SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " headline " 1,322 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
UFC Vegas 116 weigh-in results: All fights officially set
The UFC octagon is back in Las Vegas for Saturday's UFC Vegas 116: Sterling vs. Zalal fight card at the Meta Apex. The event is headlined by a featherweight bout between former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and No. 7 ranked Youssef Zalal. On Friday, the athletes competing on the fight ...
Entertainment Committee’s TechFest 2026 with Rachel Chinouriri
On April 8, as the end of the spring semester approached, Stevens Entertainment Committee (EC) hosted the highly anticipated musical event to kick off the summer festivities: TechFest 2026 Each year, the student-run Entertainment Committee works to coordinate a memorable event filled with fun activities, performances from students, and top musicians. Previous years’ headliners included
Ty Simpson, Jeremiyah Love headline NFL Draft's biggest reaches in first round
Ranking the NFL Draft's biggest 2026 first-round reaches.
2026 NFL Draft best available: Jermod McCoy, Denzel Boston, Emmanuel McNeil-Warren headline Day 2 group
Get to know the biggest names still available in the NFL Draft as the second round is up next.
Looking back, looking forward on a spring semester of Texas sports
Baseball: Looking back: Loaded with a talented transfer portal class headlined by junior outfielder Aiden Robbins and junior catcher Carson Tinney, Texas baseball has jumped out to an impressive 30–8 record in head coach Jim Schlossnagle’s second year on the Forty Acres. Looking forward: The starting pitching trio of sophomore Dylan Volantis, senior Ruger Riojas...
Photos: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival kicks off first day
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival returned to the Fair Grounds. Headliners included Kings of Leon, Raye and Stephen Marley.
Headkrack talks about some of the top entertainment headlines
You can catch Headkrack on SideDish week nights on Fox Soul
Stifel reiterates Buy rating on PENN Entertainment stock
Stifel reiterates Buy rating on PENN Entertainment stock
WELL Health Patient Volumes Surge As Primary Care Margins Improve
WELL Health Technologies (TSX:WELL) reported record patient volumes in Q1-2026, supported by higher activity in its Primary Care segment. Operational changes and an expanded affiliate network were key drivers of Primary Care growth and improved clinic margins. The company continues to add clinics to its network, extending its reach across its core markets. For investors watching TSX:WELL, the latest Q1-2026 update focuses on patient volumes and clinic performance rather than headline...
Keldon Johnson speaks after winning Sixth Man of the Year and Spurs are heading to Portland
Get the latest sports headlines from KSAT Sports Now, a streaming show from KSAT 12, the San Antonio, Texas leader in breaking news, weather and sports.
NBC SPORTS ANNOUNCES ITS COMPLETE 2026 WNBA REGULAR-SEASON SCHEDULE ACROSS NBC, PEACOCK, AND NBCSN
Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson, Paige Bueckers, Napheesa Collier, Sabrina Ionescu, Angel Reese, Breanna Stewart, and Azzi Fudd Headline Star-Studded Schedule
SPONSORED How small businesses help power Huntsville's growth
Huntsville, Ala.'s global reputation for aerospace, biotech and defense often grabs headlines. But the region's continued growth depends just as much on local entrepreneurs — and access to capital that helps them launch, hire and scale.
Defensive line rankings for the 2026 NFL Draft
Our final defensive line rankings our live and they are headlined by Rueben Bain Jr.
Jigi Dinero has the latest in entertainment headlines
Drake sent fans in a frenzy to find out his new album release date, plus other top stories from Jigi.
When Summer Screen Time Poses a Mental Health Risk for Teens
Beyond headlines and courtrooms, many families are seeking an answer to a more immediate question: How do we know when social media use is affecting a teenager’s mental health?
Ilia Topuria goes off on 'dumb as f***' Arman Tsarukyan
Top UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan has made as many headlines for his antics outside of the cage as in it. The 29-year-old has stuck a fan on his walkout to the octagon, head butted an opponent during face-offs, engaged in a post-fight brawl at RAF 6, got thrown off an airplane and ...
Recapping Indiana politics headlines in 60 seconds
IndyStar Statehouse reporter Kayla Dwyer recaps the top politics headlines in 60 seconds from the week of April 13.
When the CEO Becomes the Brand
Research suggests that Elon Musk’s political stance appears to have reshaped how different groups perceive Tesla. Overall sales trends hint at trouble. The company’s growth stalled in 2024, and deliveries fell 8.5% in 2025. But those headline numbers hide what is happening beneath the surface. When the data is broken down by political orientation and by changes in views of Musk, a more complicated pattern emerges. Among right-leaning respondents and those whose opinion of Musk has improved, Tesla’s brand appeal is significantly higher and willingness to pay exceeds that for many competing brands, including Ford, Chevrolet, and Rivian. Among left-leaning consumers and those whose view of Musk has worsened, the opposite is true: Preference and willingness to pay for Tesla drop sharply. The outcome is not a uniform decline but a polarization of demand. Some consumers appear to feel alienated, while others feel more aligned with the brand. This raises an important strategic question of whether companies can influence purchasing decisions across these divided segments by strengthening the underlying value proposition.
