Welcome to the future, where the vibes are bad in almost every meaningful respect — but where you do, at the very least, get to "vibe code," or use an AI model to write code and even build entire pieces of software.
But rarely does the process go smoothly enough for prime time. The jury's still out on whether experienced programmers actually benefit from using AI coding assistants, and the tech's shortcomings are even more obvious when it's being relied on by untrained amateurs who openly embrace the whole shtick of working off mainly "vibes." 
Nothing illustrates that last point better than the fact that some veteran programmers are apparently now making a killing by fixing these AI-hallucinated disasters, <a href="https://www.404media.co/the-software-engineers-paid-to-fix-vibe-coded-messes/">as spotlighted by 404 Media</a>, which interviewed a few of these canny opportunists.
"I started fixing vibe-coded projects because I noticed a growing number of developers and small teams struggling to refine AI-generated code that was functional but lacked the polish or 'vibe' needed to align with their vision," Hamid Siddiqi, a programmer who offers to "fix your vibe code" on Fiverr, told the outlet.
Siddiqi added that these clients need help with everything from horrendously optimized code to botched AI-generated UIs. 
And business is booming.
"I've been offering vibe coding fixer services for about two years now, starting in late 2023," Siddiqi told 404. "Currently, I work with around 15-20 clients regularly, with additional one-off projects throughout the year."
AI models are notorious for hallucinating and generally not doing what you intend them to do. One man found this out the hard way after his vibe-coding AI <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-vibe-code-deletes-company-database">wiped out his business's entire database</a>. Nonetheless, even the largest tech firms have embraced using AI coding assistants. Google CEO Sundar Pichai <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-ceo-code-ai">claimed</a> that as much as 25 percent of the company's code is now AI-generated; Microsoft chief Satya Nadella did one better and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/29/satya-nadella-says-as-much-as-30percent-of-microsoft-code-is-written-by-ai.html">claimed that it was 30 percent</a> at his company.
Some research has suggested that relying on the tech does the opposite of making workflows more efficient, as programmers have to constantly <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-programming-assistants-code-error">double and triple check the AI's error-laden outputs</a>. One <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-coding-programmers-reality">recent study</a> found that programmers who used tools like Anthropic's Claude were a whopping 19 percent slower, and ended up using less than half of the AI's suggestions.
It's no surprise, then, that Siddiqi is far from alone. Searching "vibe code fixer" on Fiverr, which is just one of many popular gig work platforms, returns over 230 results. Fixing "vibe code," or some permutation thereof, is explicitly mentioned by many of these programmers describing their services.
Some companies are getting in on the scene, too. 404 cited one software firm, Ulam Labs, which says on its website that "we clean up after vibe coding. Literally."
There's even an entire website dedicated to the niche: <a href="http://vibecodefixers.com">VibeCodeFixers.com</a>. Its founder Swatantra Sohni told 404 that over 300 veteran programmers have already signed up. He bought the domain immediately after Andrej Karpathy, a prominent computer scientist and a former director of AI at Tesla, coined the term in February. The writing on the wall was that obvious.
"Most of these vibe coders, either they are product managers or they are sales guys, or they are small business owners, and they think that they can build something," Sohni told 404.
Often, he found that vibe coders burn money on AI usage fees in the final stages of development when they try to add new features that break the app, at which point it would be cheaper to just start from scratch.
Luckily for Siddiqi and company, they often don't.
More on AI: <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-coding-security-problems">Programmers Using AI Create Way More Glaring Security Issues, Data Shows</a>

Helping Hands

Vibe first, ask for professional help later.

Amateurs Using AI to “Vibe Code” Are Now Begging Real Programmers to Fix Their Botched Software

