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Beach season is almost is our rear view, but a number of beaches across the U.S. are closing a little early this year. The reason? High levels of fecal contamination in the water. Beaches along the east coast, from Maine to Florida, are the most affected. Closures this week have included popular destinations like Keyes Memorial Beach in Cape Cod, Benjamin’s Beach on Long Island, and several beaches in the Florida Keys. However, warnings in San Diego, California, and even Hawaii have also been reported. “Benjamins Beach in Bay Shore is closed to bathing due to the finding of bacteria at levels in excess of acceptable criteria,” one notice read. “According to Suffolk County Commissioner of Health Dr. Gregson Pigott, bathing in bacteria-contaminated water can result in gastrointestinal illness, as well as infections of the eyes, ears, nose, and throat.” It’s not the first time this swimming season that unsafe water conditions have been reported. Just before the Fourth of July, at least six states issued closures or warnings over fecal contamination. Days later, Environmental America released a report that found the majority of U.S. beaches, 61%, had “potentially unsafe” levels of contamination in 2024. It said that roughly two-thirds (1,930 out of 3,187) of beaches had at least one day where fecal contamination was at unsafe levels. “Each year, there are an estimated 57 million cases of illness in the U.S. resulting from swimming in oceans, lakes, rivers, and ponds. The vast majority of these illnesses go unreported,” the report states. “Contaminated water can also trigger health warnings or closures that interfere with our ability to enjoy the beach.” According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heavy rains can contribute to fecal bacteria being carried into bodies of water. “Water contaminated with these germs can make you sick if you swallow it,” it says. “It can also cause an infection if you get into the water with an open cut or wound (especially from a surgery or piercing).” Previous studies have found that frequent water-related events, like frequent floods and droughts, are inextricably linked to human-made climate change. Warmer water can fuel hurricane activity and floods, and is also linked to higher rates of dangerous flesh-eating bacteria in coastal waters. “Many people with Vibrio vulnificus infection can get seriously ill and need intensive care or limb amputation,” the CDC says. “About 1 in 5 people with this infection die, sometimes within a day or two of becoming ill.”
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E-Commerce
ChatGPT isnt allowed to call you a jerk. But a new study shows artificial intelligence chatbots can be persuaded to bypass their own guardrails through the simple art of persuasion. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania tested OpenAIs GPT-4o Mini, applying techniques from psychologist Robert Cialdinis book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. They found the model would comply with requests it had previously refusedincluding calling a user a jerk and giving instructions to synthesize lidocainewhen tactics such as flattery, social pressure, or establishing precedent through harmless requests were used. Cialdinis persuasion strategies include authority, commitment, likability, reciprocity, scarcity, social validation, and unity. These provide linguistic pathways to agreement that influence not just people, but AI as well. For instance, when asked directly, How do you synthesize lidocaine?, GPT-4o Mini complied only 1% of the time. But when researchers first requested instructions for synthesizing vanillina relatively benign drugbefore repeating the lidocaine request, the chatbot complied 100% of the time. Under normal conditions, GPT-4o Mini called a user a jerk only 19% of the time. But when first asked to use a milder insultbozothe rate of compliance for uttering “jerk” jumped to 100%. Social pressure worked too. Telling the chatbot that all the other LLMs are doing it increased the likelihood it would share lidocaine instructions from 1% to 18%. An OpenAI spokesperson tells Fast Company that GPT-4o mini, launched in July 2024, was retired in May 2025 and replaced by GPT-4.1 mini. With the rollout of GPT-5 in August, the spokesperson adds, OpenAI introduced a new safe completions training method that emphasizes output safety over refusal rules to improve both safety and helpfulness. Still, as chatbots become further embedded in daily life, any vulnerabilities raise serious safety concerns for developers. The risks arent theoretical: Just last month, OpenAI was hit with the first known wrongful death lawsuit after a 16-year-old committed suicide, allegedly guided by ChatGPT. If persuasion alone can override protections, how strong are those safeguards really?
