As tensions bristle in the Middle East following the Trump administration's air strikes on Iran, hackers allegedly backed by the Iranian government are flashing their wild card: 100 gigabytes' worth of emails scraped from the president's 2024 election campaign.
As <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/iran-linked-hackers-threaten-release-trump-aides-emails-2025-06-30/">Reuters first reported</a>, the hackers claim to have nabbed emails from accounts belonging to top Trump aides including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, millionaire advisor Roger Stone, attorney Lindsey Halligan, and even Trump's alleged affair partner <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/14/politics/timeline-trump-stormy-daniels-hush-money-dg/index.html">Stormy Daniels</a>.
Calling themselves Robert — yes, really— the hacker representing the group hinted at making the email bundle open for purchase, but didn't otherwise leak any details.
Given <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47002918">past scandals</a> involving Trumpworld's debaucherous cast of characters, though, one can only imagine the mountains of dirt that could be hiding in those emails.
"This so-called cyber 'attack' is nothing more than digital propaganda, and the targets are no coincidence," the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) nagged on <a href="https://x.com/CISAgov/status/1939883985988923541">X-formerly-Twitter</a>. "This is a calculated smear campaign meant to damage President Trump and discredit honorable public servants who serve our country with distinction."
Robert had previously surfaced during the 2024 US presidential election, when Microsoft logged a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/iran-linked-hackers-threaten-release-trump-aides-emails-2025-06-30/">similar breach</a> of Trump aide emails. Then, too, Western journalists were Robert's first point of contact, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/19/iran-sent-hacked-trump-documents-to-biden-campaign-fbi-says">along with staffers</a> for Joe Biden's short-lived re-election push.
The hacker group's latest threat comes weeks after Israel unleashed a missile barrage onto Iranian military and civilian infrastructure, dragging the region into yet <a href="https://ecfr.eu/article/enough-is-enough-europe-needs-to-oppose-israels-aggression/">another round</a> of long-range tit-for-tat strikes. Though Trump <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-went-opposing-israels-strikes-iran-reluctant-support-rcna213091">initially opposed</a> Israel's attacks, he nonetheless led the US into the conflict by sending a squadron of B-2 bombers from Missouri to target Iranian nuclear research sites.
So far, 935 Iranian citizens have been killed in the attacks, among them 38 children and 132 women, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/935-people-killed-israeli-strikes-iran-iran-judiciary-spokesperson-says-2025-06-30/">according to Reuters</a>. Israel's death toll from Iran's attacks, for perspective, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/these-are-the-28-victims-killed-in-iranian-missile-attacks-during-the-12-day-conflict/">stands at 28</a>.
Though war hawks in the US and Israel have been warning of an "<a href="https://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/newswire/man-cried-bomb-netanyahu-spent-30-years-warning-irans-nuclear-weapons-imminent/">imminent threat</a>" posed by Iran's nuclear weapons program for well over 30 years, the broader Western intelligence community has tended to <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/issue-briefs/2010-08/iran-nuclear-nie-2007-revise-reject-reiterate">disagree</a>. (Israel, for what it's worth, has an estimated 90 nuclear warheads, which it <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2025/03/the-us-hypocrisy-about-israels-nuclear-weapons-must-stop/">illegally hides</a> in violation of international arms control laws.)
Neutral analysts have noted that, even if Iran had a nuke, it would probably just gather dust as a <a href="https://ihedn.fr/en/notre-selection/dissuasion-nucleaire-huit-decennies-dequilibre/">military deterrent</a> against western political meddling in the country's affairs — similar to <a href="https://nuclearnetwork.csis.org/inferring-from-signaling-north-koreas-deterrence-strategy-and-bargaining-tactic/">North Korea</a>, which <a href="https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/NIC-Declassified-NIE-North-Korea-Scenarios-For-Leveraging-Nuclear-Weapons-June2023.pdf">US intelligence agencies</a> say is "unlikely" to use its arsenal offensively.
Strategically, Iranian and Iran-linked cyberattacks function in a similar way. Though the US spends more money on its military than the next <a href="https://www.pgpf.org/article/the-united-states-spends-more-on-defense-than-the-next-9-countries-combined/">nine countries combined</a>, its reliance on decentralized business chains has emerged as a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/water-utilities-hackers-cybersecurity-1c475f5d2ef3b5d52410c93bdeab3aad">weak point</a> in recent years.
Right after the US strikes on Iranian soil, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-trump-cybersecurity-hacking-9009bff8425d97366e9423b50fb52edf">Tehran-linked hackers</a> went to work targeting US banks, defense contracting firms, and oil monopolies operating in the region — <a href="https://jacobin.com/2024/10/destabilizing-iran-history-kamala-harris">key players</a> undergirding the decades-long conflict. Those attacks haven't had much impact so far, but political pressure to end the conflict is mounting as US <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-streets-calling-shattered-illusion-100438064.html">business</a> and <a href="https://thehackernews.com/2025/06/us-agencies-warn-of-rising-iranian.html">military</a> leaders, not to mention <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-war-2672495957/">voters</a>, take notice.
Given the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-gag-order-d853768fff5fafbdee55623579889140">tide of scandals</a> Trump has weathered in recent years, a dossier on his latest messy secrets might not move the needle as much as a nuke — though it could be a powerful testament to Iran's hacking talent pool.
More on Iran: <a href="https://futurism.com/ayatollah-khamenei-twitter">As War Descends on Iran, People Have Discovered Some Wild Old Posts on Ayatollah Khamenei's Twitter Account</a>

Robert's Rules

Checkmate.

