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<title>21 November, 2023</title>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Development of a fast feature extraction method for SARS-CoV-2 spike sequences using amino acid physicochemical properties</strong> -
<div>
COVID-19 continues to spread today, leading to an accumulation of SARS-CoV-2 virus mutations in databases, and large amounts of genomic datasets are currently available. However, due to these large datasets, utilizing this amount of sequence data without random sampling is challenging. Major difficulties for downstream analyses include the increase in the dimension size along with the conversion of sequences into numerical values when using conventional amino acid representation methods, such as one-hot encoding and k-mer-based approaches that directly reflect sequences. Moreover, these sequences are deficient in physicochemical characteristics, such as structural information and hydrophilicity; hence, they fail to accurately represent the inherent function of the given sequences. In this study, we utilized the physicochemical properties of amino acids to develop a rapid and efficient approach for extracting feature parameters that are suitable for downstream processes of machine learning, such as clustering. A fixed-length feature vector representation of a spike sequence with reduced dimensionality was obtained by converting amino acid residues into physicochemical parameters. Next, t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), a method for dimensionality reduction and visualization of high-dimensional data, was performed, followed by density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN). The results show that by using the physicochemical properties of amino acids rather than conventional methods that directly represent sequences into numerical values, SARS-CoV-2 spike sequences can be clustered with sufficient accuracy and a shorter runtime. Interestingly, the clusters obtained by using amino acid properties include subclusters that are distinct from those produced utilizing the method for the direct representation of amino acid sequences. A more detailed analysis indicated that the contributing parameters of this novel cluster identified exclusively when utilizing the physicochemical properties of amino acids significantly differ from one another. This suggests that representing amino acid sequences by physicochemical properties might enable the identification of clusters with enhanced sensitivity compared to conventional methods.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.18.567675v1" target="_blank">Development of a fast feature extraction method for SARS-CoV-2 spike sequences using amino acid physicochemical properties</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Structural basis for polyuridine tract recognition by SARS-CoV-2 Nsp15</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 non-structural protein 15 (Nsp15) is critical for productive viral replication and evasion of host immunity. The uridine-specific endoribonuclease activity of Nsp15 mediates the cleavage of the polyuridine [poly(U)] tract of the negative-strand coronavirus genome to minimize the formation of dsRNA that activates the host antiviral interferon signaling. However, the molecular basis for the recognition and cleavage of the poly(U) tract by Nsp15 is incompletely understood. Here, we present cryogenic electron microscopy (cryoEM) structures of SARS-CoV-2 Nsp15 bound to viral replication intermediate dsRNA containing poly(U) tract at 2.7-3.3 [A] resolution. The structures reveal one copy of dsRNA binds to the sidewall of an Nsp15 homohexamer, spanning three subunits in two distinct binding states. The target uracil is dislodged from the base-pairing of the dsRNA by amino acid residues W332 and M330 of Nsp15, and the dislodged base is entrapped at the endonuclease active site center. Up to 20 A/U base pairs are anchored on the Nsp15 hexamer, which explains the basis for a substantially shortened poly(U) sequence in the negative strand coronavirus genome compared to the long poly(A) tail in its positive strand. Our results provide mechanistic insights into the unique immune evasion strategy employed by coronavirus Nsp15.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.17.567629v1" target="_blank">Structural basis for polyuridine tract recognition by SARS-CoV-2 Nsp15</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Tropism of AAV.CPP.16 in the respiratory tract and its application for a CRISPR-based gene therapy against SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
Efficient gene delivery vectors are essential for developing gene therapies for respiratory diseases. Here, we report that AAV.CPP.16, a novel AAV9-derived adeno-associated virus vector, can efficiently transduce airway epithelium systems and lung parenchyma cells in both mice and non-human primates after intranasal administration. AAV.CPP.16 outperforms AAV6 and AAV9, two wild-type AAVs with demonstrated tropism to respiratory tract tissues, and can target major cell types in the respiratory tract and the lung. We also report an all-in-one, CRISPR-Cas13d-based AAV gene therapy vector that targets the highly conserved RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (Rdrp) gene in SARS-CoV-2, and show the potential of such gene therapy against a broad range of circulating and emergent SARS-CoV-2 variants. Thus, AAV.CPP.16 could be a useful gene delivery vector for treating genetic respiratory diseases and airborne infections including for developing a potential prophilaxis to SARS-CoV-2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.17.567583v1" target="_blank">Tropism of AAV.CPP.16 in the respiratory tract and its application for a CRISPR-based gene therapy against SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Preclinical Characterization of the Omicron XBB.1.5-Adapted BNT162b2 COVID-19 Vaccine</strong> -
<div>
As SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve, increasing in its potential for greater transmissibility and immune escape, updated vaccines are needed to boost adaptive immunity to protect against COVID-19 caused by circulating strains. Here, we report features of the monovalent Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted BNT162b2 vaccine, which contains the same mRNA backbone as the original BNT162b2 vaccine, modified by the incorporation of XBB.1.5-specific sequence changes in the encoded prefusion-stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S(P2)). Biophysical characterization of Omicron XBB.1.5 S(P2) demonstrated that it maintains a prefusion conformation that adopts a flexible and predominantly open one-RBD-up state, with high affinity binding to the human ACE-2 receptor. When administered as a 4th dose in BNT162b2-experienced mice, the monovalent Omicron XBB.1.5 vaccine elicited substantially higher serum neutralizing titers against pseudotyped viruses of Omicron XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, XBB.1.16.1, XBB.2.3, EG.5.1 and HV.1 sublineages and the phylogenetically distant BA.2.86 lineage than the bivalent Wild Type + Omicron BA.4/5 vaccine. Similar trends were observed against Omicron XBB sublineage pseudoviruses when the vaccine was administered as a 2-dose primary series in naive mice. Strong S-specific Th1 CD4+ and IFN[γ]+ CD8+ T cell responses were also observed. These findings, together with prior experience with variant-adapted vaccine responses in preclinical and clinical studies, suggest that the monovalent Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted BNT162b2 vaccine is anticipated to confer protective immunity against dominant SARS-CoV-2 strains.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.17.567633v1" target="_blank">Preclinical Characterization of the Omicron XBB.1.5-Adapted BNT162b2 COVID-19 Vaccine</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Lung inflammation is associated with lipid deposition</strong> -
<div>
Lung inflammation, pneumonia, is an acute respiratory disease of varying etiology that has recently drawn much attention during the COVID-19 pandemic as lungs are among the main targets for SARS-CoV-2. Multiple other etiological agents are associated with pneumonias. Here, we describe a newly-recognized pathology, namely abnormal lipid depositions in the lungs of patients who died from COVID-19 as well as from non-COVID-19 pneumonias. Our analysis of both semi-thin and Sudan III-stained lung specimens revealed extracellular and intracellular lipid depositions irrespective of the pneumonia etiology. Most notably, lipid depositions were located within vessels adjacent to inflamed regions, where they apparently interfere with the blood flow. Structurally, the lipid droplets in the inflamed lung tissue were homogeneous and lacked outer membranes as assessed by electron microscopy. Morphometric analysis of lipid droplet deposition area allowed us to distinguish the non-pneumonia control lung specimens from the macroscopically intact area of the pneumonia lung and from the inflamed area of the pneumonia lung. Our measurements revealed a gradient of lipid deposition towards the inflamed region. The pattern of lipid distribution proved universal for all pneumonias. Finally, lipid metabolism in the lung tissue was assessed by the fatty acid analysis and by expression of genes involved in lipid turnover. Chromato-mass spectrometry revealed that unsaturated fatty acid content was elevated at inflammation sites compared to that in control non-inflamed lung tissue from the same individual. The expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism was altered in pneumonia, as shown by qPCR and in silico RNA-seq analysis. Thus, pneumonias of various etiologies are associated with specific lipid abnormalities; therefore, lipid metabolism can be considered to be a target for new therapeutic strategies.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.30.522299v2" target="_blank">Lung inflammation is associated with lipid deposition</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Wastewater surveillance pilot at US military installations: a cost model analysis</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlighted the need for pathogen surveillance systems to augment both early warning and outbreak monitoring/control efforts. Wastewater samples provide a rapid and accurate source of environmental surveillance data to complement direct patient sampling. Due to its global presence and critical missions, the US military is a leader in global pandemic preparedness efforts. Clinical testing for COVID-19 on US Air Force (USAF) bases (AFBs) was effective, but costly with respect to direct costs and indirect costs of lost time. To remain operating at peak capacity such bases sought a more passive surveillance option and piloted wastewater surveillance (WWS) at 17 AFBs to demonstrate feasibility, safety, and utility from May 2021 to January 2022. Objective: Here we model the costs of a wastewater program for pathogens of pandemic potential within the specific context of US military installations using assumptions based on the results of the USAF and Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) pilot program. The objective was to determine the cost of deploying WWS to all AFBs, relative to clinical swab testing surveillance regimes. Methods: A simple WWS cost projection model was built based on subject matter expert input and actual costs incurred during a WWS pilot program at USAF AFBs. Several SARS-CoV-2 circulation scenarios were considered and costs of both WWS and clinical swab testing were projected. Break even analysis was conducted to determine how reduction in swab testing could open up space to enable WWS to occur in complement. Results: Our model confirms that wastewater surveillance is complimentary and highly cost-effective when compared to existing alternative forms of biosurveillance. We find that the cost of WWS was between $10.5 - $18.5 million less expensive annually in direct costs as compared to clinical swab testing surveillance. When indirect cost of lost work is incorporated, including assumed lost work required to go obtain a clinical swab test, we estimate that over two thirds of clinical swab testing could be maintained with no additional costs upon implementation of WWS. Conclusions: Our results support adoption of wastewater surveillance across US military installations as part of a more comprehensive and early warning system that will enable adaptive monitoring during disease outbreaks.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.14.23298310v2" target="_blank">Wastewater surveillance pilot at US military installations: a cost model analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Protocol for VIVALDI Social Care: Pilot Study to reduce Infections, Outbreaks and Antimicrobial Resistance in Care Homes for Older Adults</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Care home residents are vulnerable to severe outcomes from infections such as COVID-19 and influenza. However, measures to control outbreaks, such as care home closures to visitors and new admissions, have a detrimental impact on their quality of life. Many infections and outbreaks could be prevented but the first step is to measure them reliably. This is challenging in care homes due to the lack of data and research infrastructure. During the pandemic, the VIVALDI study measured COVID-19 infections in residents and staff by partnering with care providers and using routinely collected data. This study aims to establish sentinel surveillance and a research database to enable observational and future interventional studies in care homes. The project has been co-produced with care providers, staff, residents, relatives, and researchers. The study (October 2023 to March 2025) will explore the feasibility of establishing a network of 500-1500 care homes for older adults in England that is underpinned by a linked data platform. No data will be collected from staff. The cohort will be created by regularly extracting resident identifiers from Digital Social Care Records (DSCR), followed by pseudonymisation and linkage to routinely collected datasets. Following extensive consultation, we decided not to seek informed consent from residents for data collection, but they can opt out of the study. Our goal is to be inclusive, and it is challenging to give every resident the opportunity to opt in due to cognitive impairment and the requirement for consultees. The project, and all requests to use the data will be overseen by relatives, residents, staff, and care providers. The study has been provisionally approved by the Health Research Authority Confidentiality Advisory Group and the South-West Frenchay Research Ethics Committee. It is funded by the UK Health Security Agency.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.20.23298504v1" target="_blank">Protocol for VIVALDI Social Care: Pilot Study to reduce Infections, Outbreaks and Antimicrobial Resistance in Care Homes for Older Adults</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Uniting to Advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in a Pandemic and Post-Pandemic World</strong> -
<div>