The Death of Public Health
During the recent measles outbreak, the largest in more than 30 years, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. refused to clearly recommend the measles vaccine, saying instead that it was a “personal decision,” and that parents should “do their own research.” Similarly, during her recent confirmation hearing for United States Surgeon General, Casey Means was questioned by Senator William Cassidy (R, La). “You’re the nation’s doctor,” said Cassidy. “Would you encourage [a mother] to have her child vaccinated!” “I’m not an individual’s doctor,” Means said. “And every individual needs to talk to their doctor before putting a medication in their body.” In June 2025, Marty Makary, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said that COVID vaccines for pregnant women should be a “personal choice”, even though every other country in the world recommended the COVID vaccine during pregnancy due to a higher risk for severe disease. It doesn’t end there. On January 5, 2026, RFK Jr. reduced the number of routinely recommended vaccines from 18 to 10. For vaccines that protected against influenza, COVID, and rotavirus, parents were urged to speak with their doctors—to make an individual choice. (On March 16, 2026, in a ruling by a federal court in Boston, RFK Jr.’s revised schedule was invalidated.) What’s happening? Why are public health officials moving away from making recommendations for the public? The origin of this change might be rooted in the first two years of the COVID pandemic. In 2020, during the first year on the pandemic, we didn’t have anything to stop a virus that was killing hundreds of people a day and could be spread asymptomatically. We didn’t have antivirals until October, monoclonal antibodies until November, and vaccines until December. All we could do was restrict travel, close businesses, shutter schools, and mask, isolate, quarantine, test, and social distance. During the second year of the pandemic, when we had vaccines to prevent COVID, people couldn’t go anywhere without their vaccine cards. They couldn’t go to their favorite bar or restaurant or sporting event or place of worship without proof of vaccination. Some people were fired from their jobs for refusing to get vaccinated. For many, this was seen as massive government overreach and energized what has been called the “medical freedom movement.” Indeed, a headline in the New York Times declared, “How Health Freedom Became a Winning Rally Cry.” As expressed in the comments of RFK Jr., Casey Means, and Marty Makary, the medical freedom movement focuses on the individual not the community—the opposite of public health. In an article titled “Ethics and Social Value Judgments in Public Health,” ethicists from Yale University distinguished public health from medical freedom. “Public health policies,” they wrote, “are population oriented. Because individual health affects the health of others, public health measures regulate individual behavior to achieve population health goals. All raise questions about how individual autonomy and freedom should be balanced against public health interests…which respects individuals’ sovereignty over their bodies and actions as long as their actions do not harm others.” The medical freedom movement fails to recognize that it often limits the freedom of others. For example, a parent who is afraid to send a child to school where many of the students are unvaccinated. Or immune compromised children who depend on those around them to for protection. The question then becomes “Freedom for whom?” Is it your right, in the name of medical freedom, to catch and transmit a potentially fatal infection—and in so doing, take away the freedom of others? In Four Essays on Liberty, Isaiah Berlin sums it up best. “Liberty for the wolves,” he wrote, “is death to the lambs.” Thanks for reading Beyond the Noise! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe
Mizuho reiterates Outperform on PENN Entertainment stock
Mizuho reiterates Outperform on PENN Entertainment stock
Hailey Bieber Debuts Cute Tattoos to Show Her Love for Husband Justin Bieber During Coachella
Hailey Bieber put her love for her husband, Justin Bieber, on full display as she supported him at the 2026 Coachella Music & Arts Festival, where he was the Saturday night headliner across the event's two-weekend stretch.
UFC veteran breaks down Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland
In what's turned into one of the bigger grudge matches in recent years, middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev and former titleholder Sean Strickland headline the UFC 328 fight card on May 9th. The undefeated Chimaev and Strickland used to train together but their relationship deteriorated into ...
Gilgeous-Alexander, Wemby, Jokic finalists for NBA MVP
Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander headlines the finalists announced Sunday for this year's award alongside San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama and Denver's three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.Gilgeous-Alexander, who beat out Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo in the voting last year and was also named NBA Finals MVP as the Thunder beat Indiana for the trophy, averaged more than 30 points per game this season.