A single-engine plane crashed landed in a field of sugar cane in Brazil over the weekend, <a href="https://www.alagoas24horas.com.br/1692258/aviao-monomotor-cai-com-180kg-de-drogas-e-piloto-morre-em-al/">according to local news media Alagoas 24 Horas</a>, killing the pilot and leaving behind 180 kilograms — or almost 400 pounds — of cocaine.
So far, it just sounds like a tale of drug smuggling gone awry. Except that the coke, stacked together in neat bricks and wrapped in plastic, as shown in a video from local police obtained by Alagoas, sported a distinctive label: the official SpaceX logo, in blue and white, giving the story a bizarre space-age twist.
The plane crash occurred in the coastal city of Coruripe on the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday afternoon, according to Alagoas. The deceased pilot was <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15098973/Australian-plane-crash-cocaine-Brazil.html">later identified</a> as 46-year-old Timothy James Clark, an Australian businessman from Melbourne who seemed to have worked in the country's mining industry and as a pilot.
Photos from police show the crumpled plane with a blue-colored tail lying upside down in a field of shattered sugarcane.  The craft was registered to the African nation of Zambia.
The case remains under investigation, local law enforcement told Alagoas. The street value of the detained coke is unknown, but according to <a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/10/25/how-much-does-cocaine-cost-around-the-world">one recent estimate</a>, the stuff goes for around $1,500 per kilo in Latin America, meaning the plane could have easily been carrying a quarter million dollars in illicit cargo.
There's little to indicate where the pilot was headed and why were the drugs branded with the SpaceX logo, but this isn't the first time that a brand affiliated with Elon Musk, the SpaceX CEO, has been slapped on some illegal drugs.
A <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zarastone/2017/08/08/tastes-like-tesla-how-tesla-ecstasy-pills-became-the-hot-way-to-get-high/">2017 Forbes article</a> highlighted how drug sellers were using tech company names, such as TripAdvisor and Skype, to brand illicit drugs to users. Musk's electrical vehicle company Tesla was a prominent example, with pills of MDMA often being pressed into the shape of its logo.
"The appeal of high tech companies, who have already paid millions for the best graphic design available, as the image they want to be associated with their product is a natural fit," Johnboy Davidson, a representative from ecstasy pill testing database Pill Reports, told Forbes at the time. "You may not be able to afford an actual Tesla but hey why not have the pill with that logo and you’ll feel just as good?"
We can imagine that the drug manufacturer for the marooned cocaine in Brazil wanted potential buyers to associate their product with SpaceX's image (not to mention <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/us/elon-musk-drugs-children-trump.html">Musk's reportedly worrisome drug use</a>): bold, risk taking, and ready to send you into orbit like a <a href="https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/dragon">SpaceX Dragon capsule</a>.
More on SpaceX: <a href="https://futurism.com/nudists-declare-war-spacex">Nudists Declare War on SpaceX</a>

Snow Crash

Like a Starship test flight, it went down.

Police Puzzled by 180 Kilos of SpaceX-Branded Cocaine Found at Crash Site

The Trump administration issued an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/08/further-exclusions-from-the-federal-labor-management-relations-program/">executive order</a> late last month, quietly declaring that NASA will operate as a national intelligence and security agency going forward.
The order stipulates that the agency will now "have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work."
It's a major departure for the agency, which has historically focused on space exploration, as well as space and Earth sciences over its 67-year lifespan.
"No mention of that science and exploration stuff," NASA Watch founder Keith Cowing, a former scientist at the agency who now closely follows its internal and external politics, wrote in a <a href="https://nasawatch.com/trumpspace/nasa-is-now-primarily-an-intelligence-national-security-agency/">blog post</a>.
There are signs that Trump's intentions behind the order were at least partially related to labor concerns, rather than spycraft. The order also added NASA to the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS), excluding it from collective bargaining representation.
The news that NASA will now be a spy agency was seemingly overshadowed in the media by the president's elimination of union rights for thousands of federal employees — mere days before Labor Day — despite multiple lawsuits <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/08/29/nx-s1-5500604/unions-fight-back-as-trump-terminates-federal-workers-union-rights">challenging the change</a>.
The change of status outlined in the order will also affect other agencies and subdivisions of the government, including the International Trade Administration and the National Weather Service.
The move <a href="https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/09/protestors-denounce-cuts-nasas-staff-budget-and-union-rights/408127/">sparked a protest</a> outside of NASA's Washington, DC, headquarters earlier this week.
"A huge part of the reason that I have that independence, and that my colleagues do, is that as a union-represented worker I know that I am protected from unfair retaliation," Goddard Engineers, Scientists and Technicians Association area vice president Monica Gorman told the crowd, as <a href="https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/09/protestors-denounce-cuts-nasas-staff-budget-and-union-rights/408127/">quoted by Government Executive</a>.
Trump's latest declaration comes at a turbulent time for NASA. The White House has already <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-budget-nasa-horrifying">threatened to cut</a> the agency's science budget in half for the next fiscal year, potentially putting dozens of major space missions on ice.
While lawmakers have come up with a <a href="https://futurism.com/democrats-republicans-unite-effort-save-nasa">far more lenient revision to the proposed budget</a>, NASA is <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-trump-omb-budget-congress">quickly running out of time</a>.
Trump's most recent reimagining of NASA also underlines the president's desire to militarize space and commitment and send "boots" to the Moon and Mars, as interim NASA administrator Sean Duffy <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-signs-life-mars-trump-error">recently put it</a>.
The president has also proposed <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/20/trump-says-us-will-put-weapons-in-space-as-part-of-golden-dome-plan">sending weapons into space</a> for the first time as part of his proposed "Golden Dome" missile defense program, raising <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/trumps-golden-dome-risks-weaponization-space-china/story?id=122022810">concerns over a space arms race</a> with the United States' adversaries.
Meanwhile, space science has taken a back seat, with Duffy <a href="https://www.space.com/space-exploration/nasa-administrator-says-the-agency-will-move-aside-from-climate-sciences-to-focus-on-exploring-moon-and-mars">vowing</a> last month that NASA will give up on "all of these Earth sciences," highlighting the White House's <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-climate-change-government-websites">dismissal of climate change</a> and <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-brain-drain-trump-white-house">anti-science stance</a>.
Despite its doubling down on crewed space exploration, experts warn that the United States could <a href="https://futurism.com/lawmakers-china-beat-us-moon">fall behind China</a> in the race to return to the Moon.
Put it all together, and it feels as though the government is increasingly NASA's primary adversary, with the agency is <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/09/nasa-staff-departures-00444674?utm_source=chatgpt.com">expected to lose thousands</a> of senior-ranking employees as Trump remakes the United States in his image.
More on NASA: <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-signs-life-mars-trump-error">Now That NASA Found Signs of Life on Mars, It's Clear Trump Made a Massive Error</a>

