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From novices to advocates: Stanislaus County parents want more computer science classes in schools
After learning basic computer skills, a group of parents hopes their efforts will lead to increased access to computer science, which remains uneven across the state.
WhatsApp Joins Instagram in Selling New Premium Subscriptions
WhatsApp is selling a new premium subscription that includes more custom features, part of a broader effort by parent company Meta Platforms Inc. to build a revenue stream that can complement its core advertising business.
Samsung’s next pair of Galaxy Buds surface with apparent open-ear design
Samsung has a new pair of Galaxy Buds in the works, “Galaxy Buds Able,” which appear to have an open-ear...
PlayStation legend Shuhei Yoshida says Jim Ryan fired him because he didn't listen to him
Why did Sony push Shuhei Yoshida out of his role leading PlayStation's first-party games? He'd overseen some huge successes. Well, apparently, he didn't listen.
I turned bowling into a million-dollar career
Jason Belmonte says his parents opened a bowling center after a rainy day idea, setting him on a path to become a pro.
Helping young adults stay active
1 in 3 parents say their adult child is minimally active or inactive. 2 in 5 parents say lack of time gets in the way of their adult child getting enough physical activity. 3 in 4 parents have tried to encourage their adult child to be more physically active with verbal encouragement.
Campaigns raise money for and against girls' sports, parents' rights issues on Nov. ballot
We are already gearing up for a busy midterm election that will include at least two statewide issues on Washington’s ballot.Let's Go Washington collected signa
Man City v Arsenal: Team news
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola seems to have settled on a starting XI for the run-in, naming the same side that beat Chelsea last Sunday. It means full-back Nico O'Reilly is fit to start after hobbling off at Stamford Bridge with an apparent hamstring issue. There is a return to the squad for John Stones, who has not featured since 7 March in the FA Cup win over Salford.
Trump taps Texas’ top public health official as CDC chief medical officer
Jennifer Shuford, an infectious disease physician who oversaw the country’s largest measles outbreak in 30 years, is among a slate of CDC nominations with no apparent ties to the anti-vaccine movement.
Trump taps Texas’ top public health official as CDC chief medical officer
Jennifer Shuford, an infectious disease physician who oversaw the country’s largest measles outbreak in 30 years, is among a slate of CDC nominations with no apparent ties to the anti-vaccine movement.
Who Speaks for God? Darwinists Do, Apparently
Center for Science and Culture Senior Fellow Stephen Dilley explores this curious phenomenon in his talk at the 2025 Dallas Conference on Science and Faith.
Costco Is Randomly Selling Big Switch 2 Games For Just $30
Pokémon Legends Z-A and more are apparently being sold for just $30
S.F. measles case highlights risk for babies too young for vaccine
Even parents following standard measles vaccination guidance, which recommends the first shot at 12 to 15 months, may find their infants exposed to the disease as it resurges globally, experts say.
Zelda taught me the importance of play – and has helped me deal with work, parenting and grief
I initially dismissed the Wid Waker’s cartoonish visuals as juvenile. Then I fell in love with the game sense of joy and have tried to carry it into all aspects of my life
Newsom demands answers from RFK Jr. over past comments about Black children on ADHD meds being ‘re-parented’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Friday said he demands answers from Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding comments the secretary made in an interview in 2024…
Rumor: New Resident Evil Requiem music found in datamine, Mercenaries could be on the way
Fans have apparently found new music in Resident Evil Requiem's files via a datamine and the game could be getting a Mercenaries mode.
Neanderthal Babies Were Apparently Built Different and Reached Toddler Size in Only Six Months
A 50,000-year-old infant skeleton reveals our extinct cousins grew up surprisingly fast to survive
Shopping TV empire behind QVC, HSN files for bankruptcy amid mounting losses
The parent company of QVC and HSN has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a major restructuring plan to slash billions in debt. The company says it will continue normal operations with no planned layoffs.
Does your kid go nuts when you take away their screens? What to do next
Cutting your kids’ technology use sounds good — until the arguments begin. Dr. Michaeleen Doucleff walks parents through how they can achieve this “impossible” feat.
Does your kid go nuts when you take away their screens? What to do next
Cutting your kids’ technology use sounds good — until the arguments begin. Dr. Michaeleen Doucleff walks parents through how they can achieve this “impossible” feat.
QVC’s parent company files for bankruptcy
New York (CNN) — QVC, the home shopping TV network that has been a staple for almost four decades, has filed for bankruptcy.
Making Employer Health Plans More Flexible and Transparent
Innovative alternatives to traditional employer sponsored insurance are desperately needed by 180M Americans.
UCLA battling against letup in middle of spring practices
This week features spring practices six through eight, and Bob Chesney noticed a dip in energy. The difference first became apparent on Tuesday, in small but noticeable ways.
Business in style: Raksha Thiagarajan’s path to fashion
For sophomore Raksha Thiagarajan, identity has always come in layers. She was raised in St. Louis by parents who immigrated from India, so she grew up with two different cultures.