Matches To Make After UFC Winnipeg
UFC Winnipeg went down last night (Sat., April 18, 2026) inside Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, which saw Mike Malott secure a stunning stoppage victory over Gilbert Burns in the third round of their Welterweight headliner (see it again here). In the co-main event, Charles Jourdain defeated Kyler Phillips via unanimous decision, while […]
Is Six Flags (FUN) Turning Ride Upgrades Into a Test of Its Per-Guest Value Strategy?
Six Flags New England recently held an exclusive press preview for Quantum Accelerator, New England’s first dual-launch straddle coaster, alongside broader upgrades to Crackaxle Canyon and park-wide dining and retail offerings. The combination of a headline coaster and enhanced food, beverage, and pass benefits highlights Six Flags’ focus on deepening guest engagement and extracting more value per visit. We’ll now look at how Quantum Accelerator’s debut and related guest-experience...
Multiple Saints players will play in Zurich Classic celebrity shootout
Several New Orleans Saints headline this year's celebrity shootout at the Zurich Classic. Tyler Shough, Justin Reid, and Pete Werner will compete.
Is It Too Late To Consider Guardant Health (GH) After Its 100% One Year Surge?
If you are wondering whether Guardant Health at around US$90.36 is still fairly priced or starting to look stretched, the key question is what that tag says about the underlying business. The stock has seen sharp swings, with a 15.0% move over the last 7 days, 6.1% over 30 days, a 100.9% return over 1 year and a 268.7% return over 3 years, while the 5 year return sits at a 42.9% decline and the year to date return at an 11.2% decline. Recent headlines around Guardant Health have focused on...
Madonna joins Sabrina Carpenter in a surprise Coachella appearance
Madonna made a surprise return to the Coachella stage, joining headliner Sabrina Carpenter for a trio of songs.
Texas Sports Hall of Fame inducts Class of 2026
Von Miller, Zack Martin, Gary Patterson, and Clint Dempsey headline a stacked 2026 Texas Sports Hall of Fame class.
Fox News Entertainment Newsletter: Heather Locklear dating Lorenzo Lamas, reality star suffered stroke
The Fox News Entertainment Newsletter brings you the latest Hollywood headlines, celebrity interviews and stories from Los Angeles and beyond.
Super Niño 2026: Between science and sensationalism
Amid headlines warning about a possible “super El Niño” in 2026, the scientific community is urging caution.
Test your pop culture: From Hollywood to the Heartland
Test your knowledge of entertainment with this quiz on celebrities, trends and headline-making moments. Featured this week: guess the celebrity behind the Instagram post and what couple has made it official.
Tired of 2026 mock drafts? Meet the 32 future stars who could define the 2027 NFL Draft
Jeremiah Smith headlines the list, while Arch Manning cracks top five but isn't QB1
UFC Winnipeg weigh-in results: All fighters on point
The fighters competing on Saturday's UFC Winnipeg fight card officially weighed in on Friday at the host hotel. All fighters officially weighed weight for the contests. The event is. headlined by a welterweight bout between former title challenger Gilbert Burns and Canadian Mike Malott. Both men ...
Hot ticket: Rodeo kicks off and Fleet Week takes flight
Pretty Fly for a Smart Guy: Dexter Holland, lead singer of The Offspring and a molecular biologist, will headline an upcoming installment of Space Center Houston‘s Thought Leader Series.
Thomas and Chelsea Carballo to headline Michigan Medicine Women’s Health Luncheon
Thomas Carballo, iHeartMedia radio host of “Mojo in the Morning,” and his wife, Chelsea, will be the keynote speakers for Michigan Medicine’s fifth annual Women’s Health Luncheon: Creating a Brighter Future Together.
April Las Vegas headliners. David Byrne, Cyndi Lauper, Phish included
Las Vegas is known for its entertainment and people traveling into the Southern Nevada city may be wondering what shows are coming up. Here's the list.
Keith Urban to headline ninth annual Ally Community Concert
Country music superstar Keith Urban will perform during the Ally Community Concert at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club on Aug. 29 during the Ally Challenge golf tournament.
Brenda Alexander talks the latest in entertainment headlines
Russel Simmons and Kimora Lee are back in the headlines. And reports of an Atlanta housewife with custody issues.
What I’ve learned from 25 years of automated science, and what the future holds: an interview with Ross King
We’re excited to launch our new series, where we’ll be speaking with leading researchers to explore the breakthroughs driving AI and the reality of the future promises – to give you an inside perspective on the headlines. Our first interviewee is Ross King, who created the first robot scientist back in 2009. He spoke to […]
Morning Break: Saints partner with UnitedHealthcare to spotlight mental health
A collection of headlines and news about the Saints and the NFL for Tuesday, April 14
Prisco's Better-Than Team for 2026 NFL Draft: The 20 prospects he's higher on than scouts
R Mason Thomas headlines Prisco's list of 20 undervalued prospects
Wolf: ‘Business as usual’ for Vrabel
Mike Florio and Chris Simms discuss Eliot Wolf’s comments on Mike Vrabel and examine the state of things in New England as the head coach is drawing headlines.
