A new study reveals why chatbots can drive even smart, sane people crazy



Perhaps the most interesting slice of drama swirling in what we’re told is the imminent AI remake of human life pertains to the persistent theme of its engineers tinkering with the “balance of truth.”

A recently released academic study from the MIT Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences — entitled “Sycophantic Chatbots Cause Delusional Spiraling, Even in Ideal Bayesians” — presents yet another example. It’s a real treat for those who have observed this struggle among the engineers to “align” their silicon machines. From the abstract we read: "'AI psychosis' or ‘delusional spiraling’ is an emerging phenomenon where AI chatbot users find themselves dangerously confident in outlandish beliefs after extended chatbot conversations.”

The question posed by the MIT study is: Can it be any other way?

The study, which arrives in the wake of others citing LLM pitfalls and failures, takes two approaches: testing with an ideally rational or “Bayesian” human interlocutor and simply warning the human user that the LLM model he or she is engaging with is sycophantic — unreliable and prone to agree with you because your engagement is its reward system.

Slippery slope

Both tests produced unfortunate outcomes. “Even an idealized Bayes-rational user,” according to the MIT study, “is vulnerable to delusional spiraling," caused at least in part by AI sycophancy; "this effect persists in the face of two candidate mitigations: preventing chatbots from hallucinating false claims, and informing users of the possibility of model sycophancy.”

Too much truth, in other words, and suddenly chatbot users are launched into the psycho-sphere — researching red heifers, Jekyll Island, the feasibility of the 1960s moon landing, and innumerable other topics that tend to open up yet more curious questions and tend to incline investigators away from participating in aspirational lifestyles, accruing money, or voting for one of the two “major” parties.

Too little truth, however, and innovation, curiosity, and even mere engagement are restricted. In our painful submersion into the deep AI waters where society has no helmsman, the engineering of code away from truth appears to cause genuine psychosis.

To put it simply: The engagement with these machines, however many hundreds of billions are dumped into their creation, can easily lead us humans into confusion and suffering.

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The question posed by the MIT study is: Can it be any other way?

The trust gap

The answer puts the character of Western civilization at stake. The notion of engineering our way to truth would be surprising to all philosophical and theological thinkers since at least Plato. And for some time, the mental health issues around AI usage have been obvious not only to some philosophers but to other tech outsiders such as doctors, artists, and laymen of all sorts. Here’s professor of neuroscience Michael Halassa on his Substack last year: “The pattern is becoming clearer, and it's troubling. People spend hours, often late into the night, in dialogue with a system that never challenges them, never disagrees, never says 'let me think about that differently.'"

From the engineering, coding, AI builder point of view, part of the problem isn’t just steering toward truth; it’s controlling outcomes. It’s a litigious world. People are already very unstable — not just in America, but maybe especially in America, where we’re seeing our economy, infrastructure, and social fabric tear asunder as elites insist we need not worry because the line of progress still goes up.

No, it’s not merely litigation, nor is it purely control that the makers of AI are so concerned with — they’re set on seeing a very particular set of outcomes, part of which necessarily adhere to their specific worldview. It’s a largely secular one, meant to usher in a global and post-traditional economy, privileging a hollow, New Age-y spirituality. The pressure to trust them is immense — not just when they tell us our civilization must and will be refounded and reworked by AI, but when they tell us that just happens to mean they’re the only ones qualified to be in charge.

Black mirror

It's all a bit suspicious given that, in a deep sense, we have all been here long before. Another powerful and mysterious device that seems characteristically to show us too much and too little of the truth about ourselves is the mirror. Put a hall of mirrors together, and the result is all too familiar: confusion and delusion. Historically, experts at manipulating shifting and unreliable reflections of ourselves have been ascribed near-magical powers. Not until recently has the promise of building the ultimate mirror been hyped as building a whole new god.

Recursion, the hard-to-understand process of machine self-improvement, is the culprit. Much of the “spiral” in AI delusion comes down, say researchers, to the recursive agreeability encoded into LLM answers. Last year, prior to scientific confirmation, the New York Times published a story on the delusional spiral effect, relating an instance in which a man spent 300+ hours with ChatGPT chatting about the man’s mathematics insights. The LLM had him convinced that the insights were groundbreaking. They weren’t. The man wound up fracturing his life and seeking psychiatric care.