Protecting kids from deceptive and unsubstantiated health claims: the FTC’s case against TruHeight
Parents and kids (like all consumers) need clear, truthful information to make informed decisions — especially when those decisions affect their children’s health and physical safety. With that in mind, the FTC is working to protect kids and teens from deceptive health claims. Take the Agency’s recent case: the FTC charged Vanilla Chip LLC, which does business as TruHeight, with using unsubstantiated health claims and fake or incentivized reviews to market its supplements to kids, teenagers, and caregivers.
Health-E Commerce® to Demonstrate Engagement and Technology Solutions for Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRAs) at WEX® SPARK Partner Conference 2026
Health-E Commerce®, parent brand to FSA Store® and HSA Store®, announced today that it will join benefits industry leaders as a Platinum sponsor of the WEX SPARK Partner Conference 2026, a premier event for health and benefits professionals taking place April 27–29 in Orlando, FL.
Seeing women govern encourages support for women in politics – with no apparent backlash among men
After the main Namibian party started alternating candidates between men and women, female representation in the National Assembly nearly doubled.
Chargé Arnold Speech - Implementation Plan of Five-Year Health MOU - U.S. Embassy in Madagascar
Chargée d’Affaires Stephanie Arnold's Speech Discussion on the implementation plan for the five-year health Memorandum of Understanding (…) Colleagues, and honored guests, Good morning, and welcome to the United States Embassy. It is a pleasure to host you today for the second day of this important workshop to discuss the implementation of our bilateral health Memorandum of Understanding on U.S. Government health activities in Madagascar, made possible through the Trump Administration’s America First Global Health Strategy. Today’s focus— discussing a shared vision and developing a preliminary draft for the health MOU Implementation Plan and the terms of reference for the two committees that will steer its implementation—is a decisive step in moving from commitments on paper to concrete action over the next five years. On December 22, 2025, the Governments of Madagascar and the United States signed a five-year bilateral health MOU, with a financial intention of approximately 554 billion Ariary from the United States and This jointly decided MOU intends to strengthen Madagascar’s health system, support lifesaving services, and improve disease prevention and response that matter to both our countries’ health security. For the United States, this means detecting and containing infectious disease outbreaks including malaria, polio, and emerging health threats before they can reach American shores through international travel and trade, protecting American families while reducing the need for costly domestic emergency responses Yesterday, technical experts from the Ministry of Public Health and the U.S. Government worked in thematic groups to draft a preliminary Implementation Plan. Today, your task is to review the shared vision and preliminary draft MOU implementation plan, and the proposed terms of reference for the Joint Steering Committee and the Operational Committee that will guide its implementation. These committees are not just administrative structures. They are the mechanisms that will ensure clear roles and responsibilities, regular dialogue between our two governments, consistent monitoring of progress, and real accountability for the results that will directly benefit the lives of Malagasy citizens. They will also track performance against the benchmarks we have jointly established, which will guide the continuation of U.S. support over the five-year period . Continued U.S. support will be contingent on meeting these performance benchmarks. This ensures accountability to both American and Malagasy taxpayers and guarantees that our partnership delivers measurable results. America First Foreign Assistance means that U.S. support must be strategic, results-driven, and accountable to our taxpayers. It also means we aim to support greater self-reliance and reduced long-term dependence on foreign assistance, with systems that are increasingly financed and led by Madagascar itself. This approach benefits both our nations: Madagascar gains sustainable health capacity, while the United States advances our health security interests and creates opportunities for American health innovations and companies to support Madagascar’s development. In that spirit, I want to recognize the presence of the Ministry’s leadership and the technical directors and program heads responsible for surveillance, basic health services, family health, immunization, countering malaria, laboratories, medicines, and health information systems. Your leadership and technical expertise are essential if this bilateral health MOU is to translate into real and lasting improvements for people in need across the country. Let me emphasize how important collaboration is to the United States in this effort. We can bring American resources, technical expertise, and tools. But this bilateral health MOU can only succeed if it reflects Madagascar’s priorities and if Malagasy institutions lead and maintain its implementation. We see this not as a U.S. project, but as a joint framework under Malagasy leadership, with U.S. support. That is why we are genuinely pleased to host this event here at the Embassy. Opening our doors to you today symbolizes our commitment to work side by side and to remain transparent about how we use U.S. resources in support of Madagascar’s health system. In closing, thank you for your time and your partnership. We are very happy to welcome you here and proud to accompany Madagascar in this next step of implementation planning for our bilateral health MOU. I wish you a productive and focused session. The work you do today will shape how our two governments cooperate on health in the years ahead; it will influence the quality and reliability of health services that Malagasy communities receive; and, most importantly, it will help protect both our nations from infectious disease threats while building Madagascar’s capacity for long-term health system sustainability. Thank you.
