SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " amen " 3,093 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Bear Bytes Initiative Supports Students’ Holistic Health
At New York Tech, leaders recognize that access to healthy food is one of the most fundamental drivers of success.
Tired of political turmoil, Bulgarians give ex-president a convincing mandate for change
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — The center-left coalition of ex-president Rumen Radev has emerged as the clear winner of Bulgaria’s parliamentary election, the country’s central electoral commission said Monday, ending half a decade of political fragmentation.
Gulf Breeze beach, boys volleyball chase district titles
Beach and boys volleyball district tournaments begin this week, with both Gulf Breeze teams eyeing district titles.
Palm Beach County high school sports schedule for April 20-25
Postseason tournaments are ramping up across Palm Beach County as the Florida spring high school sports season enters the home stretch.
Bulgaria headed for political stability as former president wins parliamentary majority
With about 130 out of 240 seats in Parliament, Rumen Radev has secured an outright majority in a country marked by deep political fragmentation in recent years. He will become the new prime minister, a position more powerful than president in Bulgaria.
Cribbage tournament April 26
A cribbage tournament and lunch will be held at the Mariaville Community Center and Grange Hall on Route 181 on Sunday, April 26, from 12-3 p.m.
Warriors' Draymond Green praises Dillon Brooks' impact on Suns this season
Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green had praise for longtime nemesis Dillon Brooks after Friday's play-in tournament loss.
Giuseppe's Mafia raises nearly $15K for autism awareness
April is Autism Awareness Month and one local, annual charity event nearly doubled last year's fundraising — the fourth annual Giuseppe's Mafia bowling tournament at King Pin Lanes in Rome raised $14,733 for Kelberman, according to organizer and mother Gina Kierpiec.
'The chances of you living 50 years are very small': Theoretical physicist explains why humanity likely won't survive to see all the forces unified
Live Science spoke with Nobel prize-winning physicist David Gross, who recently received the $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, about the quest to unite all the forces and why humanity might not live to see a unified theory.
Sports Highlights
Nathan Pai: Nathan Pai, a junior on the Lake Oswego boys golf team, broke through to finish second in the Three Rivers League tournament at Stone Creek Golf Club in […]
Gago explains his decisions at the start of the match
Fernando Gago spoke to the press after a hard-fought goalless draw against Everton, which puts Universidad de Chile’s future in the tournament at risk. One of the questions surrounding his starting...
‘More needs to be done’: Former congresswoman and survivor laments lack of protections against sexual abuse
Four UC Berkeley L&S professors win illustrious Guggenheim Fellowships
From Zora Neale Hurston to Jennifer Doudna, winners of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship are known for artistic creations, scientific discoveries and groundbreaking scholarship that fundamentally
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.
Letters to Sports: Clippers were oh so close, yet so far
Readers of the Los Angeles Times Sports section give their thoughts on the Clippers season ending, the Dodgers, Angels, Shohei Ohtani and Anze Kopitar.
Archana Puran Singh flags 13–14 hour shifts, no lunch breaks, lack of basic facilities on film sets: ‘Kanjoosi is a mentality’
The conversation around long working hours and lack of basic amenities on film sets is refusing to die down, with more actors sharing first-hand exper.
Inaugural Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic ready for kickoff
The first-ever Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic will feature eight NCAA Division I women's flag football teams in a two-day tournament starting on Saturday.
Player Grades: Magic, Banchero smash Hornets to earn playoff berth
Behind a dominant performance, the Magic defeated the Hornets in the play-in tournament on Friday to earn the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
RFK Jr clashes with Dem lawmaker over Trump’s mental fitness in heated exchange
RFK Jr. defended Trump's mental health during a tense congressional hearing, rejecting calls for a fitness assessment or invoking the 25th Amendment.
Sentinel Sports: MEHS boys basketball team's historic state tournament
March was a big month for Mt. Edgecumbe sports. The high school's boys basketball team won their first state championship, ending a 75-year history without a title.
