TL;DR: As of June 21, you can get a three-year UltraVPN subscription for just $29.99

Conservative female politicians look happier and more attractive in pictures than liberals, according to artificial intelligence. A study conducted in Denmark and published in Scientific Reports found that those on the right were more likely to have happier facial expressions, whereas liberals looked more neutral. The scientists inputted some 3,200 photos of political candidates who ran in the 2017 Danish municipal election into Microsoft Azure’s Face API tool to assess the person’s emotional state. The analysis found 80 per cent of the faces displayed a happy expression, while 19 per cent read as neutral. “For females (though not males), high attractiveness scores were found among those the model identified as likely to be conservative,” read the findings. “These results are credible given that previous research using human raters has also highlighted a link between attractiveness and conservatism.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Meanwhile, left-leaning male politicians showed more neutral, less happy faces than their conservative counterparts, the study found. “Attractiveness was not the only correlate of model-predicted ideology,” the scientists explained. “We also found that expressing happiness is associated with conservatism for both genders. “Previous work has found smiling in photographs to be a valid indicator of extraversion,” they continued. “And while extraversion is not broadly associated with ideology some studies have found that right-wing politicians are more extraverted.” Scientists noted that “because attractiveness generally helps electoral success, all candidates are incentivised to provide an attractive photograph.” “Politicians on the left and right may have different incentives for smiling — for example, smiling faces have been found to look more attractive which is comparatively important for conservative politicians,” the paper reads. “Future work is needed to explore the extent to which happy faces are indicative of conservatism outside of samples of politicians." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Tesla vehicles appear to have a secret hands-free driving feature named “Elon Mode”, an anonymous hacker has revealed. The hacker, who goes by the handle @greentheonly on Twitter, is known for assessing the electric vehicle manufacturer’s software code and uncovering features before their official rollout. In the latest reveal, the hacker unveiled the hidden “Elon Mode” feature which doesn’t require any attention from the driver while using Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. Tesla’s FSD is the EV maker’s advanced driver-assist system that is in beta testing, but is available for those who pay as much as $15,000 or $199 per month for the option. FSD Beta is a work in progress for the EV company and gives drivers an “autosteer on city streets”. Tesla recently recalled a number of vehicles for a free over-the-air software update of its experimental FSD Beta package amid fears of crashes. In February, a recall notice posted by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration noted that the FSD Beta system may cause the vehicles to crash. The notice said this could happen by allowing the vehicles to “act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution”. More recently, a leaked internal report indicated last month that the FSD had thousands of user complaints of sudden braking and abrupt acceleration. On Saturday, the hacker posted a video on Twitter testing out the secret self-driving feature after finding and enabling it. Tesla’s Autopilot system is known to require drivers to nudge the steering wheel to confirm they are paying attention to the road. It also constantly assesses the feed of the vehicle’s interior camera above the rearview mirror to observe drivers and make sure they’re looking at the road, leading to some users calling the system’s checks “nagging”. But @greentheonly found from their “nearly 600 miles” test of Elon Mode on a company-owned vehicle that they “did not need to watch for the dreaded nag”. The hacker noted that the AI system drove slow on the highway and also seemed to randomly change lanes. “This also explains the barrage of people that claim the car works very good and they are happy – perhaps they like to drive slow, content with random lane changes and such,” the hacker tweeted. It remains unclear if “Elon Mode” will come to regular users of the EV, with Mr Musk hinting last December that nag-free driving was coming. Tesla did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment. Read More From Elon Musk to Neil deGrasse Tyson: The business and thought leaders set to meet Modi on US visit Elon Musk and Joe Rogan challenge Covid vaccine scientist to ‘debate’ anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy Jr Elon Musk’s sister claims she’s been overcharged because she shares last name with Tesla billionaire Over 100,000 ChatGPT accounts compromised over last year, report says Facebook Marketplace is most complained-about online retail platforms Scientists create tiny robot that works like an animal and swims around your body

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday the company is looking to invest in India "as soon as humanly possible," following a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York.

A heat-tolerant coffee strain, lost to commercial production for more than 50 years, has been successfully grown in