Wildfire smoke lingers, prompting parent concerns on students' health
parts of horry county started this week with thick smoke because of that fireit's prompted concern from parents about sending their child to school with that sm
'Show me the money'
What happens when a former senator, a prior governor, a previous representative, and a political advocate talk about corporate money in politics? The exact scenario played out at the MSU-hosted discussion titled “Money, Transparent Elections and the Montana Experience,” at the end of last week. Audience members experienced a bipartisan glimpse into corporate influence, how it is built, spent on campaigns and challenged by voters. A candid conversation emerged between guest speakers former Montana U.S. Senator Jon Tester, former Attorney General and Governor Marc Racicot, previous state senator and representative Jeff Mangan, and political advocate Michel Beckel. The conversation between the four guests circled back to Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a landmark 2010 Supreme Court ruling allowing corporations, unions, and associations to spend unlimited amounts of money influencing elections. The decision concluded independent political spending is a form of free speech protected by the First Amendment, directly leading to the rise of massive political action committees and ‘dark money’ in U.S. elections spending. Tester was the first to address the ‘black elephant’ in the room. Responses to moderator questions are edited for clarity and brevity. “We are seeing unbelievable sums of money being put out trying to influence people on how to vote,” Tester said. “Oftentimes the truth goes out the window before the campaigning even starts.”
PETA Buys Madison Square Garden Entertainment Stock in Bid to Get Animals Out of Christmas Spectacular
PETA has just purchased stock in Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. (MSGE)—the parent company of Radio City Music Hall—and plans to use its
Youth Wellness Symposium Offers Parents Tools to Support Children’s Mental Health This Summer
Expert-led event equips parents and caregivers with tools to support youth well-being in a digital world at no cost
Planned Parenthood endorses Mills in Maine U.S. Senate race
Mills is in a three-way Democratic primary on the June 9 ballot. She faces Sullivan oyster farmer and veteran Graham Platner and former federal official David Costello of Brunswick.
HEALTH Yeah! Episode 29: When Kids Don’t Sleep: What Parents Should Know
In this podcast episode, you'll learn about sleep studies, treatment options and how poor sleep can affect behavior, weight and more.
Prince Harry says children should be an 'upgrade' of their parents as he talks mental health in Melbourne
The Duke of Sussex combines two of his passions, mental health campaigning and sport, on the second day of an Australia visit.
Suspect Was in Apparent Mental Health Crisis During Attack on Sam Altman’s House
The San Francisco Public Defender’s office said 20-year-old Daniel Moreno-Gama was in the midst of acute mental illness when he attacked the OpenAI CEO’s home and offices, and was “overcharged” by local and national authorities.
Parenting and Politics: How to Talk to Kids about War
Parenting in times of conflict is never simple. But it is also an opportunity to raise thoughtful, compassionate, and courageous children with a strong moral compass.
Icon Concerts and LiveCo Expand Live Entertainment Footprint With Appointment of Industry-Veteran Jesse Stoll to Newly Created Executive Vice President of Global Touring Role
NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 14, 2026--Icon Concerts and its rapidly growing parent company, LiveCo, creators of the precedent-setting, sold-out SoFi Stadium show with comedians Gabriel Iglesias and Jo Koy, are broadening their wide-ranging footprint with the hiring of live entertainment industry-veteran Jesse Stoll as executive vice president, global touring.
JD Vance says Trump's post of himself as Jesus was 'a joke'
Vice President JD Vance said President Trump's social media post apparently portraying himself as Jesus was "a joke."
From parent rights to school sports, the education bills that died in 2026
While lawmakers passed more than four dozen education-related bills, a long list of others did not make it to the finish line.
Children's Hospital Colorado warns parents of yearly April increase in mental health emergencies
Consumer Reports: Keeping your kids in the game
Consumer Reports has some important advice for parents on how to help prevent common and often avoidable sports injuries.
NASA science faces 'very serious threat' from new White House budget, experts say
"This is the least transparent NASA budget request I've ever seen — and I've literally looked through every single one since 1960."
Trump, 79, Raises Fresh Health Concerns After Unbelievable Mix-Up
Donald Trump’s critics are pointing to one explanation for the president’s apparent mix-up of Jesus Christ and a Red Cross doctor: cognitive decline. After the president, 79, was lambasted—including b...
Opinion: I was recruited to play a sport here, but first, my family had to pay for it
It was a hot summer day in east Long Island. Hundreds of kids and parents from across the country piled into a sports complex consisting of four adjacent turf baseball fields. The gates were manned by a brigade of staff who were commandeering the large crowd. “Are these credentials right?” they asked as they showed...
Random: Borderlands 4 Physical Switch 2 Version Apparently Surfaces In The Wild
Development on the Nintendo version was paused
Rumour: Fable Has Apparently Been Delayed Internally, But May Still Launch In 2026
"They are worried about the launch of GTA6"
Santee business owner arrested after threatening to shoot deputies
Authorities spotted Robert Sanford, 43, apparently armed with a handgun, entering his business suite on Rockville Street
Medicaid Cuts Could Force More Kids to Become Caregivers
Trump’s Medicaid cuts are expected to limit access to home care services—potentially forcing many kids to become caregivers, warns Lisa McCarty.