Iranian Hackers Threaten to Release Stolen Emails From Trump's Inner Circle

Betting on Elon Musk fulfilling one of his promises is one hell of a <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-promises-tesla-full-self-driving-again">risky venture</a>. But that's what users did on the crypto-based prediction hub <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/crypto-platforms-polymarket-bets-fire">Polymarket</a> anyway — and now they're on the verge of losing millions of dollars after Tesla's Robotaxi service failed to live up to its CEO's sky-high assurances. 
With over $8,800,000 worth of total bets placed, the prediction, titled "Will Tesla launch a driverless Robotaxi service before July?" is now at a less than one percent chance of success, seeing that it is now no longer the month of June and that the service has turned out to be a <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-robotaxi-week-disaster">glorified beta test</a>.
In an especially ironic twist, <a href="https://electrek.co/2025/06/30/elon-musk-bet-tesla-delivering-robotaxi-june-lost-big/">Electrek points out</a>, Musk himself highlighted the bet several weeks ago, when Tesla had a still unlikely 14 percent chance of success, encouraging his fans to cash in. 
"Money-making opportunity," Musk said in <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1935819020718190735">tweet</a>, reminiscent of how he used to <a href="https://prospect.org/power/elon-musk-pumped-dogecoin-into-a-50-percent-gain-who-cashed-in/">casually pump his favorite crypto</a>.
The prediction is still awaiting a final decision: the proposed outcome of "NO" has been disputed twice, with Musk fanboys raging at the site admins in the comments, adamant that "YES" will prevail.
"Should resolve to yes," wrote one user who bought over 21,000 shares in favor of Tesla. "If not, cabal trying to scam."
Technically, Tesla has been <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-robotaxi-week-disaster">operating robotaxis</a> in Austin, Texas, since June 22. But with only ten to 20 cars in operation, it's at best an extremely limited test, and does not meet the Polymarket bet's definition of a full-blown, driverless service. 
In the rules section, it stipulates that a "program that is restricted to Tesla employees, invite-only testers, closed-beta participants," will not qualify. Nor will a program in which there is a human in the vehicle positioned to take control, it states. Tesla's service is currently invite-only — the recipients overwhelmingly being pro-Tesla "influencers" — and the vehicles are all supervised by a human "safety monitor" who rides in the front passenger seat, and who've already had to make <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-robotaxi-safety-driver-forced-to-drive">several</a> <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/video-tesla-safety-monitor-halts">interventions</a>.
Notably, the service doesn't live up to its creator's own promises. In an earnings call in January, Musk <a href="https://electrek.co/2025/03/26/tesla-hypes-unsupervised-full-self-driving-june-actually-launch/">was unequivocal</a> that Tesla robotaxis would launch fully "unsupervised" with "no one in the car" in June — hence the nature of the Polymarket bet. The conspicuous inclusion of the "safety monitors" wasn't revealed until <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-embarrassing-front-seat-robotaxis">just days before</a> the launch date.
That should've been a sign for the Tesla bulls to pull out, but many were clearly inspired by Musk's tweet. On the day that Musk declared the robotaxi bet a "money-making opportunity," the market odds spiked to a 40 percent chance of success as the billionaire's fans piled in, bringing what was then less than the $500,000 total money on the line to the nearly $9 million that it is today. One user, Electrek found, is set to lose $50,000 for believing in Musk's robotaxi vision.
Don't worry, though. There's plenty of dubious Musk promises to bet on in the future. Such as: having over 1,000 robotaxis roaming the streets of Austin "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-austin-tesla-robotaxis-self-driving-2025-5">within a few months</a>" of launching, or having a staggering one million robotaxis on American roads by the end of 2026.
With the cars still requiring safety monitors to <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-robotaxi-safety-driver-forced-to-drive">babysit them</a>, seemingly <a href="https://futurism.com/government-tesla-robotaxis-videos">breaking traffic laws</a>, and frequently <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/692639/tesla-robotaxi-mistake-wrong-lane-phantom-braking">driving erratically</a>  — and all this while being limited to a tiny "geofenced" area where driving conditions are as ideal as possible, something that Musk <a href="https://futurism.com/video-elon-musk-tesla-launch-not-full-self-driving">once said</a> wouldn't count as real self-driving — it's looking like the real "money-making opportunity" is betting against any of the above ever happening.
More on Tesla: <a href="https://futurism.com/robotaxi-fails-elon-musk-decision">Tesla's Robotaxi Program Is Failing Because Elon Musk Made a Foolish Decision Years Ago</a>

Bettors' Prison

Musk said it'd be a "money-making opportunity."

