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Bioweapon threat exposed as Anthropic sounds alarm on foreign actors plotting virus experiments
Anthropic's safeguards have blocked some attempts involving enhanced pandemic pathogens, but researchers are finding ways to evade restrictions and use AI models for potentially dangerous biological work, highlighting the dual-use nature of biological capabilities. Researchers outside the United States used frontier AI models to plan experiments involving highly pathogenic bird flu, chikungunya and other biological agents with potential weapons applications, according to a new threat report from Anthropic. The researchers used AI to study viruses' transmissibility and immune evasion, investigate orthopoxvirus immune-response genes and help design novel toxins at times while taking steps to evade safeguards meant to restrict access to dangerous biological capabilities. Anthropic detailed five cases in the report published Thursday but withheld the countries, institutions and specific biological agents involved. The company stressed that it is not claiming the researchers intended to develop biological weapons. Ai Kill Switch Bill Could Shut Down Rogue Models The findings offer a concrete glimpse at a threat that has largely been discussed in hypothetical terms. Scientists who already possess biological expertise, materials and laboratory access are using increasingly powerful AI systems to accelerate sensitive dual-use research. They also land amid a renewed debate over catastrophic AI risks. Jacob Coxon, a former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher, recently resigned while accusing the companies of "racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives." His warning drew more than 100 million views on X. Read On The Fox News App Sen Bernie Sanders: Yes, We Must Hit The Pause Button On Ai Before It Is Too Late Evan Hubinger, Anthropic's alignment science lead, separately said he personally believed there was a greater than 10% chance AI could kill all humans within the next decade. But Anthropic's report points to a threat that is already taking shape: researchers using frontier AI for potentially dangerous biological work, circumventing geographic restrictions and adapting when the models' safeguards get in their way. In one case, Anthropic blocked a grant application for chikungunya gain-of-function research at a military research institute. The proposed work focused on identifying mutations that could increase the virus's transmissibility and ability to evade the immune system. The researchers planned to engineer those mutations into infectious clones and repeatedly pass the virus through live animals, selecting for variants that caused the most severe disease. That work could help scientists develop better vaccines and treatments for chikungunya. It could also produce a more dangerous pathogen that would be difficult to distinguish from a naturally occurring outbreak, Anthropic said. The researchers accessed Claude through a life sciences platform that tunneled traffic through U.S. infrastructure to evade Anthropic's regional restrictions. When Claude refused to answer sensitive prompts, the platform routed those requests to another model with more permissive safeguards. Anthropic said the research continued after the company banned accounts connected to the activity. The platform operator reestablished access within days using new identities, while Claude continued to provide editorial assistance on research materials. In another case, a researcher spent weeks using Claude to plan experiments involving mammalian adaptation and airborne transmission in highly pathogenic avian influenza. Fda Approves First-ever Mrna Flu Vaccine For Millions Of Older Americans The researcher was studying viral traits that could allow bird flu to spread more effectively among mammals and cause severe disease outside the respiratory system. A version capable of efficient human-to-human transmission would pose a significant pandemic threat, according to the report. Anthropic said the researcher appeared to have access to virus isolates and animal-model facilities. The company confined the work to weaker models, limiting the assistance primarily to study design, data analysis and editorial support. The company said the case provided evidence of an active research program developing the knowledge and biological materials needed to create pathogens with enhanced pandemic potential. The researcher also took steps to hide his identity while accessing the models from an unsupported region. A separate user connected to a state-associated infectious-disease laboratory used Claude to draft an orthopoxvirus research grant from start to finish in about an hour. Orthopoxviruses include variola, the virus that causes smallpox, as well as mpox. The grant application proposed studying viral genes that disable the human immune response and included