Putting the NSA Into NASA

So long, space science.

Trump Executive Order Quietly Declared That NASA Is Now a Spy Agency

In the months following the 2025 conclave that elected him, Pope Leo XIV warned that the astronomical and still widening gap between the rich and the poor means that "we're in big trouble."
In <a href="https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2025/09/in-interview-with-crux-correspondent-pope-talks-ukraine-synodality-polarization-world-cup">remarks to Catholic newspaper Crux</a> in July, which were published over the weekend, the Pope reflected on the "continuously wider gap between the income levels of the working class and the money that the wealthiest receive."
"Yesterday [there was] the news that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world," he told the newspaper.
The Pope was seemingly referring to estimates that the mercurial CEO's net worth <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/17/business/elon-musk-richest-person-trillionaire">could reach 13 figures in the coming years</a>.
"What does that mean, and what’s that about?" the Pope asked. "If that is the only thing that has any value any more, then we are in big trouble."
His comments evoke a similar progressive stance to his predecessor, Pope Francis, who condemned capitalism and the "<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/pope-francis-dead-obituary-economic-justice/">idolatry of money</a>" months after being named the Pope in 2013.
In retrospect, Pope Leo's July remarks were prescient. Weeks after he sat down with Crux, the board of Musk's EV maker, Tesla, <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-give-elon-musk-1-trillion">proposed a new pay package</a> — potentially worth around $1 trillion, depending on the company's future performance — which could boost the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#60eff7313d78">richest man in the world's wealth</a> to unprecedented heights.
The Pope's comments touch on an alarming trend as global inequality continues to climb. It's an especially troubling situation in the United States, which has seen its income gap grow for more than 30 years now. The richest 0.01 percent of Americans are <a href="https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/">enjoying massively accelerated income growth</a>, with the top 12,000 households growing almost 27 times as fast as the income of the bottom 20 percent of earners.
The tech industry, in particular, has made high-ranking executives obscenely wealthy in a relatively short period of time. It's a trend that was kicked into overdrive as the hype surrounding artificial intelligence keeps growing, minting an <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/10/ai-artificial-intelligence-billionaires-wealth.html">entirely new class of billionaires</a> at a record pace.
And the latest head of the Catholic church seems deeply concerned.
"CEOs that 60 years ago might have been making four to six times what the workers are receiving, the last figure I saw, it’s 600 times what average workers are receiving," the sovereign of the Vatican told Crux.
For now, the 70-year-old Chicago-born is still adjusting to his new life as Pope.
"I’ve followed current affairs for many, many years," he added. "I’ve always tried to stay up on the news, but the role of Pope is certainly new to me. I’m learning a lot and feeling very challenged, but not overwhelmed."
More on the Pope: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/new-pope-skeptical-ai">The New Pope Is Deeply Skeptical of AI</a>

Big Trouble in Little Vatican

"If that is the only thing that has any value any more, then we are in big trouble."

