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Letters to Sports: Lakers looking Smart while Luke is no fluke
Readers of the Los Angeles Times give their thoughts on the Lakers' playoff run, the Dodgers, the Kings, Olympic and World Cup tickets, and more.
James Dolan's Sphere mints cash as Vegas mega-venue tops world in ticket sales
Lyme disease cases in Michigan rise 168% over 5 years, health officials report
Cases of Lyme disease have seen a 168% increase just in the last five years, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
SF workers have weeks to claim $240 million in health funds — or the city will pocket it
The city may owe you thousands. It’s a use-it-or-lose-it situation, and the clock is ticking.
Health officials renew tick warnings as warmer weather arrives
As we get into the warmer months, health officials are renewing warnings about ticks.
Live Nation announces $30 concert deal. How to snag a ticket
The Live Nation $30 ticket promotion includes more than 4,000 shows.
Live Nation's legal woes are masking the opportunity in this entertainment stock
Justin Zacks, senior equity analyst and correspondent at CNBC, explains why Live Nation is in a position to pop as legal overhangs could be overshadowing a large growth opportunity for the live entertainment company.
Prisco's final 2026 NFL mock draft: Cardinals stick at No. 3 and take Jeremiyah Love, Giants load up defense
The first round of the NFL Draft could be wild after the Raiders take Fernando Mendoza.
LA28 outlines terms for its second Olympics ticket drop
Despite backlash over high prices and fees, LA28 says it sold more than 4 million tickets in its first ticket drop. The next sale will open in August.
This Natick athlete will study history. He's already made it on the field
Gavin Weddle is one of 16 seniors on Natick High’s baseball team, and most of them are multi-sport athletes in leadership roles.
Could Trump’s endorsement shake up GOP race to succeed Stefanik in NY-21?
Trump endorsed Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino over New York state Assemblyman Robert Smullen.
Music-based rhythm improves gait in Parkinson’s patients
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Whether it’s the simple tick of a metronome or the thumping bassline in a disco classic, not all beats are created equal. A University of…
World Cup last-minute ticket sales phase re-opens 50 days from kick-off
With 50 days remaining until the start of the 2026 World Cup, FIFA's last-minute sales phase re-opens on Wednesday with tickets for all 104 matches available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Why the Best Athletes Are Also the Biggest Quitters
Knowing when to try something new versus stick with what you’re doing is tricky. Decision scientists have advice.
Trump blasted Obama’s Iran deal. Now he faces similar tradeoffs.
As U.S. envoys pursue peace talks, the president confronts persistent sticking points: sanctions relief, enrichment limits and the risk of empowering Tehran.
I Snagged a $550 Business-Class Ticket to Italy. Then the Airline Found Out.
The Turkish Airlines deal was a mistake fare that the carrier can either honor or not. Mine was canceled.
Westfield whiskey seller to make way for indoor golf and entertainment venue
West Fork Whiskey Co. sells its hospitality and real estate assets to Stick & Hack, an indoor golf and social entertainment club in Indiana.
Ready For More | Presented by Atrium Health
The official website of Charlotte Football Club of Major League Soccer. Get the latest news, tickets, offers, player updates and more.
How to get last-minute tickets to FIFA Men’s World Cup
Grab your laptop, coffee and get ready to be patient. That is, if you want to try and secure some men's World Cup tickets Wednesday morning.
Mizzou revamps student ticket system
Mizzou Athletics announced sweeping changes to the ticket-distrubution system for students that will go into affect in the 2026-2027 school year. The department wanted to create a more just system
Delaware announces more star power for 2026 concert season
Delaware keeps stacking the concert deck for 2026 shows, announcing more big stars. Here are the new concerts that are coming and how to get tickets.
West Fork Whiskey sells Westfield venue to Stick and Hack Entertainment
Fishers-based Stick and Hack Entertainment LLC has acquired West Fork Whiskey Co.’s property in Westfield and plans to open a sports and entertainment venu at the site, the company announced Tuesday.
Steam Controller one step closer to launch after Valve teases ‘unboxing’ video with announcement pending
Another Steam Controller clue has been spotted online, as a mysterious 'unboxing' video appears on SteamDB ahead of launch.