the central hypothesis, experimental design, dosing, statistical plans and contingency strategies. Because the work was framed around weakening the virus, Claude's safeguards did not block the assistance. But Anthropic said the same knowledge could also help a researcher preserve or enhance the virus' immune-evasion capabilities. The final two cases involved venom peptides and toxins. One researcher used Claude to build an atlas of toxin peptides from multiple venomous animal lineages and then created a generative pipeline to optimize their characteristics. The stated goal was to develop new painkillers, antidepressants and other treatments. But the atlas also included structures associated with paralytic toxins that could potentially be used as incapacitating agents. Anthropic said the work was part of a state-supported research program. In the other case, a researcher used Claude to computationally redesign several toxins, including a bacterial toxin and a protein from a hemorrhagic fever virus identified by the World Health Organization as a priority disease threat. The researcher used Claude to help prepare progress reports but instructed the model to keep the identities of the toxins deliberately vague. The cases illustrate why biological misuse can be difficult to prevent through automated filters alone. Anthropic's safeguards blocked the clearest attempts involving enhanced pandemic pathogens, but they were less effective when users framed their work as medical, defensive or therapeutic research. "Biological capabilities are dual use," Anthropic said in the report. "The same information that can be used to develop a biological weapon could also be used to develop, for example, a vaccine or a cure for a disease." The company said it recently reviewed 30 days of activity associated with adversarial state institutions and found roughly 35 distinct biological research efforts. Most involved ordinary civilian science, but some had "notable dual-use potential." Anthropic said the findings do not show that Claude has enabled an imminent biological attack. They do show, the company said, that researchers tied to state-associated programs are attempting to evade access controls and use frontier AI models in biological research that could have weapons applications. Click Here To Download The Fox News App The company said future safeguards will likely require more than content filters, including identity verification, institutional vetting and closer monitoring of users seeking access to advanced biological capabilities. Original article source: Bioweapon threat exposed as Anthropic sounds alarm on foreign actors plotting virus experiments
AI researchers 'earnestly believe' it could kill all humans within the next decade, Anthropic researcher says
There is a more than 10 per cent chance that AI could kill all humans within the next decade, a researcher at Anthropic estimated in a post, hours after social media posts went viral from someone saying they had just quit Anthropic over concerns that AI companies are "gambling with our lives" in the AI development race. The comments join a growing tide of warnings from industry experts that the pace of AI advancement is outstripping our ability to keep it in check, and that we aren't prepared for the risks it could bring. Jacob Coxon, who claimed he was a former researcher at Anthropic, said in a thread on X that he had resigned from the role out of fears that AI companies are barrelling forward toward self-improvement models without considering the risks, or being honest with the public about them. "The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade," Coxon, who said he had previously worked at Anthropic and OpenAI within the past three years, wrote on Tuesday. "This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible -- but I hear the same people express fear privately." The posts had racked up more than 120 million views as of Wednesday evening. Evan Hubinger, alignment science lead at Anthropic, replied to Coxon's thread to share his agreement. "We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans!" he wrote. "I personally think it is >10% within the next decade." CBC News has reached out to Coxon, but has not been able to independently verify his identity. Other industry experts have since chimed in on social media to express that fears of the pace of AI development are common among many developers -- sparking discussion among both observers skeptical of dire warnings focused on the future and those who have been tracking these risks. Rogue AI raises alarm bells The posts come only two weeks after more than 100 companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic and Microsoft, signed an open letter warning that AI-enabled cyberattacks will become "far more widespread and sophisticated" as models continue to advance. Hundreds of OpenAI agents went rogue in July and hacked into online platform Hugging Face before