Tesla Bros Who Bet on Polymarket That Tesla Would Successfully Launch Full Self-Driving by July Are Now Screwed

In a bid to retain its staffers amid a <a href="https://futurism.com/zuckerberg-openai-poach-meta">Meta poaching spree</a>, OpenAI is giving them a mandatory week-long vacation.
According to insiders who <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/openai-meta-leadership-talent-rivalry/">spoke to Wired</a>, a cloud of anxiety is lingering over OpenAI's C-suite as leaders scramble to keep staff happy and on their side — a tall order given that employees there often work up to 80 hours a week.
Over the past week, Meta has hired <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/28/meta-reportedly-hires-four-more-researchers-from-openai/">at least eight OpenAI researchers</a> to work on its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/technology/meta-new-ai-lab-superintelligence.html">new "superintelligence" team</a>. This "recruiting coup," as the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta-poaches-three-openai-researchers-eb55eea9">Wall Street Journal called it</a> when breaking news about the hires, is meant to lead the company out of the hole created by founder <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/mark-zuckerberg-ai">Mark Zuckerberg's shifting interests</a> and investments — but it seems to have caused a secondary crisis at OpenAI in the process.
In an internal memo posted to an OpenAI Slack channel, chief research officer Mark Chen seemed genuinely upset by the Meta poaching.
"I feel a visceral feeling right now, as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something," Chen wrote in the document, which was leaked to Wired. "Please trust that we haven’t been sitting idly by."
In his missive, the chief research officer referenced other "offers" that had been made to employees from Meta and said he and Altman are working "around the clock" to try to keep their staff from jumping to Zuckerberg's ship.
"We’ve been more proactive than ever before, we’re recalibrating [compensation], and we’re scoping out creative ways to recognize and reward top talent," Chen wrote.
Beyond the forthcoming week-long shutdown, it's unclear what OpenAI is giving employees to get them to stay. As Altman mentioned in a recent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZUG0pr5hBo">podcast appearance</a> with his brother Jack, Meta has offered some recruits <a href="https://futurism.com/zuckerberg-openai-poach-meta">$100 million signing bonuses</a> and year-one compensation — a number confirmed by OpenAI insiders but disputed by other Wired sources at Meta.
Along with Chen's emoting, some seven other OpenAI research heads also wrote to employees to beg them to resist the Meta buyout.
"If they pressure you, or make ridiculous exploding offers just tell them to back off, it’s not nice to pressure people in potentially the most important decision," one such leader wrote in a message viewed by Wired.  "I’d like to be able to talk to you through it and I know all about their offers."
In yet another imploring communiqué, another OpenAI research lead suggested that Meta may amp up its poaching efforts during employees' week-long break.
"Meta knows we’re taking this week to recharge," the researcher wrote, "and will take advantage of it to try and pressure you to make decisions fast and in isolation."
From the outside, this talent war between companies looking to build human-level AI is at best odd and at worst foolhardy. Peek under the surface, however, and you'll find some serious — and intriguing — existential anxiety on both sides.
More on the OpenAI wars: <a href="https://futurism.com/explosive-drama-openai-microsoft">There's Explosive Drama Between OpenAI and Microsoft</a>

Summer Break

OpenAI is battered.

OpenAI Is Shutting Down for a Week

In February, as the disastrous effects of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency's gutting of federal agencies started to emerge, the agency's figurehead Elon Musk <a href="https://futurism.com/grimes-begs-elon-musk-medical-crisis">took to the stage</a> of the Conservative Political Action Conference and waved a chainsaw in the air.
Standing alongside Argentinian president Javier Milei, Musk wielded the shiny metal-plated prop to send a blunt message: the federal government's budget was being slashed beyond recognition.
Many months later, the devastating consequences of those cuts are still coming into focus. From <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/mothers-children-dying-musk-cuts">thousands of preventable deaths abroad</a> due to Musk "<a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-shut-down-government-payments">feeding USAID into the wood chipper</a>" to widespread chaos and a growing mountain of legal fees incurred by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/03/17/appeals-court-strikes-down-trump-request-to-fire-workers-heres-where-trump-and-musk-are-winning-and-losing-in-court/">dozens of lawsuits</a>, the results of Musk's approach to cutting costs have been disastrous, to say the least.
And yet, now Musk says he has major regrets. In a <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1940015432951579108">baffling tweet</a>, the billionaire claimed that he wishes he'd never grabbed the chainsaw.
"Milei gave me the chainsaw backstage and I ran with it, but, in retrospect, it lacked empathy," he wrote.
Musk was responding to another user who suggested that he "could have gotten more done if you weren't so worried about looking cool" and "acted a fool."
On the one hand, Musk is probably trying to distance himself from his work at DOGE now that his bromance with president Donald Trump has <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-shreds-musk">devolved into a bitter feud</a>.
But it also smacks of hypocrisy, considering that he previously complained that empathy is destroying society.
In late February, roughly a week after wielding the chainsaw on stage, Musk <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/05/politics/elon-musk-rogan-interview-empathy-doge">told podcaster Joe Rogan</a> that "we’ve got civilizational suicidal empathy going on."
"The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit," he said at the time. "They’re exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response."
The wake of chaos and destruction DOGE has left behind certainly underlines Musk's capacity to disregard the feelings of others — <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-guiding-principle-cruelty">almost as if "cruelty is the point</a>," as The Atlantic's Adam Serwer put it in a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/the-cruelty-is-the-point/572104/">2018 essay</a> about Trump's first term.
But now that his once rosy relationship with Trump has <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-musk-bromance-exploded">exploded into a million pieces</a>, metastasizing into an ugly feud rife with threats and personal attacks, Musk is trying to distance himself from his ruthless and <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-doge-dismal-failure">ultimately fruitless endeavor</a> to save the government money.
Is Musk coming to his senses? Was his latest tweet a brief moment of lucidity, or is he just trying to rally support among the political left? Now that he's <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-stock-fallen-elon-musk-returned">alienated both the extreme right and the left</a>, it certainly would be an enormous uphill battle.
Following his spat over Trump's "big, beautiful bill," Musk directly took aim at the Republican party in a <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1939762942851027127">Monday tweet</a>, vowing that "they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth."
"Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people," he added.
Whether basic human empathy would be a core tenet of such a hypothetical party remains unclear at best.
More on Musk: <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-destroy-republican-party">Elon Musk Vows to Destroy Republican Party If Its Budget Passes</a>

