12 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Adi Robertson

Adi Robertson

Senior Editor, Tech & Policy

Senior Editor, Tech & Policy

    More From Adi Robertson

    Adi Robertson
    Adi Robertson
    An AI fakery scandal hits Wired and other outlets.

    We’ve seen freelancers lean on AI, but this Press Gazette report about a writer who published multiple stories with apparently fake sources at high-profile sites takes things to a new level:

    The article cites “Jessica Hu, 34, an ordained officiant based in Chicago” who it says “has made a name for herself as a ‘digital celebrant,’ specialising in ceremonies across Twitch, Discord, and VRChat”. However, no such officiant appears to exist.

    Chatbots aren’t telling you their secrets

    If you want to know what an AI system is doing, look for transparency from the creator instead.

    Adi Robertson
    Adi Robertson
    Adi Robertson
    Berger’s three laws of chatbotics.
    1. The bot should never express emotions.
    2. The bot should never praise the user.
    3. The bot should never say it understands the user’s mental state.

    A tough order for companion bots, of course — which lots of companies want their general-purpose AI to be.

    Sex is getting scrubbed from the internet, but a billionaire can sell you AI nudes

    Online safety laws keep ordinary people from expressing themselves, while companies like xAI cause real harm.

    Adi Robertson
    Adi Robertson
    Adi Robertson
    “I hear you, and let me start by saying: I deeply regret the current state of Central Park.”

    All park-goers have been evacuated to dinosaur-free zones, such as the Upper West Side and Staten Island.

    Adi Robertson
    Adi Robertson
    Parts of the Constitution were deleted from the government’s website in a ‘coding error.’

    As TechCrunch notes, the change apparently happened sometime over the past month and included “sections relating to habeas corpus, the powers that protect citizens from unlawful detention.” The Library of Congress says things should be “resolved soon.”

    Adi Robertson
    Adi Robertson
    ICE recruiting ads: coming soon to a platform near you?

    404 Media found a government contractor listing that hints at how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will use its massive funding windfall to expand:

    “Specifically, ICE wants the eventual contractor to find platforms with the highest potential for reaching recruits, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and X, according to the documents. The list also includes Hulu, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime, according to the documents.”

    Adi Robertson
    Adi Robertson
    X could face liability for failing to stop CSAM.

    It’s a relatively narrow legal defeat, though. The Ninth Circuit Appeals Court ruled that X — Twitter, at the time of the lawsuit — isn’t protected by Section 230 for failing to report known child sexual abuse material to authorities, nor for designing a bad system to let users flag it. (It hasn’t been held liable for either; that will be argued later.) But the court found Section 230 blocked claims that it “amplified” CSAM by failing to scrub offending hashtags, and it said the controversial FOSTA exception didn’t come into play.