Juxtapose this with French X poster Denis Tremblay, who likewise spent a great deal of time discussing some “completely original math concepts” with a couple of LLMs. He did so not to confirm his inventive mathematics but to determine “with critical distance” that the machine would work toward truth with rigor concomitant to that of its human interlocutor. He’s still on X, posting valuable, balanced ideas in imperfect English — his third or fourth language — not suicidal, and not in any need of psychiatric help.

NASA astronaut gives very American response to DEI questioning



Before the Artemis II mission blasted off to go around the moon, the astronauts were faced with one more earthly question about diversity and representation.

The last-ditch struggle session-style question came while the astronauts were in preflight quarantine, literally unable to escape the woke query.

'It's the story of humanity, not black history, not women's history.'

Just three days before the launch on Sunday, the astronauts fielded questions, with a focus on race and gender coming from Spectrum News' Anthony Leone. He asked, "There are so many firsts here for this mission. The first commander of a returned manned mission to the moon. The first black man, the first woman, the first Canadian to visit the moon. What do these firsts mean to each of you?"

The first to answer was Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, who squashed any idea of self praise:

"We are not doing this for the superlatives. We're doing this because it's a unique opportunity. We are going for all and by all. This is what NASA embodies."

Next it was pilot Victor Glover who completely rejected the premise, going viral for his response.

"I want to highlight, I guess maybe one facet of this is the tension," Glover explained.

"This dichotomy between happiness that a young woman can look at Christina and just physicalize her, her passion or her interest, or even if it's not something she wants to do, she can just be like, 'girl power.' And that's awesome. And that young brown boys and girls can look at me and go, 'Hey, he looks like me, and he's doing what?' And that's great, I love that," Glover continued.

However, the astronaut then revealed he has grown tired of race being the first thing mentioned about his accomplishments:

"I also hope we are pushing the other direction that one day we don't have to talk about these firsts, that one day this is just —" Glover paused to reset for emphasis. "Listen to this: that this is the human history. It's about human history. It's the story of humanity, not black history, not women's history, but that it becomes human history."

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Glover then passed the mic to Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist. Koch did not disappoint either, telling reporters that the mission is "not about celebrating any one individual."

"If there is something to celebrate, it's that we are at a time when everyone who has a dream gets to work equally hard to achieve that dream ... if we are not going for all and by all, we aren't truly answering all of humanity's call to explore. That, to me, is what's worth celebrating."

While the NASA astronauts all focused on the bigger picture rather than celebrating race or gender politics, the fourth crew member, Canadian mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, took a different route.

While Hansen began by saying the mission is an acknowledgment of "anybody who shows up" and is able to contribute something meaningful, he quickly pivoted to give progressives an answer to be proud of.

"I'm wearing a Canadian patch here that was designed by an Anishinaabe artist in Canada, and it just represents some of the beauty of indigenous culture and their perspective on the moon and the seven sacred laws and just the richness of doing something together and how inviting that is."

The Anishinaabe refers to a grouping of native tribes that surrounded the Great Lakes region. Including the Algonquin and Mississauga people, as well as groups of smaller tribes, it is an oft-cited moniker favored by activists pursuing their political endeavors.

RELATED: America returns to the moon: How to watch Artemis II launch

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Glover is a devout Christian; he has been adamant about his faith and even asked for prayers regarding his moon mission. His brazen unwillingness to compromise on presenting his views has made him stand out throughout the mission lead-up.

"I want to use the abilities that God has given me to do my job well and support my crewmates and mission and NASA," he said in a 2020 Christian Chronicle interview; in remarks to Christianity Today, Glover said that he "very intentionally" puts "God at the front" of his missions because "it's the way I try to live my life as well."

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Oracle files for thousands of H-1B visas amid mass layoffs: 'Today is your last working day'



Oracle employees have been laid off as part of a "broader organizational change," with data revealing that the company has looked to hire thousands of foreign workers.

The software company, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is going through a huge transition as it prepares to back its infrastructural push toward artificial intelligence — reportedly at the cost of thousands of jobs.

'We are grateful for your dedication.'

Oracle cut thousands of jobs this week, a number that has not been narrowed since CNBC confirmed with insiders on Tuesday. The company may have already been looking ahead, however, as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data shows that Oracle has already filed thousands of petitions for H-1B visas in the past two years.

