Free Republic

New research is pulling back the curtain on how large numbers of kids are using AI companion apps — and what it found is troubling. A new report conducted by the digital security company Aura found that a significant percentage of kids who turn to AI for companionship are engaging in violent roleplays — and that violence, which can include sexual violence, drove more engagement than any other topic kids engaged with. Drawing from anonymized data gathered from the online activity of roughly 3,000 children aged five to 17 whose parents use Aura’s parental control tool, as well as additional...

My topic this year is “anti-Christendom.” But what does that even mean? Christendom as a concept is considered by many to be something of the past…Ever since the time of the Reformation and the shattering of the beautiful Catholic unity that had pre-existed, with an objective moral standard that was shared by all of Europe, the concept of Christendom has been in retreat… In these three examples alone, we see the philosophical (postmodernism), the intellectual (the sexual revolution) and the practical (libertarian capitalism) assault themselves on the historic territory of Christendom. The forces of anti-Christendom are therefore aping the historic...

A majority of pastors are now using artificial intelligence to prepare their sermons, with ChatGPT and Grammarly reported as the top two AI tools, new survey data shows. "ChatGPT is the most visible generative AI tool that can engage in human-like conversations and assist with a wide range of tasks, from answering questions to generating content," researchers wrote in "The 2025 State of AI in the Church Survey Report" prepared by AiForChurchLeaders.com and Exponential AI NEXT. "As the most popular AI tool among church leaders (26%), ChatGPT is being used for applications such as sermon preparation, research, and crafting church...

‘We are building these things so damn fast that by the time they are online and activated, the problems are already built in.’Since returning to office, President Trump has made the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) a key focal point of his second administration. Just last week, the president signed an executive order launching the “Genesis Mission,” a new “national effort” that seeks to utilize AI to “transform how scientific research is conducted and accelerate the speed of scientific discovery.”“With the Genesis Mission, the Trump Administration intends to dramatically expand the productivity and impact of Federal research and development within...

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang presented Joe Rogan’s audience with a vision of AI so dominant it could rewrite reality itself.Huang layed out a future where human knowledge completely takes a backseat to silicon brains in the very near future.“In the future… maybe two or three years, 90% of the world’s knowledge will likely be generated by AI,” Huang told Rogan, his tone matter-of-fact as if charting tomorrow’s weather.NVIDIA CEO blows Joe Rogan away with a staggering prediction about AI. HUANG: “In the future… maybe two or three years, 90% of the world’s knowledge will likely be generated by AI.” ROGAN:...

Those who worry about how to cope with China’s leadership in technology—and there are plenty of them—think hard about electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels and open-source artificial intelligence. For such people, we have some bad news. This week we report how China is rapidly pressing ahead in two other frontier technologies, autonomous vehicles and new drugs. As these industries spread around the world, they will exemplify the power of Chinese innovation. China’s progress in each of these important areas has been staggering. A robotaxi revolution is gathering pace, which could reshape transport, logistics and everyday urban life. The country’s autonomous...

Like them we should ask: ‘What is this tool for and what does it make us become?’ As new technology, AI and the internet take over 21st-century life, I suggest looking to the Amish for guidance. Far from being the Luddites most folk assume, the Amish undertake a guided policy of technological discernment.When a new practice or device emerges into the world, the elders often gather to test it out over a set period of time. The entire process rests upon this deceptively simple inquiry – “What is this tool for and what does it make us become?” All...

Earlier this week, locals in Kingston upon Thames, a small borough south-west of London, were perturbed by “scenes of Lovecraftian horror” in the form of two enormous murals that appear to have been sloppily generated by AI to celebrate the holiday season. The murals showed horrifyingly disfigured people, animals and even a demented snowman, harkening back to a not-so-distant past when AI image generators struggled to generate pictures of hands with five fingers. Some joked the murals were put up to “celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu,” while others questioned how such “carnage” was approved in the first...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A team of researchers has uncovered what they say is the first reported use of artificial intelligence to direct a hacking campaign in a largely automated fashion. The AI company Anthropic said this week that it disrupted a cyber operation that its researchers linked to the Chinese government. The operation involved the use of an artificial intelligence system to direct the hacking campaigns, which researchers called a disturbing development that could greatly expand the reach of AI-equipped hackers.While concerns about the use of AI to drive cyber operations are not new, what is concerning about the new...

Our economic realities as Americans are tied directly to energy. But those of us working outside the energy industry must be forgiven for not noticing that in 2022, China began construction on an experimental thorium reactor that requires no water, generates substantially less toxic byproduct, purports and appears be vastly safer than all other reactor designs, and all but eliminates the possibility of meltdown. American citizens should be forgiven for not noticing because in 2022, as you recall, we were suffocating in the various tendrils of psychological operations and captured government. And when China operationalized the reactor and proved the...