Top Seattle spring concerts: Seattle legends, Southern indie bands headline
A jazz guitar virtuoso, a Seattle rock icon's documentary premiere and the leaders of a Southern indie renaissance: Here are 12 dates to mark on your calendar.
Kierra M talks the latest in entertainment headlines
Britney Spears checks herself into rehab 5 Weeks after DUI arrest
Lecrae to Headline Berklee’s Business of Hip‑Hop Symposium
Berklee College of Music is bringing Lecrae to campus for its 19th Annual Business of Hip‑Hop Music Symposium.
🗞️Today's headlines: No giving up, and a flying Lamine
The week begins revving up ahead of the Champions League quarter-final second legs.It is the week of truth for Madrid, Barça and Atleti in the Champions League, and the sports press wakes up with ral...
Don't mess with Walt Weiss: Atlanta's new manager is a 'different breed'
Walt Weiss is making headlines in his first weeks as Atlanta's skipper.
New Orleans all-metro girls basketball team headlined by state champion from John Curtis
A John Curtis senior headlines the 2026 New Orleans all-metro girls basketball team.
Kawhi Leonard status for Warriors game emerges after ankle development
Once a dark horse contender, Los Angeles faces turbulence as Kawhi Leonard’s health and headlines cloud their playoff hopes.
Dodgers, Yankees, Brewers Headline Dontrelle Willis' MLB Power Rankings
FOX Sports MLB studio analyst Dontrelle Willis lists his top five MLB teams right now. See who made the cut!
Fox News Entertainment Newsletter: Kelly Ripa’s secret signal, ‘Charlie’s Angels’ star on price of fame
The Fox News Entertainment Newsletter brings you the latest Hollywood headlines, celebrity interviews and stories from Los Angeles and beyond.
Fox News Entertainment Newsletter: Kelly Ripa's secret signal, 'Charlie's Angels' star on price of fame
The Fox News Entertainment Newsletter brings you the latest Hollywood headlines, celebrity interviews and stories from Los Angeles and beyond.
“AI polls” are fake polls
A few weeks after Donald Trump’s second presidential win, I took the train up from London (where I was living at the time) to Oxford to attend a conference on polls and forecasts of the 2024 election. Most of the attendees were pollsters or academics, but I also watched presentations from Aaru and Electric Twin, two companies that do what is interchangeably called synthetic sampling, silicon sampling, or synthetic audiences. Stripped of startup jargon, that means they use large language models (LLMs) to simulate responses to public opinion polls by having AI agents take on the role of survey respondents. I had already heard of Aaru thanks to some articles with eye-catching headlines like “No people, no problem: AI chatbots predict elections better than humans” in the months leading up to Election Day. The founders were making some big, some might even say far-fetched claims, such as: “within two years, we will simulate the entire globe — from the way crops are grown in Ukraine to how that impacts production of oil in Iraq, trade through the strait of Malacca, and elections for the mayor of Baltimore.” When Semafor asked Aaru’s cofounders — Cameron Fink and Ned Koh — about my boss, they said “we respect all those who came before us.” Nate (as he so often does) shared his thoughts on Twitter: Fink and Koh were relatively good-natured about this back-and-forth when we spoke at Oxford. They even offered to mail me one of the t-shirts featuring Nate’s quote they apparently had made. I never took them up on the offer, which I now somewhat regret. These synthetic sampling companies fell off my radar for a while, but they do still exist. In fact, Aaru recently received a $1 billion valuation. Is what they’re doing anywhere close to the most important frontier in AI development? Not by a longshot, especially when Anthropic just developed a model so adept at exploiting software vulnerabilities that it’s only being released to 40 companies. Still, silicon sampling is increasingly finding its way into public polling. Axios reported in March that “a majority of people trust their own doctors and nurses” based on findings from Aaru — without mentioning that the “people” in that sentence were actually LLMs. Around the same time, the Public Sentiment Institute “boosted” their online sample of 373 real survey respondents with 114 AI agents.1 (Spoiler alert: even the co-founder of Electric Twin doesn’t think that’s a particularly defensible approach.) Polling companies like Qualtrics and Ipsos are also developing synthetic data panels. So, what should we make of these … “polls”? Let’s get one thing out of the way: whatever they are, they’re not polls in the way that term is usually defined. Subscribe You can’t replace polls with AI On one hand, using LLMs to essentially make up fake survey respondents sort of sounds like the dumbest idea ever, one that will at best imperfectly replicate real polls while introducing all sorts of biases. On the other hand, with LLMs improving at a remarkable, perhaps even alarming rate, maybe that means I’m a dinosaur at the ripe old age of 24 because I still want to rely on polls that talk to actual people. I’m not going to argue that synthetic samples are completely useless. In fact, as I’ll return to later, there is evidence that some techniques can replicate topline survey results quickly and cheaply. But the marketing from certain companies can be slightly optimistic. “No traditional poll will exist by the time the next general election occurs,” said Fink in 2024. We’re just 206 days away from the midterms, and based on the fact that I still have to collect a bunch of polls every day, I’d say he should have run that prediction by a sample of AI agents before the interview.2 To see why synthetic samples can’t replace polls, here’s a quick primer on how they work. The simplest version of these models