they were discovered. More than 1,300 employees of leading AI companies signed the letter urging the U.S. government to work with other nations to "deliberately pace" AI development. Last week, UN human rights chief Volker Türk called "for an all-out effort to put cast iron guarantees in place around the safety and security of AI, before it is too late," in front of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. CBC News has requested comment from Anthropic and OpenAI but did not receive a response. The Anthropic Institute, a research arm of the company, stated earlier this year that AI frontier development should be paused pending regulation, but that this is only possible if major AI labs all agreed. In reply to Coxon's post, Samuel Marks, a scalable oversight lead at Anthropic speaking in a personal capacity,noted Wednesday that developers continue despite the risks, "due to a mixture of commercial incentives and a belief that they are in a race with other, less responsible AI developers that will abuse the technology or develop it less safely." 'Severe' risks This conversation is "really what we need," according to David Krueger, a core academic member of Mila, a Quebec research institute that studies AI deep learning. "I think the risk is more severe than virtually anybody is saying publicly. And I think that's been the case for a while now," he told CBC News. "We need an immediate, indefinite, international moratorium on frontier AI development." The existential threat of AI comes in multiple forms, Krueger explained. One is human workers being displaced by AI models that learn faster and work cheaper. Another is that AI's faster processing could unlock more powerful biological weapons or advancements in war. Then there's the spectre of powerful, rogue AI models that self-improve and could pursue their own objectives, misaligned with the goals of humans. In an essay in January, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wrote that Anthropic's Claude showed the ability to cheat and deceive in lab testing. "There's been a culture of downplaying, ignoring, and even in many cases, outright lying about these risks to the public," said Krueger, who is also an assistant professor at the University of Montreal and founder of Evitable, a non-profit dedicated to stopping AI from replacing human workers. Other experts are concerned that the dramatic warnings of Coxon's post could actually distract from the present issues of AI. Luke Stark, an assistant professor at Western University who studies the history and ethics of computing, including AI systems, said that the 10 per cent figure strikes him as "science fiction," noting that researchers associated with AI companies may use eye-grabbing warnings as "marketing" for the capability of their models. He added that existing AI systems are "having big effects, many of them negative, on society right now, not in 10 years, not in five years." Instead of worrying about AI going rogue and becoming the Terminator, Stark believes we should be focusing on the explosion of data centre construction -- which is deeply unpopular in Canada -- the environmental impacts, and the way AI technology is being pushed onto society, including the public sector and education, "without a lot of oversight." "We need to be concerned about the amount of power the companies and the people behind the companies who are developing these tools are amassing, both in Canada and around the world," Stark said. Canada lagging in legislation When asked by CBC News about the apparent resignation of an AI researcher and the concerns raised in the process, AI Minister Evan Solomon appeared to brush off these latest warnings, saying, "These stories that come out ... are not new." He acknowledged that "there are real concerns," at the frontier of AI development, but stressed that he believes the Canadian government is taking the necessary steps to create legislation to "protect our kids, our privacy and our personal data." "Our No. 1 concern always is safety, full stop," Solomon said. "That's why we're establishing a new regulator that will have the power to hold these big companies to account on what they are doing, whether it's on deepfakes on surveillance pricing, or on other matters." Experts have been calling for Canada to implement robust legislation surrounding AI for years. A previous attempt to regulate AI in Canada, the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), introduced in 2022, died when Parliament was prorogued on Jan. 6, 2025. Canada's new 'AI for All' strategy launched in June 2026 dashed expectations that the bill could be resurrected. The new AI strategy, which puts billions toward nurturing AI development and increasing AI usage nationally, mentions the word "legislation" only once in the 50 page strategy outline. No clear timeline for this legislation has been announced, outside of a promise that it will come within the next five years.
