A.I.-Generated Ads Flood the Midterms, and Teenager Kills 4 at Oregon Elementary School

From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracey Mumford. Today's Friday, October 16th. Here's what we're covering. Across the country, TV and social media have been flooded with a wave of political ads that were made with AI. Hi, I'm Zoran Mamdani. And I'm Kathy Hochul. And together we're making New York. Don't say affordable. Right. An analysis by a research group at Wesleyan University looked at more than 200 midterm ads that used AI-generated imagery and found that candidates and political action groups spent nearly $140 million promoting them. James stumbled the worst trying to explain why he said President Trump couldn't be trusted. The AI tweaks range from small, innocuous edits to full-on deep fakes of prominent Democrats and candidates locked in tight races. For example, one ad from the group Make Oklahoma Great Again showed a fake clip of a Democratic candidate hugging and holding hands with Hillary Clinton. And another ad showed an AI version of Michigan's Democratic Senate candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, laughing at cards that read Death to America and Celebrate 9-11. According to the Wesleyan analysis, an overwhelming majority of the ads, more than 80 percent, were produced by Republicans, or groups that back the GOP. The researchers suggested that Democrats have used AI much less because their supporters are more critical of the technology. In all, the co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project said there are likely many more AI-powered ads out there than what researchers found, especially because most don't have a disclaimer identifying them as AI-generated. Many lawmakers have been working to crack down on this and push for more. But in 20 states, there are no laws requiring AI disclosures for political ads. Meanwhile, with the midterms now just 18 days away, The Times has been looking at a key group of voters who could play a deciding factor, young Americans. They helped propel President Trump to victory in 2024 in a surprise rightward swing. Historically, the group was a shoo-in for Democrats. Now, though, recent Times-Siena polling has found that young voters don't seem to be sticking with Republicans. Among young women, support for the party has plunged to just 13 percent. And among young men, it's also dropped off. I talked to a 21-year-old in California who said he voted for Donald Trump in 2024 because he was worried about the economy and because so many of his friends were telling him that Trump would make the economy better. Now he feels like costs are spiraling and he's looking to the future. I asked the Democrats for answers. My colleague Ruth Agelnik has been talking to young voters across the country. We talked to one man in Iowa. He's feeling really frustrated about the economy, prices of gas and housing. He's had a lot of his friends take second jobs. We also talked to Remy, who lives in Kansas. He feels like Trump has gone too far on immigration. He really feels like Trump has also not done a good job on the economy. That's a theme that came up over and over and over in these conversations. My takeaway was really that young voters are not going to win. Young voters are frustrated with Donald Trump. They're frustrated with Republicans. But a lot of them are also really turned off from the process. They're frustrated with both parties, and many of them said that they wouldn't vote. On today's episode of The Daily. If you had to rank on a scale of 1 to 10, like how much you trust both the Republican and the Democratic Party, what would you say the number is for both of them? Both are squarely at like twos and threes. There's a closer look at how one young voter, a 25-year-old corn and soybean farmer, is weighing. Whether to stick with Republicans or support the Democrats who are trying to win his vote. I view my vote now as less of like an extension of me as a citizen and more as like a weapon. Like, I can withhold that vote if I need to. And even worse, I can give that vote to the other party if I have to. In a social media post, President Trump said that the controversial plan to live stream the execution of a former army officer at Fort Hood has been called off. The officer was convicted of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage at the base in Texas back in 2009. And when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid out the plan to broadcast the execution last week, he framed it as a way to deter other attacks, saying, quote, People need to understand that there's serious consequences. for these types of things. Almost instantly, the decision set off intense backlash from lawmakers of both parties, from faith leaders, even from a sergeant who was wounded during the attack. Critics called it barbaric and unnecessary. In an open letter, dozens of retired admirals, generals, and other military officers warned that live streaming the execution would violate basic human dignity and turn the party's attention to the military. into what they called a carnival for the enjoyment of voyeurs. One former commanding general of Fort Hood also told the Times that broadcasting the execution from the base would risk making it a target for retribution in the future. In his post, Trump wrote that, quote, Many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch him die, saying that now only immediate family members of the victims will be allowed to watch the execution in person in December. According to Tuesday, two senior U.S. officials, many Pentagon leaders and members of the military's joint staff, who'd been surprised and shocked by Hegseth's plan to broadcast the execution, were relieved to learn that the decision had been reversed. In Bend, Oregon yesterday, There are not really any words I can say to any of you that will make this better. But please know that we are working hard to ensure that we conduct a thorough investigation. Officials say a teenage gunman shot his way through locked doors to enter an elementary school, where he killed four people and critically injured two others. The deceased at the scene include three children, ages 5, 8, and 11, and one teacher. Bend's chief of police said the gunman was a 16-year-old from the area, and that he was killed by an armed bystander who saw the attack unfolding and went into the school after him. Oregon's governor called the police to call the police. The governor called the bystander a hero, saying, Officials haven't publicly named the bystander, the victims, or the gunman. They also haven't given details about what kind of weapon was used in the attack. Oregon has more restrictions on gun ownership than most other states. Last night, hundreds of people gathered in Bend for a candlelight vigil, where the Times spoke with the mother of