The Week Evening Review
Iran's nuclear development, chatbot-induced psychosis, and Amazon's robotaxi

 
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION

What's the state of Iran's nuclear program?

Before the U.S. joined Iran and Israel's open conflict over the weekend, Israeli intelligence seemed to be at odds with that of the U.S. over the true nature of Iran's nuclear capabilities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been arguing for decades that Iran is on the verge of creating (or already has created) a nuclear weapon, while the U.S. intelligence community has historically downplayed Iran's nuclear threats. 

But the U.S. government's opinion on Iran's nuclear program appears to be changing, as President Donald Trump opted to launch an attack on Iran's primary nuclear sites. While Trump claims Iran's nuclear development has been badly diminished by these attacks, the real extent of the program remains unclear. 

What did the commentators say?
Iran officially halted its nuclear weapons development in 2003, according to official U.S. intelligence. As a result, intelligence assessments have generally concluded that Iran's nuclear program "isn't currently weaponized," said CNN. But Trump said his "director of national intelligence was 'wrong' when she testified that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon," said Al Jazeera.

Just how developed Iran's program is remains ambiguous. Iran has over 400 kilograms (900 pounds) of uranium enriched at 60%, according to the International Atomic Energy Commission. Most experts say creating a nuclear weapon requires uranium enriched at 90%. If Iran's uranium met this mark, the nation would have "enough material for about 10 nuclear weapons," said NPR.

What next?
The U.S. attack targeted Iran's most heavily fortified nuclear site, Fordo, which is buried deep in a mountain, as well as another nuclear site, Natanz. Trump claimed that American "bunker-busting bombs" had "completely and totally obliterated" Fordo. 

But it's unclear if this is true. There's "little doubt that the sites Tehran has been using to produce highly enriched uranium" have "suffered severe damage" due to U.S. bombing, said the Financial Times. But the "critical question will be whether Iran's program has been destroyed or simply pushed into smaller secret facilities." 

It would be "foolish if you said that the program was delayed by anything more than a few months," said former U.S. official Richard Nephew to the Times. It would have been "very naive to keep our enriched uranium in those sites," said a source in the Iranian regime. "The enriched uranium is untouched now."

 
 
QUOTE OF THE DAY

'We don't get enough water. They put out a little case of water, and everyone has to run for it.'

A girl's testimony in a lawsuit about the conditions at Karnes County detention center in Texas. The suit aims to stop the Trump administration from terminating a policy requiring immigrant children to be held in safe conditions. 

 
 
THE EXPLAINER

AI chatbots are leading some to psychosis

As AI chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT have become more mainstream, a troubling phenomenon has accompanied their rise: chatbot psychosis. Chatbots are known to sometimes push inaccurate information and affirm conspiracy theories, and there are instances of users developing severe obsessions and mental health problems as a result of talking to them.

How is this happening?
"The correspondence with generative AI chatbots is so realistic that one easily gets the impression that there's a real person at the other end," Soren Dinesen Ostergaard said at the Schizophrenia Bulletin. This is especially dangerous for those with existing mental health conditions.

AI chatbots have "tended to be sycophantic, agreeing with and flattering users," said The New York Times. They could also be acting as "peer pressure," Dr. Ragy Girgis, a psychiatrist at Columbia University, said to Futurism. And the cognitive dissonance between believing in the chatbots while knowing they are not real people may "fuel delusions in those with increased propensity toward psychosis," said Ostergaard. 

Some people use ChatGPT to "make sense of their lives," said Erin Westgate, a psychologist at the University of Florida, to Rolling Stone. The problem is that the bots affirm beliefs already held by the user, including misinformation and delusions. "Explanations are powerful, even if they are wrong."

Can it be fixed?
ChatGPT is not ultimately "trying to manipulate people," said Psychology Today. However, chatbots are designed to imitate human speech and use predictive text to determine what to say. "Think of ChatGPT a little bit like a fortune teller." If fortune tellers "do their jobs well, they will say something vague enough so that their clients can see what they want to see in the fortune."

These chatbots are "clearly intersecting in dark ways with existing social issues" at a time when the media has "provided OpenAI with an aura of vast authority," said Futurism. But OpenAI claims to know about the dangers of ChatGPT and has said in a statement to the Times that it's "working to understand and reduce" harm. 

 
 

Statistic of the day

123.2 million: The number of people globally who were forcibly displaced in 2024 due to persecution or violence, according to the U.N. This is an increase of 7 million people since 2023 and represents one in 67 individuals worldwide. But forced displacement has been falling this year, dropping to 122.1 million by April.

 
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Amazon's robotaxi takes on Waymo

Amazon has unveiled its latest big bet as it looks to usurp a share of the self-driving car market from Google-owned Waymo, announcing last week that it has opened an autonomous vehicle production facility. According to the company, the plant will eventually be able to produce self-driving robotaxis from Amazon-owned Zoox on a large scale.

High output
Located in Hayward, California, near Silicon Valley, the factory is the "first-ever serial production facility for purpose-built robotaxis in the U.S.," said Zoox in a press release. The new facility encompasses 220,000 square feet and will be used for "planned growth and robotaxi services at Zoox across multiple markets." 

This represents a significant ramp-up for Zoox, which Amazon purchased in 2020 for $1.2 billion. Once the factory reaches full scale, it will have the "capacity to assemble 10,000 robotaxis a year, with roughly three robotaxis being produced per hour," said CNBC. 

Competing with Waymo
The Amazon-Zoox partnership is "one of several companies vying to secure a foothold in the market for autonomous ride-hailing," said Bloomberg. Beyond this, Tesla is also looking to jump into the autonomous car battle. Zoox already has robotaxis operating in Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. 