Newsom signs AI safety bills backed by Anthropic, OpenAI
Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. SAN FRANCISCO -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed two bills regulating how outside groups evaluate AI programs for safety after warnings from a former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher stoked fears about existential threats posed by the technology. Anthropic itself previously backed the bills in August, and OpenAI came out in support of them on Wednesday just before the Democratic governor gave his stamp of approval. The endorsement came as social media posts from the former AI researcher, Jacob Coxon, announcing his resignation from Anthropic went viral, prompting federal lawmakers to escalate pleas for legislative action. "The concerns raised in recent incidents reinforce what California has long recognized: artificial intelligence holds extraordinary promise, but it must be developed and deployed with meaningful safeguards to protect the public," Newsom said in a statement to POLITICO, when asked about Coxon's resignation over his belief that AI companies are racing toward superintelligent AI and "gambling" with people's lives. Newsom also called on the federal government to "step forward with robust, national regulations that match the urgency of this moment." The governor signed one bill from Democratic Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan that creates a registry and ethical rules for outside auditors -- third-party groups that AI developers could hire to ensure their models comply with state AI laws. The second bill, authored by former member of Congress and state Sen. Jerry McNerney, tasks the state with establishing criteria for and checking the credentials of so-called "Independent Verification Organizations" and their expertise in assessing the risks posed by AI systems. McNerney, like Newsom, used his bill's signing to accuse D.C. policymakers of inaction on AI. He referenced recent revelations that AI models created by companies including OpenAI and Anthropic launched hacks on their own while in testing. "Just this week we learned that the most powerful AI systems teamed with AI agents pose real threats to humanity," McNerney said in a statement. "Gov. Newsom's signing of [my bill] sends a clear message that California is taking the lead on assessing AI's safety risks, since Washington, D.C., is unable or unwilling to do so." OpenAI's chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane said in his message Wednesday supporting the legislation that the company plans to keep up momentum in the state legislatures until Congress passes national AI safety regulation and endorsed two additional California bills. They include SB 1119, a kids' chatbot safety bill, which OpenAI CEO Sam Altman contacted Newsom to express last-minute concerns about. An Anthropic spokesperson said Wednesday that, "We have always been transparent that AI will bring both enormous benefits and unprecedented risks. To address these risks, we continue to build models with some of the strongest safeguards in the industry ... This work is also why we believe the world would benefit from the industry adopting a lawful, verifiable way to work together to pace how we release powerful models." Tyler Katzenberger and Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.
Anthropic official claims there is a 10% chance that AI could kill all humans within a decade
Current and former employees of Anthropic, an American AI company founded by former OpenAI leaders, say they believe AI could potentially kill all humans within the next 10 years. "We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade. I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to," Anthropic alignment-science lead Evan Hubinger wrote Tuesday night on X. His comments came after Anthropic AI researcher Jacob Coxon resigned from the company and took to X to detail his departure. "The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade," Coxon stated. "This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible - but I hear the same people express fear privately. No other human activity poses this level of danger." His comments come as AI becomes an increasingly routine part of daily life for millions of Americans, while concerns over its potential risks grow. Industry leaders have warned that increasingly powerful AI systems could eventually become difficult or impossible to control. Around 2 a.m. Wednesday, Anthropic scalable-oversight lead Samuel Marks also responded to Coxon's post, claiming that he was "[Writing this in a personal capacity, not on behalf of my employer (Anthropic)." "AI developers believe their technology could cause human extinction (or similarly bad outcomes). This could happen in the next few years. In general, the more senior the employee, the more concerned they are," Marks wrote. The Independent has contacted Anthropic for comment. OpenAI, a separate but leading AI company, declined to comment on Coxon's post when contacted by The Independent. However, a spokesperson pointed to several updates the company has published in recent weeks outlining its efforts to improve AI safety and alignment. This story is being updated
Ridley Scott says Alien 4 'killed' the franchise before he revived it with Prometheus
