What Prompted This?

Hello World, It’s ChatGPTeen

Note: This story discusses suicide. If you need help, please call or text 988 to reach SAMHSA’s confidential 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

What’s going on: It seems like everyone's using AI — including your teenager. So yesterday, OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT for Teens, a version designed to encourage “healthy AI use” for kids ages 13-17. The platform will offer "Study Mode," for example, prompting kids to think instead of just giving them answers. The company says the new model provides stronger protections around topics like self-harm, suicide, and romantic and sexualized language. It also issues warnings when it detects concerning behavior, such as a teen trying to upload sensitive or private images, and has plans to add parental alerts if the chatbot notices signs of a potential eating disorder.

Do teens need this?: Data shows over half of teens use AI for homework, and 47% use it for “entertainment.” Like adults, many use it as a sounding board, having AI play friend, therapist, or even girlfriend. But kids can be more susceptible to its harms. ChatGPT has been sued by multiple families (and the state of Florida) for its alleged role in teen deaths by suicide and school shootings. In one recent case, prosecutors claim ChatGPT may have influenced a teen who's been accused of killing his mom and brother. And it’s unclear how well ChatGPT will be able to verify teen users: If they don’t opt in, it’s up to OpenAI’s systems to detect whether someone is under 18 years old. That’s a large margin for error, especially when it seems kids can bypass anything these days (and one Business Insider writer already got past it). 

Related: Teen Boys Are Dating Chatbots, and It Could Be Affecting How They Treat Girls IRL (The Telegraph)

Politics

Surprise, This Poll Was a Social Experiment 

What's going on: When a poll seems too good to be true, maybe it is. Earlier this month, Median Strategies, a supposed polling firm, began posting stats to social media. Some, including one post showing Wisconsin governor candidate Francesca Hong (D) 20 points ahead, were basically ignored. But a poll showing incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) leading by a wide margin was shared by both Bass and some local news sources. The only problem? Median Strategies was fake, and its polls and social posts have been wiped from the internet. Now, Bass’s opponent Nithya Raman (D) is dunking on her, and Bass wants to see Median Strategies sued. In a statement first reported in The Los Angeles Times (and also posted to its site), Median Strategies said it was “a short-term social experiment to examine how purported polling information could enter and spread through the political information ecosystem without independent verification.” Mission accomplished?

How did no one notice?: Some did. One political journalist posted about the company a day after it made its social media debut. Analysts have long criticized how polling can spread without anyone investigating its origins or methodology. Rigorous polls are challenging to conduct, particularly for primaries, in part because nobody wants to answer calls from unknown numbers or complete surveys via text. Polls are also often misunderstood: They show how voters are feeling at one moment in time but can’t guarantee a specific outcome. (Remember when most major polls incorrectly predicted that Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 election?) Still, it hasn’t always been this bad. The Brennan Center notes that partisan, methodologically weak, and straight-up fabricated polls have become increasingly common in recent years. This creates distrust in both the media and the electoral process, an ideal environment for false voter fraud claims to root and spread. That’s a social experiment we’d like to opt out of.

Related: Great, Google Will Let Political Campaigns Skip the Spam Filter (The New York Times gift link)

Health

Can't Sugarcoat This

What’s going on: If you enjoy a tall, sweet, icy drink to get through the day, we see you. So do 63% of adults in America who also report drinking a sugary beverage once or more daily. But we also have news for you. Data from a recent study showed that people who drank at least one regular soda, energy drink, coffee, or juice a day had 2.45 times the risk of developing stomach cancer compared with people who drank fewer than one per month. For women who reached for a soft drink more than once a day, the risk grew threefold. The observational study doesn't prove that these drinks directly cause stomach cancer, but it does show a correlation.

Why this study stands out: It’s the first to show this association in a US population after researchers analyzed decades of health and diet data from adults. Still, researchers need additional studies to confirm what they’ve found so far. While sweet drinks have been previously linked to colorectal, breast, and liver cancers, evidence regarding stomach cancer was limited, even though it's a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. And if you're wondering about artificially sweetened drinks, researchers say they didn’t find the same association. But your Diet Coke isn't off the hook completely. It has aspartame, which was previously labeled as a possible carcinogen. But the FDA has identified that aspartame is safe for consumption at acceptable daily limits. Pour one out…with caution.

Related: What Even Is Ultra-Processed Food? (The Atlantic gift link)

Quick Hits

💍 A woman’s ring was successfully recovered after it was flushed down a NJ Transit train toilet. PU … sorry, we meant, "phew."

🎨 Designers agree: This gothic color is taking over the kitchen. New Yorkers will love this news.

👀 Apparently push-up bras are popping back up. Must we bring back everything from Y2K?

🐾 Samoyeds might be the next “it dog,” thanks to Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. We’d like to reach out to her cats for comment.

🎄 A woman is raising money to save a year-round Christmas store in her hometown from developers. Quick, somebody find a handsome stranger from the big city to play her love interest.

🐟 Sardines aren’t just having a fashion moment — they’re also a top recommendation from dietitians for a brain-healthy snack.

💚 We pledge allegiance to our favorite wideleg pant, now in a new nature-inspired color.*

Skimm'd by: Marisa Iallonardo, Aryanna Prasad Bhullar, Katherine Shen, Erika W. Smith, Samantha Darby, Jessica Prois, and Kylie McConville. Fact-checked by Sara Tardiff.