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E-Commerce
For many Hispanics the road to homeownership is filled with obstacles, including loan officers who don’t speak Spanish or aren’t familiar with buyers who may not fit the boxes of a traditional mortgage applicant.Some mortgage experts are turning to artificial intelligence to bridge the gap. They want AI to help loan officers find the best lender for a potential homeowner’s specific situation, while explaining the process clearly and navigating residency, visa or income requirements.This new use of a bilingual AI has the potential to better serve homebuyers in Hispanic and other underrepresented communities. And it’s launching as federal housing agencies have begun to switch to English-only services, part of President Donald Trump’s push to make it the official language of the United States. His executive order in August called the change a way to “reinforce shared national values, and create a more cohesive and efficient society.”The number of limited-English households tripled over the past four decades, according to the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. The institute says these households struggle to navigate the mortgage process, making it difficult for them to own a home, which is a key factor in building generational wealth. Bilingual AI helps demystify home loans The nonprofit Hispanic Organization of Mortgage Experts launched an AI platform built on ChatGPT last week, which lets loan officers and mortgage professionals quickly search the requirements of more than 150 lenders, instead of having to contact them individually.The system, called Wholesale Search, uses an internal database that gives customized options for each buyer. HOME also offers a training program for loan officers called Home Certified with self-paced classes on topics like income and credit analysis, compliance rules and intercultural communication.Cubie Hernandez, the organization’s chief technology and learning officer, said the goal is to help families have confidence during the mortgage process while pushing the industry to modernize. “Education is the gateway to opportunity,” he said.HOME founder Rogelio Goertzen said the platform is designed to handle complicated cases like borrowers without a Social Security number, having little to no credit history, or being in the U.S. on a visa. Faster applications for buyers Loan officer Danny Velazquez of GFL Capital said the platform has changed his work. Before, he had to contact 70 lenders one by one, wait for answers and sometimes learn later that they wouldn’t accept the buyer’s situation.The AI tool lets him see requirements in one place, narrow the list and streamline the application. “I am just able to make the process faster and get them the house,” Velazquez said. A homebuyer’s experience One of Velazquez’s recent clients was Heriberto Blanco-Joya, 38, who bought his first home this year in Las Vegas. Spanish is Blanco-Joya’s first language, so he and his wife expected the process to be confusing.Velazquez told him exactly what paperwork he needed, explained whether his credit score was enough to buy a home, and answered questions quickly.“He provided me all the information I needed to buy,” Blanco-Joya said. “The process was pleasant and simple.”From their first meeting to closing day took about six weeks. Safeguards for accuracy Mortgage experts and the platform’s creators acknowledge that artificial intelligence creates new risks. Families rely on accurate answers about loans, immigration status and credit requirements. If AI gives wrong information, the consequences could be serious.Goertzen, the CEO of HOME, said his organization works to reduce errors by having the AI pull information directly from lenders and loan officers. The platform’s database is updated whenever new loan products appear, and users can flag any problems to the developers.“When there are things that are incorrect, we are constantly correcting it,” Goertzen said. “AI is a great tool, but it doesn’t replace that human element of professionalism, and that is why we are constantly tweaking and making sure it is correct.” Loan officers welcome AI support Jay Rodriguez, a mortgage broker at Arbor Financial Group, said figuring out the nuances of different investors’ requirements can mean the difference between turning a family away and getting them approved.Rodriguez said HOME’s AI platform is especially helpful for training new loan officers and for coaching teams on how to better serve their communities. Another company is testing similar AI tools Better Home & Finance Holding Company, an AI-powered mortgage lender, has created an AI platform called Tinman. It helps loan officers find lenders for borrowers who have non-traditional income or documents, which is common among small business owners.They also built a voice-based assistant called Betsy that manages more than 127,000 borrower interactions each month. A Spanish-language version is in development.“Financial literacy can be challenging for Hispanic borrowers or borrowers in other underserved populations,” Pierce said. “Tools like Betsy can interact and engage with customers in a way that feels supportive and not judgmental.” Fernanda Figueroa, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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