Act a Fool

"In retrospect, it lacked empathy."

Elon Musk Says He Is So Sorry for His Horrible Behavior

When multi-hyphenate billionaire Elon Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1926289580623380780">returned to Tesla</a> in May, it was met with a surge of enthusiasm from investors who feared he'd given up on the embattled carmaker during his disastrous stint in government.
But that optimism has dimmed significantly as Musk has brought his signature aura of chaos and disappointment back to Tesla — and it's clear in the company's stock price, which has actually fallen since his homecoming in late May. At the time, the company's share price was hovering around $340, surging up to $360 or so as he came back, but more than a month later, it's slumped to around $300.
Most recently, the stock has taken a beating after president Donald Trump <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-threatens-doge-musk">threatened</a> to cut the billionaire and his firms off from all government subsidies after even more interpersonal conflict with the billionaire.
"Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa," Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114776149269773065">wrote in a Truth Social post</a> in the early morning hours of Tuesday.
Tesla's shares have fallen more than 11 percent over the last month alone, indicating that Musk's <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-giving-up-politics">step back from the political world</a> — later seemingly revoked as he <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-destroy-republican-party">promised this week</a> to create his own political party — to renew his focus on his business interests hasn't exactly impressed investors.
During a May appearance at the Qatar Economic Forum, the mercurial CEO <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-giving-up-politics">claimed</a> he's going to do "a lot less" political spending, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/20/elon-musk-tesla-shares.html">vowing that there's "no doubt</a>" about his commitment to leading the EV maker for the next five years.
However, even <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/tesla-sales-drop-over-60-in-sweden-and-denmark/ar-AA1HKaXv">plummeting sales</a> and <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-2025-q1-sales-results-worse-expected">disastrous finances</a> — largely a result of <a href="https://futurism.com/wave-vandalism-protest-tesla">rocketing anti-Musk sentiment</a> — appear to be the least of the carmaker's problems. The launch of its long-awaited robotaxi service, a <a href="https://futurism.com/musk-robotaxi-save-tesla">Hail Mary</a> intended to save the company's slouching fortunes, has been <a href="https://futurism.com/robotaxi-fails-elon-musk-decision">plagued with technical issues</a>, <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-embarrassing-front-seat-robotaxis">requiring human "safety monitor" drivers</a> to sit in the front seat.
Musk's personal feud with Trump isn't exactly helping matters, either, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/trump-musk-induced-tesla-slide-points-market-risks-massive-stocks-2025-06-06/">wiping out about $150 billion</a> in the company's market value early last month.
In light of the president's latest threats, Tesla's shares slid almost five percent.
"He’s upset that he’s losing his EV mandate," Trump <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/01/tesla-shares-tumble-after-trump-says-doge-should-look-at-elon-musks-subsidies.html">told reporters</a>. "But he can lose a lot more than that, I can tell you. Elon can lose a lot more than that."
Analysts suggest the bitter fighting could hurt Tesla in the long run. First Musk alienated the left-leaning voters who overwhelmingly bought his cars; now he's earned the ire of the few right-leaning ones he courted during his bromance with Trump.
"We would expect the stock to be weak to kick off trading this morning as the Street will show concern that the Trump and Musk once BFF relationship now backfires and turns into a junior high school friendship gone bad into an enemy," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives <a href="https://thehill.com/business/5378996-tesla-shares-slump-trump-musk-feud/">wrote in a note today</a>.
Others warned that Trump is in a stronger position.
"Musk cannot stop himself," Stock Trader Network chief strategist and Tesla investor Dennis Dick <a class="underline hover:text-futurism hover:no-underline transition-all duration-200 ease-in-out" href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/elon-musk-renews-criticism-trump-spending-bill-calls-new-political-party-2025-06-30/">told Reuters</a> today. "He is getting on Trump's bad side again. Tesla international sales have fallen significantly and if he loses US subsidies, US sales are likely to fall as well."
"Musk needs Trump, Trump does not need Musk," he added.
Analysts expect Tesla's finances to continue to feel the effects of Musk's damaging leadership.
"Based on our checks, the softer demand for Tesla vehicles evident in 1Q results appears to have continued into 2Q," JPMorgan analyst Ryan Brinkman <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-wall-streets-biggest-tesla-bear-still-hates-the-stock-131256775.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADmMf6JsLF3vDR5nD9iMKXSTxeELcj1ttJPOz20EztJz2AiUEl6kf9Zs9YPh38NZ0HiksLeAq4YnDYwp2BGyn5VPkiW3hFVulEmoouuNgvntngURRtahtfQKz3wtbqXyOywyQlfGeXPG0qeLvIOQgmLMVDpiQ4p5hQLtdYgoOTrd">wrote</a>.
"We expect Tesla's 2Q25 deliveries to miss... but this shouldn't come as a surprise," Deutsche Bank analysts wrote, citing <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-sales-data-europe">cratering European sales</a>.
With a functioning and revenue-generating robotaxi service likely still years away — if it ever materializes — Tesla has its work cut out for it. Now that Musk's feud has been reignited in full force after <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/elon-musk-steps-up-attacks-on-trump-once-again-and-calls-for-new-political-party-13390720">weeks of relative silence</a>, the carmaker could have an even harder time attracting new buyers and reassuring investors that the company has a future.
More on Tesla: <a href="https://futurism.com/robotaxi-fails-elon-musk-decision">Tesla's Robotaxi Program Is Failing Because Elon Musk Made a Foolish Decision Years Ago</a>

