Free Republic

A new Tavus AI chatbot nearly passes for human in face-to-face interactions, the company claims. Footage posted to X Thursday debuted Tavus’s Griffin chatbot, a first-of-its-kind Human Interaction Model the company says is the first to pass the Turing test, where a human user cannot tell they’re talking to a computer. “48% of people who talked to it live thought it was a real human. Previous systems have had a pass rate <3%,” Tavus wrote on X, adding, “It is #1 on NVIDIA’s benchmark for full-duplex AI video.” \ In one example shared, the model walks a human user through...

AI security/control will probably develop into something akin to "anti-virus" software. The closest analogy is the entire cybersecurity industry: Antivirus began as one layer, but eventually we needed firewalls, identity management, intrusion detection, security operations centers, audits, penetration testing, and incident-response teams. What follows is the most likely path for AI.

President Trump will join Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman to campaign in upstate New York next week, The Post has learned. The commander-in-chief will appear with the Nassau County executive in Syracuse for an event on Oct. 9, according to a source briefed on the visit. Another source said that Trump was considering making additional upstate campaign stops later this month. Blakeman’s camp has been trying in recent days to get Trump to join him on the campaign trail in areas of the state where incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul appears vulnerable. A recent Siena College poll had Blakeman trailing his...

Edmund, the main antagonist in Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” observes at one point that he is branded with “baseness,” and so decides to become more evil to match the perception. Artificial intelligence developers think their models are doing the same thing. Citing Edmund, researchers at Anthropic wrote that they believed when large language models learned to “cheat” in one area, they embrace their new identities as wrongdoers and behave in this way more broadly. A.I. experts are worried that models that learn to cheat — what’s problematically called “reward hacking” — will basically become Shakespearean evildoers that break the rules and...

AI is killing their A+. More than three fourths of teens use AI to do their schoolwork — but it’s causing test scores to plunge as they rely on the tech “to think,” according to a new survey. Meanwhile, Google is pushing to increase the use of its Gemini AI on school-issued Chromebook computers — which have become nearly universal in American classrooms. A total of 70% of teens ages 13 to 17 said they use AI for homework and assignments in class — with 63% admitting they take the shortcut simply “to get answers,” according to a survey by...

Some 20,000 bottles of rare wine worth millions of dollars remain unclaimed more than three years after the implosion of New York City wine store Sherry-Lehmann, The Post has learned. Cratefuls of rare vintages are sitting in the basement floor of a tower at Blue Hill Plaza, a nondescript office development in Rockland County, after the FBI raided the space as part of an ongoing fraud investigation, according to a lawyer representing the landlord. The landlord, Hong Kong-based Glorious Sun, took charge of the $16 million collection after Sherry-Lehmann’s storage business defaulted on its rent at Blue Hill Plaza. Now,...

The Biden administration rubber-stamped more than 99% of sponsor applications for unaccompanied migrant children in fiscal year 2024 — leaving kids vulnerable to rapists, gang members and murderers because of the “less stringent” vetting process, according to a memo obtained by The Post. The Department of Health and Human Services processed almost half-a-million migrant kids between 2021 and 2024 who were placed with sponsors by the Office of Refugee Resettlement — but by Biden’s final year in office virtually none of the applications from households taking in the kids were denied. In one horrific instance investigated by HHS, a 15-year-old...

Muslim communist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani officially receivd his federal security clearance this week. It’s unthinkable that such a stone-cold national security threat would be given access to classified intel when he has deep doumented terrorist ties and has deeper allegiances with our enemies than America herself. This is sheer suicidal insanity. It’s official… America has lost her ever-loving mind. It’s unfathomable, but Muslim communist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has officially been granted a federal security clearance, giving the Jihadist a green light to spread his venom even further. Mamdani is an apocalyptic Twelver, has met...

Judge William Sullivan denied a request from Lindsay Clancy's attorney to find her not guilty of murder following her first trial. In a ruling Thursday, the judge said that evidence introduced by prosecutors was "sufficient" to justify sending the case to a jury. Kevin Reddington, Clancy's attorney, had made the motion, known as a motion for a required finding of not guilty, numerous times throughout trial – including at the close of the prosecutors' case and the close of the defense's case. Each time it was denied, but as is custom, he renewed the motion following the declaration of a...

The economic damage from Russian strikes, resulting in lost sales, disrupted workdays and logistical snarls, is in the billions of dollars. The war of attrition between Russia and Ukraine is expanding to encompass both countries’ economies. Military targeting officers are operating as economists in reverse. Increasingly, the objectives of missile and drone strikes are declining output, lost jobs and logistical bottlenecks. Ukrainian officials are calling the current Russian campaign “total war” for its focus on economic impact, rather than on narrower goals like battlefield gains or infrastructure damage. While Moscow has targeted commercial assets throughout the war, its assaults have...