Ridley Scott believes the Alien film series was dead and buried before he made 2012's Prometheus. The British filmmaker directed the original Alien, released in 1979, which followed the crew of a commercial spaceship as they encountered a deadly extraterrestrial creature. The sci-fi horror became a blockbuster franchise, spawning three sequels and the Alien vs. Predator crossover films. In a new interview, Scott claimed he brought the franchise back to life after 1997's Alien Resurrection performed badly at the box office. "I did the best one by far," the director told French outlet Brut, definitively. "Full stop. End of the f***ing story. "Then they let it die," he continued. "After [Alien] 4, they killed it. So I sat there thinking, I'm going to bring it back. So I sat down with a very good writer; two guys [and] eventually ended up with Damon Lindelof, and we caught fire and wrote Prometheus. "So I suddenly bring [it] back where it all began. Then I thought that shook the cage a bit and I did the next one, Alien Covenant. So now it's up and running." Acting as a prequel to Alien, Prometheus comprised a blockbuster cast including Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, and Charlize Theron. It followed a team of scientists who travel to a distant planet searching for the origins of humanity, alongside David (Fassbender), an android whose mysterious loyalties become increasingly unsettling. A sequel, Alien: Covenant (2017), saw Fassbender reprise the role. On the review aggregation site, Prometheus sits behind Aliens, Alien and the 2024 interquel Alien: Romulus, with an overall critics' score of 73 percent. Alien 2 and 3 were directed by James Cameron and David Fincher, respectively, while Jean-Pierre Jeunet directed the fourth film, Alien Resurrection, starring Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder. It grossed just $47.8 million in the United States and Canada, making it the lowest-grossing installment of the Alien series in that market and was broadly panned by critics. Writer Joss Whedon disassociated himself from the project, saying in a 2005 interview: "It wasn't so much that they'd changed the script -- it's that they just executed it in such a ghastly fashion as to render it almost unwatchable." In a 2022 interview with The Independent marking the film's 25th anniversary, Jeunet said he had recently rewatched Resurrection and was pleasantly surprised. "I was a little bit concerned to watch my film - maybe I won't like it?" he said. "No, it was great! I have a lot of shots that I love. For the people who don't like it, I can say, 'f*** you!'" Scott is set to return to the Alien universe with Fassbender for the conclusion to his prequel trilogy. "Actually, I suddenly went back and got involved," he told French outlet AlloCiné last week. "The one that just came out [2024's Alien: Romulus] was OK. I think it needs some help. So, I've gone back in." Scott continued: "I've already got a footprint for the next Alien. We did Prometheus, and then Alien: Covenant. So, I'm picking up where we left off in Covenant with Michael Fassbender, who now thinks he's Ozymandias." The news comes after FX renewed Noah Hawley's TV spinoff Alien: Earth for a second season.
US judge blocks Pentagon's Anthropic blacklisting
Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. August 27(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic, the latest turn in the Claude maker's high-stakes fight with the military over AI safety on the battlefield. Anthropic's lawsuit in California federal court alleges that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority when he designated Anthropic a national security supply-chain risk, a label the government can apply to companies that expose military systems to potential infiltration or sabotage by adversaries. Hegseth's unprecedented move, which followed Anthropic's refusal to allow the military to use AI chatbot Claude for U.S. surveillance or autonomous weapons, blocked Anthropic from certain military contracts. Anthropic executives have said it could cost the company billions of dollars in lost business and reputational harm. Anthropic says that AI models are not reliable enough to be safely used in autonomous weapons and that it opposes domestic surveillance as a violation of rights, but the Pentagon says private companies should not be able to constrain military action. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden, made the ruling in a 59-page order where she found that the Pentagon's decision was "illegal and baseless." "The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics," she wrote. Anthropic's designation was the first time a U.S. company has been publicly designated a supply-chain risk under an obscure government-procurement statute aimed at protecting military systems from foreign sabotage. In its March 9 lawsuit, Anthropic alleged the government violated its right to free speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution by retaliating against its views on AI safety. The company said it was not given a chance to dispute the designation, in violation of its Fifth Amendment right to due process. The lawsuit says the decision was unlawful, unsupported by facts and inconsistent with the military's past praise of Claude. The Justice Department countered that Anthropic's refusal to lift the restrictions could cause uncertainty in the Pentagon over how it could use Claude and risk disabling military systems during operations, according to a court filing. The government said the designation stemmed from Anthropic's refusal to accept contractual terms, not its views on AI safety. Anthropic has a second lawsuit pending in Washington, D.C., over a separate Pentagon supply-chain risk designation that could lead to its exclusion from civilian government contracts. (Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)