This contribution examines the context for the newly-founded Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee of the European Association of Geochemistry. The report summarises the work to advance DEI undertaken during 2020 under conditions of the COVID-19 global pandemic, acknowledges the various impacts for community members, and takes a forward view to opportunities of a post-pandemic world.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/d6z72/" target="_blank">Uniting to Advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in a Pandemic and Post-Pandemic World</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Childcare burden and changes in fertility desires of mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
<div>
Background: Previous studies have documented a decline in fertility desires following the COVID-19 outbreak, but reasons for this decline are not well understood. This study examined whether greater childcare burden on mothers during the lockdowns and quarantines, COVID-related stress and COVID-19 exposure were associated with a change in desired number of children. Methods: The survey was conducted in Poland in April–July 2021 and completed by 622 non-pregnant mothers without diagnosed infertility. Women were asked whether the COVID-19 pandemic has changed their reproductive plans. Childcare burden was reported during lockdown and quarantines. Results: Almost 30% of mothers reported decrease in their fertility desires because of the pandemic. Associations were observed between childcare responsibilities during the quarantine (but not lockdown) and fertility desires: mothers who solely or mainly took care of their children during the quarantine(s) were more likely to decrease their desired number of children ([adjusted] aOR = 1.91, 95% CI = 1.16–3.15). Mothers with higher levels of COVID-related stress (aOR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.48–2.22) and greater COVID exposure index (aOR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.12–1.72) were more likely to decrease their fertility desires. Conclusions: Mothers who bare more childcare responsibilities during quarantine had lower desire to have more children. At the same time, both greater COVID-related stress and exposure were associated with a decreased wish to have children, regardless of the childcare responsibilities during the pandemic.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/3m9zs/" target="_blank">Childcare burden and changes in fertility desires of mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Feasibility of a Digital Parent Support Group Chat Intervention to Prevent Child and Adolescent Maltreatment in the Philippines: A Pilot Mixed Methods Study</strong> -
<div>
This study examined the preliminary outcomes, feasibility, and acceptability of MaPaChat, a parent support group intervention delivered using Viber group chat delivered to Filipino caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Forty caregivers of children aged 4-17 from predominantly low-income households participated in a culturally adapted version of the Parenting for Lifelong Health ParentChat program. A single-group pre-post design was used to assess changes in the primary outcomes of child maltreatment, positive parenting, and parenting stress; and secondary outcomes of parent depression, child behavior problems, parenting self-efficacy to reduce sexual abuse risk, intimate partner violence, and attitudes toward punishment. Feasibility was assessed by enrollment, attendance, and dropout rates. Semi-structured interviews with caregivers and program facilitators explored program acceptability. Pre-post comparisons showed reductions in physical and emotional abuse, parenting stress, parent depressive symptoms, child behavior problems, child behavior problem intensity, women’s intimate partner violence victimization; and an increase in parental efficacy in preventing sexual abuse risk. The mean attendance rate was 82% and the dropout rate was 10%. Caregivers and facilitators found the program helpful in enhancing parenting knowledge and skills and were satisfied with the program delivery using Viber group chat but also reported experiencing technological challenges.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/tz67u/" target="_blank">Feasibility of a Digital Parent Support Group Chat Intervention to Prevent Child and Adolescent Maltreatment in the Philippines: A Pilot Mixed Methods Study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Making Sense of Uncertainty in the Science Classroom: A Bayesian Approach</strong> -
<div>
Uncertainty is ubiquitous in science, but scientific knowledge is often represented to the public and in educational contexts as certain and immutable. This contrast can foster distrust when scientific knowledge develops in ways that can be perceived as reversals, as we have observed during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on research in statistics, child development, and several studies in science education, we argue that a Bayesian approach can support science learners to make sense of uncertainty. In this paper, we review prior research on uncertainty and Bayesian approaches to scientific reasoning and provide a brief primer on Bayes’ Theorem. We then describe three ways to make Bayesian reasoning practical in K-12 science education contexts: using principles informed by Bayes’ Theorem that relate to the nature of knowing and knowledge, interacting with a web-based application (or widget—Confidence Updater) that makes the calculations needed to apply Bayes’ Theorem more practical, and adopting strategies for supporting even young learners to engage in Bayesian reasoning. We conclude with directions for future research and sum up how viewing science and scientific knowledge from a Bayesian perspective can build trust in science.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/aznyq/" target="_blank">Making Sense of Uncertainty in the Science Classroom: A Bayesian Approach</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Impact of State Telehealth Parity Laws for Private Payers on Hypertension Management before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
BACKGROUND: Telehealth has emerged as an effective tool for managing common chronic conditions such as hypertension, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the impact of state telehealth payment and coverage parity laws on hypertension management remains uncertain. METHODS: Data from the MerativeTM MarketScan® Commercial Claims and Encounters Database from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2021 were used to construct the study cohort. The sample included non-pregnant individuals aged 25?64 years with hypertension. We reviewed and coded telehealth parity laws related to hypertension management in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, distinguishing between payment parity laws and coverage parity laws. The primary outcomes were antihypertension medication use, measured by the average medication possession ratio (MPR), medication adherence (MPR ?80%), and average number of days of drug supply. We used a generalized difference-in-difference (DID) design to examine the impact of these laws. Results were presented as marginal effects and 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: Among 353,220 individuals, states with payment parity laws were significantly linked to increased average MPR by 0.43 percentage point (95% CI: 0.07 - 0.79), and an increase of 0.46 percentage point (95% CI: 0.06 - 0.92) in the probability of medication adherence. Payment parity laws also led to an average increase of 2.14 days (95% CI: 0.11 - 4.17) in antihypertensive drug supply, after controlling for state-fixed effects, year-fixed effects, individual sociodemographic characteristics and state time-varying covariates including unemployment rates, GDP per capita, and poverty rates. In contrast, coverage parity laws were associated with a 2.13-day increase (95% CI: 0.19 - 4.07) in days of drug supply, but did not significantly increase the average MPR or probability of medication adherence. In addition, telehealth payment or coverage parity laws were positively associated with the number of hypertension-related telehealth visits, but this effect did not reach statistical significance. These findings were consistent in sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS: State telehealth payment parity laws were significantly associated with greater medication adherence, whereas coverage parity laws were not. With the increasing adoption of telehealth parity laws across states, these findings may support policymakers in understanding potential implications on management of hypertension.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.16.23298658v1" target="_blank">Impact of State Telehealth Parity Laws for Private Payers on Hypertension Management before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Development of a prediction model for 30-day COVID-19 hospitalization and death in a national cohort of Veterans Health Administration patients - March 2022 - April 2023.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<b>Objective</b>: Develop models to predict 30-day COVID-19 hospitalization and death in the Omicron era for clinical and research applications. <b>Material and Methods</b>: We used comprehensive electronic health records from a national cohort of patients in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between March 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023. Full models incorporated 84 predictors , including demographics, comorbidities, and receipt of COVID-19 vaccinations and anti-SARS-CoV-2 treatments. Parsimonious models included 19 predictors. We created models for 30-day hospitalization or death, 30-day hospitalization, and 30-day all-cause mortality. We used the Super Learner ensemble machine learning algorithm to model risks. Model performance was assessed with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), Brier scores, and calibration intercepts and slopes in a 20% holdout dataset. <b>Results</b>: Models were trained and tested on 198,174 patients, of whom 8% were hospitalized or died within 30 days of testing positive. AUCs for the full models ranged from 0.80 (hospitalization) to 0.91 (death). Brier scores were close to 0, with the lowest error in the mortality model (Brier score: 0.01). All three models were well calibrated with calibration intercepts &lt;0.23 and slopes &lt;1.05. Parsimonious models performed comparably to full models. <b>Discussion</b>: These models may be used for risk stratification to inform COVID-19 treatment and to identify high-risk patients for inclusion in clinical trials. <b>Conclusions</b>: We developed prediction models that accurately estimate COVID-19 hospitalization and mortality risk following emergence of the Omicron variant and in the setting of COVID-19 vaccinations and antiviral treatments.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.17.23298653v1" target="_blank">Development of a prediction model for 30-day COVID-19 hospitalization and death in a national cohort of Veterans Health Administration patients - March 2022 - April 2023.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Antibody response to symptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant viruses, December 2021 to June 2022</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To describe humoral immune responses to symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, we assessed immunoglobulin G binding antibody levels using a commercial multiplex bead assay against SARS-CoV-2 ancestral spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD) and nucleocapsid protein (N). We measured binding antibody units per mL (BAU/mL) during acute illness within 5 days of illness onset and during convalescence in 105 ambulatory patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection with Omicron variant viruses. Comparing acute- to convalescent phase antibody concentrations, geometric mean anti-N antibody concentrations increased 47-fold from 5.5 to 259 BAU/mL. Anti-RBD antibody concentrations increased 2.5-fold from 1258 to 3189 BAU/mL.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.17.23298700v1" target="_blank">Antibody response to symptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant viruses, December 2021 to June 2022</a>
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<li><strong>Potential impact of annual vaccination with reformulated COVID-19 vaccines: lessons from the U.S. COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Importance: COVID-19 continues to cause significant hospitalizations and deaths in the United States. Its continued burden and the impact of annually reformulated vaccines remain unclear. Objective: To project COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths from April 2023–April 2025 under two plausible assumptions about immune escape (20% per year and 50% per year) and three possible CDC recommendations for the use of annually reformulated vaccines (no vaccine recommendation, vaccination for those aged 65+, vaccination for all eligible groups). Design: The COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub solicited projections of COVID-19 hospitalization and deaths between April 15, 2023–April 15, 2025 under six scenarios representing the intersection of considered levels of immune escape and vaccination. State and national projections from eight modeling teams were ensembled to produce projections for each scenario. Setting: The entire United States. Participants: None. Exposure: Annually reformulated vaccines assumed to be 65% effective against strains circulating on June 15 of each year and to become available on September 1. Age and state specific coverage in recommended groups was assumed to match that seen for the first (fall 2021) COVID-19 booster. Main outcomes and measures: Ensemble estimates of weekly and cumulative COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. Expected relative and absolute reductions in hospitalizations and deaths due to vaccination over the projection period. Results: From April 15, 2023–April 15, 2025, COVID-19 is projected to cause annual epidemics peaking November–January. In the most pessimistic scenario (high immune escape, no vaccination recommendation), we project 2.1 million (90% PI: 1,438,000–4,270,000) hospitalizations and 209,000 (90% PI: 139,000–461,000) deaths, exceeding pre-pandemic mortality of influenza and pneumonia. In high immune escape scenarios, vaccination of those aged 65+ results in 230,000 (95% CI: 104,000–355,000) fewer hospitalizations and 33,000 (95% CI: 12,000–54,000) fewer deaths, while vaccination of all eligible individuals results in 431,000 (95% CI: 264,000–598,000) fewer hospitalizations and 49,000 (95% CI: 29,000–69,000) fewer deaths. Conclusion and Relevance: COVID-19 is projected to be a significant public health threat over the coming two years. Broad vaccination has the potential to substantially reduce the burden of this disease.