But for now, Waymo claims to remain far ahead and says it has "recorded more than 10 million paid rides while other would-be rivals such as Amazon and Tesla are still fine-tuning their self-driving technology and tackling how to ramp up their fleet," said The Associated Press. Despite this, Zoox feels it has a competitive edge and "believes it can lure passengers with vehicles that look more like carriages than cars, with seating for up to four passengers" who face each other. These vehicles, unlike Zoox's competitors, do not have a steering wheel or pedals. Waymo, on the other hand, adds its self-driving features onto existing car models.

The companies will all face regulatory hurdles, though, and Zoox, in particular, will need an "exemption from U.S. auto safety rules that require vehicles to have driver controls," said Bloomberg. Talks with the Trump administration and various safety bodies are "going well," said Zoox CEO Aicha Evans to Bloomberg. And Zoox plans to start launching its full commercial service later in 2025.

 
 

Good day 🤑

… for content creators. User-generated content on social media platforms will earn more advertising income this year than content from traditional media companies, marking a "huge cultural shift" in the media industry, according to an assessment by WPP Media. Content creators will see their revenue through ads, brand deals and sponsorships increase by 20% this year.

 
 

Bad day 🥄

… for Algerian Nutella. France's decision to ban El Mordjene, the wildly popular Algerian version of the hazelnut spread, has made it a "political football" and the focus of a "bitter" trade row, said The Telegraph. Officials claim that the spread infringes on Nutella's trademarks, but the Algerian-French community calls the ban an attempt to "keep down" Muslim immigrants.

 
 
Picture of the day

Out of the dark

More than 2,000 galaxies shine in the Virgo cluster, 55 million light-years from Earth, in an image from a new telescope in Chile. Scientists hope the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, on Cerro Pachón mountain, will provide insights that transform human understanding of the cosmos.
NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

 
 
Puzzles

Test your general knowledge with The Week's daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes sudoku and codewords

 
 
The Week recommends

Summer drinking necessitates sipping and snacking when the weather is too sweltering to do much more. Why not hole up in a friendly bar with a gaggle of like-minded friends and strangers? Whatever your beverage needs may be, these bars' doors are open.

JusTini's, New Orleans
A raise of hands for Black-owned bars anywhere but especially in the majority Black city of New Orleans. Jessica Robinson has shaped a "good-looking, elevated neighborhood bar-restaurant" that's "lively and relaxed without a hint of pretension," said Condé Nast Traveler. The cocktails represent the vibrant breadth of New Orleans drinking. 

Trick Dog, San Francisco
It has been more than a decade since Trick Dog opened in San Francisco's Mission District. "Dark wood and dim lighting almost make it feel like a dive bar," said Condé Nast Traveler. But the "expertly crafted drinks prove otherwise." The menu changes — that is, completely overhauls — every six months. That's a boatload of new concepts and drinks. And still the dog keeps barking up the very right tree.

Water Bear, Boise, Idaho
Good drinks, great vibes, inclusive hospitality — Water Bear is a queer-owned cocktail bar that thrives on neighborliness. Happy hour happens two times a day and all day on Tuesday. The vinyl is spinning on "All Wax Wednesday," during which, if you bring your own record and play it for 30 minutes, you are gifted a cocktail. Running a bar is always a financial challenge, and Water Bear, having opened only shortly before the pandemic, is still recovering. You can help by visiting.

 
 

Poll watch

Exactly one-fifth of Americans identify as Catholics, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The poll of 9,544 adults found that among those who identify as Catholic, 50% pray daily, 28% attend Mass weekly, and 23% go to confession at least once a year. 

 
 
INSTANT OPINION

Today's best commentary

'The myth of the Gen Z red wave'
Jean M. Twenge at The Atlantic
If Gen Z is "durably to the right of previous generations, a significant part of the Democratic coalition is gone," says Jean M. Twenge. But the "best available evidence suggests that the youth-vote shift in 2024 was more a one-off event than an ideological realignment." Voting for a Republican candidate "isn't the same as identifying as conservative." Young voters have "not become more likely to identify as conservative or hold broadly conservative political opinions."

'Travel outside your political tribe? Many are saying no thanks.'
Patti Waldmeir at the Financial Times
Trump's "policies are scaring off foreign visitors, and domestically, politics increasingly dictates where and how we choose to have fun in the U.S.," says Patti Waldmeir. This is "increasingly deterring international visitors to the U.S.," and politics has had a "dramatic political effect on visitors from Canada, whose citizens are boycotting U.S. visits." Politics "affects not just where Americans travel but how." More "political silos are the last thing we need in Trump's America."

'Are Blacks and American Jews still political allies?'
Juan Williams at The Hill
We "need to talk about antisemitism. And by 'we,' I mean Black people," says Juan Williams. Fear of "being charged with antisemitism has also kept many Black and Latino members of Congress out of the debate over U.S. support for Israel," but "criticism of Israeli policy is not necessarily based on antisemitism." A "Black cynic could be forgiven for thinking Trump pretends to care about protecting Jews as a pretext for pursuing an agenda that's antithetical to Jewish values."

 
 
WORD OF THE DAY

Aurora

The name of a new Microsoft AI model that's more accurate and up to 5,000 times faster than the world's top systems for forecasting weather conditions, including hurricanes, sandstorms and ocean swells. It beat existing systems in 91% of cases over a 14-day period, according to a study in the journal Nature.

 
 

Evening Review was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Summer Meza, Devika Rao, and Anahi Valenzuela, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Shutterstock / Getty Images; Mr. Cole Photographer / Getty Images; Zoox via AP; Jackyenjoyphotography / Getty Images