April baseball means snowflakes and very brave parents
Attending spring sports games in upstate New York often means cold weather. Here's how to stay warm and entertained.
Black doulas work to bridge health disparities for Black mothers
Saturday marked Global Black Doula Day and the start of Black Maternal Health Week. Pregnant and postpartum parents gathered on the West Side for a community baby shower.
Seniors: Dennis Ouellette, 80
Ontario Orchards owner not slowing down as he grows his farm market By Stefan Yablonski The seeds for Dennis Ouellette’s career path were sown when he was 6 years old — and he isn’t slowing down. “Since age 6, I grew up an agriculturalist. That is 72 years. Started out with a 37-acre farm when I bought it from my parents and built it up to almost 300 acres. Brought it back down to around 200 acres now,” he said. The location of his business was just a barn, a horse barn, he said. “In 1967, it officially became Ontario Orchards Farm Market. My wife [June] and I graduated [high school] in 1964 and three years later we became Ontario Orchards. We have been here more than 60 years,” he explained. “It is the same location. We have expanded over the years as the customers mentioned different things; we have expanded to bring in different products. “What keeps me going is I totally enjoy what I am doing. I enjoy the people that I work with. The customers are wonderful. Mostly, more important than anything, is my family — my wife, my daughters, grandchildren, son-in-law — we are still very much a family business I’m not going to retire just yet.” He also enjoys the changing seasons. “Ontario Orchards is a four-season business. There is always something new; more energy, more interest. Not only for the business but for my staff, the people that work here. Things keep changing, changing. We are always looking forward to something new and exciting,” he said. They work with quite a number of local farmers within the area and throughout the state, throughout the country and from around the world.” “We do have things from different countries around the world. But specifically, we are very excited about the local. We have an over 200-acre farm. We sell just about everything we raise on that farm right here at the farm market. For example, we press cider year-round. We make baked goods every day, year-round. We sell our apples 12 months a year.” “Today, there are so many products in Ontario Orchards that we never would have thought of in 1967,” he continued. “I attribute a lot of that to my daughters. I like the young blood and new energy. That is very crucial to a business, it keeps it vibrant.” What’s his favorite part of the job? “I don’t have a favorite part. I enjoy it all. I have a lot of intertest in other things,” he said. “I have staff that knows so much. I can go to the staff and say, ‘I don’t know what this is, you tell me what this is.’ They are so knowledgeable. It is impossible for one person to know everything in this place. In the summer, staff is about 60; in the winter about 20, 25.” He added that he plans on being around for several more years.
‘I jumped at it’: Australia’s new CDC chief on trust, misinformation and never being surprised by a health threat
Zoe Wainer’s parents started the country’s first public abortion clinic. Now she is making history too, as the inaugural head of the Australian Centre for Disease Control
“AI polls” are fake polls
A few weeks after Donald Trump’s second presidential win, I took the train up from London (where I was living at the time) to Oxford to attend a conference on polls and forecasts of the 2024 election. Most of the attendees were pollsters or academics, but I also watched presentations from Aaru and Electric Twin, two companies that do what is interchangeably called synthetic sampling, silicon sampling, or synthetic audiences. Stripped of startup jargon, that means they use large language models (LLMs) to simulate responses to public opinion polls by having AI agents take on the role of survey respondents. I had already heard of Aaru thanks to some articles with eye-catching headlines like “No people, no problem: AI chatbots predict elections better than humans” in the months leading up to Election Day. The founders were making some big, some might even say far-fetched claims, such as: “within two years, we will simulate the entire globe — from the way crops are grown in Ukraine to how that impacts production of oil in Iraq, trade through the strait of Malacca, and elections for the mayor of Baltimore.” When Semafor asked Aaru’s cofounders — Cameron Fink and Ned Koh — about my boss, they said “we respect all those who came before us.” Nate (as he so often does) shared his thoughts on Twitter: Fink and Koh were relatively good-natured about this back-and-forth when we spoke at Oxford. They even offered to mail me one of the t-shirts featuring Nate’s quote they apparently had made. I never took them up on the offer, which I now somewhat regret. These synthetic sampling companies fell off my radar for a while, but they do still exist. In fact, Aaru recently received a $1 billion valuation. Is what they’re doing anywhere close to the most important frontier in AI development? Not by a longshot, especially when Anthropic just developed a model so adept at exploiting software vulnerabilities that it’s only being released to 40 companies. Still, silicon sampling is increasingly finding its way into public polling. Axios reported in March that “a majority of people trust their own doctors and nurses” based on findings from Aaru — without mentioning that the “people” in that sentence were actually LLMs. Around the same time, the Public Sentiment Institute “boosted” their online sample of 373 real survey respondents with 114 AI agents.1 (Spoiler alert: even the co-founder of Electric Twin doesn’t think that’s a particularly defensible approach.) Polling companies like Qualtrics and Ipsos are also developing synthetic data panels. So, what should we make of these … “polls”? Let’s get one thing out of the way: whatever they are, they’re not polls in the way that term is usually defined. Subscribe You can’t replace polls with AI On one hand, using LLMs to essentially make up fake survey respondents sort of sounds like the dumbest idea ever, one that will at best imperfectly replicate real