involves taking a LLM (like ChatGPT or Claude), giving it a demographic profile (e.g., a white, college-educated woman who lives in Utah and makes $70k a year), and then asking it to respond to a survey question. You repeat that process a few thousand times using different demographic profiles and end up with a sample of synthetic survey responses. The actual models used by private companies are more sophisticated than this, usually because they incorporate more hypothesized demographic characteristics for each agent and provide them with extra information. Aaru, for example, feeds agents a diet of news and information they’d be likely to consume, while Electric Twin incorporates their customers’ proprietary data about the audience they’re trying to replicate. The way Ben Warner, the co-founder of Electric Twin, explained it to me was “we have a large amount of data on […] for instance, 5,000 people. Can we make an accurate prediction of how they would respond to another question?” Still, it should be obvious why synthetic samples can’t replace polls. Polling is fundamentally a data collection process. We might use surveys to make predictions by feeding them into election forecasts, but the main purpose of a poll isn’t prediction, it’s gathering new data about what people think and how they feel. Silicon sampling, on the other hand, produces no new data. It’s simply a model: you input LLM training data, demographic prompts, and a bunch of other information, and it spits out a prediction for what a poll would say. We love models here, but models aren’t polls. That difference is an important philosophical sticking point for most pollsters I talk to. “I think politics should stay away from [synthetic sampling], because we’re trying to […] represent the voice of the people,” said Natalie Jackson, a vice president at GQR Insights. Democratic pollster John Hagner told me: “I think I’m just incredibly skeptical of this idea. I don’t think it’s research. At that point, you’re asking the machine to tell you what you already believe.” Hagner has seen some presentations of early synthetic sampling experiments, but so far, “if it’s being used in a campaign, people are keeping it incredibly quiet.”3 But Eli, I hear you saying, aren’t polls themselves increasingly governed by modeling decisions? Indeed they are: pollsters’ choices on which sampling method to use, how to define their likely voter models, and how to weight their samples can and do lead to dramatic differences in the results they publish. Aaru even referenced these limitations in the methodology statement included with that maternal mortality “poll” — although I’m using the term “methodology statement” loosely here, because it doesn’t really explain how the model works at all. We can ignore the (frankly preposterous) implication that synthetic sampling isn’t subject to a separate set of biases. The important point is that there’s still a meaningful difference between using weighting and other statistical techniques on actual polling data and using a model to predict what a poll would say. The latter is far closer to election forecasts or techniques like MRP — potentially useful models, but not a replacement for polls.4 To be fair, other synthetic sampling companies are perfectly happy with the distinction between polls and models. Warner compared polling and synthetic sampling to different tools in a toolbox. “The mistake I think we make is we think that these new tools should either work in exactly the same way or somehow replace these old tools,” he said. “Rather than thinking of it as, okay, so we’ve always had the hammer, we’ve always had the screwdriver, now we’ve got a saw. But don’t use a saw to try [to] do the job of a hammer.” A quick comment from Nate Eli didn’t ask me for a comment — rather rude of him, don’t you think? But since I’m editing this story, I figured I’d add a few quick thoughts rather than putting words in his mouth. Beyond the frequently misleading marketing, what bothers me about the AI “poll” hype is that as AI tools make statistical inference cheaper and/or better (note that these are not synonyms) that actually increases the comparative value of collecting original data. You might be able to train a model to make a reasonable estimate of what some hard-to-reach poll respondent would say — say, a young Black man who voted for Trump. (Such a person checks a number of boxes for a voter who is usually hard to reach in surveys.) Indeed, this is closely related to what models like the Silver Bulletin forecast already do. They essentially smooth out the kinks in noisy survey data by making inferences based on past voting patterns or national polls or surveys of other states. But you don’t actually know what these voters think unless you’re reaching them directly. If there’s a shift in opinion among this subgroup, you’re not going to detect it. So if I were running a campaign, I’d invest more in going the extra mile to find a representative sample of those voters. And then I’d hire some smart quants — or Claude? — to figure out the implications for campaign strategy based on proprietary data that my competitors didn’t have access to. -Nate Silver Are these models any good? If synthetic surveys are just a new type of model, the next obvious question is whether the models are at least accurate. The answer very much depends on who you ask. On one end of the spectrum, you have the maximalist argument that synthetic sampling is more accurate than actual polls. “It’s an incredibly challenging problem to go to someone and say ‘hey, we’re going to be more accurate at predicting human behavior than you, even when you talk to your customers directly’,” Koh recently told CNBC. In his view, synthetic sampling isn’t a saw to polling’s hammer, it’s “magic.” There’s certainly evidence that synthetic samples can replicate