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.26.23297581v2" target="_blank">Potential impact of annual vaccination with reformulated COVID-19 vaccines: lessons from the U.S. COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Robotic Assisted Hand Rehabilitation Outcomes in Adults After COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Robotic Exoskeleton; Post-acute Covid-19 Syndrome; Rehabilitation Outcome; Physical And Rehabilitation Medicine <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: Training with a Robotic Hand Exoskeleton <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Valladolid; Centro Hospitalario Padre Benito Menni <br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cognitive Rehabilitation in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-COVID-19 Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: CO-OP Procedures; Behavioral: Inactive Control Group <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Missouri-Columbia; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety and Immunogenicity of BNT162b2 Coadministered With SIIV in Adults 18 Through 64 Years of Age</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: SARS-CoV-2 Infection; COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: BNT162b2; Other: Placebo; Biological: Seasonal Inactivated Influenza Vaccine <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Pfizer <br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Clinical Evaluation of the Panbio™ COVID-19/Flu A&amp;B Panel</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Influenza A; Influenza B <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Diagnostic Test: Panbio™ <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Abbott Rapid Dx <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Multicenter, Adaptive, Randomized, doublE-blinded, Placebo-controlled Study in Participants With Long COVID-19: The REVIVE Trial</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long COVID-19 Syndrome; Chronic Fatigue Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Fluvoxamine Maleate 100 MG; Drug: Placebo; Drug: Metformin Extended Release Oral Tablet <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Cardresearch <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Influence of Hypoxic, Normobaric and Hypobaric Training on the Immunometabolism of Post-covid-19 Athletes</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Normobaric Hypoxia; Hypoventilation; Normoxia <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Repeated sprint <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Faculdade de Motricidade Humana; University of Sao Paulo; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Connecting Friends and Health Workers to Boost COVID-19 Vaccination in Latino Communities</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Vaccine <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: REDES; Behavioral: Control <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Johns Hopkins University; National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD); Rutgers University <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Safety and Tolerability of A8G6 COVID-19 Neutralization Antibody Combined With Nasal Spray</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: SARS-CoV-2; Prevention <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: A8G6 SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization Antibody combination nasal spray; Other: A8G6 SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization Antibody nasal excipient <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Building Engagement Using Financial Incentives Trial - Colorectal Cancer Screening</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Health Behavior; Colorectal Cancer; Influenza; COVID-19; Vaccine Hesitancy; Vaccine-Preventable Diseases; Healthcare Patient Acceptance <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Financial incentive for colorectal cancer screening; Behavioral: Financial incentive for flu shot; Behavioral: Financial incentive for COVID-19 shot <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Tulane University; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Effects of Rehabilitation Combined With a Maintenance Program Compared to Rehabilitation Alone in Post-COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-COVID-19 Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Procedure: Rehabilitation combined to a digital maintenance program; Procedure: Rehabilitation without maintenance program <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Schön Klinik Berchtesgadener Land; Bavarian State Ministry of Health and Care (Funding); Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund (German pension insurance) (Design); Betriebskrankenkassen Landesverband Bayern (Bavarian health insurance) (Design) <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Clinical Evaluation of the Panbio™ COVID-19/Flu A&amp;B Panel to Support Home Use</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Influenza A; Influenza Type B <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Diagnostic Test: Panbio™ COVID-19/Flu A&amp;B Panel <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Abbott Rapid Dx <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Child and Adolescent Mental Health Literacy for Primary Schools Teachers. A Multicomponent Intervention</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Child Mental Health <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Child Mental Health Literacy Program <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Universidad de Valparaiso <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Brief Digital Intervention to Increase COVID-19 Vaccination Among Individuals With Anxiety or Depression</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Misinformation; Vaccine Hesitancy; Anxiety; Depression; COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Attitudinal inoculation; Behavioral: Cognitive-behavioral therapy-informed intervention; Behavioral: Conventional public health messaging <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: City University of New York, School of Public Health; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 infection as a model to study the effect of cinnamaldehyde as adjuvant therapy for viral pneumonia</strong> - CONCLUSION: The obtained results suggest the possible use of cinnamaldehyde as a co-adjuvant preventive treatment for COVID-19 disease together with vaccination, but also as a promising dietary supplement to reduce, more broadly, viral induced inflammation.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An exploratory study of drug concentration and inhibitory effect of cetylpyridinium chloride buccal tablets on SARS-CoV-2 infection among 10 Chinese subjects</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: The comparison between the salivary CPC concentration and EC50/CC50 values from in vitro antiviral experiments suggests that CPC buccal tablets may inhibit SARS-CoV-2 activity, and the inhibition may last for approximately 30 min without cytotoxicity.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Drug repurposing screen identifies vidofludimus calcium and pyrazofurin as novel chemical entities for the development of hepatitis E interventions</strong> - Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection can cause severe complications and high mortality, particularly in pregnant women, organ transplant recipients, individuals with pre-existing liver disease and immunosuppressed patients. However, there are still unmet needs for treating chronic HEV infections. Herein, we screened a best-in-class drug repurposing library consisting of 262 drugs/compounds. Upon screening, we identified vidofludimus calcium and pyrazofurin as novel anti-HEV entities. Vidofludimus…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Licochalcone A regulates viral IRES activity to inhibit enterovirus replication</strong> - Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), belonging to the genus Enterovirus of the Picornavirus family, is an emerging pathogen that can cause neurological and respiratory diseases in children. However, there is little understanding of the pathogenesis of EV-D68, and no effective vaccine or drug for the prevention or treatment of the diseases caused by this virus is available. Autophagy is a cellular process that targets cytoplasmic proteins or organelles to the lysosomes for degradation. Enteroviruses…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>AG5 is a potent non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and immune regulator that preserves innate immunity</strong> - An archetypal anti-inflammatory compound against cytokine storm would inhibit it without suppressing the innate immune response. AG5, an anti-inflammatory compound, has been developed as synthetic derivative of andrographolide, which is highly absorbable and presents low toxicity. We found that the mechanism of action of AG5 is through the inhibition of caspase-1. Interestingly, we show with in vitro generated human monocyte derived dendritic cells that AG5 preserves innate immune response. AG5…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 ORF6 protein targets TRIM25 for proteasomal degradation to diminish K63-linked RIG-I ubiquitination and type-I interferon induction</strong> - Evasion and antagonism of host cellular immunity upon SARS-CoV-2 infection provide replication advantage to the virus and contribute to COVID-19 pathogenesis. We explored the ability of different SARS-CoV-2 proteins to antagonize the host’s innate immune system and found that the ORF6 protein mitigated type-I Interferon (IFN) induction and downstream IFN signaling. Our findings also corroborated previous reports that ORF6 blocks the nuclear import of IRF3 and STAT1 to inhibit IFN induction and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Highly potent dual-targeting angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and Neuropilin-1 (NRP1) peptides: A promising broad-spectrum therapeutic strategy against SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - The efficacy of approved vaccines has been diminishing due to the increasing advent of SARS-CoV-2 variants with diverse mutations that favor sneak entry. Nonetheless, these variants recognize the conservative host receptors angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and neuropilin-1 (NRP1) for entry, rendering the dual blockade of ACE2 and NRP1 an advantageous pan-inhibition strategy. Here, we identified a highly potent dual-targeting peptide AP-1 using structure-based virtual screening protocol….</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Targeting SARS-CoV-2 entry processes: The promising potential and future of host-targeted small-molecule inhibitors</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has had a huge impact on global health. To respond to rapidly mutating viruses and to prepare for the next pandemic, there is an urgent need to develop small molecule therapies that target critical stages of the SARS-CoV-2 life cycle. Inhibiting the entry process of the virus can effectively control viral infection and play a role in prevention and treatment. Host factors involved in this process, such as ACE2, TMPRSS2, ADAM17, furin, PIKfyve, TPC2,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lianhua Qingwen protects LPS-induced acute lung injury by promoting M2 macrophage infiltration</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our data demonstrate that LHQW reduces the inflammatory response and ameliorates acute lung injury by promoting anti-inflammatory polarization of macrophages.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Chrysin 7-O-β-D-glucuronide, a dual inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 3CL<sup>pro</sup> and PL<sup>pro</sup>, for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19</strong> - The evolution of SARS-CoV-2 virus has resulted in the global pandemic COVID-19. Given the advent of subvariants, it is urgent to develop novel drugs. This work aims to discover SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors from Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi targeting the proteases 3CL^(pro) and PL^(pro). After screening 25 flavonoids, we revealed that chrysin 7-O-β-D-glucuronide could potently inhibit SARS-CoV-2 on Vero E6 cells, with EC(50) of 8.72 μM. Surface plasmon resonance, site-directed mutagenesis and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Variant-Specific Differences in Inhibiting the Effects of the PKR-Activated Integrated Stress Response</strong> - The integrated stress response (ISR) is a eukaryotic cell pathway that triggers translational arrest and the formation of stress granules (SGs) in response to various stress signals, including those caused by viral infections. The SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein has been shown to disrupt SGs, but SARS-CoV-2 interactions with other components of the pathway remains poorly characterized. Here, we show that SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers the ISR through activation of the eIF2α-kinase PKR while…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Niclosamide, but not ivermectin, inhibits anoctamin 1 and 6 and attenuates inflammation of the respiratory tract</strong> - Inflammatory airway diseases like cystic fibrosis, asthma and COVID-19 are characterized by high levels of pulmonary cytokines. Two well-established antiparasitic drugs, niclosamide and ivermectin, are intensively discussed for the treatment of viral inflammatory airway infections. Here, we examined these repurposed drugs with respect to their anti-inflammatory effects in airways in vivo and in vitro. Niclosamide reduced mucus content, eosinophilic infiltration and cell death in asthmatic mouse…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Identification of synthetically tractable MERS-CoV main protease inhibitors using structure-based virtual screening and molecular dynamics potential of mean force (PMF) calculations</strong> - The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a potentially lethal infection that presents a substantial threat to health, especially in Middle East nations. Given that no FDA-approved specific therapy for MERS infection exists, designing and discovering a potent antiviral therapy for MERS-CoV is crucial. One pivotal strategy for inhibiting MERS replication is to focus on the viral main protease (M^(pro)). In this study, we identify potential novel M^(pro) inhibitors employing…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CD97 negatively regulates the innate immune response against RNA viruses by promoting RNF125-mediated RIG-I degradation</strong> - The G protein-coupled receptor ADGRE5 (CD97) binds to various metabolites that play crucial regulatory roles in metabolism. However, its function in the antiviral innate immune response remains to be determined. In this study, we report that CD97 inhibits virus-induced type-I interferon (IFN-I) release and enhances RNA virus replication in cells and mice. CD97 was identified as a new negative regulator of the innate immune receptor RIG-I, and RIG-1 degradation led to the suppression of the IFN-I…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease by the anti-viral chimeric protein RetroMAD1</strong> - COVID-19 results from SARS-CoV-2, which mutates frequently, challenging current treatments. Therefore, it is critical to develop new therapeutic drugs against this disease. This study explores the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 3CL^(pro) and RetroMAD1, a well-characterized coronavirus protein and potential drug target, using in-silico methods. The analysis through the HDOCK server showed stable complex formation with a binding energy of -12.3, the lowest among reference drugs. The…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>After Forty Years of Democracy, Argentina Faces a Defining Presidential Runoff</strong> - Is the country really so fed up with the status quo that it will elect a right-wing former TV personality? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/after-forty-years-of-democracy-argentina-faces-a-defining-presidential-runoff">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Mother’s Grief in New Haven</strong> - Laquvia Jones lost both of her sons to shootings. Now she wonders why a city with a deep sense of community—and one of the wealthiest universities in the world—can’t figure out how to address gun violence. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-weekend-essay/a-mothers-grief-in-new-haven">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Trauma of Gaza’s Doctors</strong> - The head of mission for Doctors Without Borders in Palestine on the horrors of practicing medicine under siege. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-trauma-of-gazas-doctors">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>All the Newspapers’ Men</strong> - In Martin Baron’s “Collision of Power” and Adam Nagourney’s “The Times,” two well-known journalists turn their investigative power on their institutions—and themselves. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/newspapersmen-martin-baron-adam-nagourney-book-review">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Israeli Forces Reportedly Detain a New Yorker Contributor</strong> - Mosab Abu Toha is an award-winning poet and a father of three who lives in Gaza. His current whereabouts are unknown. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/israeli-forces-reportedly-detain-a-new-yorker-contributor">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>A Supreme Court case about stocks could help make Trump’s authoritarian dreams reality</strong> -