More than 100,000 user accounts of the popular artificial intelligence chatbot platform ChatGPT have been compromised over the last year using information-stealing malware, a new report has revealed. The report, published by Singapore-based cybersecurity firm Group-IB, identified 101,134 compromised accounts, the credentials of many of which have been traded over the last year on illicit dark web marketplaces. At its peak in May, nearly 27,000 credentials of compromised ChatGPT accounts were traded on the dark web, the group noted, adding that the Asia-Pacific region experienced the highest concentration of ChatGPT credentials offered for sale. This region, according to the report, accounted for almost 40 per cent of compromised accounts between June 2022 and May 2023, followed by Europe. Since its widespread rollout in November last year, ChatGPT has seen growing use, with employees taking advantage of the chatbot to optimise their work across fields from software development to business communications. As the chatbot stores the history of user queries and the AI’s responses, experts have warned that unauthorised access to ChatGPT accounts could expose confidential or sensitive information. “Employees enter classified correspondences or use the bot to optimize proprietary code. Given that ChatGPT’s standard configuration retains all conversations, this could inadvertently offer a trove of sensitive intelligence to threat actors if they obtain account credentials,” said Dmitry Shestakov, the head of threat intelligence at Group-IB. Several businesses, institutions and universities across the world, including several in Japan, have either banned use of the chatbot, or have warned staff to not reveal sensitive information to the AI bot as such data can be exploited for targeted attacks against companies and their employees. The Singapore-based cybersecurity group warned in its latest report that ChatGPT accounts have already gained popularity within underground communities on the dark web that are accessible only via special software. Using malicious software known as info stealers, credentials saved in browsers, bank card details, crypto wallet information, cookies, browsing history and other information from browsers installed on infected computers are being stolen and sent to operators. Logs containing user information, including data on the IP addresses, are being actively traded on dark web marketplaces, according to Group-IB. A majority of logs containing ChatGPT accounts have been breached by the infamous Raccoon info stealer, the group noted. Experts urge users to update passwords regularly and implement two-factor authentication for accessing their ChatGPT accounts. Users are also advised to disable the chatbot’s chat saving feature from its settings menu or manually delete conversations immediately after use. Read More ChatGPT ‘grandma exploit’ gives users free keys for Windows 11 Protect personal data when introducing AI, privacy watchdog warns businesses How Europe is leading the world in the push to regulate AI Scientists warn of threat to internet from AI-trained AIs ChatGPT ‘grandma exploit’ helps people pirate software Hundreds attend ‘soulless’ AI-generated church service

By Trevor Hunnicutt SAN FRANCISCO The risks of artificial intelligence to national security and the economy need to

The Biden administration is only modestly boosting quotas for plant-based diesel despite a fierce lobbying push by biofuel

State-backed firms from the Netherlands have partnered with Namibia to create a sovereign wealth fund focused on green

By Abhirup Roy SAN FRANCISCO BTC Power will add Tesla's standard to its electric vehicle chargers next year,

A group of Florida students and the authors of an award-winning children’s picture book about the true story of a penguin family with two fathers have argued that a Florida school district unconstitutionally restricted access to the book under what opponents have called the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law. A lawsuit filed in federal court on 20 June argues that the Lake County school district’s decision to pull And Tango Makes Three “cited no legitimate pedagogical reason for its decision” and was restricted only for “illegitimate, narrowly partisan and political reasons.” Last year, Lake County officials announced that the title was “administratively removed due to content regarding sexual orientation/gender identification” prohibited under the “Parental Rights in Education Act,” what critics have called the “Don’t Say Gay” law. That measure, signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis last year, broadly prohibits “classroom instruction” on issues related to “sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade” or “in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards” in other grades. Mr DeSantis signed a measure this year that explicitly expands the law to cover all school grades. Opponents have warned its broad scope could effectively block discussion of LGBT+ people, history and events from state schools, and be weaponised against students, staff and their families under threat from potential lawsuits against school districts over perceived violations. The lawsuit from the book’s authors Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell and the families of several young students argues that such restrictions violate First Amendment protections, including the authors’ right to freedom of expression and students’ rights to receive information. And Tango Makes Three “tells a true and heartwarming story, and it teaches students about animal behavior, adoption, diversity among family structures, and responsible family values,” the lawsuit states. “The authors wrote Tango to spread a message of tolerance and equal treatment. They have a sincere and strongly held desire to ensure that Tango is available to children learning about animal behavior, adoption, and family structures, whether similar to or different from their own – and the student plaintiffs wish to read Tango to learn about those very subjects,” the plaintiffs wrote. The book was listed among free expression group PEN America’s most-banned picture books of the last school year. Last year, a record high of more than 1,200 attempts to remove books from schools and libraries were reported to the American Library Association. There were at least 1,477 attempts to ban 874 individual book titles within the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, according to PEN America. The figures mark a nearly 30 per cent spike from book challenges over the previous year. Book ban attempts have largely targeted books by and about LGBT+ people, titles written by or involving people of colour, or materials featuring honest discussions of race and racism, according to PEN America. Mr DeSantis and his administration have repeatedly rejected characterising such restrictions as “book bans” and have accused media outlets of manufacturing a “hoax” and a “fake narrative” surrounding them. The state has been at the centre of book challenges and legal battles over school and library materials as the DeSantis administration implements a sweeping agenda targeting public education and lessons and speech he deems objectionable. PEN American and Penguin Random House, one of the largest book publishers in the world, and several prominent authors and families have also sued a separate school district and school board in Florida’s Escambia County. A lawsuit filed in US District Court last month argues that school officials have pursued an “ideologically driven campaign to push certain ideas out of schools” against the recommendation of experts. “This disregard for professional guidance underscores that the agendas underlying the removals are ideological and political, not pedagogical,” the lawsuit states. The Independent has requested comment from the state’s Department of Education. Read More A zoo, Black History event and university funding: Ron DeSantis under fire after vetoing local funding because lawmakers didn’t endorse him DeSantis wants to model America after Florida. Civil rights groups are sounding the alarm on his ‘hostile’ agenda The school librarian in the middle of Louisiana’s war on libraries ‘They were trying to erase us’: Inside a Texas town’s chilling effort to ban LGBT+ books Biden condemns ‘hysterical’ threats to LGBT+ Americans as White House pushes back on book bans Florida mom who tried to ban Amanda Gorman’s book has ties to far-right groups

Cisco Systems on Tuesday launched networking chips for AI supercomputers that would compete with offerings from Broadcom and