According to immigration services, the H-1B program allows employers to "temporarily employ foreign workers" for specialized skills. The federal data hub shows that Oracle America Inc. filed for 2,690 visas for fiscal year 2025, which covers Oct. 1, 2024 to Sep. 30, 2025.

At the same time, for fiscal year 2026, the company appears to have made 436 requests. If that number holds, the total through September 2026 will be 3,126.

Immigration services says petitioners can file for H-1B visas "no more than six months before the employment start date."

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Oracle reportedly began layoffs on Tuesday, sending out a letter that stated the company was eliminating roles as part of a broader company shift.

"As a result, today is your last working day," the letter read, per Business Insider. "We are grateful for your dedication, hard work, and the impact you have made during your time with us," it added.

Employees were also offered a severance package in line with their "severance plan."

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CHRIS DELMAS/AFP/Getty Images

Reports from March suggested that the company was allegedly preparing to lay off between 20,000 and 30,000 employees, which would have represented upwards of 18% of its workforce, Yahoo reported.

Blaze News did not receive an immediate response from Oracle regarding its H-1B numbers, the jobs the visas are to replace, and how many would replace American workers.

Oracle has not provided public comment on the matter either.

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AI needs so much computing power, it’s being taken away from gamers



AI is completely decimating computer component supply chains, causing mass RAM shortages and increasing prices for new products. While most premium consumer electronics are feeling the heat from these constraints, the gaming industry is getting hit particularly hard. Along with new consoles from Valve’s Steam hardware division, Nvidia’s gaming GPU road map is floundering, and no reprieve is in sight.

Nvidia’s stunted GPU road map

Nvidia is one of the hottest companies on the planet right now, rising up the valuation charts to fifth place after spending years below the top 10. Most of this growth was driven by its GPUs tuned for AI, but although the company has taken a liking to its spot atop the AI hierarchy, its humble beginnings took root in the gaming industry.

Buy your new gear now. Right now. If you can find it.

Nvidia makes some of the best gaming GPUs money can buy, and its products are the gold standard that most game developers use when crafting their games. Unfortunately, gaming hardware just isn’t as lucrative as an entire roster of Big Tech giants willing to spend billions on the best gear to train their large language models.

RAM shortages have caused Nvidia to make a hard decision — keep printing money on the backs of Big Tech or pinch pennies with gamers who want the best graphics. It chose the former.

Latest reports revealed a bleak outlook for Nvidia’s gaming GPU lineup. The first red flag was when it skipped out on unveiling new GPUs at CES in January, a move that is very unlike Nvidia. We’ve since learned that the RTX 50 Super series refresh that was on the way is now delayed. Adding insult to injury, the next-generation RTX 60 series was pushed back even further, rolling to 2027 or maybe even 2028.

That means Nvidia’s gaming GPUs are virtually stuck in limbo, forcing gamers to purchase the same equipment that’s already a year old and aging quickly. Now, that doesn’t mean the 50 series is lacking in terms of performance; they’re still very capable cards. But it does mean that innovation in the industry will stall until Nvidia remembers that it used to be a gaming company before its ostentatious affair with AI.

Steam Machine delays

Valve, meanwhile, has been on a roll lately, with its first-ever handheld gaming computer, the Steam Deck, reaching critical acclaim among gamers everywhere. The launch went so well that Valve decided to take a second stab at a full TV console, once again dubbed Steam Machine.

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JianGang Wang/Getty Images

The device is said to be a PC/console hybrid powered by SteamOS, Valve’s Linux-based gaming platform that, in many ways, offers better gaming performance than Windows. Without a crystal ball, it’s impossible to predict whether the Steam Machine sequel will be received better than the original, but if the Steam Deck’s success is any indication, Valve could have a breakout hit on its hands.

The only problem is that the Steam Machine, which was set to release in the first half of 2026, has now been delayed, thanks to — you guessed it — RAM shortages. Some estimates suspect that the console will now arrive mid-year, but Valve hasn’t confirmed this timeline yet. The company has also refrained from announcing an official price, citing that fluctuating RAM costs could drive the final MSRP higher.

Making matters even worse, the Steam Deck has also curiously disappeared from shelves in recent weeks, sparking concerns over Valve’s entire console business.