NBA playoffs 2026: Hornets-Magic, Warriors-Suns wrap up play-in tournament Friday, seeking No. 8 seeds in East and West
How Fiesta Bowl platform adds 'instant credibility' to women’s flag football
The Fiesta Sports Foundation will host a women's college flag football tournament this weekend. CEO Erik Moses hopes it's a movement, not a moment.
21st Amendment Brewery is back in business — New School Beer + Cider
Philadelphia's Evil Genius is bringing beloved 21st Amendment beers, including Hell or High Watermelon, Brew Free! or Die IPA, and more back to its coast-to-coast distribution footprint
Democrat demands RFK Jr. insist on Trump mental fitness test, invoke 25th amendment
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) grilled Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about President Trump’s mental fitness on Friday, pressing him about some of Trump’s recent social media posts…
Amendment 53: New Opportunity: Early Career Investigator Program in Earth Science
ROSES-2025 Amendment 53 releases A.11 ECIP as a new opportunity in ROSES-25. Mandatory Notices of Intent are due by May 18, 2026, and proposals are due June 17, 2026.
Meet the women paving the way for flag football at the NCAA Power 4 level
Students at Georgia, Arizona State and USC founded their own women's flag football teams. Now, they'll play in a tournament hosted by the Fiesta Bowl.
Cyprus: Global politics felt at Candidates chess tournaments
The FIDE Candidates tournaments are two of the most important events in the chess calendar. This year, they took place in Cyprus. But tension relating to Russia and the war in the Middle East was never too far away.
Cosm Breaks Ground on Immersive Entertainment Venue in Downtown Cleveland
CLEVELAND — Cosm, along with Bedrock and Rock Entertainment Group, have broken ground on a new entertainment venue located at the intersection of East 4th Street, Prospect Avenue and Huron Road in downtown Cleveland. Dubbed Cosm Cleveland, the venue will sit directly across from Rocket Arena (formerly Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse), home of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. The two professional sports franchises are owned by Dan Gilbert, founder of Rocket Mortgage, Bedrock and Rock Entertainment Group. Spanning approximately 64,000 square feet and rising three stories, Cosm Cleveland will comprise two programmatic elements: The Dome and The Hall. Through Cosm’s proprietary technology called Shared Reality, the venue will merge a stadium-like atmosphere with state-of-the-art visuals in a communal setting. Rossetti Architects designed Cosm Cleveland, and Bedrock is leading the development. The venue, which will anchor Bedrock’s Rock Block mixed-use development, is slated to open in 2027. “This is a major milestone for our downtown Gateway District, and the arrival of Cosm is a testament to our community’s spirit and resilience,” says Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb. “This incredible venue will enhance our city’s reputation as a hub for sports and entertainment, drawing visitors from near and far to experience a…
Colorado’s $46.8 billion budget nears finish line
The Colorado Senate on Thursday voted largely along party lines to approve $46.8 billion in spending for the next state budget. The spending plan is bigger than what legislators originally approved for the current fiscal year’s budget, driven by increases in Medicaid costs. The proposal saw changes from a dozen amendments during debate Wednesday, but […]
UNC Hussman offers new sports play-by-play class | UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media
This story, written by UNC Hussman alumna Caroline Daly ’24, was originally published on unc.edu. The UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media has a new, hands-on class available for students interested in sports careers. Students in “MEJO 390: Sports Commentary and Play-By-Play” can call live radio broadcasts for Carolina sporting events, streamed live on the Go Heels website. This spring, 11 students are calling mostly softball games to gain experience and learn the preparation needed for a successful broadcast. The class is capped at a small number to provide consistent, individual feedback. Matt Krause, the radio voice of Carolina women’s basketball, teaches the class to help students sharpen their skills, using his experience with the Tar Heels and calling games for ACC Network and ACC Network Extra. “There is no substitute for live reps, and that is the only way you get better. The classroom component teaches you how to get better, but going about that requires sitting in that chair, making mistakes and being able to know your broadcast is going somewhere,” Krause said. “These