certain survey toplines. But if Aaru does have any examples of their approach outperforming the polls, they’re keeping those to themselves.5 Aaru’s 2024 election model, for example, had Kamala Harris leading in Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on November 4th. And although they’ve since taken down their forecast page, they gave Harris a 50.5 percent chance of winning the race on November 2nd.6 After the election, Fink told Semafor he was happy enough with those results because they were “within margin of error,” a term that is completely meaningless when applied to a “sample” of AI agents. And of course, Aaru says their models have improved since 2024, so supposedly now they’d be more accurate than the polls? Still, their stronger argument is on cost: “We are significantly faster and cheaper than traditional polling, and still more accurate,” said Fink. The first two claims are undeniably true, but the third brings us to the opposite end of the spectrum. Both Jackson and Hagner are skeptical that these models are reliable for anything beyond replicating common survey toplines. “I just […] don’t think the machines are what we want when we’re looking for nuanced views. My example on this is people in Arizona and Nevada in 2024 who voted for Trump and voted for expanding abortion in their states on ballot initiatives,” said Jackson. Hagner identified another issue. Maybe the synthetic respondents, like sycophantic LLMs, are inhuman in one important way: they’re too nice. “The reports that have come through at the meetings that I’ve been at are that the early experiments on this, they cannot get respondents to be as racist or sexist or, frankly, as negative as human respondents,” he said. Academic research mostly agrees on this point. While there are some papers that show promising results when using LLMs to replicate polling data, most show that LLMs suffer from various quirks like producing too few “don’t know” responses and can seriously overpredict the favorability of politicians like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. They also seem to struggle with too little variation between demographic subgroups, so the difference in predicted opinion between Democrats and Republicans, for example, is too small. When I asked Warner about these studies, his response to these papers was that just because academics can’t get synthetic sampling to work doesn’t mean that the technique doesn’t work in general. “Actually, the argument is, okay, yours does not [work]. That does not mean […] for this complex set of machinery, which uses a lot of investment, a lot of time, a lot of money, you can’t get it to work.” Cards on the table, I’m somewhat sympathetic to this argument because academics aren’t exactly great at making election forecasts. Usually, the people with skin in the game are the most accurate. Warner’s argument is that the approach Electric Twin takes — which includes, for example, making multiple predictions for each synthetic respondent using different models and prompts and subsequently averaging those to get a final prediction in a sort of ensemble forecast — produces better results than the simpler academic models. Warner shared a comparison between his method and the method from a recent academic paper with me, and Electric Twin was indeed able to get more accurate replication. But even still, he acknowledged that synthetic sampling “is not a crystal ball.” “If you asked me, do I think using other data sources will be more accurate than asking somebody who they will vote for, I would probably say no. But if you asked me ‘would your system be useful for our turnout modeling today?’ I would say yes.” For better or worse, it looks like the method is already getting more popular in the market research world. Most of the clients Aaru touts these days are businesses like EY and McDonald’s. And AI will probably begin to pop up in other parts of the political polling process. Pollsters are already using it to code open-ended survey responses, and some firms, like YouGov, are testing using LLMs to ask survey respondents questions. More worryingly, one danger to actual polls is that AI agents can be used to infiltrate online surveys. Most online polls use various checks to prevent that from happening, but there’s conflicting evidence on how effective those filters are and how prevalent AI agents currently are in online panels. If those agents ever become impossible to detect, it might spell the end of online polling, but the solution isn’t to replace all of your respondents with ChatGPT. Silver Bulletin is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe 1 That particular poll obviously doesn’t meet Silver Bulletin standards for aggregation. But we exclude all Public Sentiment Institute polls from our averages because we classify them as an amateur polling firm. 2 You could argue that Fink meant the next presidential election, but (a) I’m also confident we’ll still have real polls in 2028 and (b) in that case he should have asked an LLM to define “general election.” 3 Quick caveat: that’s reporting from a Democratic pollster. It’s possible that Republicans are more willing to use AI in political campaigns. 4 Indeed, Silver Bulletin does not include “polls” produced by MRP in our forecasts or averages, and we think it’s extremely misleading when their practitioners describe them in a way that suggests original data had been collected among a large number of states or Congressional districts. 5 A recent report from Aaru and EY did show two examples of a synthetic estimate being closer than a survey to a real-world benchmark — but I’d take those findings with a grain of salt because the report reads more like an ad and didn’t involve any sort of prediction being made ahead of time. 6 For comparison, our odds for Harris on the same day were 48.2 percent.