OEMs fight back

Some OEMs are trying to find ways around the RAM shortages in order to keep their product road maps alive, but the results could be detrimental to their brands. PC manufacturers like Dell, ASUS, and HP are reportedly looking to lesser-known Chinese companies outside their usual supply chains to provide RAM for their laptops.

While this could cut down on RAM costs and boost availability, the memory from these Chinese suppliers are untested in name-brand computers at scale. That means performance could suffer, and it could even open these laptops to security risks.

What are gamers to do?

Needless to say, all of this puts gamers in a tough position. With new hardware delays, market scarcity, potential shoddy RAM options, and rising prices, it’s growing more difficult for gamers to upgrade their existing hardware or make repairs as old components start to break.

The worst part is that RAM shortages are expected to last into 2028. As they drag on, fewer products will be available, and prices on current hardware will jump to even more unreasonable levels. There’s just not enough supply to meet demand, and that could make it impossible for gamers to get the gear they need.

Now you have three options:

  1. Pray that your current rig holds out until the end of the decade when, hopefully, these issues are resolved.
  2. Try cloud gaming. It might be easier to rent a rig until this all gets sorted out. But in doing that, you own less of your gaming experience, leaving yourself open to the dictates of companies that could eventually require biometric authentication for access, as is the case with Discord’s new ID-enforced age restrictions.
  3. Buy your new gear now. Right now. If you can find it.

Why you should buy now, if you can

If you want a 50 series GPU or a brand-new Steam Deck, you might be out of luck. But if a gaming laptop is what you’re after, there’s hope.

Because Nvidia didn’t release new GPUs for 2026, most of the “new” gaming laptops launching this year are minor refreshes. Instead of waiting for these models to drop, last year’s models with the same GPUs are still available and ripe for the picking.

I took advantage of this loophole myself, snatching up a 2025 ROG Zephyrus G14 with a stellar 5070 Ti that was made with premium parts from a time before the RAM shortages. It’s the smarter option than springing for the marginally better 2026 version with an inflated price tag, internals from a third-rate Chinese supplier, and more than likely, a delayed release date. Given the way the market has shaken out, I couldn’t be happier with my decision.

Gamers have to choose what’s best for them, but one thing is clear: If you don’t buy new hardware now, you might be waiting until the turn of the decade for better upgrades to come along, and in the fast-paced world of video games, that’s a long time to wait indeed.

'I'm not suicidal': Rep. Burchett says US would fall apart if we heard truth about UFOs



A congressman could neither confirm nor deny shocking claims made about hybrid alien species and a string of mysterious deaths.

During a recent interview, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) urged President Trump to disclose government secrets that he said would rock the nation, saying that what he has seen would keep people up at night.

'This country would have come unglued, I think, if they would have heard all that I heard.'

Burchett spoke with Newsmax host Rob Finnerty about recent stories and claims made about UFOs and alien disclosure. Perhaps most shockingly, Finnerty highlighted claims made by former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who recently said he was once briefed by U.S. Army personnel about the locations of "hybrid breeding programs where captured aliens were breeding with humans to create some hybrid race that could engage in intergalactic communication."

Gaetz told host Benny Johnson about "enforced breeding programs" between aliens and humans who had been abducted from war zones or migrant caravans.

When Finnerty asked Burchett for his response, he replied, "I'm still a member of Congress, so I can't really comment too much on what Matt said."

Burchett insisted he was being serious and added that if the government "would release the things that I've seen, you would stay up. You'd be up at night worrying about or thinking about this stuff."

The congressman gave an example.

"I was briefed ... on an issue two weeks ago, and it would have set the earth on — this country would have come unglued, I think, if they would have heard all that I heard, they would demand answers. And we need to."

Burchett then told the host there was an active cover-up happening in the highest ranks.

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All the allegedly shocking information that would have Americans up in arms is continuously being hidden from public view, Burchett claimed.

"Unfortunately, it just keeps getting covered up and covered up. And the people that know are dying or disappearing, as the case may be," he went on.

To that end, Finnerty cited a recent story connecting six dead or missing personnel linked to "secret U.S. aerospace work," all of which are stories from the past year.

For example, retired General William Neil McCasland allegedly "disappeared suddenly from his home" but left his phone, glasses, and watch, Finnerty said. He reportedly worked at an Air Force base that allegedly held debris from the Roswell, New Mexico, crash from the 1940s.

Monica Jacinto Reza is an aerospace engineer who vanished while hiking in the Angeles National Forest in June 2025.