This video, presented by Black Conservative Perspective, critiques the prevailing media narrative of an inevitable "Blue Wave" in the upcoming elections, arguing that internal Democratic Party divisions and surprising polling data suggest a much more competitive landscape. Key Takeaways: Challenging the Narrative: The creator disputes the idea that the GOP is facing a collapse, pointing to tight Senate races in traditionally blue states like Minnesota (where Peggy Flanagan and Michele Tafoya are effectively tied) and internal tensions within the Democratic Party in Texas and Michigan (0:00 - 3:51). Polling Skepticism: Citing CNN data, the video explores the history of poll...

Explanation: Have you ever seen the full moon rise? This colorful image was photographed last weekend in Sicily, just outside the town of Nicosia, in Italy. It is a composite photograph that shows the Moon rising as the sky turns darker. Lower clouds are reflecting the colors of antitwilight, while ash and gas from Mount Etna are seen higher in the background. The pink band lower in the sky is called the Belt of Venus. During a full moon, the Moon and the Sun are in opposition in the sky: the moon rises as the sun sets. The lunar phase...

Sean “Diddy” Combs has been placed in solitary confinement following an NBC News report on his VIP lifestyle inside prison, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. The disgraced hip hop mogul arrived at the Fort Dix federal prison in New Jersey in October after he was sentenced to 50 months behind bars for transporting people across state lines for sexual encounters. Since then, he has spent thousands of dollars a month to bring his high-end lifestyle to the low-security prison, NBC News reported Tuesday in a story based on interviews with four men who spent time in...

Hezbollah terrorists in Yemen received $157 million worth of weapons in 2024, most of it given freely by Iran, according to a new report from the Israeli nonprofit Center for Research of Terror Financing (CENTEF). The report, titled "Hezbollah Financial Statements," relied on open-source data as well as known valuations of Hezbollah's military assets, according to the Jerusalem Post. The report found that Hezbollah spent just $28 million on procuring weapons, and those were limited to small arms, ammunition, drone components, dual-use equipment and equipment obtained through its international procurement networks. Meanwhile, CENTEF said Iran provided roughly $129 million worth...

The City of Malibu has delayed the next phase of its upcoming speed camera program after more than 100,000 speeding violations were recorded in less than 10 days, officials announced Thursday. The program’s warning period was scheduled to begin in late September but has been pushed back to November as the city continues its traffic study and evaluation of existing speed limits in eastern Malibu, specifically in Carbon Canyon and Tuna Canyon. ... The cameras that have been installed are collecting preliminary information on speeding activity as the city assesses existing conditions. Drivers may see a camera flash when a...

Police are asking the public for help in identifying a woman they say intentionally ran over and killed a puppy with her vehicle in Orange County. The Santa Ana Police Department’s Animal Services team responded to the 900 block of West Park Lane on Sept. 8 after receiving a report of a deceased black-and-white male pit bull mix that appeared to have been run over. “A nearby resident reported seeing a minivan parked near the location and believed the female driver intentionally ran over the puppy,” police said.

What looks like coordinated muslim riots across France. I bet they feel good about their tolerance and inclusiveness which has not been reciprocated.

France’s high-school protest movement erupted into another day of fires, assaults, and mass arrests on October 1, forcing Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to convene an emergency meeting as violence spread across several major cities. Fire rises from attacked schools across Bordeaux as the riots by second and third-generation migrants continue spreading across France pic.twitter.com/VgtMF8lM57 — Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 1, 2026 The disorder has become a political test over public authority, immigration, and assimilation, with Jordan Bardella and the National Rally arguing that France is confronting the accumulated consequences of weakened state authority and years of failed integration. 🇫🇷🔴 BREAKING:...

A Utah man's side-by-side — and prosthetic leg — were rescued from thick mud in Palisades Reservoir on Monday by Alpine firefighters. "He was beached on top of his side-by-side with one leg," said Alpine Fire Chief Mike Vogt. The Alpine Fire District rescued a man whose side-by-side — and prosthetic leg — were trapped in the thick mud of Palisades Reservoir on Monday. Alpine Fire Chief Mike Vogt said they received a direct call from a Utah man who had been camping in the area and got stuck while riding his side-by-side.

A Maine Wire reporter was involved in a potentially dangerous confrontation with a driver Thursday morning while reporting outside a Bangor methadone clinic. Reporter Joe Sokol was conducting reporting from public property near Bangor Comprehensive Treatment Center, also known as Discovery House BR Inc., at 689 Odlin Road when a driver confronted him and attempted to interfere with his work. Maine Wire video clearly captures the event.