students are doing real live games, and they will have tape where if they want to pursue this. They will have ready-made demos to send for jobs. Being able to utilize all the resources of UNC, GoHeels Productions and the Carolina Athletics brand and create these opportunities for students is really impactful.” In the class, students learn fundamentals like how to announce starting lineups for different sports and how to conduct research before games. Krause has led the class in mock preparation exercises, looking at game charts with information about the different teams and players that they can refer to at pivotal moments during the game. Krause and the students then critique each other, listening to clips from the past week to find ways to improve. It’s a rare class without a slew of quizzes or assignments. Their main tasks are calling games and making a portfolio or demo reel of their best calls at the end of the semester, all with the goal of being ready to step into similar roles after graduation. Laible live streams her coverage on the GoHeels website. Calling a live game while broadcasting her coverage allows her to get hands on experience. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill) Junior Anna Laible ’27 wished for a class just like this. Her first year at Carolina, she interned with the Coastal Plain League, where she was introduced to play-by-play for baseball. “I enjoy the challenge and uncertainty of each game being different because each sport looks a little different,” said Laible. “Each game is different — not just with teams but what could happen with certain records being broken or random trends. That’s what I enjoy most.” She wanted more opportunities for reps during college to prepare for a career after Carolina, so she pitched an idea for the class to Livis Freeman ’99, distinguished associate professor of sports communication. Laible and Freeman reached out to GoHeels Productions for a partnership and then connected with Krause. “This is how at UNC Hussman we separate ourselves: Our students go into the field ready,” said Freeman. “The biggest compliment we get it is when our students start their careers, they don’t need any hand-holding.” Laible calls a Carolina softball game at Kessing Stadium – after pitching the idea to Hussman faculty. Her interest in sports commentary allowed her to apply her interest as she attends Carolina. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill) Laible is now a student in the class, which has helped her strengthen her skills and deepen her passion for the field. The goal is to expand to other sports like soccer, lacrosse and field hockey. “The hands-on experience I’ve gotten here is invaluable. I’ve loved the classes and professors because they’ve taught me a lot, but it’s also the things outside of class, too, that have helped me grow,” said Laible. “Since being at UNC, I’ve grown a lot in the versatility, from doing writing to production and commentating. UNC Hussman and Carolina have given me the ability to be strong and well rounded.”
Artificial intelligence is reshaping environmental science into a predictive and precision-driven discipline
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how scientists study and protect the environment, shifting the field from traditional observation toward predictive, data-driven discovery. A new perspective article highlights how emerging AI technologies are enabling a fundamental change in environmental research, opening the door to faster, smarter, and more integrated solutions to global challenges.
First college women’s flag football tournament signals latest step to becoming NCAA sport
With women’s flag football set to debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics, nearly 60 Division I schools have already added the sport.
‘Iran has to come’ to the US for the World Cup, FIFA’s Infantino says
FIFA chief reasserts his views on Iran's participation, saying 'the players want to play' in the tournament.
📲 Thursday: Liberta, Sul-Americana, Europa League, Brazil +; guide
Today’s Highlights 🔥Libertadores7:00 PM - Palmeiras vs Sporting Cristal - Paramount+ 7:00 PM - Lanús vs Always Ready - ESPN 4 and Disney+9:30 PM - Flamengo vs Ind. Medellín - ESPN and Disney+ 9...
Midtown Sacramento businesses react to sudden parking removal for construction
Businesses in midtown Sacramento say they were given little warning that street parking on part of J Street would be removed because of construction on a new apartment project, raising concerns about the impact on customers and daily operations.
Suns-Warriors play-in matchup set
The NBA Play-In Tournament matchup between the Suns and Warriors for the eighth seed is set for Friday at Mortgage Matchup Center.