a 9-year-old girl, whose teacher at another elementary school nearby suddenly turned off the lights and locked the door when news of the shooting spread and it was unclear if there was a wider threat. The mother said, quote, We had a talk on the drive home and I had to just explain to her that this can happen anywhere. And finally, 20 years ago at the Paris Motor Show, one of the big events in the car world, Chinese carmakers were easy to miss. The spotlight was all on giants like General Motors. Now, though, they are a force. This week in Paris, more than 20 Chinese brands showed off their designs as they try to expand their customer base. It's not simple. They are shut out of the U.S. And the E.U. has tried to curb the influx of low-cost Chinese cars there to protect its own auto industry. But. There's massaging seats that are very comfortable. The companies have ambitious goals to win over European customers. So you can move the car, you can remote park it, you can precondition the interior to get it toasty, you can lock the car, you can find its location. Car reviewers have been posting about electric Chinese vehicles like those made by the brand Xpeng for a while. We can have mattress mode, which is the seats all the way to the front, and then you lie in the back. And at the Paris show, the Times talked with one potential buyer who was excited by features that are increasingly common in cars from Chinese companies. A 21-inch ceiling-mounted screen, seats with massage functions, and a refrigerator. To keep growing their share of the European market, Chinese companies are expanding their manufacturing, manufacturing footprint on the continent to get around import restrictions. There are factories in Spain and Austria, and plans for more in Hungary and possibly France. Overall, Chinese brands are rapidly gaining ground in Europe. They now account for one in every 10 vehicles sold there, and they have momentum. The company BYD's sales in Europe more than doubled this year, and the JQ7, which some have dubbed the Timu Range Rover, was the best-selling vehicle in Britain. written last month. Those are the headlines. If you'd like to play the Friday News Quiz, stick around. It's just after these credits. And if you are not a Time subscriber yet, you can get a full month of free access to all of the journalism we publish when you download the Times app now. This show is made by Will Jarvis, Margaret Kadifa, Jake Lucas, Jan Stewart, and me, Tracy Mumford. Original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Sam Dolnick, Miles McKinley, Zoe Murphy, and Chris Wood. Now time for the quiz. Every week, we ask you a few questions about stories the Times has been covering. Can you get them all? Here we go. Ahead of the midterms, one major political figure who is not running herself is getting in the game another way. She's teaming up on a new podcast, which will cover the race to control Congress. This politician has had a podcast of her own before. Where, in one episode, she even interviewed her own husband. People might be wondering what we've been saying for 50 years. Well, this will give them a little glimpse. Your question, who is getting back into podcasting ahead of the election? The answer? Hillary Clinton. The midterms podcast is called High Stakes, which Clinton echoed in an interview with the Times, saying, quote, I don't think. The stakes for the country and the world could be any higher. Now, if naming Clinton was too easy for you, we're going to challenge you to name a few other politicians who have launched their own shows. I'll play the clip. You name who it is. We need to change the conversation. And that's why I'm launching a new podcast. And this is going to be anything but the ordinary politician. That's Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, on his podcast. This is Gavin Newsom. Next one. Well, as we get closer and closer to Election Day, the world gets crazier and crazier. We're now less than a month away from Election Day. That is Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on his podcast, Verdict, which does as many as three episodes a week. And finally, this one's a gimme. How did we get here? America as divided as it's been in our lifetimes. That's former President Barack Obama. But the real question is, who was his podcast? Co-host. Just to paint a picture here, we've got, how many guitars you got up in here? We're looking at the house of a thousand guitars right now. I haven't counted them all. It was Bruce Springsteen. The boss and Obama had a podcast together back in 2021 called Renegades. I will just say that the politician with the best podcast name is Bill Clinton, who called his show, Why Am I Telling You? Why Am I Telling You This? Okay, moving on. Researchers recently had the chance to examine an astonishingly well-preserved skeleton of a dinosaur that was found in China. It was discovered by a farmer in an outcrop of rocks that date back more than 120 million years. Scientists are now studying its sharp claws, its mouth full of teeth, and the surprising fact that it had four what? Ears. The answer? It had wings on its arms, wings on its legs, so wings made up of quill pen feathers. It had four wings, as one paleontologist described to the magazine New Scientist. The newly identified species, the neural raptor, is about the size of a crow, and it may not be the only winged creature to surface. In recent years, research in paleontology. has suggested there were probably more kinds of flying dinosaurs than scientists previously thought. And last question. A small town in Wales recently held its annual festival devoted to a very famous American performer. The town, Porthcawl, which is a former vacation hotspot for Welsh coal miners, is a slightly odd place to celebrate this artist, considering he never performed. But the festival is a huge draw. As many as 40,000 people from around the world go, basically doubling the town's population. Your question? Who are these avid fans celebrating? To help you out, I'm going to play a very short clip from backstage where the tribute artists were warming up. Please again, I am with the tide, never more happy unless it's mine. The answer? Elvis Presley. That is a cover posted by the Porthcawl Male Voice Choir, which is one of the acts that participates every year. The festival has been going for more than two decades, and people in the working-class town say they identify. with Elvis's own humble beginnings. The flashy fashion is also a big plus, with attendees decked out in jumpsuits and sequins, and a whole separate costume contest just for dogs. Excuse me, hound dogs. That is it for this week's news quiz. If you want to tell us how you did, our email is theheadlines at nytimes.com. I'm Tracey Mumford. Have a great weekend, and the show will be back on Monday with my. colleague, Will Jarvis.