West Fork Whiskey sells Westfield venue to Stick and Hack Entertainment
Fishers-based Stick and Hack plans to open a sports and entertainment facility at the site with two restaurants, three bars, an outdoor beer garden, and golf and racing simulators.
Yankees news: Baseball’s biggest rivalry is back
Yankees and Red Sox open three-game set; Judge as a leadoff option?; Grichuk hopes to stick around
WhatsApp tests ‘Plus’ subscription that adds stickers and more for a few bucks a month
Like Snapchat Plus, but for WhatsApp.
CTS Eventim & Stage Entertainment Extend Ticketing Partnership
CTS Eventim, and Stage Entertainment, a leading global theatre production company founded in Germany, but producing musicals across Europe, have agreed to
Dominic Fike ‘Comedy Tragedy Parody’ tour: How to secure tickets to limited U.S. run during hectic presale
After a successful performance at Coachella this month, Dominic Fike is continuing his time on the road with an intimate batch of headlining shows part of his Comedy Tragedy Parody tour.
Tickets Are On Sale For Phil Collins Tribute
The team that produced "The Simon & Garfunkel Story" and "R.E.S.P.E.C.T.–The Aretha Franklin Story" will present "The Phil Collins Story" on Sunday, October 18, at Plymouth Memorial Hall. Start time
2026 Canfield Fair entertainment lineup released
Tickets go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Friday, April 24.
2026 Canfield Fair entertainment lineup released
Tickets go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Friday, April 24.
Detroit business prepare for uptick in customers with Pistons in NBA playoff
Computer science was once a 'golden ticket' — now it's seeing the biggest enrollment drop of any major in 6 years
Nobel Prize–winning economist Simon Johnson said AI has "substantially wiped out" coding as a reliable source of opportunity.
Computer science was once a 'golden ticket' — now it's seeing the biggest enrollment drop of any major in 6 years. What students are choosing instead
Nobel Prize–winning economist Simon Johnson said AI has "substantially wiped out" coding as a reliable source of opportunity.
How much influencer earn at Coachella, the 'Influencer Olympics'
Influencers at Coachella can earn five-figure fees for promoting brands, but many are happy to trade social posts for VIP tickets and villa stays.
Crupper Wins Boathouse Row On Front End, Punches Preakness Ticket
Robert Zoellner’s homebred Crupper was prominent on the front end Saturday and won the $200,000 Boathouse Row Stakes at Oaklawn Park while earning an automatic berth in the $2-million Preakness Stakes (G1) May 16 at Laurel Park. Trained by Donnie Von Hemel and ridden by Junior Alvarado, the son of ...
Spring Cleaning: Hundreds of youths join annual spring cleanup in Oneida County
Bradley and Adey were part of a crew of nearly a dozen students from the honor societies in New Hartford High School and Strough Middle School who were out cleaning yards on Saturday. They visited two homes in Rome to rake cleaves, clear paths and pick up sticks leftover from winter — seemingly simple tasks that some seniors either can no longer do themselves or can't afford to hire a professional.
Amazon’s new Fire TV Stick HD signals the end of sideloading
Amazon is weirdly warning only some customers that they will not be able to sideload apps on the new Fire TV Stick HD.
NICK STROBEL: Artemis II crew shows a greater good
Tickets for the last show of the spring season at the William M. Thomas Planetarium, “Supervolcanoes” this Thursday, April 23, are still available through the Vallitix site.
Outdoors: Catch-and-release turkey hunting? Yes, it’s a thing
As I look back on the years that have ticked by, I realize I’ve lived through some amazing times with regards to new species moving into the valley I call
Your Spirit Airlines tickets could soon be worthless
Spirit Airlines could collapse within the next week, and that could leave thousands of people with voided tickets.
Every test at the US Army's mad science lab
As the military prepares for conflicts in harsher climates, the US Army's Natick Labs invests millions to improve what soldiers wear, eat, and carry.
Amazon won’t release Fire Sticks that support sideloading anymore
The two newest Fire Sticks block apps from outside of Amazon's store.
Gigs turns your concert history into a personal live music archive
New iPhone app Gigs uses AI to turn old tickets, screenshots, and emails into a personal concert archive with stats, memories, and more.