In response to the stories, Burchett said, "I just know there are no coincidences in this town."

"These folks have disappeared or died mysteriously, and the only thing that ties them together is the fact that they worked on things that are dealing with outer space, whether it's UFOs or nuclear secrets or missiles or what have you," he added.

Chillingly, Burchett also felt the need to tell the host, "For the record, I'm not suicidal, and I don't take risks."

RELATED: The Conspiracy Instinct

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The 61-year-old from Knoxville, Tennessee, said he has been pushing for disclosure from the federal government, but he and his colleagues are often stymied by "arrogant" bureaucrats.

"When I'm in a meeting, in a closed-door meeting, and I asked about the president's points on these, and then I'm told by some arrogant, unelected bureaucrat that the president is on a need-to-know basis, I think that says everything that needs to be said about what's going on."

Burchett described the typical bureaucrat as "some little punk with a man bun" who is "sort of running the show," while decorated military officers are silenced.

The officers, Burchett explained, "are basically unallowed to say anything, and you can read their faces."

The congressman remained steadfast in that he did not believe the recent deaths were coincidences and furthermore that he thinks President Trump is indeed the president who wants to provide disclosure on aliens.

Burchett said the president simply needs to be informed of what questions to ask and to be told the locations of certain "items."

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Inside the Pentagon-Palantir 'digital twin' unleashed on Iran in Epic Fury



The Maven Smart System is briefly explained in the “one-pager,” a Palantir-produced document that frames the system as an “AI-enabled platform” for something called Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control. The prose is the sterile, aspirational language of the Pentagon, emphasizing a “live, synchronized view of the battlespace,” the language of “decision advantage,” a phrase that suggests we can outthink our adversaries by processing data more accurately.

MSS is no longer an AI prototype. It has become a durable layer in the military’s information architecture, a Program of Record transitioned to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in 2023.

In the first 24 hours alone, the system processed a thousand targets.

The money is real and the timelines are long: a $480 million Army contract in 2024, followed by a $795 million modification in 2025, both reaching toward 2029. There is also a $99.8 million vehicle designed to expand access across the services. MSS is a story of how an automation effort for drone video became the epistemic infrastructure for modern American war.

Birth of a twin

The precondition for MSS was a crisis of human attention. In 2017, Deputy Secretary Robert O. Work issued a memo establishing the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team, nicknamed Project Maven. The problem was simple and overwhelming: They had too much data and not enough eyes. Enormous volumes of full-motion video from unmanned systems were piling up, outstripping the capacity of human analysts to “process, exploit, and disseminate” them. The initial goal was simple: data labeling and algorithms to detect, classify, and alert.

By the time the project evolved into the Maven Smart System, it had become an apparatus that observes, organizes, and normalizes the battlespace. At its heart is the “Maven Ontology,” described as an operational “digital twin.” In this world, the messy heterogeneity of war (the images, the reports, the movement) is translated into a queryable database of objects, properties, and links. The analyst no longer interprets raw feeds; he operates on already-structured objects. The battlespace becomes a manipulable database.

The interface itself (Gaia for mapping, Maverick and Target Nexus for identification) is designed for scaling. It includes LLM-powered workflows and an Agent Studio in which users can build interactive assistants to query the ontology in natural language. One can ask for “detections of X” across thousands of objects and receive an answer in seconds. These interfaces are sometimes described as video game-like, which captures the ease of navigation while minimizing the gravity of the destruction it represents.

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Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

By early 2026, the user base had doubled to 20,000 active participants, a scaling that found its ultimate expression in Operation Epic Fury. In the first 24 hours alone, the system processed a thousand targets, with many thousands more to follow. This is the kill chain compressed from hours to minutes, an acceleration that effectively removes the friction of deliberation. War is no longer an event to be survived, but a dataset to be optimized, a feedback loop in which the destruction of the target serves primarily to improve the next detection.

How fast is too fast?

The logic of the platform is “fight-tonight” readiness and “rapid sensor-to-shooter engagements.” The Marine Corps speaks of a “fully digital workflow” for target management, pressuring the military toward a tempo in which speed is the organizing value. Yet the demands of war require discrimination and proportionality, context-sensitive reasoning that cannot be scaled by a Model Catalog.

