Politics | The Verge

The Iranian women Trump ‘saved’ from execution are simultaneously real and AI-manipulated

2026-04-22T21:53:24-04:00

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump claimed to have secured the release of eight Iranian women condemned to execution for protesting the regime.

Only the night before, he had posted on Truth Social about the imminent executions of these women, quoting a screenshot that included a collage of eight glamorously backlit, soft-focus portraits. The photos of the women were immediately accused of being AI-generated. "Trump is begging Iranian leaders to not execute 8 AI-generated women. This is the funniest thing I've ever seen," said one viral X post.

Trump is begging Iranian leaders to not execute 8 AI-generated women. This is the funniest th …

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AI failure could trigger the next financial crisis, warns Elizabeth Warren

2026-04-22T16:29:05-04:00

"I know a bubble when I see one."

That's what Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who led the push to create a new consumer financial regulator in the wake of the 2008 recession, told a crowd at a Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator event in Washington, DC on Wednesday. Warren warned of what she called "striking" parallels to that crisis in the AI industry. While she believes the technology has "enormous potential," she warned that AI companies' massive spending and borrowing practices are creating a tinderbox and Congress should step in.

Though the AI industry has grown rapidly, Warren said the pace isn't keeping up with their spending, requiring the …

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Alexis Ohanian shocks Washington with pro-immigration remarks

2026-04-22T16:47:31-04:00

Los Angeles Golf Club owner Alexis Ohanian looks on during the match against the Jupiter Links Golf Club at SoFi Center on March 24, 2026 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. | Image: TGL Golf via Getty Images

Hello and welcome to Regulator, a newsletter for Verge readers about tech politics, political tech, and how they're muddying the waters of Washington, DC. My birthday is this week, and if you're not a Verge subscriber but would like to wish me a happy birthday, you should subscribe here, because that would be the best gift of all. (Tips sent to tina.nguyen+tips@theverge.com would be a very good gift, too.)

Last night, I watched Alexis Ohanian, venture capitalist and cofounder of Reddit, stun a room of Washington insiders by criticizing the Trump administration's immigration policies. This happened in front of at least one senior administrat …

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Anthropic’s Mythos rollout has missed America’s cybersecurity agency

2026-04-22T13:12:21-04:00

Several US federal agencies are taking up Anthropic's new cybersecurity model to find vulnerabilities, but one is reportedly not getting in on the action: the nation's central cybersecurity coordinator.

On Tuesday, Axios reported that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) didn't have access to Mythos Preview, which Anthropic has touted as a powerful tool for finding and patching security vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, other agencies like Commerce Department and National Security Agency (NSA) are reportedly using the model, and President Donald Trump's administration has been negotiating broader access, Axios wrote last w …

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The unraveling of Dan Crenshaw

2026-04-22T16:31:40-04:00

In 2019, a 36-year-old Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), newly elected to Congress, was photographed for the inaugural Time 100 Next List, wearing a dashing eye patch and looking upwards with hope. A Harvard-educated Navy SEAL who'd lost an eye while fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, Crenshaw was in rarefied company, listed among the magazine's candidates for tomorrow's leaders: musicians like Billie Eilish and Bad Bunny; athletes like Coco Gauff and Alysa Liu; business leaders like Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong; fellow political stars like Pete Buttigieg.

Crenshaw was, Time declared, "what the Republican Party might look like after Donald Trump …

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AI backlash is coming for elections

2026-04-21T15:00:05-04:00

Ask Americans how they feel about AI and most say they have concerns. Communities have mounted resistance to data center projects, stalling them across the US. On social media, anger at AI companies and executives is unrestrained - sometimes to the point of condoning violence.

But look at the issues that most campaigns are focused on, and AI is far less prevalent, experts say.

More than 60 percent of both Republicans and Democrats polled by Ipsos earlier this year agree that the government should regulate AI for economic stability and public safety, and that the technology's development should slow down. Still, "when you just ask folks, 'w …

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Tim Cook will still be Apple’s Trump whisperer

2026-04-21T08:16:36-04:00

Though Tim Cook is shedding his CEO title for the role of Apple's executive chairman, it appears he'll keep one of his most important duties: that of the company's Trump whisperer.

"As executive chairman, Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world," Apple writes in a press release. Translation: he's sticking around to deal with thorny political relationships - in particular the one with President Donald Trump.

Throughout his tenure, Cook has navigated Apple through tricky political terrain. He's had to balance the company's massive business interest in China with US policymak …

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Judge rules Trump administration violated the First Amendment in fight against ICE-tracking

2026-04-20T05:16:49-04:00

In some Minneapolis neighborhoods, nearly every house has an anti-ICE sign. | Photo by Jack Califano / The Verge

Jorge L. Alonso, a federal district court judge for the Northern District of Illinois, said that the Trump Administration violated the First Amendment when it pressured Facebook and Apple to remove ICE-tracking groups and apps. Judge Alonso granted the plaintiffs, Kassandra Rosado, who runs the ICE Sightings - Chicagoland Facebook group, and Kreisau Group, the developers of Eyes Up, a preliminary injunction.

Judge Alonso cited a unanimous Supreme Court decision from a 2024 case that pitted the NRA against the former superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, Maria Vullo. In that case, the court ruled that "[g]overnment …

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Trump’s posting even more AI-generated Trump-Jesus fan art

2026-04-21T12:08:39-04:00

The version posted by @realdonaldtrump/Truth Social.

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You can't spell "antichrist" without "AI"

Of all the things that would have fractured the religious right's alliance with Donald Tr …

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Ticketmaster is an illegal monopoly, jury finds

2026-04-15T17:25:58-04:00

Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an illegal monopolist, a Manhattan jury found, according to Bloomberg. The jury found the company liable on three counts: illegally monopolizing the market for live event ticketing, amphitheaters, and tying its concert promotions business with the use of its venues, Bloomberg reported.

The verdict, reached after several days of deliberation, leaves the live entertainment giant open to a potential breakup - which was the stated goal of the lawsuit back when it was filed by the Biden administration's Department of Justice. Such an outcome would go far beyond the settlement that the Trump administration's DOJ reache …

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