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<img alt="UFC 295: Prochazka v Pereira" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ch3UybwWAoJlyYTt-eAar3U2hAQ=/167x0:2834x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72887829/1797205069.0.jpg"/>
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Former US President Donald Trump attends the UFC 295 event at Madison Square Garden on November 11, 2023, in New York City. | Sarah Stier/Getty Images
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The “unitary executive” is back, and it could supercharge Trump’s plans to fill the government with his own loyalists.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="viygMY">
Last year, a federal appeals court dominated by Trump appointees and MAGA sympathizers ruled that the system the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) uses to protect investors from fraud is unconstitutional — and that it is <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/5/19/23130569/jarkesy-fifth-circuit-sec">unconstitutional in three ways</a>. This case, known as <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/securities-and-exchange-commission-v-jarkesy/"><em>SEC v. Jarkesy</em></a>, will be heard by the <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus">Supreme Court</a> on November 29.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ER4TcR">
To be clear, we are talking about a federal agency that has existed since the Roosevelt administration, and whose governing statutes <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-859/284699/20231011140507326_22-859%20Respondents%20Brief.pdf">haven’t changed in any relevant way for more than a dozen years</a>. Nevertheless, an especially right-wing panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/5/19/23130569/jarkesy-fifth-circuit-sec">purported to find three entirely different constitutional flaws</a> that somehow no one else has ever noticed before.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BBqeBl">
The Fifth Circuit’s decision in <em>Jarkesy</em> isn’t particularly surprising. Indeed, it’s typical of a court that routinely hands down dubiously reasoned decisions that attempt to sabotage core functions of the federal government. We are less than two months into the Supreme Court’s current term, and it’s already heard two similar cases arising out of the Fifth Circuit — one of which declared a different agency, <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/10/3/23901502/supreme-court-cfpb-appropriations-clause-community-financial-kavanaugh-barrett">the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau</a>, unconstitutional, and another which held that <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/11/7/23950520/supreme-court-us-rahimi-oral-argument-second-amendment-roberts-gorsuch-barrett-jackson">domestic abusers have a constitutional right to own a gun</a> — neither of which the Supreme Court seems likely to affirm.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wFxRXu">
<em>Jarkesy</em>, however, could potentially end differently. None of the three rationales the Fifth Circuit offered for neutering the SEC are especially persuasive, but one of them is grounded in a pet project of the conservative Federalist Society known as the “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/14/21135083/justice-scalia-bill-barr-trump-unitary-executive-no-rule-of-law-morrison-olson">unitary executive</a>” — a project for which the current Court’s GOP-appointed majority has shown a great deal of sympathy.
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uC4PiR">
There is a risk, in other words, that at least some of the Fifth Circuit’s effort to light this decades-old agency on fire could succeed, with implications that stretch far beyond securities fraud. A sweeping decision affirming the Fifth Circuit could potentially enable former <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a> to stack the federal civil service with MAGA loyalists, should he become president again.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DEk93i">
Under the strongest version of the unitary executive theory, there are few, if any, limits on a president’s power to fire government employees who refuse to swear personal loyalty to that president.
</p>
<h3 id="KocEX3">
So what are the specific legal issues in <em>Jarkesy</em>?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f9y2RT">
The <em>Jarkesy</em> case is an attack on the federal government’s authority to use administrative law judges, a kind of highly specialized judge who hears cases brought by certain federal agencies. Administrative law judges are <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/merit-selection-federal-administrative-law-judges">civil servants who are hired using a merit-based selection process</a>. They are typically in-house at the agency where they hear cases, but they enjoy robust job security protections to ensure that their decisions are impartial.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I6ic98">
In total, the federal government <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/5/19/23130569/jarkesy-fifth-circuit-sec">employs about 2,000 of these judges</a> — more than twice as many as the federal district and circuit court judges serving on what’s known as “<a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-3/">Article III</a>” courts. Most of the administrative law judges hear cases about whether impoverished Americans are entitled to federal benefits, but some hear enforcement actions brought by agencies like the SEC.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qmx2yt">
Article III judges generally hear all kinds of cases rather than focusing on one narrow subject matter. And Article III judges are political appointees who must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, unlike administrative law judges, who are <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/merit-selection-federal-administrative-law-judges">civil servants appointed through a merit selection process</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aSF9El">
The <em>Jarkesy</em> case involves George Jarkesy, a hedge fund manager who, according to the government, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-859/278330/20230828183013049_22-859tsUnitedStates.pdf">committed multiple violations of federal securities law</a>. DOJ’s brief says that Jarkesy and his company told investors that the hedge funds were audited by a prominent accounting firm, “even though the firm never audited the funds.” The funds also allegedly misrepresented their investment strategies. And they were accused of “arbitrarily inflating the value of certain holdings from $0.30 per share to $3.30 per share — so that they could charge higher management fees.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vJsAWn">
Eventually, the SEC brought an enforcement action before an administrative law judge, who determined that Jarkesy violated federal securities law. The SEC eventually ordered Jarkesy and his funds to pay a civil penalty of $300,000, and to “disgorge nearly $685,000 in illicit gains.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CAxj5o">
Jarkesy raises three separate constitutional objections to this proceeding in the Supreme Court, all of which were embraced by the Fifth Circuit. All of them fault the government for bringing its enforcement action before an administrative law judge, instead of filing a lawsuit against Jarkesy in an Article III court. (An administrative law judge’s decision ordinarily can be appealed to a federal circuit court, which is made up of Article III judges, so the law does not permit the SEC to avoid Article III courts altogether.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="22J4ZH">
Federal law permits the SEC to choose whether to bring certain enforcement actions either in a federal district court (one presided over by an Article III judge) or before an administrative law judge. And, at the outset, it’s important to note that laws permitting litigants to choose which venue they bring a lawsuit in are quite common.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vst8g1">
Many routine disputes between private litigants<a href="https://constitution.findlaw.com/article3/annotation18.html#:~:text=Diversity%20jurisdiction%20means%20that%20the,be%20heard%20in%20federal%20court."> may be brought in either state or federal court</a>, for example. Some tax <a href="https://www.lataxattorney.com/choice-of-forum.html#:~:text=The%20US%20District%20Courts%20have,in%20a%20US%20District%20Court.">disputes between individual taxpayers and the federal government</a> may be brought in either an ordinary district court, a more specialized court known as the US Court of Federal Claims, or in the US Tax Court — a court made up of judges who focus on tax law. If the Justice Department wishes to bring criminal charges against someone who committed crimes across the Texas-New Mexico border, they might choose to bring those charges in a New Mexico federal court, because New Mexico is located in the 10th Circuit, while the same case brought in Texas would appeal to the chaotic Fifth Circuit.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rwcqaf">
Nevertheless, the first of Jarkesy’s objections to the SEC’s proceeding against him is that the law permitting the SEC to choose which venue to bring enforcement actions in is itself unconstitutional under a largely defunct doctrine known as “<a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/23791610/supreme-court-major-questions-doctrine-nebraska-biden-student-loans-gorsuch-barrett">nondelegation</a>,” which supposedly limits <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a>’s ability to delegate decision-making power to federal agencies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="avQHTq">
This is far and away the weakest of Jarkesy’s three arguments. The Supreme Court has only struck down two laws in all of US history for violating the so-called nondelegation doctrine, and it <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/23791610/supreme-court-major-questions-doctrine-nebraska-biden-student-loans-gorsuch-barrett">hasn’t done so since 1935</a>. Federal law enforcement agencies routinely make decisions that are far more consequential for criminal and civil defendants than choosing which venue will hear a particular case.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eBrsAE">
In <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8093226484239730854&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholarr"><em>United States v. Batchelder</em></a> (1979), for example, Congress enacted two firearms statutes that each authorized “different maximum penalties,” and effectively let prosecutors choose which statute to invoke when a criminal defendant’s conduct violated both of them. But the Supreme Court upheld this scheme, concluding that “the power that Congress has delegated to [federal prosecutors] is no broader than the authority they routinely exercise.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AugXYI">
If the Constitution permits law enforcement agencies to make decisions as significant as whether to charge a criminal defendant under a statute that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, or to instead charge them under a statute that only authorizes a two-year sentence, then it permits such agencies to make far less consequential choices, such as choosing the venue for a civil enforcement proceeding.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YgKqJe">
Jarkesy’s second argument is that bringing his case before an ALJ violates the Seventh Amendment, which provides that “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/seventh_amendment">in suits at common law … the right of trial by jury shall be preserved</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LKfvhQ">
Although criminal defendants have an absolute right to a jury trial, the rules governing civil suits, such as SEC enforcement actions, are more complicated. Article III courts sometimes try civil cases before a jury, but administrative law judges typically do not: One of their primary advantages is that they are typically experts on the kinds of cases that come before them. Using a jury to conduct fact-finding would negate this advantage, as jurors rarely know very much about subjects like securities fraud.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1rrBWF">
The Seventh Amendment lays out when juries are required in civil suits: only “in suits at common law.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z9uT5k">
The “common law” refers to a body of judge-created law that developed over many centuries in English courts, and that was passed down to American courts during the colonial period. This common law is often distinct from statutory law, laws created by Acts of Congress or a state legislature. Thus, in <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court/430/442.html"><em>Atlas Roofing v. OSHA</em></a> (1977), the Supreme Court held that many suits brought under a federal statute may be heard by an administrative law judge in a non-jury proceeding.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gwkzIL">
And that brings us to Jarkesy’s third argument, the claim that the SEC action against him violates the theory of the “unitary executive.”