Tyrese Maxey-led Sixers outlast Magic in play-in tournament, will face Celtics in first round of playoffs
Philadelphia is returning to the playoffs after missing out last season.
NBA playoffs 2026: Play-in tournament scores, live updates: Steph Curry, Warriors take on Clippers after Sixers outlast Magic
Warriors vs. Clippers odds, prediction, time: 2026 NBA Play-In Tournament picks, April 15 bets by proven model
SportsLine's proven model has revealed its Golden State Warriors vs. Los Angeles Clippers play-in best bets
'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.”
NBA playoffs 2026: Play-in tournament scores, live updates: Magic face 76ers without Joel Embiid; Steph Curry, Warriors take on Clippers
Paul, Massie discuss gun rights in Senate hearing
Massie, who leads the House Second Amendment Caucus, testified about some of the bills he has introduced on the issue.
Listen as Sacramento County public health officer announces more measles cases
Dr. Olivia Kasirye, Sacramento County public health officer, announces six new cases of measles during a press conference with other health officials in Sacramento on April 15, 2026.
Duke Blue Devils get potential reverse Nikolas Khamenia transfer rumor
This would be a fascinating about-face.
‘The Testaments’: Is June Osborne a Threat to Agnes?
Amy Seimetz explains why Paula fears June Osborne's legacy.
Dems file 25th Amendment bill amid Trump outbursts
The bill was introduced by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)
Why Warriors have advantage that matters in NBA play-in tournament vs. Clippers
The Golden State Warriors' postseason experience gives them an edge over the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA play-in tournament on Wednesday.
Keith Urban to headline ninth annual Ally Community Concert
Country music superstar Keith Urban will perform during the Ally Community Concert at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club on Aug. 29 during the Ally Challenge golf tournament.
Dundee can take nothing for granted in bottom-six battle
For all I have been praising Dundee in recent times, the stark truth is they find themselves in their current predicament because their points return has not been good enough having won just two of their past 12 Premiership games. Head coach Steven Pressley praised the "character", "personality" and "resilience" his side showed as they twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Killie last Saturday. In the 15 league games the Dark Blues have played against the other teams in the bottom half this season – Dundee United, Aberdeen, St Mirren, Kilmarnock and Livingston - Pressley's side have won five, drawn six and lost four.
How five UF business students faced 7,000 international competitors and took home first place
From mid-January to mid-March, the five of us competed in the Bridgewater x Metaculus Forecasting Contest — an international tournament where participants assign probabilities to macroeconomic and geopolitical questions and get scored on relative accuracy.
Preston Middle School reclaims state title in Science Olympiad
Preston Middle School reclaims the Science Olympiad state title, winning its 14th since 2010 and 15th overall to advance to the national tournament.
NBA play-in tournament scores: Deni Avdija drops 41 points to put Blazers in playoffs after Hornets beat Heat in OT
NBA play-in tournament: Coby White's 3-pointer, late LaMelo Ball layup propel Hornets in OT thriller past Heat
NBA play-in tournament scores, live updates: Hornets beat Heat in OT; Trail Blazers-Suns to decide West's No. 7 seed
Graphene just defied a fundamental law of physics
In a major breakthrough, scientists have observed electrons in graphene flowing like a nearly frictionless liquid, defying a core law of physics. This exotic quantum state not only reveals new fundamental behavior but could also unlock powerful future technologies.
Senate Democrats outline amendment strategy as budget debate nears
Members of the Colorado Senate met with their respective caucuses on Tuesday to discuss the state’s proposed $46.8 billion budget for fiscal year 2026-2027, which passed through the House over the weekend following lengthy debate. The full Senate will begin debating the budget on Wednesday. Joint Budget Committee members Sens. Jeff Bridges and Judy Amabile […]
New MTG Secret Lair Superdrop Reveals Tournament-Legal My Little Pony Cards
A massive new Secret Lair Superdrop, titled Back to School, just dropped, and it brings My Little Pony to black-bordered MTG!
