AI can predict political orientations from blank faces – and researchers fear ‘serious’ privacy challenges
Researchers are warning that facial recognition technologies are “more threatening than previously thought” and pose “serious challenges to privacy” after a study found that artificial intelligence can be successful in predicting a person’s political orientation based on images of expressionless faces. A recent study published in the journal American Psychologist says an algorithm’s ability to accurately guess one’s political views is “on par with how well job interviews predict job success, or alcohol drives aggressiveness.” Lead author Michal Kosinski told Fox News Digital that 591 participants filled out a political orientation questionnaire before the AI captured what he described as a numerical “fingerprint” of their faces and compared them to a database of their responses to predict their views. “I think that people don’t realize how much they expose by simply putting a picture out there,” said Kosinski, an associate professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. “We know that people’s sexual orientation, political orientation, religious views should be protected. It used to be different. In the past, you could enter anybody’s Facebook account and see, for example, their political views, the likes, the pages they follow. But many years ago, Facebook closed this because it was clear for policymakers and Facebook and journalists that it is just not acceptable. It’s too dangerous,” he continued. GOOGLE CONSOLIDATES AI-FOCUSED DEEPMIND, RESEARCH TEAMS “But you can still go to Facebook and see anybody’s picture. This person never met you, they never allowed you to look at a picture, they would never share their political orientation … and yet, Facebook shows you their picture, and what our study shows is that this is essentially to some extent the equivalent to just telling you what their political orientation is,” Kosinski added. For the study, the authors said the images of the participants were collected in a highly controlled manner. “Participants wore a black T-shirt adjusted using binder clips to cover their clothes. They removed all jewelry and – if necessary – shaved facial hair. Face wipes were used to remove cosmetics until no residues were detected on a fresh wipe. Their hair was pulled back using hair ties, hair pins, and a headband while taking care to avoid flyaway hairs,” they wrote. The facial recognition algorithm VGGFace2 then examined the images to determine “face descriptors, or a numerical vector that is both unique to that individual and consistent across their different images,” it said. AIR FORCE CONFIRMS FIRST SUCCESSFUL AI DOGFIGHT “Descriptors extracted from a given image are compared to those stored in a database. If they are similar enough, the faces are considered a match. Here, we use a linear regression to map face descriptors on a political orientation scale and then use this mapping to predict political orientation for a previously unseen face,” the study also said. The authors wrote that their findings “underscore the urgency for scholars, the public, and policymakers to recognize and address the potential risks of facial recognition technology to personal privacy” and that an “analysis of facial features associated with political orientation revealed that conservatives tended to have larger lower faces.” “Perhaps most crucially, our findings suggest that widespread biometric surveillance technologies are more threatening than previously thought,” the study warned. “Previous research showed that naturalistic facial images convey information about political orientation and other intimate traits. But it was unclear whether the predictions were enabled by self-presentation, stable facial features, or both. Our results, suggesting that stable facial features convey a substantial amount of the signal, imply that individuals have less control over their privacy.” Kosinski told Fox News Digital that “algorithms can be very easily applied to millions of people very quickly and cheaply” and that the study is “more of a warning tale” about the technology “that is in your phone and is very widely used everywhere.” The authors concluded that “even crude estimates of people’s character traits can significantly improve the efficiency of online mass persuasion campaigns” and that “scholars, the public, and policymakers should take notice and consider tightening policies regulating the recording and processing of facial images.”