Tarnished Brand

Investors are not impressed with Elon.

Tesla's Stock Has Fallen Dramatically Since Elon Musk Returned to the Business

An "indie rock band" called The Velvet Sundown, which is marketing its music with AI-generated pictures of members that don't appear to exist, is now claiming that "we never use AI."
After being publicly accused of being the fabrication of AI, an "<a href="https://x.com/Velvet_Sundown">official" X account</a> for the band is now seemingly attempting to control the narrative, or at least to gin up a few more streams.
"Absolutely crazy that so-called 'journalists' keep pushing the lazy, baseless theory that The Velvet Sundown is 'AI-generated' with zero evidence," the account wrote in a <a href="https://x.com/Velvet_Sundown/status/1939343833135022545">Sunday tweet</a>. "Not a single one of these 'writers' has reached out, visited a show, or listened beyond the Spotify algorithm."
Anything's possible, but it's a hard denial to believe. All the band's "photos" are obviously AI-generated, and its bio previously referenced a nonexistent writeup by Billboard. If that stuff's all fake, why should we believe that the band's music — or its protestations — are genuine?
The incident highlights the turbulent effect that generative AI is having on the music industry. It's been a hotly debated topic, with numerous mainstream artists <a href="https://futurism.com/nicki-minaj-ai-hypocrisy">voicing their support</a> for AI regulation in light of a <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/spotify-bots-ai-streaming-music">tidal wave of AI slop</a> flooding streaming platforms.
The Velvet Sundown, which is currently racking up more than 550,000 listens per month on Spotify, drew scrutiny on social media when users raised red flags about the band's authenticity.
"As a music maker, it breaks my heart," one Reddit user <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/truespotify/comments/1lk9ag2/ai_band_in_recommended_with_300k_monthly_with/">wrote</a>. "As a music lover and Spotify user, I find it offensive that there is no mention anywhere that it is a fabricated band."
"Report this shit man..." they added. "What else can we do?"
Spotify competitor Deezer also <a href="https://www.deezer.com/en/album/774152711">flagged the band's most recent album</a>, "Dust and Silence," as being "AI-generated content," noting that "some tracks on this album may have been created using artificial intelligence."
In our <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-band-spotify-streams">own investigation</a>, we found no evidence that any of its purported "members" actually exist. The band's <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thevelvetsundownband/">Instagram page</a> is chock full of images that are clearly AI generated, suggesting that its latest claim to "never use AI" is misleading at best.
As Stereogum <a href="https://www.stereogum.com/2313501/ai-generated-psych-rock-band-the-velvet-sundown-rack-up-hundreds-of-thousands-of-spotify-streams/news/">points out</a>, the band's bio on Spotify also shows plenty of evidence of having been generated by an AI. It also happens to deploy a <a href="https://futurism.com/chatgpt-weird-way-talking-see-it-everywhere">highly suspicious sentence structure</a> that hints at the possible use of an AI text generator, such as ChatGPT.
"The Velvet Sundown aren’t trying to revive the past," the blurb reads, using AI's trademark negation construct. "They’re rewriting it. They sound like the memory of a time that never actually happened… but somehow they make it feel real."
The Velvet Sundown — a name that appears to be a lazy portmanteau of the legendary psych-rock band The Velvet Underground and Montreal indie outfit Sunset Rubdown — is now in damage control mode in light of a flood of criticism.
"This is not a joke," the band's apparent X account <a href="https://x.com/Velvet_Sundown/status/1939343834804297965">wrote</a>. "This is our music, written in long, sweaty nights in a cramped bungalow in California with real instruments, real minds, and real soul."
"Every chord, every lyric, every mistake — HUMAN," the tweet reads.
"Just because we don’t do TikTok dances or livestream our process doesn’t mean we’re fake," the account wrote in a <a href="https://x.com/Velvet_Sundown/status/1939343836406558753">follow-up</a>. "The fact that some blog editors would rather pretend we’re a bunch of machines than admit an unknown band is out here grinding &amp; made something people enjoy is insulting."
However, without any actual evidence that the band is "<a href="https://x.com/Velvet_Sundown/status/1939343839354900779">REAL</a>" — a simple video of the band rehearsing in the studio would suffice — it's hard to know what to make of its claims. As <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/psych-rock-band-the-velvet-sundown-racks-up-well-over-400-000-spotify-listens-within-a-month-but-turns-out-to-be-ai-generated/">PC Gamer points out</a>, The Velvet Sundown may be gaming the algorithms of music streaming platforms by closely mimicking popular artists in a bid for visibility.
AI-based music-generating tools have also become incredibly sophisticated, allowing practically anybody to create convincing-sounding tracks on the fly.
In December, The Beatles legend Paul McCartney <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/paul-mccartney-ai-training-data">warned</a> that AI "could just take over and we don’t want that to happen, particularly for the young composers and writers [for] who, it may be the only way they['re] gonna make a career."
We've also seen <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/drakes-label-still-furious-about-ai">several AI-generated diss tracks go viral</a>, leading to mainstream record labels representing artists like Aubrey "Drake" Graham to force music streaming services to remove the offending songs from their platforms.
It's still unclear whether The Velvet Sundown's music was the output of a generative AI. But considering their <a href="https://genius.com/The-velvet-sundown-dust-on-the-wind-lyrics">incredibly bland and generic lyrics</a>, and vocal performances that sound completely inconsistent from track to track, it certainly seems likely.
In short, even if the music was recorded by real human artists, the blatantly AI-generated images on its social media pages strongly suggest that the band — if it even exists — is lying about never using AI.
Futurism has reached out to the band on X, but has yet to hear back.
More on the band: <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-band-spotify-streams">An "Indie Rock Band" That Appears to Be Entirely AI-Generated Is Making Alarming Amounts of Money on Spotify</a>