NBA play-in tournament scores, live updates: Heat-Hornets kick off Tuesday slate; Trail Blazers-Suns to decide West's No. 7 seed
2026 NFL Draft rumors: Cowboys pursuing defense if they trade up, latest on Aaron Rodgers
Dallas has started kicking the tires on teams inside the top 10 while the Steelers are in a predicament
Democrats float 25th Amendment commission for Trump
Democrats in Congress introduce a bill to invoke the 25th Amendment against President Donald Trump, citing national security concerns.
Pitt Team Shines in National Bioethics Competition
In an annual tournament where students debate ethical issues in medicine, biotechnology and health care, the Pitt team placed second.
Every ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Easter Egg in ‘The Testaments’ (So Far)
Every time the spinoff has referenced the original series.
NBA Play-In Tournament predictions: Expert picks, odds for Hornets vs. Heat, Suns vs. Blazers and more
The 2026 NBA postseason gets started on Tuesday night with the Play-In Tournament
Will Democrats try to remove Trump from office?
Impeachment, 25th Amendment are likely to fall short
Bill Galvano’s annual golf classic honoring his father marks 30 years of fundraising for local classrooms
'This annual golf tournament benefiting the Manatee Education Foundation has been such a special and fitting tribute to his legacy.'
10 thoughts and tidbits on Sixers vs. Magic play-in tournament game
Ahead of the Sixers’ play-in tournament game vs. the Magic, here are 10 thoughts and tidbits.
Carney didn’t win a majority, he built one. Now comes the test.
Now that Canada's prime minister has control of Parliament, here's what he's going to do with it.
Game 16 Game Day Thread – Texas Rangers @ West Sacramento Athletics
Taking on the Yolo County A’s
Chagos Islands treaty is now ‘impossible to agree at political level’, UK minister says
Stephen Doughty says US withdrawal of support means bill cannot complete passage through parliament
Play-in tournament will decide final 4 spots in NBA playoff field
Ten teams are done for the season. Another 12 are in the playoffs. That leaves eight for the four remaining playoff spots.
'View' stars slam Donald Trump sharing image of himself as Jesus: 'Blasphemous'
'The View' star Sunny Hostin called for the use of the 25th amendment after Donald Trump shared image of himself as Jesus: 'God is not to be mocked,' added former Trump staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin.
First time at Masters: Surprising things, what it's like at tournament
My first time at the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, was filled with cheap food, golf, incredible merch hauls, and surprising rules.
How Orban Lost His Touch, and Hungary’s Election
The election defeat for Prime Minister Viktor Orban is less the result of an ideological shift in Hungary, and more the playing out of a fundamental rule of politics.
Poll: Will Steph Curry and the Warriors Advance?
The NBA play-in tournament begins Tuesday, with eight teams looking to advance in the NBA playoffs. On Tuesday, the Phoenix Suns (7 seed) host the Portland Trail Blazers (8), and the Charlotte Hornets (9) host the Miami Heat (10). On Wednesday, the Philadelphia 76ers (7) host the Orlando Magic (8), and the Los Angeles Clippers (9) host the Golden State Warriors (10).
Sports Daily: Rory goes back-to-back; Royals offensive struggles continue
We recap a dramatic Master’s Tournament in which Rory McIlroy won his second straight green jacket.
Argentine bishop offers advice to young people who wish to enter politics
Bishop Juan Liébana of Chascomús, Argentina, describes the ideal profile of a politician: a person of great virtue and integrity intent on building a better society.
Who is Peter Magyar, Hungary’s new leader who trounced Viktor Orban?
Magyar's centre-right Tisza Party has won a two-thirds majority in Hungary's parliamentary elections.
House passes Ballad Health monopoly appeal, heeds some of the FTC’s advice
The Tennessee House passed a measure ending Ballad Health’s monopoly hospital agreement, adding an amendment to remove anti-competition laws.
