Can a Chatbot Convince Conspiracy Theorists of the Truth?

Can a Chatbot Convince Conspiracy Theorists of the Truth?

Like millions of others, Gordon Pennycook’s older brother has leapt down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, and Gordon says he’s tried to change his brother’s mind, without success. Which tracks, if you’ve ever debated a conspiracy theorist — it can feel impossible to pull them back to reality.  If anyone was qualified to convince his brother, though, it’s Gordon, who’s a psychology professor at Cornell University where he studies why people believe things that aren’t true. So Gordon wanted to put this question to the test: Is it actually the case that conspiracy theorists rarely change their minds? He and a team of researchers ran an experiment using an AI chatbot to rebut people’s theories. And the results were very surprising. In fact, they ended up changing Gordon’s mind about conspiracy theories, and the people who believe them.  Sign up for our newsletter [http://questioneverything.substack.com] and we’ll share the Debunkbot from Gordon’s study, where you can test out your own beliefs. Question Everything is a production of KCRW [http://www.kcrw.org] and Placement Theory [http://www.placementtheory.com].  Guests:  * Gordon Pennycook, Cornell University, Associate Professor, Dorothy and Ariz Mehta Faculty Leadership Fellow Please support the organizations that support this show: * Go to https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION [https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION] and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. * Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to Quince.com/QUESTION [https://www.quince.com/our-core-collection?utm_source=veritone&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=question] for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. * Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to GroundNews.com/QUESTION [GroundNews.com/QUESTION]to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan. * DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to joindeleteme.com/QUESTION [joindeleteme.com/QUESTION] and use promo code QUESTION at checkout.

Claude’s Russian Propaganda Problem

According to the fact-checking company NewsGuard, Claude has been a very reliable and accurate chatbot. But in the last month or so, users have started complaining that it seemed to be getting slower, stupider, and less trustworthy. So NewsGuard AI analyst Isis Blachez ran a test on Claude, to see if it is actually getting worse. And running this test revealed a whole new iteration of Russian disinformation campaigns, designed for the AI-era, that are evolving by the second specifically to coerce chatbots into deceiving us.  Question Everything is a production of KCRW [http://www.kcrw.org] and Placement Theory [http://www.placementtheory.com]. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter [http://questioneverything.substack.com]. Guests:  * Isis Blachez [https://www.newsguardtech.com/about/team/isis-blachez/], analyst for AI and France at NewsGuard [https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/] Please support the organizations that support this show: * Go to https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION [https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION] and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. * Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to Quince.com/QUESTION [https://www.quince.com/our-core-collection?utm_source=veritone&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=question] for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. * Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to GroundNews.com/QUESTION [GroundNews.com/QUESTION]to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan. * DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to joindeleteme.com/QUESTION [joindeleteme.com/QUESTION] and use promo code QUESTION at checkout.

Did FEMA Really Build a Secret Lair in a Mountain?

The first episode of a special series from On The Media’s Micah Loewinger about how a seemingly benign and important agency, FEMA, has become the subject of some of the wildest conspiracy theories. FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is supposed to keep Americans safe from wildfires, hurricanes, and nuclear disasters. So why has it become so profoundly distrusted and maligned, to the point that President Trump has now threatened to totally dismantle the agency? It turns out the agency has kept a number of secrets from the public over the course of its history – and that has led to the paranoia that’s proving an existential threat to FEMA today. Thanks to “On The Media [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/american-emergency-movement-kill-fema]” for sharing this episode with us. You can listen to the rest of this series, “American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA”, over the next several weeks on the radio show or on podcast apps. Question Everything is a production of KCRW [http://www.kcrw.org] and Placement Theory [http://www.placementtheory.com]. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter [http://questioneverything.substack.com]. Please support the organizations that support this show: * Go to  https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION [https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION] and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. * Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to Quince.com/QUESTION [https://www.quince.com/our-core-collection?utm_source=veritone&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=question] for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. * Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to GroundNews.com/QUESTION [https://ground.news/landingV8/questioneverything?utm_source=questioneverything&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=questioneverything] to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan. * DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to joindeleteme.com/QUESTION [https://joindeleteme.com/20off/?inf=Question+Everything+with+Brian+Reed&utm_source=influencer&utm_campaign=Question&coupon=QUESTION] and use promo code QUESTION at checkout. * Listen to our supporter More Muslim, a narrative audio series telling deeply reported stories about the Muslim experience, wherever you get podcasts.

