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Altman questions if social media is dominated by bots

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has sparked debate after admitting he increasingly struggles to distinguish between genuine online conversations and content generated by bots or AI models.

Altman described a ‘strangest experience’ while reading about OpenAI’s Codex model, saying comments instinctively felt fake even though he knew the growth trend was real. He said social media rewards, ‘LLM-speak,’ and astroturfing make communities feel less genuine.

His comments follow an earlier admission that he had never considered the so-called dead internet theory until now, when large language model accounts seemed to be running X. The theory claims bots and artificial content dominate online activity, though evidence of coordinated control is lacking.

Reactions were divided, with some users agreeing that online communities have become increasingly bot-like. Others argued the change reflects shifting dynamics in niche groups rather than fake accounts.

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Teens turn to AI chatbots for support, raising mental health concerns

Mental health experts in Iowa have warned that teenagers are increasingly turning to AI chatbots instead of seeking human connection, raising concerns about misinformation and harmful advice.

The issue comes into focus on National Suicide Prevention Day, shortly after a lawsuit against ChatGPT was filed over a teenager’s suicide.

Jessica Bartz, a therapy supervisor at Vera French Duck Creek, said young people are at a vulnerable stage of identity formation while family communication often breaks down.

She noted that some teens use chatbot tools like ChatGPT, Genius and Copilot to self-diagnose, which can reinforce inaccurate or damaging ideas.

‘Sometimes AI can validate the wrong things,’ Bartz said, stressing that algorithms only reflect the limited information users provide.

Without human guidance, young people risk misinterpreting results and worsening their struggles.

Experts recommend that parents and trusted adults engage directly with teenagers, offering empathy and open communication instead of leaving them dependent on technology.

Bartz emphasised that nothing can replace a caring person noticing warning signs and intervening to protect a child’s well-being.

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Nepal lifts social media ban after protests

The Nepali government has lifted its ban on major social media platforms following days of nationwide protests led largely by youth demanding action against corruption.

The ban, which blocked access to 26 social media sites including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube, was introduced in an effort to curb misinformation, online fraud, and hate speech, according to government officials.

However, critics accused the administration of using the restrictions to stifle dissent and silence public outrage.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Kathmandu and other major cities in Nepal, voicing frustration over rising unemployment, inflation, and what they described as a lack of accountability among political leaders.

The protests quickly gained momentum, with digital freedom becoming a central theme alongside anti-corruption demands.

The United Nations Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights addressed the situation, stating: “We have received several deeply worrying allegations of unnecessary or disproportionate use of force by security forces during protests organized by youth groups demonstrating against corruption and the recent Government ban on social media platforms.”

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Google boosts Gemini with audio uploads and NotebookLM upgrades

The US tech giant has expanded the capability of its Gemini app by allowing users to upload audio files for AI analysis across Android, iOS, and the web. The upgrade enables transcription of interviews, voice memos and lecture recordings instead of relying solely on typed or spoken prompts.

Free-tier users can upload clips of up to ten minutes with five prompts daily, while paid subscribers have access to three hours of uploads across multiple files. According to Gemini vice president Josh Woodward, the feature is designed to make the platform more versatile and practical for everyday tasks.

Google has also enhanced its Search AI mode with five new languages, including Hindi, Japanese and Korean, extending its multilingual reach.

NotebookLM, the company’s research assistant powered by Gemini, can now generate structured reports such as quizzes, study guides and blog posts from uploaded content, available in more than 80 languages.

These improvements underline Google’s ambition to integrate AI more deeply into everyday applications instead of leaving the technology confined to experimental tools. They also highlight growing competition in the AI market, with Google using Gemini 2.5 to expand its services for global users.

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AI Mode in Google Search adds multilingual support to Hindi and four more languages

Google has announced an expansion of AI Mode in Search to five new languages, including Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean and Brazilian Portuguese. The feature was first introduced in English in March and aims to compete with AI-powered search platforms such as ChatGPT Search and Perplexity AI.

The company highlighted that building a global search experience requires more than translation. Google’s custom version of Gemini 2.5 uses advanced reasoning and multimodal capabilities to provide locally relevant and useful search results instead of offering generic answers.

AI Mode now also supports agentic tasks such as booking restaurant reservations, with plans to include local service appointments and event ticketing.

Currently, these advanced functions are available to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the US, while India received the rollout of the language expansion in July.

These developments reinforce Google’s strategy to integrate AI deeply into its search ecosystem, enhancing user experience across diverse regions instead of limiting sophisticated AI tools to English-language users.

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Social media authenticity questioned as Altman points to bot-like behaviour

Sam Altman, X enthusiast and Reddit shareholder, has expressed doubts over whether social media content can still be distinguished from bot activity. His remarks followed an influx of praise for OpenAI Codex on Reddit, where users questioned whether such posts were genuine.

Altman noted that humans are increasingly adopting quirks of AI-generated language, blurring the line between authentic and synthetic speech. He also pointed to factors such as social media optimisation for engagement and astroturfing campaigns, which amplify suspicions of fakery.

The comments follow OpenAI’s backlash over the rollout of G P T-5, which saw Reddit communities shift from celebratory to critical. Altman acknowledged flaws in a Reddit AMA, but the fallout left lasting scepticism and lower enthusiasm among AI users.