polls while introducing all sorts of biases. On the other hand, with LLMs improving at a remarkable, perhaps even alarming rate, maybe that means I’m a dinosaur at the ripe old age of 24 because I still want to rely on polls that talk to actual people. I’m not going to argue that synthetic samples are completely useless. In fact, as I’ll return to later, there is evidence that some techniques can replicate topline survey results quickly and cheaply. But the marketing from certain companies can be slightly optimistic. “No traditional poll will exist by the time the next general election occurs,” said Fink in 2024. We’re just 206 days away from the midterms, and based on the fact that I still have to collect a bunch of polls every day, I’d say he should have run that prediction by a sample of AI agents before the interview.2 To see why synthetic samples can’t replace polls, here’s a quick primer on how they work. The simplest version of these models involves taking a LLM (like ChatGPT or Claude), giving it a demographic profile (e.g., a white, college-educated woman who lives in Utah and makes $70k a year), and then asking it to respond to a survey question. You repeat that process a few thousand times using different demographic profiles and end up with a sample of synthetic survey responses. The actual models used by private companies are more sophisticated than this, usually because they incorporate more hypothesized demographic characteristics for each agent and provide them with extra information. Aaru, for example, feeds agents a diet of news and information they’d be likely to consume, while Electric Twin incorporates their customers’ proprietary data about the audience they’re trying to replicate. The way Ben Warner, the co-founder of Electric Twin, explained it to me was “we have a large amount of data on […] for instance, 5,000 people. Can we make an accurate prediction of how they would respond to another question?” Still, it should be obvious why synthetic samples can’t replace polls. Polling is fundamentally a data collection process. We might use surveys to make predictions by feeding them into election forecasts, but the main purpose of a poll isn’t prediction, it’s gathering new data about what people think and how they feel. Silicon sampling, on the other hand, produces no new data. It’s simply a model: you input LLM training data, demographic prompts, and a bunch of other information, and it spits out a prediction for what a poll would say. We love models here, but models aren’t polls. That difference is an important philosophical sticking point for most pollsters I talk to. “I think politics should stay away from [synthetic sampling], because we’re trying to […] represent the voice of the people,” said Natalie Jackson, a vice president at GQR Insights. Democratic pollster John Hagner told me: “I think I’m just incredibly skeptical of this idea. I don’t think it’s research. At that point, you’re asking the machine to tell you what you already believe.” Hagner has seen some presentations of early synthetic sampling experiments, but so far, “if it’s being used in a campaign, people are keeping it incredibly quiet.”3 But Eli, I hear you saying, aren’t polls themselves increasingly governed by modeling decisions? Indeed they are: pollsters’ choices on which sampling method to use, how to define their likely voter models, and how to weight their samples can and do lead to dramatic differences in the results they publish. Aaru even referenced these limitations in the methodology statement included with that maternal mortality “poll” — although I’m using the term “methodology statement” loosely here, because it doesn’t really explain how the model works at all. We can ignore the (frankly preposterous) implication that synthetic sampling isn’t subject to a separate set of biases. The important point is that there’s still a meaningful difference between using weighting and other statistical techniques on actual polling data and using a model to predict what a poll would say. The latter is far closer to election forecasts or techniques like MRP — potentially useful models, but not a replacement for polls.4 To be fair, other synthetic sampling companies are perfectly happy with the distinction between polls and models. Warner compared polling and synthetic sampling to different tools in a toolbox. “The mistake I think we make is we think that these new tools should either work in exactly the same way or somehow replace these old tools,” he said. “Rather than thinking of it as, okay, so we’ve always had the hammer, we’ve always had the screwdriver, now we’ve got a saw. But don’t use a saw to try [to] do the job of a hammer.” A quick comment from Nate Eli didn’t ask me for a comment — rather rude of him, don’t you think? But since I’m editing this story, I figured I’d add a few quick thoughts rather than putting words in his mouth. Beyond the frequently misleading marketing, what bothers me about the AI “poll” hype is that as AI tools make statistical inference cheaper and/or better (note that these are not synonyms) that actually increases the comparative value of collecting original data. You might be able to train a model to make a reasonable estimate of what some hard-to-reach poll respondent would say — say, a young Black man who voted for Trump. (Such a person checks a number of boxes for a voter who is usually hard to reach in surveys.) Indeed, this is closely related to what models like the Silver Bulletin forecast already do. They essentially smooth out the kinks in noisy survey data by making inferences based on past voting patterns or national polls or surveys of other states. But you don’t actually know what these voters think unless you’re reaching them directly. If there’s a shift in opinion among this subgroup, you’re not going to detect it. So if I were running a campaign, I’d invest more in going the extra mile to find a representative sample of those voters. And then I’d hire some smart quants — or Claude? — to figure out the implications for campaign strategy based on proprietary data that my competitors didn’t have access to. -Nate Silver Are these models any good? If synthetic surveys are just a new type of model, the next obvious question is whether the models are at least accurate. The answer very much depends on who you ask. On