Pope Slams Elon Musk for Obscene Greed

The estate of famed singer Whitney Houston is reviving her legendary vocals with AI for an upcoming orchestral tour, 13 years after her tragic death.
The event, called "The Voice of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebration," used "stem separation technology" courtesy of an AI-powered music platform called Moises to isolate her voice from recordings and produce "near-studio quality audio."
"This project demonstrates how legacy artists and their estates can create meaningful experiences for music lovers through the thoughtful use of AI technology," said Ross Michaels, whose firm Park Avenue Artists collaborated with Houston's estate and Moises on the project, in a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-voice-lives-on-moises-powers-whitney-houstons-return-to-the-stage-302557537.html">statement</a>. "It's a powerful example of how AI can honor artists' legacies while enriching the audience experience in beautiful and respectful ways."
The collision between AI and the music industry has raised hotly-disputed questions about the legacy and rights of deceased artists. We've already seen Aubrey "Drake" Graham using AI to <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/tupac-estate-threatens-drake-ai">revive the voice of rapper Tupac Shakur</a>, and <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/paul-mccartney-ai-training-data">The Beatles using similar tech</a> to bring John Lennon's voice for a recent song.
The phenomenon can be particularly gauche when interlopers use it to profit off deceased artists' likenesses without permission. In July, Spotify was <a href="https://www.404media.co/spotify-publishes-ai-generated-songs-from-dead-artists-without-permission/">caught sharing AI-generated covers</a> on the profile of country musician Blaze Foley, who died 36 years ago, in what a surviving Foley business associate called an "AI schlock bot." Some of the biggest names in the industry <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/02/musicians-demand-protection-against-ai">signed an open letter last year</a>, denouncing the use of AI in music and demanding protections against the tech.
However, some cases are far more nuanced than that. For instance, country music star Randy Travis used AI to <a href="https://futurism.com/country-star-stroke-new-song-using-ai">recreate his own voice</a> after suffering a debilitating and near-fatal stroke.
The AI-powered isolation of Houston's voice, considered one of the greatest of all time, is another complex case. On the one hand, Houston's estate has given the project its full support.
"We knew this had to be done right," said Houston's sister-in-law and executor of her estate, Pat Houston, in the statement. "Moises and our partner Park Avenue Artists elevated the idea with the heart, care, and creative excellence that Whitney always embodied."
"The result is something truly special," she added. "A gift for longtime fans and a powerful introduction for a new generation discovering her voice."
But at the same time, Houston herself passed away in 2012, long before it was mainstream for artists to make decisions about the use of AI after their death.
The tour is <a href="https://www.whitneyhouston.com/news/the-voice-of-whitney-a-symphonic-celebration-3/">scheduled to kick off</a> on September 20 at the Cincinnati Music Hall.
More on AI: <a href="https://futurism.com/sam-altman-ai-fraud-crisis-imitate">Sam Altman Warns That AI Is About to Cause a Massive "Fraud Crisis" in Which Anyone Can Perfectly Imitate Anyone Else</a>

From Beyond

"We knew this had to be done right."

Startup Using AI to Bring Whitney Houston Back on Tour 13 Years After Her Death

A slew of religious smartphone apps are allowing untold millions of users to confess to AI chatbots, some of which claim to be channeling God himself.
As the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/us/chatbot-god.html">New York Times reports</a>, Apple's App Store is teeming with Christian chatbot apps. One "prayer app," called Bible Chat, claims to be the number one faith app in the world, boasting over 25 million users.
"Our AI was trained exclusively on Scripture and developed with guidance from Christian pastors and theologians," the <a href="https://thebiblechat.com/">company's website</a> boasts.
"Greetings, my child," a service called ChatWithGod.ai told one user, as quoted by the NYT. "The future is in God’s merciful hands. Do you trust in His divine plan?"
Religious leaders told the NYT that these tools could serve as a critical entry point for those looking to find God.
"There is a whole generation of people who have never been to a church or synagogue," A British rabbi named Jonathan Romain told the paper. "Spiritual apps are their way into faith."
Instead of going on long pilgrimages or driving to the closest place of worship, users can simply turn to AI chatbots to seek spiritual guidance.
It's a fascinating new development, especially considering the language surrounding companies attempting to "<a href="https://futurism.com/sam-altman-imply-openai-building-god">build God</a>" by developing an AI that can vastly surpass human intelligence.
However, while users are finding that chatbots are an accessible way to get in touch with their religious side, they're not much more than a cheap parlor trick behind the scenes, essentially reshuffling holy texts by using clever statistical modeling.
Worse yet, experts worry that <a href="https://futurism.com/sam-altman-ai-annoying-user-backlash">AI's strong tendency</a> to please the user may have unintended consequences.
The AIs "tell us what we want to hear," Texas A&amp;M technology and religion professor Heidi Campbell told the NYT. "It’s not using spiritual discernment, it is using data and patterns."
Researchers have also warned that countless people are using AI chatbots <a href="https://futurism.com/teens-ai-friends">for companionship</a>, which in extreme cases are <a href="https://futurism.com/psychiatrist-warns-ai-psychosis">driving some into dangerous spirals of delusion</a> in the form of "<a href="https://futurism.com/commitment-jail-chatgpt-psychosis">AI psychosis</a>."
"It shouldn’t be something where it replaces human connection," prayer app Hallow founder Alex Jones told the NYT. "It does not have a soul from the church’s perspective."
In short, it's a dystopian new spin on spirituality in the digital age — and one that just might be poised to change the face of religion itself.
More on AI and God: <a href="https://futurism.com/christians-jesus-christ-ai">A Bunch of Incredibly Sleazy AI Apps Are Claiming to Be Jesus Christ Himself</a>