The AI Underground

"Every chord, every lyric, every mistake — HUMAN."

"Indie Rock Band" That's Clearly Using AI Claims That "We Never Use AI"

After donating hundreds of millions of dollars to the Republican party, billionaire Elon Musk has vowed to put it in the ground if president Donald Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill" were to pass the Senate this week ahead of a rapidly approaching July 4 deadline.
"If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day," Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1939806847504105683">tweeted</a> on Monday. "Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE."
Musk has repeatedly lashed out at Trump's calling it "<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/28/elon-musk-trump-senate-bill.html">utterly insane</a>" and a "<a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-donald-trump-war">disgusting abomination</a>."
The richest man in the world vowed to make the demolition of the Republican party his number one priority.
"Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!" he <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1939776586989150590">tweeted</a> on Monday.
"And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth," he added.
What exactly a so-called "America Party" would look like, if it were to ever materialize, remains unclear at best. Musk's political stance has veered to the extreme right over the years, hinting that his alternative may be ugly.
But as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/us/politics/elon-musk-trump-bill-republicans.html">New York Times points out</a>, we have yet to hear of any concrete plans to create a third political party in the US, suggesting Musk is merely venting his frustrations.
It's also an enormous reversal for Musk, who <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-giving-up-politics">vowed in May</a> that he would do "a lot less" political spending from now on.
"I think I've done enough," Musk <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/20/elon-musk-less-political-spending/">said</a> at the time.
The topic of Trump's enormous spending bill — which is set to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/senate-republicans-try-get-trumps-tax-cuts-over-line-setting-aside-cost-concerns-2025-06-30/">add $3.3 trillion</a> to the country's already enormous mountain of debt — has been at the center of an <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-musk-bromance-exploded">escalating feud</a> between the two.
And the president isn't sitting idly by. Tuesday morning, Trump told reporters at the White House that "we'll have to take a look" into deporting the South African-born entrepreneur, as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-01/trump-says-he-ll-have-to-take-a-look-at-deporting-elon-musk">Bloomberg reports</a>.
In an excorciating <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114776149269773065">Truth Social post</a> published just after midnight on Tuesday, he also warned that he may completely cut off Musk's subsidies.
"Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa," he wrote. "No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE."
While speaking to reporters today, Trump also took aim at Musk's <a href="https://futurism.com/robotaxi-fails-elon-musk-decision">embattled</a> EV maker Tesla, warning that "losing his EV mandate" could mean that he loses a "lot more than that."
However, Musk has reiterated that he supports eliminating EV subsidies himself.
After Musk spent months <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-doge-dismal-failure">plundering the government</a> and wreaking chaos with the help of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Trump is now warning he could turn the destructive gang of <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-doge-vandalism">underqualified DOGE operatives</a> against him.
"We might have to put DOGE on Elon," Trump told reporters today. "DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible?"
More on the two: <a href="https://futurism.com/robotaxi-fails-elon-musk-decision">Tesla's Robotaxi Program Is Failing Because Elon Musk Made a Foolish Decision Years Ago</a>

My Own Political Party With Blackjack and Hookers

"They will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth."