From Hollywood headlines to Heartland buzz: Are you on the pulse?
Test your knowledge of entertainment with this quiz on celebrities, trends and headline-making moments. Featured this week: guess the iconic duo and who is causing a stir in Hollywood.
Robert MacIntyre has awkward Masters exit after a middle-finger moment, missed cut and no interviews
Robert MacIntyre made headlines for all the wrong reasons at the Masters | NewsRadio WILK
Al Gore to Keynote 2026 Hollywood Reporter Sustainability Event
Marking the 20th anniversary of his Oscar-winning documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth,' the former vice president will headline the April 23 ceremony honoring TV dramas for their sustainability achievements.
Morning Download: UNLV projects a nearly $11 million NIL/revenue sharing budget
On weekday mornings, Nevada Sports Net will recap three big headlines of the day in its Morning Download. Read below for today's topics.
CPI: Inflation rose to 3.3% amid Iran war in March, missing forecasts
The new CPI report showed headline inflation sped up in March to the highest rate since 2024. The Iran war is affecting gas prices.
Castlevania headlines a big list of exciting indie game reveals
There was a lot of indie game news.
Meeske to headline 2026 Faith and Science Symposium at Hastings College
HASTINGS - The 3rd annual Sachtleben/Throckmorton Faith and Science Symposium, co-hosted by Hastings College a...
County supervisors fielding complaints about controversial Winneshiek County Fair entertainment
The Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors is receiving complaints from the public regarding a musical group scheduled to perform at this year’s Winneshiek County Fair. The fair announced late last month the southern country-rock band Confederate Railroad would be part of this year’s musical lineup, along with Kayley Green and headliner Travis Denning. Online responses
Exclusive: Motorola Razr 70 Ultra Official Renders
Motorola is expected to announce the Razr 70 Ultra (or Razr Ultra 2026 if you're in the US) very soon, and we've already seen CADs from Onleaks for this
U.K. blocks Kanye West from entering Britain to headline now canceled festival: What led to the ban
Kanye West was scheduled to headline Wireless Festival, one of the U.K.'s biggest music festivals, this summer.
Brenda Alexander has the latest in entertainment headlines:
Are Kim K & Lewis Hamilton dating? Lil Nas X may have caught a break in his felony assault case, and Stephen Colbert's replacement has been announced.
UK government blocks rapper Ye from entering Britain to headline festival
i e bipolar-disorder antisemitism politics fairs-and-festivals world-news general-news entertainment | Talk Radio 1210 WPHT
BTIG initiates Madison Square Garden Entertainment stock with buy rating
BTIG initiates Madison Square Garden Entertainment stock with buy rating
Wireless Festival boss stands by Ye headlining concerts as sponsors pull out
As sponsors pull out from London’s Wireless Festival over headliner Ye, its organizer is standing by the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
Wireless Festival boss stands by Ye headlining concerts as sponsors pull out
As sponsors pull out from London’s Wireless Festival over headliner Ye, its organizer is standing by the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
Country artists Big & Rich to headline Coralville 4thFest
Country music duo Big & Rich will headline a free concert at Coralville’s 4thFest on July 3, 2026, with special guest KC Bruner. The concert is open to all ages.
Morning Download: Nevada softball wins crucial series at GCU; Skylar Durley to hit portal
On weekday mornings, Nevada Sports Net will recap three big headlines of the day in its Morning Download. Read below for today's topics.
Mz. Shyneka has the latest in entertainment headlines
Major sponsors are bailing on London's Wireless Festival after Kanye West was named as the headliner. Plus Tori Spelling was involved in a car accident.
Kanye West was booked as a festival headliner. Brands are now pulling their sponsorship
Pepsi and brewery company Diageo have withdrawn their sponsorship of the UK’s 2026 Wireless Festival after it was announced that Kanye West would headline the three-day event.