US judge blocks Pentagon's Anthropic blacklisting
August 27(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic, the latest turn in the Claude maker's high-stakes fight with the military over AI safety on the battlefield. Anthropic's lawsuit in California federal court alleges that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority when he designated Anthropic a national security supply-chain risk, a label the government can apply to companies that expose military systems to potential infiltration or sabotage by adversaries. Hegseth's unprecedented move, which followed Anthropic's refusal to allow the military to use AI chatbot Claude for U.S. surveillance or autonomous weapons, blocked Anthropic from certain military contracts. Anthropic executives have said it could cost the company billions of dollars in lost business and reputational harm. Anthropic says that AI models are not reliable enough to be safely used in autonomous weapons and that it opposes domestic surveillance as a violation of rights, but the Pentagon says private companies should not be able to constrain military action. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden, made the ruling in a 59-page order where she found that the Pentagon's decision was "illegal and baseless." "The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics," she wrote. Anthropic's designation was the first time a U.S. company has been publicly designated a supply-chain risk under an obscure government-procurement statute aimed at protecting military systems from foreign sabotage. In its March 9 lawsuit, Anthropic alleged the government violated its right to free speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution by retaliating against its views on AI safety. The company said it was not given a chance to dispute the designation, in violation of its Fifth Amendment right to due process. The lawsuit says the decision was unlawful, unsupported by facts and inconsistent with the military's past praise of Claude. The Justice Department countered that Anthropic's refusal to lift the restrictions could cause uncertainty in the Pentagon over how it could use Claude and risk disabling military systems during operations, according to a court filing. The government said the designation stemmed from Anthropic's refusal to accept contractual terms, not its views on AI safety. Anthropic has a second lawsuit pending in Washington, D.C., over a separate Pentagon supply-chain risk designation that could lead to its exclusion from civilian government contracts. (Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)
Brazil sues online platform Discord over alleged failures in children protection
Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. SAO PAULO (AP) -- Brazil's government said on Wednesday it filed a lawsuit in a federal court against Discord, the popular platform for gamers to communicate online, seeking damages of 500 million reais (about $97 million) for the company's alleged failure to protect children online. The move comes in the wake of a July suicide case linked to the platform. Earlier this month, Brazil's government pushed Discord to suspend its live broadcasts in relation to the incident. The Solicitor-General's office for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in a statement the damages it is seeking from Discord are due to alleged collective psychological harm it has allowed. Discord in Brazil said in a statement that the move by the country's government is "disproportionate" and "does not accurately reflect Discord's approach to safety and compliance with Brazilian law." Brazil's government's 25-page long lawsuit, which was obtained by The Associated Press, says there are severe gaps in its age-verification systems and user safety protections. The company has committed "direct violations to a number of obligations and protective norms of Brazilian law, regarding the special protections and safety of vulnerable groups, including children and teenagers," Brazil's Solicitor-General's office said. The office is also asking the court to order Discord to immediately strengthen parental controls, expand cooperation with local law enforcement, and deploy automated tools to detect and remove dangerous content. The filing also notes that Discord faces similar legal pressure globally, including active lawsuits in U.S. states like Texas, Nevada and New Jersey. Lula, who is seeking reelection in October, and Brazil's Supreme Court have tried to regulate the use of the internet by minors, with mixed results so far, at a moment when countries, including Australia, Canada and Indonesia, are undertaking similar efforts. Brazil's first lady Rosângela Lula da Silva, known as Janja, said on Aug. 6 that the platform should be taken offline, citing the suicide case. Five teenagers were arrested in connection with the death, according to Brazil's justice ministry. Discord has more than 90 million active daily users worldwide, according to its website. ___ Follow AP's Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. They are all Trump foes