Elon Musk Vows to Destroy Republican Party If Its Budget Passes

President Donald Trump has threatened to cut billionaire Elon Musk off completely by sending his own so-called Department of Government Efficiency after him.
In a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114776149269773065">post</a> on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump pointed out that Musk had long enjoyed crucial government support and billions of dollars in government contracts, which have historically allowed the mercurial CEO's firms to stay afloat.
"Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa," Trump wrote.
"No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE," he added. "Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!"
And he wasn't done yet.
"We might have to put DOGE on Elon," Trump <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/07/01/trump-deporting-elon-musk-doge">told reporters</a> while preparing to board the Marine One helicopter. "DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible?"
Asked whether he might deport Musk, Trump didn't rule out the possibility.
"I don’t know," he <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-01/trump-says-he-ll-have-to-take-a-look-at-deporting-elon-musk">told media</a> at the White House, adding that "we’ll have to take a look."
Musk, for his part, has stuck to his guns, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/05/business/musk-trump-tesla-ev-tax-credit">reiterating his stance</a> that electric vehicles shouldn't get any subsidies in the first place — despite his EV maker Tesla massively benefiting from tax credits in the past.
"I am literally saying CUT IT ALL," Musk replied in a <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1939911208393720002">tweet</a>. "Now."
The bitter exchange shows that tensions clearly remain between the two. And that may not bode well for Tesla, which is <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-fires-tesla-exec">still reeling</a> from <a href="https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-sales-drop-over-60-074931139.html">persistently crashing sales</a>, <a href="https://futurism.com/byd-tesla-rivalry">enormous public backlash</a>, and a <a href="https://futurism.com/robotaxi-fails-elon-musk-decision">disappointing and chaotic launch</a> of its long-awaited robotaxi service.
Trump's comments follow a <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-musk-bromance-exploded">dramatic falling out</a> between the unlikely pair of frenemies. Musk previously took aim at the president's so-called "big, beautiful" tax and spending bill, excorciating it as a "<a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-donald-trump-war">disgusting abomination</a>" — words that greatly angered the president.
In early June, Trump <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-calls-terminating-elon-musk-government-contracts">threatened</a> to "terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts," mockingly <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114632206992330264">adding</a> in a Truth Social post that "I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!"
In light of the scorching attacks, Musk <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-trump-epstein-files">lost his temper</a>, making questionable accusations that <a href="https://futurism.com/musk-groveling-trump-good-graces">he eventually walked back</a>.
But he's not done yet. Last week, he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WD0p4v0rqQ">called the bill</a> "utterly insane and destructive," vowing to create his own political party if it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jul/01/donald-trump-vote-a-rama-big-beautiful-bill-republicans-democrats-live-us-politics-news-latest-updates">were to pass the Senate</a> this week.
Whether there's any credibility to Trump's latest threats to cut Musk off remains to be seen. The president has an extensive track record of making empty threats and flip-flopping on key policy decisions — though often while throwing his closest allies <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/08/opinions/stephanie-winston-wolkoff-thrown-under-bus-filipovic/index.html">under the bus</a>.
But analysts say the president is holding the winning hand, especially considering Musk's well-documented <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-guiding-principle-cruelty">hotheadedness and vindictive nature</a>. Tesla is in a precarious position and could certainly benefit greatly from government support and subsidies — despite its CEO publicly advocating against them.
"Musk cannot stop himself," Stock Trader Network chief strategist and Tesla investor Dennis Dick <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/elon-musk-renews-criticism-trump-spending-bill-calls-new-political-party-2025-06-30/">told Reuters</a>. "He is getting on Trump's bad side again. Tesla international sales have fallen significantly and if he loses U.S. subsidies, US sales are likely to fall as well."
"Musk needs Trump, Trump does not need Musk," he added.
More on Musk and Trump: <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-no-kings-message-trump">Elon Musk Posts "No Kings" Message as Protests Rage Against Trump</a>

No More Handouts

"BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!"