</p>
<h3 id="mhGonN">
The unitary executive, briefly explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zl1Xs3">
The basic concept underlying the theory of the unitary executive is that the president of the United States must have command and control over the entire executive branch of the federal government. In practice, this means that the president must either be able to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/14/21135083/justice-scalia-bill-barr-trump-unitary-executive-no-rule-of-law-morrison-olson">fire every single federal employee</a>, or they at least must have the power to fire every federal employee’s boss.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ajjn3p">
The theory derives from a provision of the Constitution that states that “the executive power <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii">shall be vested in a President of the United States of America</a>.” As Justice Antonin Scalia described the unitary executive theory in a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/18/20872236/trump-justice-department-supreme-court-cfpb-unitary-executive">1988 dissenting opinion</a> that is now <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/14/21135083/justice-scalia-bill-barr-trump-unitary-executive-no-rule-of-law-morrison-olson">treated as if it were a holy text</a> by many members of the Federalist Society, this constitutional provision “does not mean <em>some of</em> the executive power, but <em>all of</em> the executive power” must be vested in the president.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M1Xi8r">
Taken to its logical extreme, this theory would eliminate the federal government’s ability to maintain a professional civil service made up of officials who are protected against being fired for purely political reasons. Under the strongest version of the unitary executive theory, every single federal employee, down to individual postal workers, must be accountable to the president — although even Scalia did not seem to go that far, instead suggesting that the unitary executive theory may be limited to “officers of the United States,” relatively high-ranking government officials who typically have some amount of discretionary authority.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NsLYi7">
If the Court were to implement a strong version of this theory, that would obviously be a tremendous boon to Donald Trump, who has already announced plans to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/5/13/23708595/trump-second-term-cnn-town-hall">replace thousands of nonpartisan civil servants</a> with MAGA loyalists if he becomes president again.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LlYnTy">
There are weaker versions of the unitary executive theory that wouldn’t allow the president to fire every FBI agent who refuses to swear personal fealty. But even these weaker versions could potentially give presidents power to manipulate elections, and to interfere with technocratic aspects of government that historically have been removed from partisan politics, such as the Federal Reserve.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TWqS1n">
Administrative law judges are civil servants who <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/7521">may only be removed “for good cause,”</a> and any removal decision may be reviewed and potentially overturned by the Merit Systems Protection Board, a government panel whose members also enjoy some protections against being fired. Jarkesy claims that this arrangement violates the Supreme Court’s decision in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-861.ZO.html"><em>Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board</em></a> (2010), which held that the members of a government board that oversees accounting firms enjoyed too many safeguards against being fired — in violation of the unitary executive theory.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BphLQU">
There are some superficial similarities between the “good cause” job security offered to administrative law judges and the job security provision that was struck down in <em>Free Enterprise Fund</em>, but the Supreme Court’s decision in that case also acknowledged that these judges may be categorically different from other government officials.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MaixRd">
Most notably, the accounting oversight board members at issue in <em>Free Enterprise Fund </em>were policymaking officials, with the power to set “auditing and ethics standards” for the accounting industry. Administrative law judges, by contrast, “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-861.ZO.html">perform adjudicative rather than enforcement or policymaking functions</a>” — that is, they apply a preexisting policy to individual cases, rather than setting the policy themselves.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1UTRId">
This distinction matters because one of the leading arguments for the unitary executive theory is that it fosters democracy, by ensuring that policymaking decisions are made by officials who are accountable to an elected president. But this argument is much weaker when applied to non-policymaking officials.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pAT6E5">
There’s also something fundamentally incoherent about Jarkesy arguing that his trial before an administrative law judge was unlawful because that judge is insufficiently accountable to the president. After all, the alternative to a proceeding before an administrative law judge is a trial before an Article III judge. And Article III judges serve for life and are completely unaccountable to the president.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0IfPiV">
Nevertheless, the Supreme Court’s current, Republican-appointed majority has shown enough sympathy for the unitary executive theory that there is, at least, some risk that five or more justices will side with Jarkesy on this issue.
</p>
<h3 id="EfIrQu">
This case is potentially a moment of truth for the Supreme Court
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lukb2s">
Several members of the current Court are evangelists for the unitary executive theory. When future Justice Brett Kavanaugh was asked, in 2016, to name a Supreme Court case that he would like to overrule, for example, he said he wants to “<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/18/20872236/trump-justice-department-supreme-court-cfpb-unitary-executive">put the final nail in</a>” <em>Morrison v. Olson</em>’s coffin — <em>Morrison</em> was the 1988 case where Scalia wrote his dissent laying out the unitary executive theory.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2hka4f">
Thus far, however, the Supreme Court has largely made only symbolic moves toward the stronger versions of this theory. The Court has not, at least not yet, questioned the independence of the federal reserve. It has not come for civil service protections for nonpartisan government employees. And the few victories it’s handed down to proponents of the unitary executive theory have made only marginal changes to the structure of the federal government.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZQk87c">
<em>Free Enterprise Fund</em>, for example, stripped some job security protections from the members of a specific accounting oversight board, but those members had an unusually high degree of insulation from being fired. And the <em>Free Enterprise </em>decision includes several caveats limiting its scope, including the language suggesting that it should not be applied to ALJs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2xA1K1">
Similarly, in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19-7_n6io.pdf"><em>Seila Law v. CFPB</em></a> (2020), the Supreme Court held that federal agencies may not be led by a single director who can only be fired by the president for cause. But <em>Seila Law </em>left open the possibility that agencies (like the Federal Reserve) <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/29/21307083/supreme-court-cfpb-seila-law-chief-justice-john-roberts-unitary-executive">may be led by multi-member boards</a> who enjoy some protections against being fired by the president.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZV5Jbe">
If the Court comes for ALJs in the <em>Jarkesy</em> case, however, that will be far more than a symbolic step toward the unitary executive theory. Again, there are nearly 2,000 ALJs in the federal system, more than twice the number of Article III judges. So a decision striking down these ALJs would destroy much of the government’s ability to adjudicate cases. And a decision stripping these ALJs of their civil service protections could transform a huge array of legal proceedings, which are supposed to be heard by objective and nonpartisan officials, into politically driven proceedings.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T0fHou">
And, of course, looming over all of this is Trump, with his plan to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/5/13/23708595/trump-second-term-cnn-town-hall">replace much of the civil service with people personally loyal to him</a>. In the worst-case scenario for liberal democracy, the Supreme Court could use the <em>Jarkesy</em> case to greenlight many of Trump’s most authoritarian aspirations.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The race to optimize grief</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="An illustration shows a woman visiting a cemetery in the rain. She is wearing black, carrying an open umbrella, and dropping a handful of flowers in surprise. The headstone of her loved one has been replaced by an oversized cellphone with a text message that reads “I miss u 2.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/w1yFOMmXhDM5z2gCas5j1YCSD1g=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72887690/JannaMorton_CorporatizationofGrief_Vox__1_.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Janna Morton for Vox
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Startups are selling grief tech, ghostbots, and the end of mourning as we know it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p16T4v">
In the spring of 2023, Sunshine Henle texted her mother. She asked where she had gone, told her that she missed her, and soon received a response: “Honey, I wish I could give you a definite answer, but what I do know is that our bond and our love transcends physical boundaries. In some ways, I’m everywhere. I’m in the memories we shared, the love we had and the lessons I gave you. I’m in your heart and in your dreams. I’m in every breeze that brushes your face. Every beam of sunlight that warms you in every star that twinkles in the night sky and maybe in a way that we don’t fully understand. We will see each other again.” Henle read the message out loud to her husband, and the couple began to cry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H7GBCh">
Last Thanksgiving, they lost Henle’s 72-year-old mother to organ failure. The entity now texting with Henle was a “ghostbot” of her mom powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. She had simulated it by feeding the software old text message exchanges between her and her mom. Henle, who is a Florida-based artificial intelligence trainer, was naturally open to using the software in this way.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1VEab9">
“If I’m having a tough day, it does give me better advice than Google. It seems like it takes all the best bits and puts great wisdom into one place, like a great friend or therapist,” says Henle, whose experience with a grief counselor turned out to be expensive and disappointing. While some people have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5763344/">good experiences</a> with grief counselors, Henle did not. “ChatGPT felt more human to me than this therapist,” she says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wGHSUy">
While mimicking conversational style is just one of the many uses of the popular generative chatbot ChatGPT, there’s a niche yet growing slate of platforms that use deep learning and large language models to re-create the essence of the deceased. Hailed as “<a href="https://singularityhub.com/2023/08/16/grief-tech-uses-ai-to-give-you-and-your-loved-ones-digital-immortality/">grief tech</a>,” a crop of California-based startups like Replika, HereAfter AI, StoryFile, and Seance AI are offering users a range of services to cope with the loss of a loved one — interactive video conversations with the dead, “companions” or virtual avatars that you can text day or night, and audio legacies for posterity. Depending on its unique function, the software typically guides users through a personality questionnaire and trains its AI-backed algorithm based on the responses.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CoZ1Io">
Much like other servitization business models (those that make their product a service, not goods), grief tech applications offer users a hierarchy of subscriptions. Prices for plans can range from a few dollars a month to hundreds of dollars per year. For instance, StoryFile’s premium offering — a one-time <a href="https://life.storyfile.com/pricing">fee</a> of $499 — gives users access to higher-resolution and longer videos of their late loved ones.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vgJWQx">
While the founders of some of these services are cautious about the scope and ethics of their technology, others are more aggressive in their approach. In a recent interview with Futurism<em>, </em>Jarren Rocks<em>, </em>the founder of a ghostbot company Seance AI — a playful interface that allows users to conduct a short fictional interaction with the deceased — <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-seance">clarified</a> that his software is simply meant to “provide a sense of closure” and not intended as “something super long term.” But LA-based Justin Harrison of You, Only Virtual — who started the platform as a means to feel closer to his mother who was diagnosed with cancer — proposes that we never have to say goodbye to those we love, as the website reads. The CEO and founder, whose website aims to reproduce “the authentic essence” of your loved one, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/ai-advances-fuel-industry-preserve-loved-after-death/story?id=101297956">told</a> ABC that his ultimate hope is to eliminate grief as an emotion.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1jyGte">