Trump trial to resume with gag order arguments, testimony from ex-National Enquirer publisher
Judge Juan Merchan is expected to hear arguments Tuesday on whether former President Trump violated the gag order imposed upon him in his criminal trial. The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee will be back in court Tuesday with his attorneys at 9:30 a.m. as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and prosecutors allege he violated the gag order in the trial by posting on social media. Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump before the trial began, ordering that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about witnesses with regard to their potential participation or about counsel in the case – other than Bragg – or about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff. Merchan also ordered that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about any prospective juror or chosen juror. But on Saturday, he let loose with an all-caps rant on his social media platform. NY VS TRUMP: THE EVIDENCE PROSECUTORS CAN PRESENT IF FORMER PRESIDENT TESTIFIES Bragg argued in the first week of the trial that Trump violated his gag order more than seven times and that he should pay a $1,000 fine each for some of the instances. Bragg, in his motion, urged the judge to warn the former president that another violation could be punishable by up to 30 days of incarceration. Trump and his defense attorneys have argued that the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee should not be bound by the gag order, saying it violates his First Amendment rights as well as the First Amendment rights of his supporters. Merchan said at the end of court on Monday that the hearing on the gag order must finish by 11 a.m. Tuesday. If additional time is needed, Merchan said he will pause the hearing and continue at a later date. TRUMP TRIAL: FORMER PRESIDENT ‘INNOCENT,’ SAYS DEFENSE AS DA ALLEGES ‘CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY’ Then, Merchan is expected to invite the jury in at 11 a.m. to hear testimony from the prosecution’s first witness, David Pecker, the former American Media CEO and National Enquirer publisher. Pecker took the stand for a brief period after opening arguments were delivered Monday. Pecker answered questions from Bragg prosecutor Joshua Steinglass on Monday before court ended for the day. Prosecutors argue that Pecker, Trump and former Trump attorney Michael Cohen “formed a conspiracy to influence” the 2016 election by employing a “catch & kill” scheme to ensure negative stories were not published about Trump. During the defense, Trump attorney Todd Blanche declared that the former president “is innocent.” BRAGG SAYS HE WILL TRY TO ‘DISCREDIT’ TRUMP IF HE TESTIFIES IN HIS DEFENSE DURING CRIMINAL TRIAL Blanche on Monday said there was nothing illegal done, and he argued that Trump was protecting himself against false allegations. “Trump fought back to protect his family, reputation, brand,” Blanche said. “And that is not a crime.” Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has been charged by Bragg with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges are related to alleged hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts. He has blasted the trial as pure politics, a “political persecution,” and he maintains his innocence. The former president, the first ever to be a defendant in a criminal trial, vowed to “tell the truth” if he takes the stand.
Schumer looks to expedite $95 billion Israel, Ukraine aid package through Senate
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is looking to quickly pass a $95 billion package with aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan roughly six months after President Biden made his request for additional aid in October 2023. “Now it’s the Senate’s turn, and the finish line is now in sight,” Schumer said in a statement following the House’s passage of separate aid bills for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. As part of the package, it also passed a measure requiring the app TikTok to divest from Chinese-owned ByteDance, as well as a measure called the REPO Act, which would allow $5 billion in Russian assets held in U.S. banks to be transferred to Ukraine. BIDEN ADMIN NOTES ‘URGENT’ CONCERN OVER ISRAEL IN GAZA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT The House passed the measures on Saturday, more than two months after the Senate passed a different version of the foreign aid package. With this goal of swift Senate passage in mind, Schumer didn’t wait until the House had approved the package before he began working on it. “A few moments ago, Democrats and Republicans locked in an agreement enabling the Senate to finish work on the supplemental with the first vote on Tuesday afternoon,” the majority leader previewed in his statement. “The task before us is urgent. It is once again the Senate’s turn to make history,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in his own statement about the need to pass the aid. But as Schumer hopes to expedite the aid bills, discontent on both sides of the aisle threatens to upend his timeline. DEMOCRATS JOIN REPUBLICANS IN CONDEMNING ANTISEMITISM AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY According to a source familiar, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is leading a push to table the so-called “amendment tree,” which would prevent Schumer from predetermining which amendments would be considered. Instead, it would allow senators to take their amendments to the chamber floor in regular order. In Senate terms, “filling the amendment tree” refers to a process by which a certain number and type of amendments are offered under Senate precedents. Once these amendments are offered and the “tree is filled,” no other amendments are allowed. One of the amendments Lee wants to see implemented in the package is a provision requiring Ukraine to repay the aid, some of which would be granted in the form of a loan, which would be eligible to be forgiven under the House-passed measure. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is supportive of this effort, signaling potential bipartisan backing, the source said. Sanders dislikes the package for his own reasons and plans to offer his own amendments to it. Sanders’ two amendments include one to stop “unfettered military aid to Netanyahu’s war machine” and another that would restore funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency “so that children in Gaza don’t starve.” FETTERMAN HAMMERS ‘A–HOLE’ ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS, SLAMS OWN PARTY FOR RESPONSE TO IRANIAN ATTACK: ‘CRAZY’ If the senators are successful in preventing the amendment tree being filled by Schumer, preventing consideration of other amendments, the voting process would be lengthened. And if any amendments were to pass, the bills would need to be reconsidered by the House. It’s unclear what level of support they have garnered for this effort. It would take a simple majority of 51 votes to table the amendment tree. Despite this opposition to the current package, a senior GOP Senate source told Fox News Digital that the previous aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed with 70 votes. Only 29 voted against it. And while certain changes have been made, the source said the bills are likely to move quickly as Schumer intends.