ICE Jailed a Student for an Op-Ed, Now She’s Left America

In recent days, we learned that Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University grad student who was snatched off the street by masked ICE agents last year and locked up for more than a month, has had enough of America, and moved home to Turkey. The U.S. government had continued to threaten her with legal proceedings and deportation, even after releasing her from detention.  Dr. Öztürk’s “crime?” Co-authoring an op-ed in the student newspaper advocating for Palestinian rights.  A year ago this week, while Rümeysa Öztürk was being held without charge in a Louisiana ICE facility and her case was drawing national condemnation, Question Everything co-hosted an urgent live event at Tufts with The Tufts Daily, which had published Dr. Öztürk’s op-ed. That episode has just received a Webby Award for Best News & Politics podcast episode [https://winners.webbyawards.com/winners/podcasts/individual-episode/news-politics-ind-episodes?years=0&sort=0]. Student journalists Arghya Thallapragada and Ellora Onion-De and Question Everything host Brian Reed were joined by former editor-in-chief of the Washington Post and Boston Globe Marty Baron, First Amendment lawyer Robert Bertsche, one of Dr. Öztürk’s ACLU attorneys Carol Rose, and senior politics reporter at The Intercept, Akela Lacey, to wrestle in real time with the gravity of what it meant for the U.S. government to jail a student for writing a political opinion in the student newspaper. In the wake of ICE surges in American cities and more retaliation against journalists by the administration, the conversation takes on new, perhaps even more disturbing meaning, a year later.  This episode originally ran on May 1st, 2025. Read the Op-ed [https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2024/03/4ftk27sm6jkj] Dr. Öztürk and others wrote that ran in The Tufts Daily a year ago in March, and see the Tufts Daily’s recent retrospective of their coverage of Dr. Öztürk’s case. Watch the video of federal agents in plainclothes, forcing Rümeysa Öztürk into an SUV [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCXbhuNr634] on March 25, 2025. Quick thing: In our discussion Carol Rose says the ACLU has filed 100 legal actions in President Trump’s first 100 days. The specific count on those was actually higher: the ACLU filed 110 legal actions [https://www.aclu.org/the-first-100-days] in the Trump administration’s first 100 days. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW [http://www.kcrw.org/] and Placement Theory [http://www.placementtheory.com/]. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter [http://questioneverything.substack.com]. Guests: * Naz Ahmed, Director of the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) project * Arghya Thallapragada, former editor-in-chief of The Tufts Daily * Ellora Onion-De, associate editor of The Tufts Daily * Marty Baron, former editor-in-chief of the Washington Post and Boston Globe * Robert Bertsche, KLARIS Law * Carol Rose, Executive Director, ACLU of Massachusetts * Akela Lacey, Senior Politics Reporter at The Intercept Please support the organizations that support this show: * Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to GroundNews.com/QUESTION [GroundNews.com/QUESTION] to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan. * DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to joindeleteme.com/QUESTION [joindeleteme.com/QUESTION] and use promo code QUESTION at checkout. * Get 15% off OneSkin with the code QUESTION at https://www.oneskin.co/QUESTION [https://www.oneskin.co/QUESTION]  [https://www.oneskin.co/QUESTION%20] #oneskinpod * Listen to our supporter More Muslim [https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/more-muslim/id1872019004], a narrative audio series telling deeply reported stories about the Muslim experience, wherever you get podcasts.

You Can Bet on Everything Now. What Could Go Wrong?

Gambling is infiltrating American life. Ads for online sportsbooks are everywhere. Prediction markets – which are not legally considered gambling – now allow betting on everything from the unemployment numbers, to the war in Iran, to how many times Elon Musk will tweet this week. Lots of news outlets are getting in on the action: CNN, CNBC, the AP, and others are partnering with prediction markets to use their stats in coverage. What could go wrong?  On today’s show, we’re joined by three journalists who cover gambling and prediction markets to answer that question. They tell stories about how gambling has already transformed sports, the unsettling ways betting seems like it’s already influencing the news and politics, and the not-so-crazy arguments for how it could lead to better informed citizens.  Also: hours after we posted this episode, federal authorities charged a soldier -- Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke -- with being the mystery bettor we talk about in the show, who made $400,000 on Polymarket by trading on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. When asked about it, President Trump said, "The whole world unfortunately has become somewhat of a casino." Question Everything is a production of KCRW [http://www.kcrw.org]and Placement Theory [https://www.placementtheory.com/]. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter [http://questioneverything.substack.com]. Guests:  * Joon Lee, independent sports journalist and Youtuber. Find his channel here https://www.youtube.com/@iamjoonlee [https://www.youtube.com/@iamjoonlee] * Danny Funt, author of Everybody Loses: the Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Betting [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Everybody-Loses/Danny-Funt/9781668062029] * Kate Knibbs, senior writer at Wired [https://www.wired.com/author/kate-knibbs/] Please support the organizations that support this show: * Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to GroundNews.com/QUESTION [https://ground.news/landingV8/questioneverything?utm_source=questioneverything&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=questioneverything] to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan. * DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to joindeleteme.com/QUESTION [https://joindeleteme.com/20off/?inf=Question+Everything+with+Brian+Reed&utm_source=influencer&utm_campaign=Question&coupon=QUESTION] and use promo code QUESTION at checkout. * Get 15% off OneSkin with the code QUESTION at https://www.oneskin.co/QUESTION [https://www.oneskin.co/?utm_source=podscale&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=question]  #oneskinpod * Listen to our supporter More Muslim , a narrative audio series telling deeply reported stories about the Muslim experience, wherever you get podcasts.