Hey there friends👋! In today’s edition, you’re getting 5 🆕 news item and my take on what it all means. That’s it — delivered to your inbox, daily.
Subscribe to LawDroid Manifesto and don’t miss tomorrow’s edition:
Today’s News
Here are the top 5 recent news items on artificial intelligence:
1./ Why Some People Are Refusing to Use AI
Despite the rapid adoption of AI tools like ChatGPT, a growing group of individuals are resisting its use due to ethical, environmental, and philosophical concerns. Sabine Zetteler, owner of a communications agency, argues AI-generated content lacks human authenticity, asking, “why would I bother to read something someone couldn’t be bothered to write?” Florence Achery, who runs yoga retreats, highlights the significant environmental impact caused by AI’s high energy consumption. Others, like Seattle-based Sierra Hansen, worry AI erodes critical thinking skills by outsourcing simple problem-solving tasks. However, experts like AI ethicist James Brusseau suggest opting out entirely is increasingly difficult, as workplaces integrate AI into everyday tasks, leaving some individuals reluctantly joining in for career advancement.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15q5qzdjqxo
2./ Zuckerberg’s New Meta AI App Raises Privacy Concerns by Remembering Everything
Meta’s latest chatbot app, Meta AI, launched by Mark Zuckerberg, pushes the boundaries of user privacy by extensively tracking personal conversations and retaining sensitive details. Unlike rivals ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, Meta AI automatically records and stores detailed “Memories” from every chat, which can include deeply personal topics like fertility issues, financial troubles, or legal concerns. These stored memories shape future interactions, train Meta’s AI, and could soon influence targeted advertising. Privacy experts warn this unprecedented integration with Facebook and Instagram, coupled with weak user control over data collection, makes Meta AI’s personalization capabilities especially intrusive and concerning.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/05/05/meta-ai-privacy/
3./ New Powerful AI Models Are Hallucinating More, Confusing Users and Developers
Advanced AI “reasoning” models from companies like OpenAI and Google are producing incorrect information, known as hallucinations, at alarmingly higher rates—even as their mathematical and coding capabilities improve. OpenAI’s latest models, o3 and o4-mini, show hallucination rates as high as 79%, significantly worse than earlier systems. These unpredictable errors are causing real-world issues, such as an AI customer-support bot from Cursor falsely announcing a nonexistent policy change, leading to user outrage and account cancellations. Researchers are still unsure why the problem is worsening, underscoring ongoing reliability concerns as AI systems become more prevalent.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/technology/ai-hallucinations-chatgpt-google.html
4./ UnitedHealth Deploys 1,000 AI Use Cases Amid Growing Scrutiny
UnitedHealth Group announced it has reached 1,000 artificial intelligence applications in use across its insurance, pharmacy, and healthcare delivery units, spanning tasks from claims processing to clinician transcription. Chief Digital Officer Sandeep Dadlani emphasized that while AI helps process more than 90% of claims through automated systems, it will never independently deny coverage. Despite UnitedHealth’s assurances, the insurer faces ongoing scrutiny, including a federal fraud investigation into Medicare billing and a lawsuit alleging unfair claims denial via AI algorithms. UnitedHealth says all its AI tools undergo extensive ethical review, prioritizing transparency and patient safety.
Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/unitedhealth-now-has-1-000-ai-use-cases-including-in-claims-f3387ca3
5./ Largest Deepfake Porn Site Permanently Shuts Down Following Service Provider Ban
The internet’s largest deepfake porn site, “Mr. Deepfakes,” permanently shut down after an essential service provider terminated support, coinciding closely with the recent passage of the Take It Down Act, which criminalizes the creation and sharing of non-consensual AI-generated explicit content. At its peak, the site hosted roughly 43,000 videos viewed over 1.5 billion times, fueling a controversial industry profiting from unethical and illegal content. Although the shutdown marks significant progress, experts caution that the extensive user base is likely to regroup on other platforms or encrypted channels such as Telegram, underscoring persistent challenges in fully eradicating AI-powered sexual exploitation online.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/05/largest-deepfake-porn-site-shuts-down-forever/
Today’s Takeaway
Today’s news underscores a looming tension: as AI’s capabilities skyrocket, so do the ethical, social, and personal costs. From a rising tide of AI abstainers voicing legitimate concerns over authenticity, privacy, and sustainability, to Meta’s audacious privacy gamble with its memory-storing chatbot, a move that could redefine digital surveillance, we’re witnessing profound challenges to user autonomy and personal boundaries. Meanwhile, increasingly powerful AI models are hallucinating at alarming rates, turning tech supposed to aid us into unreliable partners that sow confusion and mistrust. UnitedHealth’s rapid AI deployment amid regulatory scrutiny highlights that unchecked automation risks further undermining consumer trust in critical services like healthcare. Finally, the shutdown of the largest deepfake porn platform demonstrates how law and infrastructure can push back against egregious abuses, but the fight against AI-powered exploitation is far from over. Collectively, these stories serve as an urgent warning that unless AI’s rapid evolution is matched by rigorous oversight and accountability, society risks paying a steep price.
Subscribe to LawDroid Manifesto
LawDroid Manifesto, your authentic source for analysis and news for your legal AI journey. Insightful articles and personal interviews of innovators at the intersection of AI and the law. Best of all, it’s free!
Subscribe today:
By the way, as a LawDroid Manifesto premium subscriber, you would get access to exclusive toolkits, like the Missing Manual: OpenAI Operator; a new toolkit released every month…
With these premium toolkits, you not only learn about the latest AI innovations and news items, but you get the playbook for how to use them to your advantage.
If you want to be at the front of the line to get first access to helpful guides like this, and have the inside track to use AI as a force multiplier in your work, upgrade to become a premium LawDroid Manifesto subscriber today!
I look forward to seeing you on the inside. 😉
Cheers,
Tom Martin
CEO and Founder, LawDroid