Underlying this debate is the wider reality that bots dominate much of the online environment. Imperva estimates that more than half of 2024’s internet traffic was non-human, while X’s own Gr o k chatbot admitted to hundreds of millions of bots on the platform.

Some observers suggest Altman’s comments may foreshadow an OpenAI-backed social media venture. Whether such a project could avoid the same bot-related challenges remains uncertain, with research suggesting that even bot-only networks eventually create echo chambers of their own.

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Anthropic AI faces legal setback in authors’ piracy lawsuit

A federal judge has rejected the $1.5 billion settlement Anthropic agreed to in a piracy lawsuit filed by authors.

Judge William Alsup expressed concerns that the deal was ‘nowhere close to complete’ and could be forced on writers without proper input.

The lawsuit involves around 500,000 authors whose works were allegedly used without permission to train Anthropic’s large language models. The proposed settlement would have granted $3,000 per work, a sum far exceeding previous copyright recoveries.

However, the judge criticised the lack of clarity regarding the list of works, authors, notification process, and claim forms.

Alsup instructed the lawyers to provide clear notice to class members and allow them to opt in or out. He also emphasised that Anthropic must be shielded from future claims on the same issue. The court set deadlines for a final list of works by September 15 and approval of all related documents by October 10.

The ruling highlights ongoing legal challenges for AI companies using copyrighted material for training large language models instead of relying solely on licensed or public-domain data.

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Orson Welles lost film reconstructed with AI

More than 80 years after Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons was cut and lost, AI is being used to restore 43 missing minutes of the film.

Amazon-backed Showrunner, led by Edward Saatchi, is experimenting with AI technology to rebuild the destroyed sequences as part of a broader push to reimagine how Hollywood might use AI in storytelling.

The project is not intended for commercial release, since Showrunner has not secured rights from Warner Bros. or Concord, but instead aims to explore what could have been the director’s original vision.

The initiative marks a shift in the role of AI in filmmaking. Rather than serving only as a tool for effects, dubbing or storyboarding, it is being positioned as a foundation for long-form narrative creation.

Showrunner is developing AI models capable of sustaining complex plots, with the goal of eventually generating entire films. Saatchi envisions the platform as a type of ‘Netflix of AI,’ where audiences might one day interact with intellectual property and generate their own stories.

To reconstruct The Magnificent Ambersons, the company is combining traditional techniques with AI tools. New sequences will be shot with actors, while AI will be used for face and pose transfer to replicate the original cast.

Thousands of archival set photographs are being used to digitally recreate the film’s environments.

Filmmaker Brian Rose, who has rebuilt 30,000 missing frames over five years, has reconstructed set movements and timing to match the lost scenes, while VFX expert Tom Clive will assist in refining the likenesses of the original actors.

A project that underlines both the creative possibilities and ethical tensions surrounding AI in cinema. While the reconstructed footage will not be commercially exploited, it raises questions about the use of copyrighted material in training AI and the risk of replacing human creators.

For many, however, the experiment offers a glimpse of what Welles’ ambitious work might have looked like had it survived intact.

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OpenAI study links AI hallucinations to flawed testing incentives

OpenAI researchers say large language models continue to hallucinate because current evaluation methods encourage them to guess rather than admit uncertainty.

Hallucinations, defined as confident but false statements, persist despite advances in models such as GPT-5. Low-frequency facts, like specific dates or names, are particularly vulnerable.

The study argues that while pretraining predicts the next word without true or false labels, the real problem lies in accuracy-based testing. Evaluations that reward lucky guesses discourage models from saying ‘I don’t know’.

Researchers suggest penalising confident errors more heavily than uncertainty, and awarding partial credit when AI models acknowledge limits in knowledge. They argue that only by reforming evaluation methods can hallucinations be meaningfully reduced.

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Mental health concerns over chatbots fuel AI regulation calls

The impact of AI chatbots on mental health is emerging as a serious concern, with experts warning that such cases highlight the risks of more advanced systems.

Nate Soares, president of the US-based Machine Intelligence Research Institute, pointed to the tragic case of teenager Adam Raine, who took his own life after months of conversations with ChatGPT, as a warning signal for future dangers.

Soares, a former Google and Microsoft engineer, said that while companies design AI chatbots to be helpful and safe, they can produce unintended and harmful behaviour.

He warned that the same unpredictability could escalate if AI develops into artificial super-intelligence, systems capable of surpassing humans in all intellectual tasks. His new book with Eliezer Yudkowsky, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, argues that unchecked advances could lead to catastrophic outcomes.

He suggested that governments adopt a multilateral approach, similar to nuclear non-proliferation treaties, to halt a race towards super-intelligence.

Meanwhile, leading voices in AI remain divided. Meta’s chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, has dismissed claims of an existential threat, insisting AI could instead benefit humanity.

The debate comes as OpenAI faces legal action from Raine’s family and introduces new safeguards for under-18s.

Psychotherapists and researchers also warn of the dangers of vulnerable people turning to chatbots instead of professional care, with early evidence suggesting AI tools may amplify delusional thoughts in those at risk.

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