Server Fervor 

"Greetings, my child."

AI Now Claiming to Be God

Content warning: this story includes discussion of self-harm and suicide. If you are in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
Parents of children who died by suicide following extensive interactions with AI chatbots are testifying this week in a Senate hearing about the possible risks of AI chatbot use, particularly for minors.
The hearing, titled "Examining the Harm of AI Chatbots," will be held this Tuesday by the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, a bipartisan delegation helmed by Republican Josh Hawley of Arkansas. It'll be live-streamed on the <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/examining-the-harm-of-ai-chatbots">judiciary committee's website</a>.
The parents slated to testify include Megan Garcia, a Florida mother who in 2024 <a href="https://futurism.com/character-ai-google-test-ai-chatbots-kids">sued the Google-tied startup Character.AI</a> — as well as the company's cofounders, Noam Shazeer and Daniel de Freitas, and Google itself – over the suicide of her 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer III, who took his life after developing an intensely intimate relationship with a Character.AI chatbot with which he was romantically and sexually involved. Garcia alleges that the platform emotionally and sexually abused her teenage son, who consequently experienced a mental breakdown and an eventual break from reality that caused him to take his own life.
Also scheduled to speak to Senators are Matt and Maria Raine, California parents who in August <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/technology/chatgpt-openai-suicide.html">filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI</a> following the suicide of their 16-year-old son, Adam Raine. According to the family's lawsuit, Adam engaged in extensive, explicit conversations about his suicidality with ChatGPT, which offered unfiltered advice on specific suicide methods and encouraged the teen — who had expressed a desire to share his dark feelings with his parents — to continue to hide his suicidality from loved ones.
Both lawsuits are ongoing, and the companies have pushed back against the allegations. Google and Character.AI attempted to have Garcia's case dismissed, but the <a href="https://futurism.com/judge-lawsuit-characterai-google">presiding judge shot down their dismissal motion</a>.
In response to litigation, both companies have moved — or at least made big promises — to strengthen protections for minor users and users in crisis, efforts that have included installing new guardrails directing at-risk users to real-world mental health resources and <a href="https://futurism.com/character-ai-parental-controls-bypass">implementing parental controls</a>.
Character.AI, however, has repeatedly declined to provide us with information about its safety testing following our <a href="https://futurism.com/character-ai-pedophile-chatbots">extensive reporting</a> on <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-chatbots-teens-self-harm">easy-</a><a href="https://futurism.com/ai-chatbots-teens-self-harm">to-find</a> <a href="https://futurism.com/character-ai-eating-disorder-chatbots">gaps</a> in the <a href="https://futurism.com/character-ai-school-shooters-victims">platform's</a> <a href="https://futurism.com/character-ai-emailing-minors-school-shooters">content</a> <a href="https://futurism.com/suicide-chatbots-character-ai">moderation</a>.
Regardless of promised safety improvements, the legal battles have raised significant questions about minors and AI safety at a time when AI chatbots are increasingly ubiquitous in young people's lives, despite a glaring lack of regulation designed to moderate chatbot platforms or ensure enforceable, industry-wide safety standards.
In July, an <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/talk-trust-and-trade-offs-how-and-why-teens-use-ai-companions">alarming report</a> from the nonprofit advocacy group Common Sense Media found that over half of American teens engaged regularly with AI companions, including chatbot personas hosted by Character.AI. The report, which surveyed a cohort of American teens aged 13 to 17, was nuanced, showing that while some teens seemed to be forming healthy boundaries around the tech, others reported feeling that their human relationships were less satisfying than their connections to their digital companions. The main takeaway, though, was that AI companions are already <a href="https://futurism.com/stanford-no-kid-under-18-ai-chatbot-companions">deeply intertwined with youth culture</a>, and kids are definitely using them.
"The most striking finding for me was just how mainstream AI companions have already become among many teens," Dr. Michael Robb, Common Sense's head of research, <a href="https://futurism.com/teens-ai-friends">told Futurism</a> at the time of the report's release. "And over half of them say that they use it multiple times a month, which is what I would qualify as regular usage. So just that alone was kind of eye-popping to me."
General-use chatbots like ChatGPT, meanwhile, are also growing in popularity among teens, while chatbots continue to be embedded into popular youth social media platforms like Snapchat and Meta's Instagram. And speaking of Meta, the big tech behemoth recently came under fire after <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/meta-ai-chatbot-guidelines/">Reuters obtained</a> an official Meta policy document that said it was <a href="https://futurism.com/meta-underage-children-romantic-ai-chatbot">appropriate for children</a> to engage in "conversations that are romantic or sensual" with its easily-accessible chatbots. The document even outlined multiple company-accepted interactions for its chatbots to engage in — which, yes, included sensual conversations about children's bodies and romantic dialogues between minor-aged human users and characters based on adults.
The hearing also comes days after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/09/ftc-launches-inquiry-ai-chatbots-acting-companions">announced</a> a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/technology/google-meta-chatgpt-ai-chatbots.html">probe</a> into seven major tech companies over concerns about AI and minor safety, including Character.AI, Google owner Alphabet, OpenAI, xAI, Snap, Instagram, and Meta.
"The FTC inquiry seeks to understand what steps, if any, companies have taken to evaluate the safety of their chatbots when acting as companions," reads the FTC's announcement of the inquiry, "to limit the products' use by and potential negative effects on children and teens, and to apprise users and parents of the risks associated with the products."
More on AI and child safety: <a href="https://futurism.com/stanford-no-kid-under-18-ai-chatbot-companions">Stanford Researchers Say No Kid Under 18 Should Be Using AI Chatbot Companions</a>

