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The AI News Break Deception
The most downloaded U.S. news app, News Break, is using AI to create fictional stories and pass them off as legitimate news. With headquarters in Mountain View, California and offices in Beijing and Shanghai, the app has published numerous false stories, including a fabricated Christmas Eve shooting in Bridgeton, New Jersey that never occurred.
The app's strategy exploits the void left by shuttered local news outlets across America, positioning itself as the go-to source for local news. While it maintains licensed content agreements with major outlets like Reuters, Fox, AP, and CNN, News Break's use of AI tools has negatively impacted communities in at least 40 documented instances since 2021.
Former employees reveal that most of the app's algorithmic engineering occurs in China-based offices. The implications extend beyond fake news - local charities have been harmed when News Break published incorrect information about food distributions and homeless services. Despite complaints, the company's response has been minimal, offering only a weak disclaimer that their content "may not always be error-free."
The sinister motive becomes clear in headlines like "Christmas Day tragedy strikes Bridgeton New Jersey amid rising gun violence in small towns." Such fabricated stories plant seeds of social narrative, regardless of retraction. The damage is done as phrases like "rising gun violence in small town America" become familiar talking points, even when based on fiction.
Right On or Way Off: Father's Day Edition
"The best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want then advise them to do it." - Harry Truman
WAY OFF! While supporting children's dreams is important, true parenting requires providing guidance even when it conflicts with what children want. This ideology, taken to its extreme, contributes to today's challenges where children are told they can be whatever they want without limitation or guidance.
"The best new dad advice is this: teach them to call you 'your majesty'"
WAY OFF! While humorous, this approach misses the mark on biblical fatherhood. A father should be approachable while maintaining appropriate authority - not creating artificial distance through titles. Children need to know their father is their biggest fan without having to walk on eggshells.
"There should be a children's song: If you're happy and you know it, keep it to yourself and let dad sleep"
WAY OFF! This comedy bit by Jim Gaffigan, while funny, promotes self-centered parenting where children's joy is subordinate to parent's convenience. True fathers eagerly engage with their children's excitement and achievements rather than asking them to suppress their happiness.
The Father's Day Legacy
The discussion closed with memories of phrases from fathers past:
- "Get your butt in here and bring the rest of you with it"
- "I wouldn't wear that to a snake wrestle if I owned both snakes"
- "If you had a brain you'd take it out and play with it"
These colorful expressions, while sometimes stern, reflect an era of engaged fatherhood where dads were present, involved, and eager to spend time with their children - making breakfast on Saturday mornings and creating lasting memories that shaped their children's lives.
As Ray Romano observed, "Having children is like living in a frat house - nobody sleeps, everything's broken, and there's a lot of throwing up." Yet through it all, dedicated fathers make the world better by investing in their children's lives.