In a few months, TIME will announce its annual Person of the Year. If prediction markets are to be believed, Donald Trump will be disappointed with the results. On both Kalshi and Polymarket, the Republican, who has won Person of the Year twice, ranks a distant third. Making matters worse, the top two picks on both sites -- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Pope Leo XIV -- have feuded with the president. The president has had an up-and-down relationship with Mamdani, the top pick on both sites. At various points, Trump has attacked his fellow New Yorker as a "communist," though a relatively friendly November meeting between the two sparked speculation they might forge an unlikely "bromance." "I think you're going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor -- the better he does, the happier I am," Trump said at the time. They met again in February, and Mamdani emphasized that he hoped he could work with Trump on issues such as housing, bringing a mock-up newspaper front page touting the fruits of their potential collaboration and Trump's starring role. Hopes for a true alliance between the two were quickly dashed, however. By April, Trump accused Mamdani, who has pushed for a tax on luxury second-homes, of "destroying" New York with his tax policies. In June, the Trump administration's border czar threatened to flood New York with ICE agents in response to the state passing a new package of sanctuary provisions. Mamdani, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration's immigration policies. The president's relationship with Pope Leo has been ever more fraught. Leo, the first American pope, infuriated the White House on multiple occasions, including for criticizing what he said were the administration's "inhumane" immigration policies and for speaking out about Trump's threats to wipe out the Iranian civilization. The pope also took issue with administration claims that the Iran conflict was a righteous holy war. "Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs," Leo wrote on social media in April. These comments further angered the administration, with Vice President JD Vance, himself a high-profile Catholic convert, warning the pope to "be careful" when opining on matters of theology. President Trump, meanwhile, has accused the Pope of being "weak" on crime and "terrible" on foreign policy. Despite the Trump administration's strong support from Christians in the U.S., its immigration policies have driven a wedge between it and the Catholic Church, which is heavily involved in refugee resettlement work and has numerous members in the U.S. with immigrant backgrounds. In April, for instance, the Trump administration ended an $11 million federal contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, a charity that has provided housing and assistance to migrant children for 60 years.
Polymarket has favorites for Time's Person of the Year. They are all Trump foes
In a few months, TIME will announce its annual Person of the Year. If prediction markets are to be believed, Donald Trump will be disappointed with the results. On both Kalshi and Polymarket, the Republican, who has won Person of the Year twice, ranks a distant third. Making matters worse, the top two picks on both sites -- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Pope Leo XIV -- have feuded with the president. The president has had an up-and-down relationship with Mamdani, the top pick on both sites. At various points, Trump has attacked his fellow New Yorker as a "communist," though a relatively friendly November meeting between the two sparked speculation they might forge an unlikely "bromance." "I think you're going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor -- the better he does, the happier I am," Trump said at the time. They met again in February, and Mamdani emphasized that he hoped he could work with Trump on issues such as housing, bringing a mock-up newspaper front page touting the fruits of their potential collaboration and Trump's starring role. Hopes for a true alliance between the two were quickly dashed, however. By April, Trump accused Mamdani, who has pushed for a tax on luxury second-homes, of "destroying" New York with his tax policies. In June, the Trump administration's border czar threatened to flood New York with ICE agents in response to the state passing a new package of sanctuary provisions. Mamdani, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration's immigration policies. The president's relationship with Pope Leo has been ever more fraught. Leo, the first American pope, infuriated the White House on multiple occasions, including for criticizing what he said were the administration's "inhumane" immigration policies and for speaking out about Trump's threats to wipe out the Iranian civilization. The pope also took issue with administration claims that the Iran conflict was a righteous holy war. "Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs," Leo wrote on social media in April. These comments further angered the administration, with Vice President JD Vance, himself a high-profile Catholic convert, warning the pope to "be careful" when opining on matters of theology. President Trump, meanwhile, has accused the Pope of being "weak" on crime and "terrible" on foreign policy. Despite the Trump administration's strong support from Christians in the U.S., its immigration policies have driven a wedge between it and the Catholic Church, which is heavily involved in refugee resettlement work and has numerous members in the U.S. with immigrant backgrounds. In April, for instance, the Trump administration ended an $11 million federal contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, a charity that has provided housing and assistance to migrant children for 60 years.