one end of the spectrum, you have the maximalist argument that synthetic sampling is more accurate than actual polls. “It’s an incredibly challenging problem to go to someone and say ‘hey, we’re going to be more accurate at predicting human behavior than you, even when you talk to your customers directly’,” Koh recently told CNBC. In his view, synthetic sampling isn’t a saw to polling’s hammer, it’s “magic.” There’s certainly evidence that synthetic samples can replicate certain survey toplines. But if Aaru does have any examples of their approach outperforming the polls, they’re keeping those to themselves.5 Aaru’s 2024 election model, for example, had Kamala Harris leading in Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on November 4th. And although they’ve since taken down their forecast page, they gave Harris a 50.5 percent chance of winning the race on November 2nd.6 After the election, Fink told Semafor he was happy enough with those results because they were “within margin of error,” a term that is completely meaningless when applied to a “sample” of AI agents. And of course, Aaru says their models have improved since 2024, so supposedly now they’d be more accurate than the polls? Still, their stronger argument is on cost: “We are significantly faster and cheaper than traditional polling, and still more accurate,” said Fink. The first two claims are undeniably true, but the third brings us to the opposite end of the spectrum. Both Jackson and Hagner are skeptical that these models are reliable for anything beyond replicating common survey toplines. “I just […] don’t think the machines are what we want when we’re looking for nuanced views. My example on this is people in Arizona and Nevada in 2024 who voted for Trump and voted for expanding abortion in their states on ballot initiatives,” said Jackson. Hagner identified another issue. Maybe the synthetic respondents, like sycophantic LLMs, are inhuman in one important way: they’re too nice. “The reports that have come through at the meetings that I’ve been at are that the early experiments on this, they cannot get respondents to be as racist or sexist or, frankly, as negative as human respondents,” he said. Academic research mostly agrees on this point. While there are some papers that show promising results when using LLMs to replicate polling data, most show that LLMs suffer from various quirks like producing too few “don’t know” responses and can seriously overpredict the favorability of politicians like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. They also seem to struggle with too little variation between demographic subgroups, so the difference in predicted opinion between Democrats and Republicans, for example, is too small. When I asked Warner about these studies, his response to these papers was that just because academics can’t get synthetic sampling to work doesn’t mean that the technique doesn’t work in general. “Actually, the argument is, okay, yours does not [work]. That does not mean […] for this complex set of machinery, which uses a lot of investment, a lot of time, a lot of money, you can’t get it to work.” Cards on the table, I’m somewhat sympathetic to this argument because academics aren’t exactly great at making election forecasts. Usually, the people with skin in the game are the most accurate. Warner’s argument is that the approach Electric Twin takes — which includes, for example, making multiple predictions for each synthetic respondent using different models and prompts and subsequently averaging those to get a final prediction in a sort of ensemble forecast — produces better results than the simpler academic models. Warner shared a comparison between his method and the method from a recent academic paper with me, and Electric Twin was indeed able to get more accurate replication. But even still, he acknowledged that synthetic sampling “is not a crystal ball.” “If you asked me, do I think using other data sources will be more accurate than asking somebody who they will vote for, I would probably say no. But if you asked me ‘would your system be useful for our turnout modeling today?’ I would say yes.” For better or worse, it looks like the method is already getting more popular in the market research world. Most of the clients Aaru touts these days are businesses like EY and McDonald’s. And AI will probably begin to pop up in other parts of the political polling process. Pollsters are already using it to code open-ended survey responses, and some firms, like YouGov, are testing using LLMs to ask survey respondents questions. More worryingly, one danger to actual polls is that AI agents can be used to infiltrate online surveys. Most online polls use various checks to prevent that from happening, but there’s conflicting evidence on how effective those filters are and how prevalent AI agents currently are in online panels. If those agents ever become impossible to detect, it might spell the end of online polling, but the solution isn’t to replace all of your respondents with ChatGPT. Silver Bulletin is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe 1 That particular poll obviously doesn’t meet Silver Bulletin standards for aggregation. But we exclude all Public Sentiment Institute polls from our averages because we classify them as an amateur polling firm. 2 You could argue that Fink meant the next presidential election, but (a) I’m also confident we’ll still have real polls in 2028 and (b) in that case he should have asked an LLM to define “general election.” 3 Quick caveat: that’s reporting from a Democratic pollster. It’s possible that Republicans are more willing to use AI in political campaigns. 4 Indeed, Silver Bulletin does not include “polls” produced by MRP in our forecasts or averages, and we think it’s extremely misleading when their practitioners describe them in a way that suggests original data had been collected among a large number of states or Congressional districts. 5 A recent report from Aaru and EY did show two examples of a synthetic estimate being closer than a survey to a real-world benchmark — but I’d take those findings with a grain of salt because the report reads more like an ad and didn’t involve any sort of prediction being made ahead of time. 6 For comparison, our odds for Harris on the same day were 48.2 percent.