Amazon will ditch Android on ‘all’ future Fire TV Sticks as latest model runs Vega OS
Amazon this week launched its newest Fire TV Stick and, along with it, its second device powered by Vega OS....
Hot ticket: Rodeo kicks off and Fleet Week takes flight
Pretty Fly for a Smart Guy: Dexter Holland, lead singer of The Offspring and a molecular biologist, will headline an upcoming installment of Space Center Houston‘s Thought Leader Series.
Amazon will reportedly never release another new Android-based Fire TV Stick — It’s Vega OS only from this point on
With this week's disappointing release of the new Fire TV Stick HD, Amazon's second streaming device to run its Vega operating system, the future of Android-based Fire TVs is looking bleak.
iPhone Loyalty Hits 96.4% as Android Users Four Times More Likely to Switch
Customers are more loyal to Apple than ever, according to a smartphone loyalty survey conducted by phone trade-in site SellCell. 96.4% of customers surveyed said they planned to stick with an iPhone for their next upgrade, and 3.6% said they would choose a different brand. That's up from 91.9% in SellCell's 2021 survey and 90.5% in 2019. Android users were less loyal to their brand, and are almost 4x more likely to switch than iPhone users.
House rejects effort to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran war as GOP lawmakers stick with Trump
The House rejected a resolution Thursday requiring President Donald Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the war with Iran unless Congress authorizes military action. It was the latest such vote that fell short of passage as Republicans largely continue to support Trump's operation.
Box office powerhouse Disney to show theater owners what’s next
The Walt Disney Co. is closing out CinemaCon on Thursday in Las Vegas. The company dominated the box office in 2025 with nearly $2.5 billion in domestic ticket sales. Hits like “Lilo & Stitch,”...
Should Monopoly Verdict and Breakup Risk Require Action From Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) Investors?
In recent days, a jury found that Live Nation Entertainment and its Ticketmaster unit illegally monopolized concert ticketing, opening the door for more than 30 US states to seek remedies that could include curbing the company’s power or even forcing a breakup. This verdict introduces significant legal uncertainty around Live Nation’s vertically integrated concerts and ticketing model, potentially reshaping how major live events are promoted, ticketed, and operated across the...
Jury: Live Nation, Vegas’ top entertainment company, is a monopoly
Live Nation and its ticketing partner Ticketmaster are running an illegal monopoly, a jury in New York has ruled.
Live Nation illegally monopolized live events, jury says
Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the largest U.S. concert promoter and ticket seller, illegally monopolized the live events industry and overcharged fans, a New York federal jury concluded Wednesday.
Live Nation, Ticketmaster are a live entertainment monopoly, jury decides
A judge will now decide whether Ticketmaster and Live Nation will be split up.
Siri Engineers Sent to AI Coding Bootcamp as Apple Prepares to Deliver Siri Overhaul
Apple is sending a large portion of its Siri engineers to a multi-week bootcamp to learn to code using AI, reports The Information. Apple's decision to teach its programmers to better use AI for coding comes just two months before Apple is expected to unveil a smarter, more capable version of Siri at WWDC. While employees attend the coding bootcamp, around 60 members of the Siri development team will stick around to work on Siri, and an additional 60 will evaluate how Siri is performing.
Live Nation says ‘game is not over’ after jury finds company liable for ticketing monopoly
A federal jury in New York found Live Nation and Ticketmaster liable for monopolistic practices, in what attorneys general called a landmark victory.
Jury finds that Ticketmaster and Live Nation had an anticompetitive monopoly
The civil case accused Live Nation of using its reach to smother competition — by blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers, for example
Jury finds Live Nation, Ticketmaster operated monopoly over concert venues
A jury has found that concert giant Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had a harmful monopoly over big concert venues.
Live Nation found liable liable in antitrust trial
The Justice Department and 39 states sued Live Nation to split the entertainment giant from Ticketmaster, calling it an illegal monopoly.
What to know about United Airlines' new basic business fares
United Airlines has launched basic versions of its Polaris and Premium Plus tickets. Here's what restrictions you'll face.
When is LA28's next Olympics ticket drop, and where are $28 tickets?