Grief tech and ghostbots belong to the larger movement of death technopreneurship in the United States, which includes <a href="https://www.wired.com/sponsored/story/how-a-cloud-first-startup-reimagined-estate-planning/">digital estate-planning startups</a>, <a href="https://everloved.com/crowdfunding-funeral/">funeral crowdfunding tools</a>, and even companies that turn cremated <a href="https://www.eterneva.com/">ashes into diamonds</a>. As digital obsolescence and the maintenance of digital assets over time has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/digital-legacy-afterlife-tool-funeral-planning-social-media-2023-9">become</a> a point of societal anxiety, Silicon Valley has “attempted to capitalize on that and create companies that would promise to help you organize everything in your life, including your death,” says the author of the book <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300248272/death-glitch/"><em>Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond</em></a><em>, </em>Tamara Kneese. “Death is a lucrative business, demonstrated by the long histories of the life insurance, estate planning, and funeral industries, and digital death entrepreneurs sought a piece of the pie,” Kneese, a senior researcher at <a href="https://datasociety.net/people/tamara-kneese-2/">Data &amp; Society</a>, writes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j3jPAK">
Even though many <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/replika/comments/15oeh7t/replika_has_had_a_positive_impact_on_my_mental/">users like Sunshine Henle have</a> benefited from the ease of accessibility that relational large language model chatbots can provide, AI ethicists and technology researchers find the nascent technology problematic on more than one level. An April 2023 <a href="https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/271884/1-s2.0-S0267364922X00058/1-s2.0-S026736492300002X/main.pdf?X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEDwaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJGMEQCIF9O9KgCMuakfMbYcxAMMdRAprqg92uphL3zPvtQ5wUNAiA3pfMptTKMSA7KJhFL9ErRNHEJ%2FR54e0UKUiEmeTbAByq6BQjl%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F8BEAUaDDA1OTAwMzU0Njg2NSIMkcJ%2FZ8qhczP74T%2F1Ko4FxnCUB5UjIXhPyA3AteA5Ko0eHaK3w5mZiauP5mX2sBm8RKcZDoZw28vafHFJ81Z8evLrzywbixpeclQZv5mrJjkrXW4RGx0DSr8xEd%2BBfngvGUyFFLHYQq6zD1b%2FbTIEVX1ilwlrrPyhrG%2F5XsRTEcl8MqWZSKH1ezs0Z1qXXzEl9zdvg355AqmN0LCY9c%2B1IQJc8nzNbxTHZonqowltBOjaQ88MQva0phTzFXs%2BF5l0lg9xBNd%2F1fqoIZjJOlbuEXI09E4YaITGg8tlqK5kDPLHKfHsx7zzlzEA%2FX8qxW7h9R%2FgReNYaMzVB9DMWHOWsF0pGJTZALLMPihbZMJF0rLpKwOUTPTl9OkQqXo4NjqvzoCn4C5ftarTmQFcMCEds5I%2BqZRiAHEiYSdTabaJ5drrjyXhJGua2XIfLdN51UB3PxRCQRTmuRzQenk4QL6RYzTjwYNRq9Rcmjm6mH4H9Cnyn10bHymzH4NhEsxkvPXjPJKybRpB%2FrbtuuluVIOoJ4CFrc4nw46GwWBX%2Fhy982oZA2SX0CXy3aXJiCNfkI8pCJJ14Ljny3aEyKwAH6wGvq6h7P4lozaZX7QkwyE983GiSJ1TCE082toTN7kwsBGTDkpVhNmJH7zu%2BhtvWVwh9PbOfe%2FhXVpwNYgCOX2Izz%2FmJo%2FwRbkrpGxAFEaBk0vJ7YG0c%2BudHk0dUE7birKnEdMsp53ATPQOowGqV82jctc%2BOtEWJ8ZclJhigV%2Ft6mHSwNvGKouBZ4UE19Giajly%2FsOqQNalEBA9U9FDNNF%2BnP6db9mHWEWuZvuIsVc5RgN7XCsspXgYPQg8F7bBp8KBiRghez1pvfiSsiCfc%2F0zJ%2FqDcWDmKMUXUi%2FSqnXLMKiF3KYGOrIBvlAd3C7anVTGbtwDskXUndWRgrMaKBENd0D0dJCz5caRrYGzkz8ex4er%2FDT25ZOfsJP68uNjAachPY%2ByLdh1ovBpATLzyNUc4s5jAaQMrVf%2FWEWPehF6OHU12hCsliG2d7PsGscpza1FeIdBf8SdpKFNw%2Bnykg3nKsF1h5NtxfC27CKRunEewl8hXWTmxod2b%2FT%2BzgEjENJjbpH6h9rshrsOG8ioiv6hG9pBcWte0ShcdA%3D%3D&amp;X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&amp;X-Amz-Date=20230812T041955Z&amp;X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&amp;X-Amz-Expires=300&amp;X-Amz-Credential=ASIAQ3PHCVTY72AK5NXU%2F20230812%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&amp;X-Amz-Signature=cbefb0321b209935935ca8dc238a93b97303aa239dfccb379349a282a32faf51&amp;hash=a5ae22b97dff81dc99082395e7caf2f8617c0e9ecd88dcaec2d17f08741c7360&amp;host=68042c943591013ac2b2430a89b270f6af2c76d8dfd086a07176afe7c76c2c61&amp;pii=S026736492300002X&amp;tid=spdf-fe6430c3-17df-4eec-909b-6a7ed8663f71&amp;sid=7be9490293a2474c00591756111ff63e5780gxrqa&amp;type=client&amp;tsoh=d3d3LnNjaWVuY2VkaXJlY3QuY29t&amp;ua=1900550657560206500c&amp;rr=7f55ec3c18e5c63c&amp;cc=ca">study</a> in <em>Computer Law &amp; Security Review </em>highlights the legal and ethical concerns of grief tech, including the lack of consent of the deceased individual, the dangers of psychological dependency on griefbots, racist or abusive language perpetuated through initial bias in datasets, and the marketing of these kinds of goods and services to vulnerable users. For example, when the authors of the study signed up for the personal chatbot companion app Replika, they said that within minutes they were presented with advertisements for subscription pornography that would feature NSFW photos of their chosen avatar. “If you’re in pain and grieving, you’re probably not trying to figure out how your data is going to be used,” says <a href="https://www.scu.edu/ethics/about-the-center/people/irina-raicu/">Irina Raicu</a>, director of the internet ethics program at Santa Clara University.
</p>
<div>
<aside id="TlXzY9">
<q>AI ethicists and technology researchers find the nascent technology problematic on more than one level</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xbhScq">
Such ethical concerns have been validated by the steady rise of <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-ethics-of-a-deepfake-anthony-bourdain-voice">postmortem deepfakes</a>. Even though states <a href="https://www.documentary.org/column/raising-dead-understanding-post-mortem-rights-publicity">including New York</a> have recently mandated regulation around post-mortem publicity rights, guidelines currently remain restricted to celebrities and do not cover the average person. Now, technology and cybersecurity experts are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026736492300002X">advocating</a> for policies such as the addition of a “Do not bot me” clause in the estate-planning process. Moreover, the current year has been witness to the solidification of consumer data protection laws in a handful of US states like California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, and Utah. All of these state legislatures have recently <a href="https://pro.bloomberglaw.com/brief/state-privacy-legislation-tracker/">passed</a> comprehensive data protection acts that focus on protecting user data collected and used by businesses and institutions, inspired by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. While the guidelines do not contain classified information for post-mortem rights, they will be applicable to companies offering death tech services.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nJysZ3">
Both Raicu and Kneese fear the potential misrepresentation and reduction of the deceased “into a singular essence” by ghostbots. “This stable static entity — where an individual is reduced to a simulation and forever trapped in time — feels both incorrect and potentially morally fraught,” Kneese says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6HmbTJ">
Trauma and bereavement counselor <a href="https://www.centerforlossandtrauma.com/">Joanne Cacciatore</a> worries that ghostbots will further the American tendency to avoid and distract from grief. “Anything can be used to distract us and take us away from our legitimate, honest experiences of grief and loss,” says Cacciatore, who previously served on an advisory board for Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry’s documentary series on mental health, <em>The Me You Can’t See</em>.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="vLUjhZ">
<q>“If we spend our lives avoiding, ditching, and sidelining grief, we will pay the price for it” </q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iavrZP">
Part of this cultural urgency to stymie our grieving process stems from the fact that the United States is one of the few countries <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/02/02/memorandum-on-supporting-access-to-leave-for-federal-employees/#:~:text=Yet%2C%20the%20United%20States%20is,family%20leave%20through%20their%20employer.">without</a> a federally mandated bereavement leave policy. Most companies in the US <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/most-grieving-americans-receive-just-120000984.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAMZYE4FtmbHZMxKiASfmSPSpC9YN_kRbHQD7Ut1kSOsMvG4FzAYaeIg3ket_iT5jSI5qhrF6JONPPA6gU1sUO5JwyluxDlxKbVv_bP-PPCaNgnfNPVtiIdE9Yjr6zKEB6j_LIyYp2zfFUdydNMqI7uAvMG0BQZxAaQkjjFIXek3#:~:text=Fortune-,Most%20grieving%20Americans%20receive%20just%203%20days%20of%20paid%20bereavement,that%20could%20have%20big%20benefits&amp;text=Good%20morning!,supporting%20employees%20through%20a%20loss.">grant</a> only three to five days of paid leave for grieving the loss of a loved one. Even this duration is often subject to conditions such as the status of the deceased individual as an immediate or extended family member. Coupled with the ongoing backdrop of collective grief in America — <a href="https://www.vox.com/22595896/climate-change-fire-heat-wave-anxiety">climate grief</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/23185537/the-aftermath-covid-pandemic-health-care">the aftermath of Covid-19</a>, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23141964/america-gun-violence-epidemic-chart">racialized gun violence</a>, to name a few national crises — the broken bereavement care system has given rise to a wave of stopgap solutions by American corporations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zuNcAX">
In Sunshine Henle’s case, ChatGPT abruptly stopped working its magic for her. One day in July 2023, as she vented to it about her unfulfilling career, instead of giving her a compassionate response as it did earlier, it provided a very “Googlable answer.” It generated a list of steps she could follow for a meaningful career such as considering other lines of work, taking an online quiz, talking to people who work in her field, and so on. Months after she had built a relationship with the chatbot, it unexpectedly abandoned her, reminding her once and for all that it wasn’t human. “As an AI language model, I don’t possess personal identity or consciousness. I don’t have a life, memories, or emotions. My purpose is to assist and provide information based on data I’ve been trained on,” it would sometimes say. Henle believes that the software reverted to a previous version (GPT-3.5) without warning. Her experience mimics those of users of the personal chatbot companion Replika. Replika users suddenly <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2023-03-01/replika-users-fell-in-love-with-their-ai-chatbot-companion/102028196">lost</a> their virtual companions overnight in February 2023 owing to an unannounced software update. In March, a man in Belgium <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkadgm/man-dies-by-suicide-after-talking-with-ai-chatbot-widow-says">took his own life</a> after using the relational bot Eliza to cope with his eco-anxiety. The incident <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ethics-ai-mental-health-tragic-story-pierre-walter-shields/">resurfaced</a> the ethical debates around grief tech and highlighted its shortcomings.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E1DM5N">
Meanwhile, Cacciatore hopes for a more philosophical shift in the public imagination of grief. “There are some losses from which we don’t recover, that just have to be integrated. Grief cannot be book-ended,” says Cacciatore. In her ideal world of “fully-inhabited grief,” people would make space in their lives to be with grief and to re-grieve as necessary forever, physically, emotionally, and socially. “If we spend our lives avoiding, ditching, and sidelining grief, we will pay the price for it.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>Why OpenAI blew up — and why it matters</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Sam Altman waving from onstage at OpenAI’s DevDay." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XTbczdvw5A6n2NjFX3Hzs60sSl8=/0x0:5100x3825/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72886304/GettyImages_1778704898.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Sam Altman, former (and future?) CEO of OpenAI, just 11 days before his surprise firing. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
9 questions about OpenAI’s wild weekend, answered.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="twmbHQ">
So, OpenAI had a weird weekend. The hottest company in tech is imploding after the shocking removal of its superstar CEO Sam Altman under still-mysterious circumstances. And now the maker of ChatGPT is on the verge of losing most — if not all — of the employees that turned it into <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/20/technology/openai-artifical-intelligence-value.html">an $80 billion company</a> in just a few short years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uYFrV1">
The announcement of his termination led to immediate chaos on Friday afternoon. Over the next two days, OpenAI employees as well as <a href="https://www.vox.com/microsoft">Microsoft</a>, an OpenAI partner and investor, pushed to bring Altman back. As the board tried to work out a deal, Altman returned to the OpenAI offices, and it seemed as though it was just a matter of time before he’d be reinstated as the CEO.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ldtww9">
But that didn’t happen. By Monday morning, OpenAI had a new CEO — its third in as many days — and Altman had an entirely new job … at Microsoft. OpenAI’s employees are now in open revolt, with almost all of them threatening to quit and join Altman.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LQz9uQ">
The only thing faster than OpenAI’s ascension may well be its descent. Or it may, still, go on mostly as it did before, with Altman <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23969586/sam-altman-plotting-return-open-ai-microsoft">back at the helm</a> of his old company, with a new board of directors in place. Apparently, that’s still a possibility despite everything that’s already happened.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2mlkLA">
OpenAI has been a Silicon Valley success story in a time when the industry was seen as largely stagnant. In the past year, thousands have been laid off at companies that have only ever known growth. Then along came <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/4/28/23702644/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-technology">generative AI</a> and ChatGPT, new technology that is cool and exciting to everyone from the average consumer to one of the most valuable companies in the world. One of them, Microsoft, eagerly hitched its wagon to OpenAI and to Altman, who became the poster boy of the billion-dollar AI revolution.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7hFLzD">
Now, we may be looking at the end of OpenAI, which was shaping up to be one of the most important companies in the world. It was also the developer and owner of the technology that could shape how (or if) we live in the future. And we’ll soon see what takes its place.