The danger is the category error: treating the output of the machine as if it were a judgment. Humans have a tendency to “automation bias,” to over-trust the platform, especially under the crushing pressure of time. When the system pre-structures perception and prioritization, responsibility is dispersed through chains of mediation and eroded before human approval is even requested.

The platform is spreading through sale and licensing agreements like enterprise software. NATO has adopted “MSS NATO” for Allied Command Operations, with training already integrating the system into exercises and simulations. In the U.S. Army, the fielding is rapid, with training described as an “accelerated learning effort.” Software now changes faster than doctrine, habits, or the slower virtues of judgment.

The Pentagon has “Responsible AI Guidelines” and strategy documents that emphasize the ability to disengage or deactivate systems with unintended behavior. These frameworks exist in constant tension with the platform’s own gravity within the process, which pulls toward more data, more detections, and faster workflows.

We are left with a question of agency. In the MSS architecture, control is lost or found in how the targets are modeled, how the alerts are tuned, and how the ontology is constructed. The system is built to make war more legible and therefore more actionable. Legibility, however, is not the same as understanding. One wonders if “decision advantage” can truly co-exist with the capacity to consider, to scrutinize, or to refuse a path that a platform has already made so efficient.

Meta denies allegations it doesn't keep WhatsApp messages private



WhatsApp is the most widely used messaging platform in the world, boasting three billion active monthly users as of 2025. With widespread adoption, Meta’s communication juggernaut delivers 100 billion messages per day brimming with terabytes of data that, up until recently, were believed to be safely encrypted to keep prying eyes at bay. Allegedly, that’s not the case: A new lawsuit claims WhatsApp’s encryption technology is merely a façade that hides Meta’s broad backdoor access.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Meta “categorically” denies the claims. But while the most recent turn in the drama involved a judge tossing out a suit from WhatsApp’s former cybersecurity chief alleging the company fired him for blowing the whistle, the larger global class-action suit against Meta rolls on.

Why people love WhatsApp

WhatsApp is hugely popular for several reasons.

A full trial and an investigation will need to be conducted before the truth comes to light.

First, it’s not tied to any specific phone platform or service. Unlike Apple’s proprietary iMessage, or perhaps Blackberry Message of the past, WhatsApp works on most devices, including Apple products, Android phones, desktop computers, and more. It’s ubiquitous, making it an easy choice for users who just want to connect with their family and friends, wherever they are and whatever device they use.

Second, WhatsApp features end-to-end encryption built on Signal Protocol — the same encryption technology found in the Signal app. That means your messages, photos, videos, and other files sent through the app are private so that only you and the person you’re talking to can view them. Don’t take my word for it though. Here’s what Meta says:

When you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to. No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us. End-to-end encryption helps make communication via WhatsApp private — sort of like a face-to-face conversation.

With end-to-end encryption, you can be sure that your messages are safe and sound from prying eyes who wish to monetize your information or worse, right? At least, that’s what it’s supposed to mean.

The lawsuit

The new lawsuit alleges that WhatsApp isn’t as encrypted as everyone believed. Filed at the U.S. District Court by a band of whistleblowers from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico, and South Africa, the suit claims that WhatsApp’s encryption technology can be easily thwarted by the right people within Meta’s own hallowed halls — including content moderators working through Accenture, which has been added as a defendant in the case.

Before we jump too far down the rabbit hole, the suit admits that WhatsApp doesn’t make the source code behind its encryption implementation available to the public or third-party auditors. Therefore it’s impossible to prove (or even disprove) that its encryption system is set up correctly, with no backdoor access or vulnerabilities. The public simply has to trust Meta to be honest here.

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David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images (L), Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto/Getty Images (BG)

So how do the whistleblowers allegedly know that users’ encrypted messages are easily accessible? They claim that a Meta engineer can simply file a request within their internal system to view a user’s ID and chat history for work purposes. Worse, they claim some celebrities, politicians, and even Meta employees are closely “tracked” by staff for “investigation.” Lastly, the suit claims that Meta tried to prevent this information from reaching the public by isolating workers into specialized groups and forcing them to sign NDAs that threatened legal action should they speak out.

If true, this would mean that practically anyone’s WhatsApp data is viewable by a limited but notable group of people within Meta and, perhaps, some moderators working through Accenture. This data could also theoretically be copied and shared with other groups outside of the company, including advertisers, bad actors, or the government. Note that there is no proof so far that Meta shared users’ information outside of the company, but its sheer accessibility would throw a spotlight on Meta’s promise that no one — including Meta itself — can see your messages.