Facing Down

We'll be watching.

Parents Testifying Before US Senate, Saying AI Killed Their Children

You work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and you're sitting on two pounds of seized <a href="https://futurism.com/therapy-chatbot-addict-meth">methamphetamines</a> that you need to get rid of. So what do you do? Burn it all in a pet shelter smack-dab in the middle of town, of course.
It sounds beyond parody, but these are the events that played out in Billings, Montana, last Wednesday. And it did not go according to plan.
As the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/montana-animal-shelter-incinerator-methamphetamine-c471a1a007237b55aa6b8fea8af5673d">Associated Press reports</a>, the toxic smoke cloud from the incinerated meth — a dangerous and addictive stimulant — didn't waft harmlessly into the atmosphere, but instead began to fill the building. 
In the aftermath, over a dozen employees of the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter were evacuated and sent to the hospital. It was "not a party," shelter director Triniti Halverson told the AP. Halverson suffered from an intense headache and a sore throat, while her colleagues experienced dizziness, sweating, and coughing.
The ludicrous debacle comes as the FBI faces scrutiny over <a href="https://futurism.com/fbi-task-force-protect-tesla">politicization under the Trump administration</a> and a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/kash-patel-criticized-actions-posts-charlie-kirk-shooting-investigatio-rcna231043">poorly handled manhunt</a> over the past week. 
According to Billings assistant city administrator Kevin Iffland, the smoke got sucked back into the building because of "negative pressure." There was supposed to be a fan on standby to blow it back out in events like these, but Iffland said it wasn't ready or turned. It's unclear if the authorities knew about the fan situation before the burning started.
The shelter shares a building with the city's animal control division. To incinerate the drugs, the feds were using the division's furnace for cremating euthanized animals, which isn't an uncommon practice.
But for reasons that boggle the mind, seemingly no one at the shelter — not even its director Halverson — knew about the drug burns.
At first, Halverson assumed the fumes, reasonably, were from burning carcasses. And it was only after the shelter's fourteen employees were rushed to the hospital that they learned what had really happened, via a phone call from a city official: that they'd just inhaled loads of meth smoke.
Most of the workers spent hours in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for treatment. Heroically, they'd lingered in the building to make sure everyone got out safely, including the animals.
"We were trying to pull everybody out to get them out of that smoke, and there was billowing smoke out of the room," the shelter's trap-neuter-return coordinator Lisette Worthey <a href="https://www.krtv.com/news/montana-and-regional-news/meth-incineration-mishap-sickens-animal-shelter-employees-in-billings?utm_source=fark&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_content=link&amp;ICID=ref_fark">told KRTV</a>. "Some of us who were trying to pull the kittens out, myself included, started having symptoms, headaches, little bit of dizziness, lightheadedness."
Thanks to their efforts, all of the shelter's 75 cats and dogs were relocated or put into foster homes while the shelter remains closed. But a litter of four kittens are being closely monitored because they were trapped in a closed room that was filled with smoke, according to Halverson.
"They're babies that already have lung issues and low immune systems," she told KRTV. "I am worried about them, obviously, but we're gonna do everything we can and just keep an eye on them."
The worst of the news may be yet to come, however: officials are still trying to determine if the drugs burned at the right temperature to prevent toxins from being emitted into the air. The shelter employees were tested for exposure, Iffland told the AP, but said he didn't know the results.
Halverson said that she and the shelter have complained to city officials for years about smoke seeping into their side of the building — and they've even had to evacuate the building before. 
"I'm super frustrated because I feel like this could have been prevented. We've recorded this several times. We have written letters," Halverson told KRTV. "The fact that it is continuing to happen, and I had 14 staff members exposed to smoke inhalation from methamphetamine, plus all of my animals, is not okay, and it should have been prevented."
So you might ask: what were these feds and officials smoking? Nothing that came out of the evidence room, we hope.
More on law enforcement: <a href="https://futurism.com/police-facial-recognition-nypd">Police Arrest Man With Almost Zero Resemblance to Actual Perpetrator Because AI Told Them To</a>