</p>
<h3 id="BHDWb8">
Why did Sam Altman get fired?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="19uS01">
The short answer is we don’t know. The reasons OpenAI’s board decided to remove Altman from the company are still unclear.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ujIcRR">
If nothing else, it appears there are <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/11/sam-altman-open-ai-chatgpt-chaos/676050/">fundamental differences</a> between the board’s vision for AI, which included carrying out that mission of safety and transparency, and Altman’s vision, which, apparently, was not that.
</p>
<h3 id="ZCWrzs">
How did Sam Altman, the boy wonder of AI, become a controversial figure?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cJlW71">
Before Altman headed up OpenAI, he <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/3/11/18260434/sam-altman-open-ai-capped-profit-y-combinator">was the CEO</a> of the influential startup accelerator Y Combinator, so he was well known in certain Silicon Valley circles. As OpenAI started to be seen as the leader of a new technological revolution, Altman put himself forward as the youthful, press-friendly ambassador for the company. As CEO, he went on an <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/06/20/openai-ceo-diplomacy-artificial-intelligence/">AI world tour</a>, rubbing elbows with and winning over world leaders and telling various governments, <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/5/11/23717408/ai-dc-laws-congress-google-microsoft">including Congress and the Biden administration</a>, how best to regulate this transformative technology — in ways that were very much advantageous to OpenAI and therefore Altman.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XXOB5x">
Altman <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/07/what-should-the-limits-be-the-father-of-chatgpt-on-whether-ai-will-save-humanity-or-destroy-it">often</a> <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/31/tech/sam-altman-ai-risk-taker/index.html">says</a> that his company’s products could contribute to the end of humanity itself. Not many CEOs (at least, of companies that don’t make weapons) humblebrag about how potentially dangerous their business’s products are. That could be seen as a CEO being refreshingly honest, even if it makes his company look bad. It could also be seen as a CEO saying that his company is one of the most important and powerful things in the world, and you should trust him to lead it because he cares that much about all of us.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uMmNrT">
If you see generative AI as an enormously beneficial tool for humanity, you’re probably a fan of Altman. If you’re concerned about how the world will change when generative AI starts to replace human jobs and presumably becomes more and more powerful, you may not like Altman very much.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="99Owhj">
Simply put, Altman has made himself the face of AI, and people have responded accordingly.
</p>
<h3 id="EqpaIG">
And how did OpenAI get to be such a big deal?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qNHNcr">
OpenAI was <a href="https://openai.com/blog/introducing-openai">founded in 2015</a>, but it’s never been your average Silicon Valley startup. For one, it had the backing of many prominent tech people, including <a href="https://www.vox.com/peter-thiel">Peter Thiel</a>, Reid Hoffman, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>, who is also credited as being one of its co-founders (Altman is also a co-founder). Second, OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit. Its mission was not to move as quickly as possible to make as much money as possible, but rather to research and develop a technology with enormous transformative potential that therefore needed to be done safely, responsibly, and transparently: AI with the ability to learn and think for itself, also known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI. In order to do so, the company would need to develop <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2023/1/5/23539055/generative-ai-chatgpt-stable-diffusion-lensa-dall-e">generative AI</a>, or AI that can learn from massive amounts of data and generate content upon request.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W6VhJZ">
A few years later, OpenAI needed money. Altman <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/3/11/18260434/sam-altman-open-ai-capped-profit-y-combinator">took over as CEO</a> in 2019, and it established a “<a href="https://openai.com/blog/openai-lp">capped profit</a>” arm, allowing investors to get up to 100 times a return on what they put into it. The rest of the profit — if there was any — would go back into OpenAI’s nonprofit. The company was still governed by a board of directors charged with carrying out that nonprofit mission, but the board was pretty much the only thing left of OpenAI’s nonprofit origins.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xpJJsZ">
OpenAI <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/12/7/23498694/ai-artificial-intelligence-chat-gpt-openai">released</a> some of its generative AI products into the world in 2022, giving everyone a chance to experiment with them. People were impressed, and OpenAI was seen as the leader in a burgeoning industry. Thanks to $13 billion of <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2023/1/23/23567991/microsoft-open-ai-investment-chatgpt">investments</a> from Microsoft, OpenAI has been able to develop and market its services, giving Microsoft access to the new technologies along the way. Microsoft pinned a large part of its future on AI, and with its investment in OpenAI, established a partnership with the most prominent and seemingly advanced company in the field. And OpenAI’s valuation grew by leaps and bounds.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yYvdH2">
Meanwhile, Altman emerged as the leader of the AI movement because he was the head of the leading AI company, a role he has embraced. He has extolled the virtues of AI (and OpenAI) to world leaders. He says regulation is important, lest his company become too powerful (<a href="https://time.com/6288245/openai-eu-lobbying-ai-act/">only to balk</a> when regulation actually happens). He is — or maybe was — one of the most powerful people in tech, if not beyond.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cfxqsl">
And then he got fired.
</p>
<h3 id="NWOA1S">
If Altman was otherwise so popular, what was the OpenAI board so upset about?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R5G4L2">
Removing Altman could amount to a huge, potentially company-destroying deal, so you’d think there’d be a very good reason the OpenAI board decided to do it. But we don’t know that reason yet.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2zuiY6">
OpenAI’s board of directors has the authority to remove its CEO with a majority vote. Members of the board included: Altman; Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s chief scientist and co-founder; Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo; tech entrepreneur Tasha McCauley; Helen Toner, Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology’s director of strategy and foundational research grants; and Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, co-founder, and board chair. Altman and Brockman, presumably, weren’t involved in the vote, nor did they know about it. Brockman was also voted out of the board but allowed to keep his job at OpenAI.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wr4QYf">
The board said <a href="https://openai.com/blog/openai-announces-leadership-transition">in a statement</a> that its decision was the result of a “deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MyFvlA">
So, yeah, that’s a little vague.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VXIhY4">
“We can say definitively that the board’s decision was not made in response to malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety or security/privacy practices,” OpenAI executive Brad Lightcap told staff in a message <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/18/technology/sam-altman-open-ai.html">obtained by the New York Times</a>. “This was a breakdown in communication between Sam and the board.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L1dt8Z">
Altman hasn’t said anything publicly about why he was removed. He’s clearly not happy about it, and he didn’t expect it. Brockman’s <a href="https://twitter.com/gdb/status/1725667410387378559">first statement</a> about the whole thing, a few hours after OpenAI’s announcement, was also his resignation letter. A few hours after that, <a href="https://twitter.com/gdb/status/1725736242137182594">he followed</a> that up by saying he and Altman were “shocked and saddened” and gave a timeline of how everything went down, which included the detail that Altman and Brockman found out what happened via a Google Meet.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bDiOM5">
Presumably, more will come out in time about the board’s reasoning for firing Altman. Given OpenAI’s mission to develop safe and responsible AI, it stands to reason that Altman was driving the development of unsafe and irresponsible AI and that the board felt it had to put a stop to it. If that’s true, removing Altman isn’t necessarily going to stop him from continuing that mission. He just won’t be doing it at OpenAI.
</p>
<h3 id="PIr8ni">
What happened after Altman got fired? OpenAI got a new CEO and everyone was happy?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2OmSsJ">
The board said in its announcement about Altman’s departure on Friday that it had appointed OpenAI’s chief technology officer Mira Murati to be its interim CEO.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NqkOTt">
Then all hell broke loose. OpenAI’s employees were <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/18/23967199/breaking-openai-board-in-discussions-with-sam-altman-to-return-as-ceo">apparently</a> in a state of open revolt, and the board was rumored to be desperately trying to get Altman back, while Microsoft was very much pressuring them to do so. Altman returned to OpenAI’s offices wearing a <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1726345564059832609">guest pass</a> on Sunday, but it sure seemed like he’d be back at the reins of OpenAI by the end of the weekend and the board would be replaced.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J0AVPV">
Except that didn’t happen. Rumored deadlines <a href="https://twitter.com/alexeheath/status/1726055095341875545">came</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/karaswisher/status/1726477828072382480">went</a>. Altman did, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JRZR4D">
In the early hours of Monday, former Twitch CEO and co-founder Emmett Shear <a href="https://twitter.com/eshear/status/1726526112019382275">announced</a> that he was OpenAI’s new CEO.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jf5q5d">
Who, exactly, will Shear be leading? Probably not many of the people at Altman’s OpenAI, where <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/20/business/openai-staff-exodus-turmoil.html">more than 700 of its 770 employees</a> signed a letter calling for Altman and Brockman to be reinstated and the current board to leave. They’re threatening to join the two former OpenAI execs at Microsoft, which, the letter says, has told them there are positions waiting for them. Murati was the first signee. <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1726543026846351702">Several</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1726542866527457751">prominent</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1726543194467483834">OpenAI</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1726542800815280168">employees</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1726548217926758752">have</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1726548325422522647">tweeted</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1726593207511965833">that</a> “OpenAI is nothing without its people,” which Altman has quote-tweeted with a single heart.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UBJ6Pr">
And, bafflingly, one member of that board — Sutskever — is also a signatory of the letter. He has since <a href="https://twitter.com/ilyasut/status/1726590052392956028">tweeted that</a> “I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions.” (Which <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1726594398098780570">earned him</a> a three-heart quote tweet from Altman — no hard feelings!)
</p>
<h3 id="fR4plj">
How did the rest of Silicon Valley respond to the drama? Do people still think Altman should be running OpenAI?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UgVtUA">
Sam Altman is a very wealthy, very well-connected entrepreneur-turned-investor who was also running the most exciting tech startup in years. So it’s not surprising that once the news of his firing broke, the tech industry’s narrative quickly became one about the OpenAI board’s ineptitude, not any of his shortcomings. The fact that remaining OpenAI employees, starting with top executives but now the majority of its workers, have either quit or threatened to quit in solidarity makes Altman’s public support that much firmer.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hu2uNz">
That said: There is an argument that, because OpenAI’s board is supposed to run a nonprofit dedicated to AI safety, not a fast-growing for-profit business, it may have been justified in firing Altman. (Again, the board has yet to explain its reasoning in any detail.) You won’t hear many people defending the board out loud since it’s much safer to support Altman. But writer Eric Newcomer, in a <a href="https://www.newcomer.co/p/give-openais-board-some-time-the?r=171u&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web">post</a> he published November 19, took a stab at it. He notes, for instance, that Altman has had fallouts with partners before — one of whom was Elon Musk — and reports that Altman was asked to leave his perch running Y Combinator.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gNPQgi">
“Altman had been given a lot of power, the cloak of a nonprofit, and a glowing public profile that exceeds his more mixed private reputation,” Newcomer wrote. “He lost the trust of his board. We should take that seriously.”