Borderlands 4 Nintendo Switch 2 copies apparently spotted in the wild despite the game being put on hold indefinitely
There’s been an interesting development with the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Borderlands 4 as the game has now been spotted at retail. You may originally recall that the port was planned for release last October. However, it was delayed just a few days before release. Then in February, we heard that development had been paused. That brings us to...
Letting kids swear taught me a better way to parent
By dropping the no-swearing rule, I found a calmer, more connected home — and fewer unnecessary arguments with my kids.
Grim new economic numbers highlight how Trump is losing leverage against Iran
The week began with President Donald Trump saber-rattling like we’ve never seen before. He threatened apparent war crimes and to end a “whole civilization” if Iran didn’t meet his demands.
Parental Depression: How Does Timing Impact Mental Health in Adult Offspring?
Research from Yale Child Study Center reveals how the timing of maternal and paternal depression affects adult mental health outcomes in the next generation.
Hong Kong animal groups urge HKTVmall boycott over life science experiments
Online retailer facing major backlash after its parent company confirmed tests on pigs’ and sheep’s detached heads and limbs.
How Amazing Stories Served as the Blueprint for American Science Fiction
A century ago, at a Waukegan, Illinois boardinghouse run by his grandparents, an auburn-haired, six-year-old boy named Ray Bradbury used to search for copies of Amazing Stories left behind by the g…
Bronny James sets up father LeBron in Lakers win
Bronny James passes to parent LeBron for the first son-to-father assist in NBA history as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors.
Note to Colorado lawmakers — parents protecting kids isn’t abuse, it’s their job
By Matt Sharp and Sharon Supp During the last few years, the U.S. Supreme Court has made at least one thing clear: Colorado is consistently overreaching to apply its laws in unconstitutional ways. Colorado treated a cake artist with hostility because of his religious beliefs in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The state […]
Parents question safety, transparency in a St. Johns County youth sports organization
Trump Totally Wants to Appoint His Own Pope, Doesn’t He?
Apparently, the White House and the Vatican are feuding. The historical precedents for this kind of power struggle are so absolutely delicious.
Apple Apparently Still Undecided on iPhone 18 Pro Dynamic Island
Apple is weighing two options for the iPhone 18 Pro's Dynamic Island, and a final decision has yet to be made, according to the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station.
A more transparent, connected experience in Web of Science Research Assistant
The latest Web of Science Research Assistant update introduces a unified entry point, greater AI transparency, and new author and visualization tools that enhance the user experience.
Peoria double homicide highlights mental health system failures, advocates say
Prosecutors say Jonathan Turk’s parents tried multiple times to get him mental health treatment before their deaths.
City of Independence bans synthetic 7-OH, regulates kratom sold in businesses
The City of Independence voted to ban synthetic 7-OH and regulate its parent product, kratom, at Wednesday night's city council meeting.
What leading Planned Parenthood is like now
As the political energy around abortion rights shifts, Alexis McGill Johnson is navigating the future direction of the organization.
Trump Administration Investigating L.A. Schools’ Gender Disclosure Policies
The investigation into the nation’s second-largest school district was prompted by a lawsuit from parents who say the policies contributed to their child’s death.
Woman escapes kidnapping, drives to Polk County sheriff’s office after business owner killed
The Nebraska State Patrol has released new details as the investigation continues into an apparent murder and attempted suicide in Polk County.
FedEx Freight sets goalposts for standalone business
FedEx Freight outlined financial targets and operational initiatives ahead of a June separation from parent FedEx Corp.
Texas students urge education board to focus on inclusion over politics in social studies overhaul
Students, parents and teachers say Texas’ new social studies plan feels rushed and will exclude key perspectives and historical events.
Texas students urge education board to focus on inclusion over politics in social studies overhaul
Students, parents and teachers say Texas’ new social studies plan feels rushed and will exclude key perspectives and historical events.
Texas students urge education board to focus on inclusion over politics in social studies overhaul
Students, parents and teachers say Texas’ new social studies plan feels rushed and will exclude key perspectives and historical events.