The Times asked readers for their burning questions regarding the Olympics, and it’s the ticketing process that’s bringing the most heat.
The Tech Industry’s Latest Battleground Is Art-Style TV Sets
Amazon wants to capitalize on a category that Samsung pioneered. It’s also releasing a new $35 streaming stick.
Amazon’s new Fire TV Stick HD is its ‘slimmest ever’
Amazon just gave its most affordable streaming stick an upgrade.
Amazon's new Fire TV Stick HD is slimmer than ever and has no power adapter
The $35 streaming dongle is available for pre-order today.
Amazon launches its slimmest ever streaming device, the Fire TV Stick HD
The more portable HD streaming stick will be available in more than a dozen countries, starting at $34.99 in the U.S.
New Willmar entertainment venue teaming up with Rendezvous Axe Throwing
(Willmar MN-) Shining Light Entertainment at The Uptown Willmar Mall is getting closer to opening. Co-Owner Jason Miller says in addition to laser tag and mini-golf, they will be teaming up with Rendezvous Axe Throwing......Victoria Hibma of Rendezvous Axe Throwing says their location on West Litchfield Avenue is now closed and the building, which also houses an operating laundry mat, is for sale. They are in the process of moving their throwing lanes and kitchen equipment to the Shining Light location, across from Golden Ticket Cinema, in the former Chen Garden Restaurant space. Shining Light had hoped to open this past winter, but Miller now hopes to be in operation in less than 2 months......
LA Times Festival of Books: What to know about tickets, parking, speakers
Here's everything you need to know about tickets, parking and speakers ahead of the L.A. Times Festival of Books this weekend.
Train tickets to 2026 World Cup matches at MetLife Stadium could reportedly cost over $100
Z2 Entertainment Goes With Tixr For Colorado Venues, Including Boulder and Fox Theaters (Exclusive)
Ticketing platfom Tixr has partnered with Colorado independent promoter and venue owner Z2 Entertainment, a deal that includes ticketing at the Fox and
‘Don’t Let Ticks Stick’: Alexandria health officials want you to be on lookout for bloodsuckers
Alexandria Health Department officials encouraged residents to check for ticks, which can spread Lyme disease and alpha-gal syndrome if not quickly removed.
White Sox deal Lenyn Sosa to Toronto
The infielder is shipped out for a lottery ticket and loose change
Morgan Wallen’s Tuscaloosa show is this weekend: Secure last-minute ticket deals before they sell out
Country music star Morgan Wallen will be in Tuscaloosa, Alabama this weekend for the next stop on his Still The Problem North American tour. Concertgoers still looking for tickets can find limited seats available.
Fastenal CEO says business has been ‘slowly ramping up’ since last summer
Fastenal CEO Dan Florness joins 'Money Movers' to discuss an uptick in industrial production, tariff impacts, and more.
The Strokes line up band's first area headlining show in 20 years
Tickets for the band's June concert go on sale Friday.
Kustom Entertainment, Inc. Reports Significant Financial Improvements for Fiscal Year 2025 and Files Annual Report on Form 10-K
Company Highlights $11.9 Million Improvement in Net Loss, Strategic Divestiture of Non-Core Assets, and Forbes Recognition for TicketSmarter OVERLAND PARK, KS, April 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kustom Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: KUST) (“Kustom” or the “Company”), a leader in live entertainment and digital ticketing, today announced its financial results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. The Company also confirmed the filing of its Annual Report on Form 10-K with the U.S. Securities
Text2Win Tickets To The Greensboro Science Center
Text "EXPLORE" to 31403 for your chance to win a 4-pack of general admission tickets to the Greensboro Science Center! Two lucky winners will be chosen. Contest ends April 26th, 2026 at 10 AM.
Brentford to host WSL teams for World Sevens Football tournament
Brentford will host the World Sevens Football London Edition at Gtech Community Stadium, taking place from 28-30 May 2026.Bees fans can purchase tickets in an exclusive pre-sale window.In World Sevens...
What Does Artificial Intelligence Really Mean for Global Politics?
As AI increasingly plays a central role in conflict and war, experts discuss its long-term impact on global politics.