At a turning point? Columbia arrests and anti-Jewish harassment shut down campus
There were only remote classes at Columbia University on Monday as protests, clashes and arrests rendered the campus a cauldron of tension and fear. A surge in antisemitism, attacks and harassment has made life extremely uncomfortable for Jewish students at colleges across the country, and Columbia has become ground zero after police arrested more than 100 protesters there late last week. It’s hard to fathom that the gated Upper Manhattan campus, so familiar to me from my days earning a master’s in journalism there, felt compelled to keep students away as the Biden White House condemned anti-Jewish hatred heading into the first night of Passover. I believe we’re at a long-overdue turning point. Just four months ago, Harvard President Claudine Gay and Penn President Liz Magill couldn’t bring themselves to denounce antisemitism at a congressional hearing, which ultimately cost them their jobs. Now Columbia President Minouche Shafik, under pressure after a similar hearing, has cracked down on demonstrators who break the rules. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS: 5 DRAMATIC MOMENTS FROM A WEEK OF CHAOS Antisemitic incidents have surged since Hamas terrorists committed unspeakable acts of brutality on Oct. 7 in launching the war against Israel. But whatever your view of the war, including rising civilian casualties and widespread hunger in Gaza, my sense is that a growing number of Americans are just fed up with out-of-control protests by those who would wipe Israel off the map. Elie Buechler, a rabbi who heads the Orthodox Union’s learning center at Columbia and its sister school Barnard College, sent a WhatsApp message to nearly 300 Jewish students on Sunday saying police had not guaranteed their safety “in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy,” and that they should stay home “until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved.” “It is not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus,” the rabbi wrote. There was some backlash against Buechler, as if he was advocating surrender, but he said it pained him to have to make this recommendation. COLUMBIA RABBI TELLS JEWISH STUDENTS TO LEAVE CAMPUS, WARNS THAT SCHOOL, NYPD ‘CANNOT GUARANTEE YOUR SAFETY’ I’m all for free speech and the right to protest, but when pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up 50 tents in the middle of campus, the school warned them that they would be automatically suspended and arrested if they refused police orders to vacate. The initial media coverage focused on the daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar, Isra Hirsi, who was one of those arrested. There is no evidence she was treated differently than anyone else. Hirsi, a member of the anti-Israel group Apartheid Divest, told Teen Vogue she has nowhere to live and no way to get food after she was evicted from her $90,000-a-year Barnard dorm and dining hall. The Minnesota congresswoman said she is “enormously proud” of her daughter. Mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer, said he is “horrified and disgusted with the antisemitism at and around the Columbia University campus.” ISRAEL’S SUCCESS, IRAN’S FAILURE AND THE CHANCES OF IGNITING THE MIDEAST POWDER KEG Shafik, in banning in-person classes, denounced the “intimidating and harassing behavior” on campus. “Anti-Semitic(sic) language, like any other language that is used to hurt and frighten people, is unacceptable and appropriate action will be taken.” She added that some people not affiliated with Columbia have “exploited” these tensions “to pursue their own agendas.” Shafik said she was trying “to balance the rights of students to express political views” with protecting other students “from rhetoric that amounts to harassment and discrimination.” Some of the school’s 5,000 Jewish students were cursed out, according to the Columbia chapter of Chabad, with protesters shouting “all you do is colonize, “go back to Europe” and “go back to Poland.” Some demonstrators, according to a post by one student, tried to burn a stolen Israeli flag, while some Jewish students found themselves splashed with water. Police officers were also called the KKK and there were chants about a free Palestine “from the river to the sea.” This is beyond outrageous. Some of these protesters, who tried to put up tents once again, are not just against Israel, they clearly despise Jews. That is at the root of this deep-seated bigotry that has made life intolerable for Jewish students at Columbia and beyond. (There is a slice of Jewish students who say they agree with the protesters that Gaza death tolls are unacceptable, though I don’t get how they square that with calls for Israel’s