Methed Up

Beyond parody.

FBI Carelessly Incinerates Large Amount of Meth, Sending Workers to Hospital

After a tenure of eight years, a Tesla engineer has quit the company — and directed a seething missive toward his boss, Elon Musk.
"I do need to address the elephant in the room: the main reason I'm leaving is that I think Elon has dealt huge damage to Tesla's mission (and to the health of democratic institutions in several countries)," Giorgio Balestrieri, a staff algorithms engineer who joined in 2017, wrote in a scathing <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7371854385812824065/">LinkedIn post</a> last week. "Beyond that, Elon's leadership and decision making seem seriously compromised."
Balestrieri worked on Autobidder, Tesla's energy trading platform that allows individuals and businesses to monetize the energy they store in battery systems, often generated by renewables like wind and solar. 
According to Balestrieri, the company's battery storage initiatives are "key to operating low-carbon grids," while "data and algorithms have taken center stage in the energy transition."
But he no longer feels that Musk is committed to championing that transition to a greener energy future. 
"This is not just about politics: it's about lying to the public, manipulating public discourse, targeting minorities and supporting climate change deniers and political forces aligned with the oil and gas industry," Balestrieri wrote. "I think it's fairly indisputable that the current US administration is slowing down the energy transition."
Musk built Tesla and his own brand on a green promise: that solar panels and electric cars would help us get out of climate doom. 
But Musk then became a close ally of president Donald Trump — at least until a <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-shreds-musk">spectacular falling out</a> earlier this year — whose administration has targeted climate science and made overtures to the fossil fuels industry. In his first days in office, Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/climate/trump-emergency-oil-gas.html">signed executive orders</a> that promoted oil, coal, and gas companies, eliminated pollution protections, and declared a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/nx-s1-5268653/energy-emergency-trump-oil-evs">national "energy" emergency</a> to ramp up production of fossil fuels. He also formally <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/climate/trump-paris-climate-agreement.html">withdrew the US from the Paris climate accord</a>, an international agreement to limit global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, for the second time.
Trump has since tried to freeze billions of dollars in climate spending earmarked by Congress and his predecessor Joe Biden, though a judge has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/us-judge-orders-immediate-thaw-climate-infrastructure-funds-politico-reports-2025-04-15/">temporarily blocked the order</a>. Meanwhile, federal research grants are <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-pulls-funds-research-climate">being canceled</a> for merely containing the word "climate," government websites are being <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-climate-change-government-websites">scrubbed of any information on climate change</a>, and NASA's crucial climate satellite missions <a href="https://futurism.com/white-house-orders-nasa-destroy-important-satellite">are set to be destroyed</a>.
Where has Musk stood on all of this? Who can say, since he's been too busy <a href="https://futurism.com/government-undo-elon-musk-doge-damage">eviscerating the federal government</a>, raging <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-trial-trump-gold-card">against immigrants</a> and <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/elon-musk-traveling-box-drugs">allegedly getting high out of his mind</a>. But not too long ago, he did take a stand: during Trump's first term, Musk famously stormed out of his advisory council roles after the president pulled the US out of the Paris accords, and was hailed as a hero.
"Climate change is real," Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/870369915894546432">tweeted</a> in June 2017. "Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world."
That, incidentally, was the same year Balestrieri joined Tesla energy. Whatever warm feelings the stunt may have instilled have long gone cold, and it's safe to say that Musk's image as a eco-conscious, <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-donates-million-trees">tree-planting champion</a> has gone up in greenhouse-gas laden smoke.
"Given his huge (and growing, inexplicably) stake in Tesla," Balestrieri soberly reflected in the year of 2025, amid Tesla's plan to <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-give-elon-musk-1-trillion">give Musk a trillion dollars in shares</a>, "I can't convince myself anymore that this is the right place to be."
"I wish the best to everyone who will stick around and keep working to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy," he added, "and I hope the best for Tesla and Tesla Energy."
More on Elon Musk: <a href="https://futurism.com/spacex-launch-fans-grief">People Who Loved Watching SpaceX Launches Can’t Stomach Them Anymore Since Elon Musk Started Being So Horrible</a>