Technology firms led private-sector job cuts as employers looked to cut costs and address AI. Last month was the worst October for layoff announcements since 2003 as companies slashed roles to save money, pared back pandemic-era hires, and planned ahead for artificial intelligence, according to the global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Employers announced 153,074 cuts last month, compared to 55,597 cuts in October 2024. Last month’s figure was “the highest total for October in over 20 years, and the highest total for a single month in the fourth quarter since 2008,” Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer for Challenger,...

The U.S. has only "scratched the surface" of its oil potential, with new technologies and untapped resources emerging that could help cement America’s energy dominance for years to come. "The biggest opportunity is to recover more of the molecules that are in the ground," Chevron CEO Mike Wirth told FOX Business in an exclusive interview. Currently, only about 10% of the oil in place can be extracted with existing technology — a figure Chevron aims to increase. Wirth told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo that the company is investing in a new generation of drilling innovations, including artificial intelligence-powered systems and...

Samsung is rolling out a new software update to owners of its Family Hub refrigerators. This will bring cool features like an upgrade to Bixby and smarter food tracking with AI, but it comes with curated advertisements on the cover screen.The biggest part of this update is a major upgrade to the AI Vision Inside technology in compatible refrigerators. This feature is meant to help you reduce food waste and save money, which is something I can always get behind. The AI Vision Inside can now recognize 37 fresh food items, like apples, kiwis, and cucumbers, which is a big...

Electric cars and phones eventually slow to a crawl when the battery loses lithium. A team in Shanghai says a simple add-in can bring that lithium back into play, and one lab cell kept working after nearly 12,000 charge cycles. The idea is to add a lithium rich salt into a tired battery so it can accept and deliver charge again. If it scales beyond the lab, the approach could keep a lot of packs out of scrap heaps. How lithium boosts a battery The work comes from Yue Gao’s group at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. His team trained...

Unlike in his first term, the second Trump administration has a significant head start on building and should have no problem finishing the project by 2029. But there is one technical difference: This time around, the project is called a “smart wall.” Although technology was utilized in the border barrier system during Trump’s first term, it plays an even larger role in safeguarding the country now. In fact, every one of the 1,954 miles of the border with Mexico will have a “smart wall,” allowing the White House to carry out what it first set out to accomplish nearly a...

Apple Loses More AI Talent, But Enters Touch PC Market | 8:59Bloomberg Podcasts | 354K subscribers | 14,117 views | October 16, 2025

In the race to dominate science and technology, some countries are intensifying efforts to lead the tech space by churning out STEM graduates at staggering rates. Here are the top seven countries churning out the most number of STEM graduates. ChinaChina is miles ahead, producing 3.57 million STEM graduates annually, over 40 per cent of all its university degrees. It is no surprise China is a global leader in AI, biotech, and renewable energy. According to the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology, “Based on current enrollment patterns, by 2025 Chinese universities will produce more than 77,000 STEM PhD graduates...

With details revealed exclusively to The National Pulse, Liberty Vote, under the leadership of Missouri-based Scott Leiendecker, has taken full ownership of the controversial, foreign-owned Dominion Voting Systems company. This acquisition marks a historic transformation in the realm of election technology in America, with Dominion effectively being shut down and subsumed into Liberty Vote. Leiendecker, a prominent figure in election reform, is committed to rebuilding trust in the electoral process through transparent and secure voting systems. His approach includes the use of hand-marked paper ballots, emphasizing simplicity and accuracy. The National Pulse spoke with Leiendecker and his team exclusively over...

The Engines of Wealth: From Conquest to CodePreface: Understanding the DNA of Human ActionHuman history is shaped by the tension between constant biological drives and changing social environments. Across centuries, people have sought the same essentials — food, clothing, shelter, and security — yet the mechanisms to achieve them have evolved dramatically. Civilizations rise and fall not because human nature changes, but because the systems that organize labor, energy, and capital shift in response to crisis, innovation, and opportunity.This essay traces three transformative forces that have repeatedly restructured societies and economies: war, which expanded wealth through conquest; plague, which redistributed...

Will the new AI character be the death of human performers in movies? Hollywood may soon be filled with falling human stars and rising AI starlets. Film director Alfred Hitchcock, the ‘master of suspense’, once said ‘all actors must be treated like cattle’ – but if you think that’s bad, brace yourselves for the brave new world we’re living in, where actors won’t even exist as such, anymore. The creation of AI ‘actress’ Tilly Norwood has generated a massive wave of backlash over the unsurprising news that ‘talent agents’ were already lining up to sign the ‘digital character’. Tilly Norwood...