destruction.) DISCIPLINE SHOULD BE TAKEN AGAINST THESE THREATS: PHILIPPE REINES A student identified as Katie told FOX’s Martha MacCallum: “It’s sickening. And truly, it’s heartbreaking to think that I go to school with people who have these horrible anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, and anti-American beliefs. It’s really quite disturbing to think that these people are allowed to be around me and my classmates and to see my friends, people I recognize on these videos being screamed at that these people condone their rape and murder. And it’s just so beyond disturbing.” Katie, describing herself as an Iranian who escaped religious persecution in the country that directly and unsuccessfully bombarded Israel for the first time, said Columbia has “hired professors who have said that these attacks on Oct. 7 were awesome, were great victories for the Palestinian martyrs and who have been known to be antisemitic, and that Professor Joseph Massad teaches the class on Israeli-Palestinian conflict at Columbia. And you wonder how these students get indoctrinated with these beliefs….I think it’s a rejection of American values.” The woman, who was poised and passionate, added that the ongoing ordeal prompted her to move off-campus. “It changed my life as a student completely. I worked my whole life to get into Columbia. Worked hard to go. This is my dream school. I came to hear from people with differing beliefs and to learn from them. And it has made the entire experience miserable,” she said. “Quite frankly, I cannot wait to get out of there and
Top Morning News: Kejriwal administered insulin in Tihar; govt employee shot dead by terrorists in Rajouri, and more
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been administered a ‘low dose’ of insulin after his blood sugar level spiked
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal administered insulin in Tihar jail after spike in sugar level, AAP confirms
The Delhi chief minister was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money-laundering case linked to the Delhi government’s now-scrapped excise policy
Lok Sabha Elections 2024: BJP’s incumbent MP Mahesh Sharma to face SP, BSP candidates in Gautam Buddha Nagar in Phase 2
The Gautam Buddha Nagar constituency will go to polls in the second phase on April 26 along with Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Mathura and Bulandshahr seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Jammu and Kashmir: Govt employee shot dead by terrorists in Rajouri
Mohammad Raziq was shot after leaving a mosque in his village of Kunda Top, located under the Thanamandi police station area
Texas inmates are being ‘cooked to death’ in extreme heat, complaint alleges
With the threat of another hot summer ahead, advocates asked a federal judge to declare 100-degree-plus conditions in uncooled Texas facilities unconstitutional.
Texas congressman’s office vandalized with red liquid spelling ‘Free Gaza’
Rep. John Carter, R-Texas said “unhinged anti-Israel activists” vandalized his Georgetown office, posting pictures of the display on social media just days after he voted in favor of providing $26 billion in aid to Israel. On Monday morning, Carter posted an image of the door to his Georgetown, Texas office, splattered with red liquid that spelled out, “Free Gaza.” “Unhinged anti-Israel activists vandalized my Georgetown office,” he posted. “Let me make 2 things clear, my support of Israel is unwavering & your intimidation won’t work. Secondly, the parties responsible will be found & will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” FOX 7 in Austin reported that officers with the Georgetown Police Department responded to Carter’s office at about 8:45 a.m. after reports of a possible burglary. AOC CALLS COLUMBIA PROTESTS ‘PEACEFUL’, DESPITE RABBI WARNING JEWISH STUDENTS TO STAY HOME Police told the station it is investigating the vandalism as criminal mischief, which in Texas is a misdemeanor if the loss is between $750 and $2,500. Police told the station a representative from Carter’s office estimated the cost to clean up the damage to be around $2,000. Carter’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. COLUMBIA RABBI TELLS JEWISH STUDENTS TO LEAVE CAMPUS, WARNS THAT SCHOOL, NYPD ‘CANNOT GUARANTEE YOUR SAFETY’ Carter joined 365 other members of the House of Representatives in voting in favor of the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, sending the bill to the Senate for further approval. Under the bill, the U.S. would provide $26.38 billion in aid to Israel along with several other provisions. The bill comes at a time when anti-Israel agitators continue to protest at major cities and universities across the country, including Columbia University in New York City.