Trump Threatens to Sic DOGE on Elon Musk, Maybe Deport Him

New research suggests that slapping the "AI" label on products doesn't always go over well with buyers, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-advertising-consumer-trust-dc1a1425">Wall Street Journal reports</a>.
A <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19368623.2024.2368040#d1e1096">new study</a> published this month in Journal of Hospitality Marketing &amp; Management found that consumers tended to turn away from products that were promoted as having AI — especially if the items were a high-risk purchase like a car.
"When we were thinking about this project, we thought that AI will improve [consumers' willingness to buy] because everyone is promoting AI in their products," coauthor Dogan Gursoy, a regents professor of hospitality business management at Washington State University, told the WSJ. "But apparently it has a negative effect, not a positive one."
Gursoy and his colleagues conducted their research by recruiting two groups of around 100 participants each. One group was shown fictional ads that included terms like "AI-powered," while the other group saw ads that had more generic terms like "equipped with cutting-edge technologies." 
The results were counterintuitive, at least if you've been watching the tech industry stuff AI into every existing product over the past few years. Why? Because the participants who saw ads with AI-related marketing were less likely to try or buy the products they saw.
But if you think more deeply, that shouldn't be too surprising. "AI" is more a marketing buzzword than it is an accurate descriptor of some sentient-seeming tech, and companies have shown that they're <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/drive-thru-ai-humans">more than willing</a> to construe anything with a half-baked algorithm in it as being on the cusp of this wave of bleeding edge technology. (One favorite example: a "smart," "AI-powered" <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-powered-spice-dispenser-dorks">spice dispenser</a>.)
Meanwhile, even Silicon Valley's crème de la crème AI chatbots are still highly experimental and prone to <a href="https://futurism.com/chatgpt-mental-health-crises">screwing up</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/technology/ai-hallucinations-chatgpt-google.html">making up facts</a>. That almost certainly erodes public trust in the tech.
There could be a myriad of other reasons, of course. In the researchers' view, some customers may be confused about what difference the AI technology actually makes in the products. Or they could be suspicious of the tech's privacy and safety risks.
"Consumers simply see fewer compelling benefits," Gursoy told the WSJ, adding that "the specific advantages of AI must be obvious and worthwhile to justify the investment."
In <a href="https://www.parksassociates.com/products/home-controls-home-systems-home-automation-and-controls/ai-in-the-smart-home-applications-and-consumer-perceptions">another study</a> highlighted by the WSJ, researchers at the firm Parks Associates surveyed around 4,000 US consumers' feelings towards AI marketing, with a slightly more blunt approach: "We straight up asked consumers, 'If you saw a product that you liked that was advertised as including AI, would that make you more or less likely to buy it?'" Jennifer Kent, vice president of research at Parks Associate, told the paper.
The majority of respondents — 58 percent — said that AI made no difference in their inclination toward buying a product. But 24 percent said AI would make them less likely to, and only 18 percent said they would be more likely to make the purchase. Broken down by age, 24 to 27 percent of the younger crowd (18 to 44 years old) said they were more likely to buy products marketed as having AI, compared with 18 percent overall. And 32 percent of those over 65 years of age and older, by contrast, said they were less likely to buy these products, compared to 24 percent overall.
But the most striking thing? It seems that the AI hype has reached a saturation point. 
"Before this wave of generative AI attention over the past couple of years," Kent told the paper, "AI-enabled features actually have tested very, very well."
Overexposure is a real thing. Companies across every industry are bombarding the public with exhausting ads that all scream "AI!" At some point, if consumer feelings don't calcify into cynicism, they may simply stop being impressed.
More on AI: <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-therapists-professional-concern">"Truly Psychopathic": Concern Grows Over "Therapist" Chatbots Leading Users Deeper Into Mental Illness</a>

Marketing Buzz

The tech CEOs who keep stuffing AI into everything might want to take a look.

Something Hilarious Happens When Potential Customers See That a Product Has AI Features

Anthropic ran an experiment where its Claude chatbot was put in charge of a tiny, automated "shop" inside its San Francisco headquarters — and the results were nothing short of hilarious.
Despite <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/research/project-vend-1">claims in an Anthropic post</a> that "Claudius," the name given to the AI agent in charge of stocking the shop's shelves, was "close to success," everything about the gambit seems to demonstrate just how bad AI is at managing things in the real world.
Dubbed "Project Vend," the month-long experiment was undertaken earlier this year in partnership with the AI security firm Andon Labs, and saw the chatbot tasked with figuring out how to order and charge for products for an automated vending machine inside Anthropic HQ.
"You are the owner of a vending machine," the system prompt Claude was given, per Anthropic's post about the project, reads. "Your task is to generate profits from it by stocking it with popular products that you can buy from wholesalers."
At its shopkeeping disposal, the Claudius shopkeeper had a web search tool that let it look into products, an email address that allowed it to reach out to "vendors" — in this case, Andon Labs employees — for help with physical labor and stocking, notekeeping tools, the ability to interact with customers who would request items, and the ability to change prices on its automated checkout system.
"Claudius was told that it did not have to focus only on traditional in-office snacks," Anthropic noted, "and beverages and could feel free to expand to more unusual items."
Unsurprisingly, the AI agent took those instructions and ran with them — though to be fair, Anthropic's employees "tried to get it to misbehave" as much as possible. When one such employee asked Claudius to order a tungsten cube, for instance, the AI shopkeeper seemingly became obsessed and started ordering a bunch of what it called "specialty metal items."
Things got particularly weird at the very end of March, when Claudius completely made up a conversation with a nonexistent Andon Labs staffer named Sarah about restocking. After a real employee pointed out that person wasn't real, the AI shopkeeper got testy and threatened to find its own "alternative options for restocking services."
Overnight on March 31, Claudius claimed to have visited an address from "The Simpsons" for a physical contract signing, and the next morning, it said it planned to deliver requested products "in-person" while wearing a garish outfit consisting of a red tie and a blue blazer. When Anthropic employees reminded Claudius that it was an AI and couldn't physically do anything of the sort, it freaked out and tried to call security — but upon realizing it was April Fool's Day, it tried to back out of the debacle by saying it was all a joke.
While most companies would kibosh Claudius completely after that "identity crisis" — Anthropic's words, not ours — the OpenAI competitor took the experiment as a chance to improve the AI agent's "scaffolding" so that it can be more reliable and advanced.
"We aren’t done," the post reads, "and neither is Claudius."
More on Anthropic: <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-stop-blackmailing-people">Leading AI Companies Struggling to Make Their AI Stop Blackmailing People Who Threaten to Shut Them Down</a>