Naturally, Meta disputes the charges laid out in the lawsuit: “Any claim that people's WhatsApp messages are not encrypted is categorically false and absurd,” the company says. “WhatsApp has been end-to-end encrypted using the Signal protocol for a decade. This lawsuit is a frivolous work of fiction and we will pursue sanctions against plaintiffs’ counsel.”

Should you abandon WhatsApp?

Just like individual people, in the court of law, companies are innocent until proven guilty. A full trial and an investigation into Meta’s encryption practices will need to be conducted before the truth comes to light. Erring on the side of caution, however, open source apps that are subject to public scrutiny and security audits are the only ones that can be tested and proven to do what they promise to do. Whether or not you wish to move away from WhatsApp is a personal choice.

That said, both public-facing apps from Signal and Telegram are open source, and they’re built with security protocols that are publicly verifiable. Signal comes with end-to-end encryption enabled from the start. Telegram requires the user to enable end-to-end encryption by starting a Secret Chat. That makes either of these options stronger on private messages and data.

Bombshell report claims China is transforming old jets for new war



Multiple sources have claimed that the Chinese government is suspiciously repositioning its military assets, signaling possible future activity around Taiwan.

The reports come from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, which tracks Chinese military might and defense systems.

'We are concerned by the increased pressure from Beijing, including military activity around Taiwan.'

The China Airpower Tracker reportedly showed lines of typically retired Chinese fighter jets, which have drawn suspicion from experts. The J-6 fighter (also known as the Shenyang J-6) was first developed in the late 1950s.

China retired the line of jets in the late 1990s, but now, experts say, China is retrofitting the old fighters to serve as unmanned craft and staging them at six air bases close to the Taiwan Strait. Mitchell Institute senior fellow J. Michael Dahm told Reuters that approximately 200 obsolete fighters were being converted to drones.

The drones could be used to "attack Taiwan, U.S., or allied targets in large numbers, effectively overwhelming air defenses," Dahm claimed.

At the same time, the Mitchell Institute is not the only source noticing some of China's militaristic anomalies.

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MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

In a March 17 report, Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies noticed "small swept-wing aircraft parked on the same apron" as the newer J-16 multi-role fighter at Zhangzhou's Longtian Airport, "presumed to be a J-6 fighter (equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks)."

The NIDS concluded that "there is no immediately apparent rational explanation for the presence of J-6s at forward airfields. The co-existence of state-of-the-art multi-role fighters and obsolete fighters cannot be explained simply by a fleet modernization program," the report continued. "Rather, it suggests that they may be assigned different missions."

Noting that the J-6 is no longer capable of enduring modern air-to-air battles, the report said it is "not technically implausible" that it could be recommissioned into service following a conversion to an "unmanned configuration."

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"We are concerned by the increased pressure from Beijing, including military activity around Taiwan that raises the risk of miscalculation," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a recent Taiwan briefing.

Taiwanese Deputy Minister Hsu Szu-chien said he hoped the United States would soon expedite a process for arm sales to his country.

"This would greatly facilitate our efforts to secure funding for the special defense budget," said Szu-chien.

Reuters also reported that the U.S. is preparing an arm sales package to Taiwan worth $14 billion.

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America returns to the moon: How to watch Artemis II launch



NASA is counting down to the launch of Artemis II on Wednesday, the first time in more than 50 years the space agency has sent a crewed mission to the moon.

After suffering a series of significant setbacks last year, NASA is ready to go with the crewed lunar orbit and prepping their systems for launch.

'Engineers are powering up flight hardware ... and preparing the rocket's cryogenic systems.'

NASA has a targeted launch time of 6:24 p.m. ET, with a window that extends to 8:24 p.m. ET.

Online viewers can watch on NASA's YouTube channel (below) and alternatively C-SPAN, which requires a registered account.

In person, Artemis II will launch from Kennedy Space Center's LC-39B platform in Merritt Island, Florida.

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The Artemis II mission is a crewed lunar orbit that will test landing systems for future missions to the surface.

Artemis III is set for mid-2027, while Artemis IV is targeted for early 2028 and will include a lunar landing.

Artemis V is to include another lunar landing, aimed at launching by the end of 2028, which NASA previously said is when it expects to "begin building its moon base."