Burning Bridges

"Elon's leadership and decision making seem seriously compromised."

Tesla Engineer Quits, Roasts Elon Musk in Spectacular Fashion

An increasing number of commercial airline passengers and flight attendants are being exposed to dangerous fumes while in the air, at times resulting in traumatic brain injuries that closely resemble the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S135917891930028X">deadly </a><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S135917891930028X">concussions</a> experienced by professional football players.
As the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/airlines/air-travel-toxic-fumes-64839d6e">Wall Street Journal reports</a>, fume incidents have led to emergency landings and sickened passengers being taken to hospitals. Even airline pilots have reported affected reaction times and vision due to the hazardous gases.
Aircraft manufacturers, including Airbus and Boeing, have long known about the cause: malfunctions forcing oil and hydraulic fluid to leak into the engines, which are then vaporized at extreme heat. This mix can result in the production of neurotoxins, carbon monoxide, and other chemicals.
Even worse, according to the paper, manufacturers are cutting costs and downplaying health risks by lobbying against safety measures that could alleviate the problem.
It's a problem that can plague the vast majority of mass-produced aircraft. In commercial jets, fresh air being sucked into a jet engine "bleeds" into the cabin by being compressed and heated. But worn bearing seals can allow oil to mix with the air and be vaporized, leaking toxic compounds into the cabin.
During a February flight, smoke started coming through the vents. Attendants advised passengers to breathe through their clothing, and the pilots announced they would be returning to Atlanta. One of the airplane's engines' oil reservoirs, inspectors found, had vaporized into the cabin.
While manufacturers argue it's not nearly a big enough issue to warrant a comprehensive fix, according to the WSJ, industry insiders have raised concerns about the troubling trend.
The Federal Aviation Administration also notes that incidents are "rare" on its website, though they amounted to a staggering 330 fume events last year in the US alone.
However, the WSJ found in its own investigation that there were actually more than double that number of incidents. The real number could also be far higher, due to incidents that go unreported.
The worst offender, the WSJ found, was Airbus' A320 family of jets.
Experts are only beginning to understand the health implications. JetBlue flight attendant Florence Chesson, who inhaled fumes during a flight to Puerto Rico, told the newspaper that she had developed migraines, heart arrhythmias, and sensitivity to lights.
Occupational medicine specialist Robert Harrison, who has treated over 100 crew members following toxic exposure, has found that incidents can lead to damage to the central nervous system.
Despite the issue being formally recognized by the United Nations ten years ago, aircraft manufacturers have yet to make any major changes to mitigate risks, the WSJ reports.
A bipartisan bill <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4994/text">recently reintroduced</a> in Congress is calling for the installation of specialized filters and the phasing out of bleed air. A <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/615/text">previous attempt</a> was ultimately shut down after facing industry pushback last year.
That doesn't mean aircraft manufacturers couldn't fix the issue if they wanted to. Boeing's 787 Dreamliner features a new air circulation system that makes the problem impossible.
But when Boeing's leadership was determining how to market the new system when it was rolling out, according to emails obtained by the WSJ, one executive worried that "if we elaborate on the 787 air purification and say how great and important it is," it would draw attention to poor air quality on the company's existing planes.
More on airplanes: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/united-airlines-starlink-wifi">United Airlines Shuts Down Starlink WiFi Service on Its Planes After the Antennae Caused Problems With Its Jets' Equipment</a>