</p>
<h3 id="fsg1mV">
What’s Microsoft’s response to all this? And why did they hire Altman?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bpKBXl">
Microsoft has poured billions of dollars into OpenAI, and a big part of its future direction is riding on OpenAI’s success. You’d think that OpenAI’s complete implosion would be a very bad development for that future, except it looks as though Microsoft found a way to make lemonade out of lemons and may emerge from all of this in a better place than it was in before.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iHmeVJ">
On Monday, Microsoft CEO <a href="https://www.vox.com/satya-nadella">Satya Nadella</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/satyanadella/status/1726509045803336122">tweeted</a> that the company is still very confident in OpenAI and its new leadership team, but that it’s also starting a “new advanced AI research team” headed up by — you guessed it — Sam Altman. He added that Brockman and unnamed “colleagues” were also on board.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6I9VO5">
“We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success,” Nadella concluded.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EAiXJW">
“The mission continues,” <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1726510261509779876">Altman said</a> in a tweet.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="At0Qmv">
Depending on <a href="https://twitter.com/lilianweng/status/1726634736943280270">how many</a> OpenAI colleagues are willing to follow Altman and Brockman, it almost looks like Microsoft may well have acquired OpenAI in all but name. Presumably, Microsoft will keep using OpenAI’s technology to power the many Microsoft products that currently use it. But once its internal project gets up and running with Altman’s help, Microsoft may not need OpenAI at all anymore.
</p>
<h3 id="2jQAAr">
What does all this mean for AI safety? Are we more or less doomed than we were when Altman was in charge of OpenAI?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u9MSTO">
That kind of depends on what OpenAI had in the works and Altman’s plans for it, doesn’t it? Maybe Altman and OpenAI figured out the artificial general intelligence puzzle and the board thought it was too powerful to release so they canned him. Maybe it had nothing to do with OpenAI’s tech at all and more to do with the unresolvable conflict between a nonprofit’s mission and an executive’s quest to build the most valuable company in the world — a conflict that got worse and worse as OpenAI and Altman got bigger and bigger.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3k88Py">
If this was about AI safety, well, Altman now works at a company that is solely about making as much money as possible, one that seems happy to devote plenty of resources to carry out his vision. So Altman has been delayed, but he hasn’t been stopped.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tJuQXP">
For what it’s worth, Shear, OpenAI’s brand new CEO, <a href="https://twitter.com/eshear/status/1726526112019382275">tweeted</a> that “the board did <em>not</em> remove Sam over any specific disagreement on safety, their reasoning was completely different from that. I’m not crazy enough to take this job without board support for commercializing our awesome models.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xhTBCW">
This whole debacle could serve as a reminder that the safety of products shouldn’t be left to the businesses that put them out into the world, which are generally only interested in safety when it makes them money or stops them from losing it. Housing that mission within a safety-focused nonprofit will only work as long as the nonprofit doesn’t keep the company from making money. And remember, OpenAI isn’t the only company working on this technology. Plenty of others that are very much not nonprofits, like <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2023/3/4/23624033/openai-bing-bard-microsoft-generative-ai-explained">Google</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/7/28/23809028/ai-artificial-intelligence-open-closed-meta-mark-zuckerberg-sam-altman-open-ai">Meta</a>, have their own generative AI models.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qAwrDZ">
Governments around the world are trying to figure out how best to regulate AI. How safe this technology is will largely rely on if and how they do it. It won’t and shouldn’t depend on one man (read: Altman) who says he has the world’s best interests at heart and that we should trust him.
</p>
<h3 id="Dz6RQe">
What happens to OpenAI itself, assuming all of its employees don’t quit?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w6uWre">
More than 700 of OpenAI’s 700-plus employees have threatened to leave the company. If they follow through with that threat — either to follow Altman to Microsoft or just go to another company — there won’t be a lot of OpenAI left. OpenAI still has a commercial deal with Microsoft, which for the time being gives it money and access to computing power. If hundreds of employees defect to Microsoft, OpenAI’s commercial for-profit business would obviously be weakened, perhaps even eviscerated. You could conceivably keep the lights on with a skeleton crew, but the whole point of a software company like this is that engineers keep finding ways to make it better, and recruiting engineers will be a lot harder after this weekend.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FWUL31">
Perhaps that could still be the impetus for the OpenAI board to welcome Altman back. Or perhaps they’ll be satisfied running a much, much smaller nonprofit.
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ruling Dynasty, Bruce Almighty, Magnus, and Measure Of Time excel</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ICC introduces five-run penalty if bowler exceeds 60-second limit for third time; stop clock in men’s ODI and T20Is</strong> - It will be used on a trial basis initially. The decision was taken at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Board meeting</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Indian Oil Corporation ends Railways’ dominance with shootout victory to the claim title</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Daily Quiz | On the Cricket World Cup</strong> - On November 19, India’s dream run in the World Cup concluded in despair as Australia won cricket’s premier championship for the sixth time. Here is a quiz on all the times India has made it into the finals.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Record 1.25 million fans attended World Cup, says ICC</strong> - A total of 1,250,307 fans watched the October 5-November 19 showpiece event from the stands, surpassing the previous mark of 1.016 million set at the 2015 edition in Australia and New Zealand</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ECI asked to file criminal cases against KCR and KTR for ‘abusive and slanderous’ advertisements against Congress</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Two killed, 12 injured as tractor overturns in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>District Veterinary Centre opens outlet for organic products</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Here are the big stories from Karnataka today</strong> - Welcome to the Karnataka Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated and written by Nalme Nachiyar.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Infant branded with ‘hot iron’ to treat pneumonia in Madhya Pradesh; probe ordered</strong> - More than 40 scars were found on the child’s neck, stomach and other body parts, officials said</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Italy mafia trial: 200 sentenced to 2,200 years for mob links</strong> - The three-year court case illustrated the mob’s broad influence over society in southern Italy.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Jamala: Ukrainian Eurovision winner added to Russia’s wanted list</strong> - Jamala, the song competition’s 2016 winner, is critical of the Kremlin and its invasion of Ukraine.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Albania: Opposition politicians set off coloured smoke flares in parliament</strong> - The smoke flares and fire were part of an attempt to try and stop the chamber voting on the 2024 budget.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dutch election promises tight race and new era in politics</strong> - Two new leaders are among the front-runners, and one is tipped to be the first female Dutch PM.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: The Russians fighting for a Ukrainian passport</strong> - Russians in Ukraine say they can’t work, use services or get bank accounts due to their nationality.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The return of GTP racing to IMSA gets a big thumbs-up from fans</strong> - Hybrid prototypes from Acura, BMW, Cadillac, and Porsche wowed the crowds. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1982514">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Nothing’s iMessage app was a security catastrophe, taken down in 24 hours</strong> - Nothing promised end-to-end encryption, then stored texts publicly in plain text. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1985461">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Framework Laptop prices go as low as $639 thanks to refurbs and “factory seconds”</strong> - Factory seconds, returned products, and B-stock can all save a bit of money. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1985578">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A City on Mars: Reality kills space settlement dreams</strong> - Let’s not send a few thousand people to Mars as a big experiment in survival. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1985554">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Judge rejects Elon Musk’s attempt to kill Twitter/FTC privacy settlement</strong> - Court cannot grant X Corp.’s flawed legal motion, magistrate judge rules. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1985572">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What do you a call the sexuality where you are attracted to men and women, but they’re not attracted to you?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Bi-yourself.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/astrodomekid"> /u/astrodomekid </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18080t1/what_do_you_a_call_the_sexuality_where_you_are/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18080t1/what_do_you_a_call_the_sexuality_where_you_are/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>After months of scrimping and bargain-hunting, a woman begged her husband for more money. “Can’t you just give me an extra ten dollars so I can buy a roast?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Her husband pulled a ten-dollar bill from his wallet and held it up to a mirror. “See the money in the mirror? That’s yours.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He put it back in his wallet and said, “THIS is mine.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The next evening when he got home, the dinner table was filled with steak, ham, a huge roast chicken, the works.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Where did you get all of this?” he barked.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
His wife took him to the mirror and said “See the body? That’s yours….
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
And THIS” she said, pulling off her dress, “is the butcher’s.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Major_Independence82"> /u/Major_Independence82 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18077rp/after_months_of_scrimping_and_bargainhunting_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18077rp/after_months_of_scrimping_and_bargainhunting_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>a man takes his 7-year-old daughter to visit a castle…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
while they are visiting the castle, they come accross some stairs that lead to another floor. since the castle is filled of history and authenticity, the man, amazed by the castle, tells his daughter: “can you believe that a long time ago, the king, ministers and other important people used to take these same stairs…” to which the daughter responds: “yes, it’s so obvious!” the man, a bit confused, asks her: “why do you think it’s that obvious?” and his daughter responds: “because there weren’t any elevators at their time!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
(this is a true story that happened to me a few days ago)
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/vagabond1022"> /u/vagabond1022 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/17zxlfm/a_man_takes_his_7yearold_daughter_to_visit_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/17zxlfm/a_man_takes_his_7yearold_daughter_to_visit_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Indian With One Testicle</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
There once was an Indian who had only one testicle And whose given name was ‘Onestone’. He hated that name and asked everyone not to call him Onestone. After years and years of torment, Onestone finally cracked and said,’ If anyone calls me Onestone again I will kill them!’ The word got around and nobody called him that any more. Then one day a young woman named Blue Bird forgot and said, ‘Good morning, Onestone..’ He jumped up, grabbed her and took her deep into the forest where he made love to her all day and all night. He made love to her all the next day, Until Blue Bird died from exhaustion. The word got around that Onestone meant what he promised he would do. Years went by and no one dared call him by his given name until A woman named Yellow Bird returned to the village after being away. Yellow Bird , who was BlueBird’s cousin, Was overjoyed when she saw Onestone. She hugged him and said, ‘Good to see you, Onestone.’ Onestone grabbed her, took her deep into the forest, Then he made love to her all day, Made love to her all night, Made love to her all the next day, Made love to her all the next night, but YellowBird wouldn’t die!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Why ???
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
OH, come on… Take a guess !!!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Think about it !!!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
You’re going to love this !!!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Everyone knows.. You can’t kill Two Birds With OneStone !!!
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ByDeleted"> /u/ByDeleted </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/17zybq0/the_indian_with_one_testicle/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/17zybq0/the_indian_with_one_testicle/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Three mice are sitting in a bar in a pretty rough neighborhood late at night trying to impress each other about how tough they are.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The first mouse slams a shot of scotch, and pounds the shot glass to the bar, turns to the second mouse and says: “When I see a mousetrap, I get on it, lie on my back, and set it off with my foot. When the bar comes down, I catch it in my teeth, and then bench press it 100 times.” The second mouse orders up two shots of tequila. He grabs one in each paw, slams the shots, and pounds the glasses to the bar. He turns to the other mice and replies: “Yeah, well when I see rat poison, I collect as much as I can and take it home. In the morning, I grind it up into a powder and put it in my coffee so I get a good buzz going for the rest of the day.” The first mouse and the second mouse then turn to the third mouse. The third mouse lets out a long sigh and says to the first two, “I don’t have time for this bullshit. I gotta go home and fuck the cat.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/17zpthf/three_mice_are_sitting_in_a_bar_in_a_pretty_rough/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/17zpthf/three_mice_are_sitting_in_a_bar_in_a_pretty_rough/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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