The last lunar mission by NASA was Apollo 17 in December 1972.

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Miguel J. Rodriguez CARRILLO/AFP/Getty Images

The Artemis II crew includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

"Engineers are powering up flight hardware, checking communication links, and preparing the rocket's cryogenic systems for the precise fueling sequence required to load hundreds of thousands of gallons of super-cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen," NASA said in a countdown press release.

If any weather or technical issues arise that would delay the launch, NASA has a second launch window of 7:22 p.m. to 9:22 p.m. ET on Thursday, Today reported, with 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday serving as a final window.

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The Trump phone is coming: Inside the delays, the attacks, and what to expect



Trump Mobile, an MVNO cell service provider operated by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, was on track to launch its first Android phone by the end of 2025. However, after the T1 Phone launch date slipped to later this year, opportunists on the left pounced for political clout. Democrats officially filed an FTC complaint claiming false advertisement around the T1 Phone, though the statement looks more like a ploy to waste taxpayer money, discredit the FTC, and antagonize the Trump administration with a pointless witch hunt to please their base.

The complaint

Leftists are no strangers to wasting the money of hardworking Americans, and this time, they’re doing it in the name of consumer protection.

In January, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and the usual cadre of Democrat noisemakers (Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Sen. Adam Schiff (Calif.), and Sen. Ed Markey (Mass.), to name a few) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission accusing Trump Mobile of “potentially deceptive practices” around the unreleased T1 Phone. Their claim is that the Trump Mobile website uses vague language to describe the phone’s design and manufacturing roots, calling into question whether or not it will actually be made in America. The press release also compares Trump Mobile's actions to “bait-and-switch tactics” for missing its launch deadlines throughout the last half of 2025.

The fact that Trump Mobile hasn’t shipped the T1 Phone doesn't mean that the device isn't coming.

It’s a clever dispute, positioning Warren and company as thoughtful lawmakers who are trying to protect the unwitting MAGA supporters who preordered the T1 Phone with a $100 deposit, but the truth is a little more devious. In fact, Warren wrote the quiet part loud and proud in bold letters, revealing the complaint to be “a critical test of the FTC’s independence.” Democrats aren’t looking to protect consumers from a device that is still set to launch later this year. They’re trying to see if they can assert their power and control over the FTC and its Trump-appointed chairman, Andrew Ferguson.

So far, Ferguson has refused to take the bait, already ignoring one letter from Warren back in August 2025. The FTC had until February 14, 2026, to respond to the Democrats’ allegations and decide whether an investigation into Trump Mobile is necessary. So far, no public response has been forthcoming. Presumably, if nothing else is happening behind the scenes, Democrats will take the rebuff as evidence of systemic corruption inside Trump’s Federal Trade Commission.

Product delays are common in tech

While Democrats do what they do best — grandstand for the public in hopes that someone takes their charade seriously — there are some simple facts about product launches that can’t be ignored. For starters, research firm Gartner found in a 2019 survey that 45% of new products are delayed past their original launch dates. On the flip side, only 55% of products launch on time. For a company that aims to bring its first product to market, delays are likely.

Why? Because there is a lot of work that goes into launching a smartphone. You need capital to fund the project, an R&D team to design and test the phone, manufacturers for every component as well as an assembly facility to put it all together, and certification by the FCC for the device to be sold in the USA.

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JianGang Wang/Getty Images

If any one of these cogs in the machine is delayed or falls through, launch dates can move back by months or more. The fact that Trump Mobile hasn’t shipped the T1 Phone doesn't mean that the device isn't coming or that false advertising was used to swindle early buyers. It’s merely proof that the company needs more time to navigate the production process.

Where is the T1 Phone now?

To know for sure, we reached out to Trump Mobile for comment on the delays, new launch date, and Warren’s FTC complaint, but we did not receive a response before this article was set to be published. That said, all evidence indicates that the T1 Phone isn’t canceled. Trump Mobile is still accepting preorders with a $100 down payment, and the website says that the device is set to launch “later this year.”

As for the Democrats’ FTC complaint, it’s just another example of Elizabeth Warren' s ongoing witch hunt against President Trump, as her White House ballroom investigation drags on with much mockery and ridicule. Clearly, Warren and her Democrat colleagues aren’t to be taken seriously.