Pressure mounts on Ye to be pulled from his headline role at a summer festival in London
l i e antisemitism business concerts hip-hop-and-rap entertainment fairs-and-festivals world-news general-news lifestyle religion | KCBS All News 106.9FM and 740AM
Pressure mounts on Ye to be pulled from his headline role at a summer festival in London
l i e antisemitism business concerts hip-hop-and-rap entertainment fairs-and-festivals world-news general-news lifestyle religion | 1010 WINS
Pressure mounts on Ye to be pulled from his headline role at a summer festival in London
l i e antisemitism business concerts hip-hop-and-rap entertainment fairs-and-festivals world-news general-news lifestyle religion | KNSS Radio
Pressure mounts on Ye to be pulled from his headline role at a summer festival in London
l i e antisemitism business concerts hip-hop-and-rap entertainment fairs-and-festivals world-news general-news lifestyle religion | Talk Radio 1210 WPHT
Pressure mounts on Ye to be pulled from his headline role at a summer festival in London
l i e antisemitism business concerts hip-hop-and-rap entertainment fairs-and-festivals world-news general-news lifestyle religion | 1080 WTIC NEWSTALK
Pressure mounts on Ye to be pulled from his headline role at a summer festival in London
l i e antisemitism business concerts hip-hop-and-rap entertainment fairs-and-festivals world-news general-news lifestyle religion | WWL
Pressure mounts on Ye to be pulled from his headline role at a summer festival in London
l i e antisemitism business concerts hip-hop-and-rap entertainment fairs-and-festivals world-news general-news lifestyle religion | Talk 1370
Arc Raiders improves crafting, says new "streamlined system" is "just the start"
Arc Raiders is reworking its crafting system after acknowledging the "one piece of feedback [that] kept coming up" from…
Pressure mounts on Ye to be pulled from his headline role at a summer festival in London
Pressure is mounting for the American rapper Ye to be pulled from his headline role at a London music festival this summer.
Pressure mounts on Kanye West to be pulled from his headline role at a summer festival in London
l i e antisemitism business concerts hip-hop-and-rap entertainment fairs-and-festivals world-news general-news lifestyle religion | Talk 1370
Pressure mounts on Kanye West to be pulled from his headline role at a summer festival in London
l i e antisemitism business concerts hip-hop-and-rap entertainment fairs-and-festivals world-news general-news lifestyle religion | KMBZ
12 Awesome New Motorcycles Rolling Out Right Now
Attention-catching releases from Aprilia, Ducati, KTM and Triumph headline a bumper crop of bodacious bikes.
Cunard Expands Entertainment Program on 2026 Transatlantic Crossings - Cruise Industry News
All Transatlantic Crossings aboard Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 are set to feature an expanded entertainment program in 2026, the company said in a press release. Guests sailing between New York and Southampton can expect what the company says will be its most extensive program ever, marking the fact that the cruise line was selected Headline Partner of the Olivier Awards. “For more…
2026 Fantasy Baseball Team Names Featuring Shohei Ohtani and More
Shohei Ohtani headlines some of the best baseball players to take a swing on
From Hollywood headlines to Heartland buzz: Are you on the pulse?
Test your knowledge of entertainment with this quiz on celebrities, trends and headline-making moments. Featured this week: celebrity scandals and guess the celebrity photo.
Despite soaring jet fuel prices, air fares aren’t up that much. But they will be
Gas prices are grabbing the headlines, but jet fuel prices have doubled in the last two months. So far, air fares are only up modestly.
Dodgers Dominate MLB When it Comes to Bobbleheads
The Los Angeles Dodgers have made headlines recently for their bobbleheads, especially the small Yoshi figurine that pays homage to star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. But according to an analysis by Connor Clark for TickPick, other fanbases aren’t as blessed with…
Kane Brown, Wiz Khalifa and Bret Michaels to headline NFL Draft Entertainment Series
The picks are in! Kane Brown, Wiz Khalifa and Bret Michaels are set as headliners in the free NFL Draft Entertainment Series.
Kane Brown, Wiz Khalifa and Bret Michaels to headline NFL Draft Entertainment Series
The picks are in! Kane Brown, Wiz Khalifa and Bret Michaels are set as headliners in the free NFL Draft Entertainment Series.
Kane Brown, Wiz Khalifa and Bret Michaels to headline NFL Draft Entertainment Series
The picks are in! Kane Brown, Wiz Khalifa and Bret Michaels are set as headliners in the free NFL Draft Entertainment Series.
Building a more business-ready Douglas County
If you keep up on state business news, you’ve seen the headlines. Major companies like Palantir are moving out of Colorado, and statewide, there is a sense that it’s getting…
Louis C.K. Is Back in Business With Netflix
The streamer has tapped the once-exiled comedian to headline a show at The Hollywood Bowl and will premiere his upcoming standup special.
2025-26 CBS Sports All-Freshman team: College basketball's best young stars headline the list
Duke star Cameron Boozer headlines CBS Sports' All-Freshman team
Wiz Khalifa to headline NFL Draft Entertainment Series
Wiz Khalifa has been named a headliner for the NFL Draft Entertainment Series, taking place in his native Pittsburgh. He is set to take the stage at 5:15 p.m. ET on April 24 before the second and thir...