In the Media

"Last week, while the world watched President Trump and Xi Jinping meet in Beijing, a much quieter piece of research dropped in Nature. It should have been on every front page."

"Researchers from several U.S. universities—including the University of Oregon, New York University, and Princeton University—argue in the journal Nature that governments may indirectly shape large language models by influencing the online information used to train them." (translated from German)

Joshua Tucker joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss details of the university’s new research showing that AI chatbots generate more government-friendly responses when prompted in languages tied to countries with tighter media controls, the intersection of politics and AI, and more.

Multiple co-authors from our recent paper, "State media control influences large language models," spoke with India's The Week on how content from state-controlled media can influence information environments.

By using the same language, Melina Much said, Miller keeps the phrase high-level and recognizable to the general public while reframing it with new connotations. It’s part of a broader form of cultural in-group signaling.

Even as AI tools transform misinformation, says Jennifer Allen, “I think that they have [also] transformed the field.”

Melina Much discusses political officials’ use of podcasts with the Associated Press, given podcasts’ “massive” reach when videos are clipped and shared across social media platforms, and their more intimate, conversational, and friendly setting, which allows administration officials to promote themselves without facing as much pushback.

Joshua Tucker joins ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss the landmark social media addiction case against Meta and YouTube, how social media has evolved over the years, and more.

Joshua Tucker commented on Zohran Mamdani's campaign strategy, which prioritized algorithmic engagement through high-quality videos explaining policies.

Melina Much speaks with American Friction hosts on the politics and impacts within popular podcasts.

Benjamin Guinaudeau speaks with NPR concerning recent allegations of TikTok censorship.

Currying political capital online involves demonstrating that the opinions you hold are widely held while also engineering viral content that aligns with your views, says Joshua Tucker.

Joshua Tucker sits down with the hosts of the Political Reality podcast to discuss misinformation and how we quantify it.

"While it would in many ways be desirable for the president to stay above the fray and away from sharing AI-generated images, Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he sees his time in office as a nonstop political campaign," Joshua Tucker told AFP.

Solomon Messing, an associate professor at New York University in the Center for Social Media and Politics, prompted Grok, the AI chatbot created by Elon Musk, to generate two images of the apparent federal agent “without a mask,” and got images of two different white men. Doing so did not even require signing in to access this service.

To succeed in office Mamdani will need to keep his supporters engaged with day-to-day governing - and that is not as thrilling as a high-stakes political race, Jonathan Nagler, co-director of NYU's Center for Social Media and Politics, told the BBC.

“Would it affect [unrelated] engineers if the company is seen as participating in censorship? There may be an opening to give the administration the ability to deny visas for a company as a whole,” Scott Brennen said.

Jonathan Nagler spoke with LAist about X's new 'About This Account' tool as well as the proliferation of misinformation online.

“We have a history of foreign people trying to use social media for foreign influence … and there are multiple reasons why you might expect foreign actors to want to intervene in politics, both political and economic reasons,” Joshua Tucker told CNN.

“The challenge for influencers is to come up with issues to run on,” Jonathan Nagler told Jewish Insider. “They need some reasons to suggest they can be politically relevant and do something that matters to people.”

"While it would in many ways be desirable for the president of the United States to stay above the fray and away from sharing AI images, Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he sees his time in office as a non-stop political campaign," Joshua Tucker told AFP.

Joshua Tucker talks with Sabrina Marandola about Zohran Mamdani's mayoral victory.

Joshua Tucker recommends Competitive Authoritarianism by Lucan Way and Steve Levitsky for those looking to understand this political moment.

“One thing Sora is doing for better or worse is shifting the Overton window –– accelerating the public’s understanding that seeing is no longer believing when it comes to video,” said Solomon Messing.

Jonathan Nagler comments on the Trump Administration's use of digital media