Barstool Sports returns to West Palm Beach for golf tournament
The Barstool Classic golf tournament returns to West Palm Beach's The Park for a two-day qualifying event in April.
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...
“The choice is yours…”, an analysis of Wilders’ algorithmic politics on platform X
Geert Wilders: a longtime actor in politicsGeert Wilders has been a long-standing figure in Dutch politics. He has served in the House of Representatives since 1998, initially as a member of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) until he left the party in 2004 (Vossen, 2011, p. 184 ...
Nukes and Nassau Hall: Inside Princeton’s Science and Global Security Program
Co-directors of Princeton's Science and Global Security Program Zia Mian and Alexander Glaser are working to understand nuclear arms control, nonproliferation, and policies around disarmament alongside a team of researchers and visiting scholars.
How is online abuse putting young people off Manx politics?
A youth parliamentary committee warns online abuse is impacting attitudes towards Manx politics.
Sports tournament benefiting South Austin family impacted by fire rescheduled due to rainy weather
Suns-Trail Blazers NBA Play-in matchup set
The NBA Play-In Tournament matchup between the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers is set for Tuesday at Mortgage Matchup Center.
Masters hole of the day: The Eisenhower tree is long gone, but No. 17 plays toughest of all
The hole of the day Sunday during the final round of the Masters tournament:
The Masters: Rory McIlroy wins back-to-back green jackets
Rory McIlroy becomes only the fourth golfer to win back-to-back Masters tournaments, joining Jack Nicklaus (1965-1966), Nick Faldo (1989-1990) and Tiger Woods (2001-2002).
Staffing and pay concerns at the forefront of Sutter Health workers informational picket
Workers at Sutter Health hospitals in Northern California, including Sacramento, held an informational picket to highlight concerns about unsafe staffing and pay amid ongoing contract negotiations.
Arizona State tennis programs head to Big 12 tournaments
Here are the events happening around Arizona State athletics from April 12-18, 2026.
Masters 2026: Masters 2026: Rory McIlroy faces history or heartbreak on Sunday at Augusta
McIlroy will either become just the fourth player ever to win back-to-back Masters, or will have given up the largest 36-hole lead in tournament history.
IBA NOMAD 14 delivers spectacular night of combat sports in Almaty
Almaty, Kazakhstan – A historic night for combat sports concluded at the Almaty Arena as the inaugural IBA NOMAD 14 joint tournament captivated a capacity of 13,000 spectators. The event, […]
Iraq elects Kurdish politician Nizar Amidi as president amid Iran war fallout
Iraq's parliament voted Saturday to elect Nizar Amidi as president, five months after a parliamentary election that didn't produce a decisive majority.
Iraq parliament elects Kurdish politician Nizar Amedi as president
New president pledges 'Iraq First' after securing 227 votes, ending five months of political deadlock.
“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.
Iraq elects Kurdish politician Nizar Amidi as president amid war fallout
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s parliament voted Saturday to elect Nizar Amidi, a political official with one of the country’s two main Kurdish parties, as president, five months after a parliamentary election that didn’t produce a bloc with a decisive majority.
Iraq elects Kurdish politician Nizar Amidi as president amid war fallout
Iraq’s parliament has elected Nizar Amidi as president, five months after elections failed to produce a decisive majority. The vote took place Saturday.
Weekend at the Masters brings experience few sporting events can match
A weekend at the Masters Tournament cannot be matched by any other sporting event on the planet, writes Loran Smith.
The Masters: The biggest quirks and traditions at Augusta
No birds, cheap food, and artificial dye in the water are just a few of the Masters' quirks. See everything that makes the tournament unique.
Business notes: Providence St. Mary Medical Center welcomes new surgeon
A new surgeon joined St. Mary Medical Center, and the United Way's popular mini golf tournament returns to Walla Walla.
Hungary’s Viktor Orban struggling for political survival ahead of vote
Hungarian prime minister and his Fidesz party face first closely contested polls in Sunday's parliamentary election.