Detroit business concerned about recent downtown teen takeover, wants parents held accountable
Parents navigate opportunities, challenges of high school sports NIL shift
Following the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s (MHSAA) decision to allow high school athletes to participate in name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities, families around the Lansing area are starting to feel the impact. While the idea of student-athletes earning money from their talents is exciting, many parents say the reality is more complicated than […]
Xtreme One Entertainment Secures Temporary Restraining Order Against Lender Williamsburg Venture Holdings, Halting Alleged Fraudulent Transfer and Sale of $XONI Stock
Emergency Court Order Requires Immediate Return of Shares by Williamsburg and Securities Intermediaries Based on Alleged Breach of Contract and Fraudulent TransferGRAND RAPIDS, Mich., April 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xtreme One Entertainment, Inc. (OTCQB: XONI), a diversified media and live-event sports company, and parent company of Xtreme Fighting Championships (XFC), today announced it was granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) based on the Company’s lawsuit that alleges fraud, breach
Democrat whose parents fled Iran moves to oust Hegseth
Democratic Rep. Ansari, daughter of Iranian immigrants, moves to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth for alleged war crimes in the Iran conflict.
Apple faces supply chain problem as MacBook Neo demand exceeds expectations
The new MacBook Neo has apparently been a smash hit, and Apple will likely talk up its success at its...
Kids will spring into science with April’s Parents’ Night Out at DHDC
From 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Friday, April 10, the Don Harrington Discovery Center is offering a chance for children ages 4-11 years old to crack into hands-on experiments while caregivers enjoy an evening to themselves.
Microsoft: Copilot AI is for 'entertainment purposes only,' not 'important advice'
The company has baked its AI assistant into everything from Word to Windows, but it's apparently only for fun.
Lawmakers seek permanent funding for referral hotlines connecting families to mental health care
A bill heard by a Rhode Island Senate panel last week would fold funding for telephone hotlines used by pediatricians and family doctors to connect kids and parents to mental health treatment hotlines into a health department program funded by insurer contributions.
Rumer Willis shares video breastfeeding her 3-year-old to clap back at critics of her parenting
Rumer Willis is clapping back at critics 'judging my parenting' by sharing a video of herself breastfeeding her 3-year-old daughter Louetta.
In a state that bans online sports betting, why is California allowing people to bet on politics?
Online sports betting is illegal in California but as of right now, it’s apparently legal for most people to bet on politics.
My fiancée and I live with my parents in a NYC apartment to save money
My parents live in a rent-controlled NYC apartment, so my fiancée and I moved in. We were able to save enough money to open an art gallery.
What the Muppets can teach us about Maine politics
For dreamers like me, the Rainbow Connection seems distant. Our political climate has abandoned what I consider the Muppet spirit: a celebration of wistfulness, a collective made strong by diversity and humble and transparent leadership. Contemporary politics has been like shadow puppets: projections designed to obscure the causes of our dysfunctional society. The Muppets offer […]
What the Muppets can teach us about Maine politics
For dreamers like me, the Rainbow Connection seems distant. Our political climate has abandoned what I consider the Muppet spirit: a celebration of wistfulness, a collective made strong by diversity and humble and transparent leadership. Contemporary politics has been like shadow puppets: projections designed to obscure the causes of our dysfunctional society. The Muppets offer […]
Take-Two lays off AI team
Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of GTA developer Rockstar Games, has reportedly laid off its AI team, includin…
Moms for Liberty wanted a seat on the school board. Trump gave them a voice in the White House
The parental rights group continues to make inroads.
Trump endorsed this MAGA congressman's twin. Will he make history?
Trever Nehls could replace his twin brother Rep. Troy Nehls, a loyalist to President Donald Trump. Can the MAGA heir apparent make history?
Are allergies genetic?
Although babies born from parents with allergies are also more likely to have them, there are a number of outside factors that affect whether and how someone develops allergies.
Thieves smash through 8-liner business wall to reach ATM after deputies' raid.
The owner of an 8-liner game room is out of luck—and apparently out a lot of money. Her business has been hit twice: Bexar County deputies shut it down last week, and then last night thieves struck. The owner tells our Pachatta Pope she didn't think she was doing anything illegal.
Game room owner says she thought business was legal following BCSO raid
Carrie Gutierrez said she was transparent from the start about her business, and said she believed it was a legal operation.
Kids, Competition & Pressure: Keeping Sports Fun
How can parents help their children enjoy the game without feeling overwhelmed?
Do your kids play sports? Here’s how to keep it fun and stress free
The American Academy of Pediatrics reports 40% to 50% of youth athletes feel stressed by sports-related expectations. So how can parents help their children enjoy the game without feeling overwhelmed?
Take-Two Has Reportedly Laid Off its AI Team, Including the Department Head
Rockstar and Grand Theft Auto parent company Take-Two Interactive has reportedly laid off its entire AI team, including the department head.
Super Mario Galaxy’s Luma Sure Sounds Like He Drops An F-Bomb
Parents were shocked to find out the cute little star boy had the mouth of a sailor
SCOTUS hears arguments on birthright citizenship
Supreme Court justices are debating whether to strip children of their American citizenship if their parents are undocumented immigrants.