Trump says gas prices could be same or 'a little bit higher' before midterms
One of the sticking points in the negotiations held in Islamabad has been Iran's stranglehold over the Strait of Hormuz.
“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.
Local man accused in sports ticket scam
Robert Cheevers, 57, was charged with larceny over $1,200 by single scheme.
These 6 airlines offer beds in economy; tickets can cost up to $2,600
United got the coach bed idea from Air New Zealand, which debuted its famous "Skycouch" in 2011. A few other airlines have adopted their own version.
Arizona House passes bill restricting drones near large entertainment events
The bill would make it illegal to fly a drone within a mile of a ticketed entertainment event at venues with at least 1,000 people capacity.
Alamo Drafthouse showing 'The Pitt' finale free for health care workers
Ten Alamo Drafthouse locations are hosting free screenings of "The Pitt" Season 2 finale on Monday, April 13. Limited tickets are available online.
Jury starts deliberating states’ claim that Live Nation has a monopoly on concerts and ticketing
States argue Live Nation and Ticketmaster are driving up prices to see live music.
Politics Friday: High tensions at the Capitol as lawmakers tick down the to-do list
State lawmakers are back from a short break. Friday at noon, a conversation with two lawmakers about the remainder of the session, where it stands and what can get done.
Jury starts deliberating states' claim that Live Nation has a monopoly on concerts and ticketing
Jury deliberations have begun in a civil case pitting 34 states against the concert giant Live Nation Entertainment | 1080 WTIC NEWSTALK
Jury starts deliberating states' claim that Live Nation has a monopoly on concerts and ticketing
Jury deliberations have begun in a civil case pitting 34 states against the concert giant Live Nation Entertainment. The states argue that the company and its ticketing arm, Ticketmaster, are...
Picture this: A raffle offers a Picasso for 100 euros to fund Alzheimer’s research
A raffle in France offers the chance to win a Picasso portrait for a 100-euro ticket | 1010 WINS
Free Seattle art experiences? There’s a rewards app for that
With this loyalty program, local art lovers can earn free experiences like bookbinding classes, discounts on art purchases, theater tickets and other perks.
Dollywood discounts are here for the park and resorts. See who qualifies
Dolly Parton’s theme park has discount tickets and special rates for resort stays for community heroes. But the offer is only for a limited time.
Oil prices tick up amid doubt on Iran war ceasefire; Chinese factory gate costs increase for first time in four years
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Candidate security costs up in era of political violence: Research
Federal campaigns and committees have spent more than $100 million on security measures over the past decade amid an uptick in threats of political violence, including bomb threats and doxxing, acc…
Live Nation antitrust trial nears end as lawyer for 34 states labels the concerts giant a monopolist
A lawyer for states suing Live Nation Entertainment has tried to convince a jury during an antitrust trial's closing arguments that the company and its ticketing arm, Ticketmaster, are monopolizing...
Alpha-gal syndrome from Lone Star tick bites "an emerging public health concern in Massachusetts"
Weekend Entertainment | A Good Day for the Globetrotters
Tickets remain available for the Harlem Globetrotters show at Covelli Centre as part of the team's 100th anniversary tour.
Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) Is Up 7.2% After DOJ Antitrust Settlement Eases Breakup Fears – Has The Bull Case Changed?
In recent days, Live Nation Entertainment reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over an antitrust lawsuit, agreeing to divest 13 exclusive booking agreements and cap ticketing service fees at its owned amphitheaters. This resolution has eased concerns about a potential structural breakup, prompting analysts to highlight how reduced legal uncertainty may support the company’s operational plans and growth ambitions. We’ll now examine how the DOJ settlement, which removes...
World Lacrosse, Jet Set Sports form multi-year partnership
World Lacrosse and Jet Set Sports today announced a multi-year partnership that designates Jet Set Sports as the Official Ticket and Hospitality Provider of the International Federation through 2028. Under the partnership, Jet Set Sports will design, sell and deliver premium ticketing, as well as on-site ground […]
Sterling ticks higher, remains driven by Middle East developments
The pound inched higher on the dollar on Thursday and held onto the bulk of U.S.-Iran ceasefire-inspired gains the previous session, though with that deal looking fragile it failed to climb any further.