Tech in 60 Seconds

Russian hackers found targeting US election; robots that write?

Russian Hackers Found Targeting US Election; Robots That Write? | Tech In 60 | GZERO Media

Nicholas Thompson, editor-in-chief of WIRED, helps us make sense of today's stories in technology:

What are the Russians doing to the US election?

Well, they are trying to hack it. They're trying to hack into the accounts of individuals working on campaigns. They're trying to hack into accounts of nonprofit organizations. They're trying to mess it all up again. They're probably trying to help their favorite candidate, too. How did we find out about it? Well, Microsoft, thank you Microsoft, is running an election security operation and they noticed this. Now, have they found everything that the Russian group Fancy Bear is doing? I highly doubt it. We'll probably learn a lot more after the election, unfortunately.

What's this? Robots can write! Should we be afraid?

So OpenAI has used artificial intelligence to build a text generating system called GPT-3. It's way of computers writing sentences that look almost like human sentences. The Guardian ran a story written entirely by GPT-3 about whether robots will take over the world. Am I afraid this indicates robots will take over the world? I'm not. The article is terrible, confusing, incomprehensible. Not really a big concern. I am concerned, though, that systems like this could be used for the purposes of misinformation and for creating chaos on the Internet. But that's a separate matter.

More For You

US President Donald Trump participates in an arrival ceremony at Beijing Capital International Airport during his visit to the country, in Beijing, China, on May 13, 2026.
REUTERS/Evan Vucci

Xi Jinping will welcome Donald Trump with lots of pomp and circumstance. The summit, though, will be short on substance.

- YouTube

Ian Bremmer breaks down the complicated reality inside Venezuela after Nicolás Maduro’s removal from power. While the Trump administration sees the operation as a major foreign policy victory, Ian argues the harder challenge is only beginning; turning Venezuela into a stable economy and a representative democracy.

Noam Bettan from Israel with the song "Michelle" are on stage at the 70th Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) during rehearsals for the first semi-final on May 12, 2026, in the Stadthalle.
Jens Büttner/dpa via Reuters Connect

Even Eurovision cannot escape geopolitics, South Africa’s constitutional court opens door to Ramaphosa impeachment vote, Zelensky’s former right-hand man accused in corruption probe