 2025-05-20T13:27:34.810Z

shoutout to certain of my peers who called this overblown back in 2016 slate.com/news-and-pol…

— jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) 2025-05-22T00:27:21.662Z

Fraud on SSA phone claims is extremely small

Trump and Musk project – they lie all the time so they think everyone else does, too.

Turns out there ISN'T rampant Social Security fraud, but Elon's witch hunt, driven by his insane conspiracy theories, IS keeping seniors from getting their benefits as quickly as they should be.THIS is Republican governing: hunting for nonexistent fraud while breaking Social Security.

— Senator Patty Murray (@murray.senate.gov) 2025-05-15T23:14:55.366Z