Today's disinformation story

AI scammer fakes Rubio messages to top officials

What happened
An imposter used artificial intelligence to mimic Secretary of State Marco Rubio in voice and text messages to high-ranking officials including three foreign ministers, a governor and a member of Congress, according to a State Department cable obtained by The Washington Post.

Who said what
The unknown "actor" left voicemails for officials on the Signal messaging app, favoured by the Trump administration, after a fake account with the display name marco.rubio@state.gov was created in mid-June. "In one instance," the imposter "sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal," the July 3 cable said. In addition, "other State Department personnel were impersonated using email," said The Washington Post.

AI was used to impersonate Rubio earlier this year, when a deepfake video appeared to show him saying he wanted to "cut off Ukraine's access to Elon Musk's Starlink internet service," said The Associated Press. The "impersonation campaign" underscores the scale of the threat posed by "bad actors harnessing quickly evolving voice-cloning technology," said Axios. This "isn't a very sophisticated thing," said Ana Cabrera on MSNBC. "It doesn't take a tech guru to pull this off."

What next?
The State Department told the Post it would "carry out a thorough investigation" into the Rubio security breach "and continue to implement safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future."

Today's technology Story

Musk chatbot Grok praises Hitler on X

What happened
The Grok chatbot, created by Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, made antisemitic comments, praised Adolf Hitler and referred to itself as "MechaHitler" in a series of posts on X yesterday. In other responses to user queries, the bot "connected several antisemitic tropes to an X account with a name it identified as being 'Ashkenazi Jewish,'" CNN said.

Who said what
Grok's posts were "irresponsible, dangerous and antisemitic, plain and simple," said the Anti-Defamation League. "This supercharging of extremist rhetoric" will "encourage the antisemitism" that is "surging on X and many other platforms."

Grok "has veered into controversy before," The New York Times said, and yesterday's posts have "renewed questions about whether chatbots need guardrails to prevent them from pontificating on sensitive topics." Musk has promised to retrain Grok, but it's currently "showcasing the worst that chatbots have to offer," said The Atlantic.

What next?
xAI last night said it was "working to remove the inappropriate posts" and had "taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X." The company also removed recently added code permitting the bot to make politically incorrect claims "as long as they are well substantiated." Grok 4, its most advanced AI model yet, will be unveiled during a livestream on X this evening.

It's not all bad

More than 2,000 native plants are thriving under the care of a 20-woman-strong gardening team at the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary in Kerala, India. This is one of the "world's hottest hot spots of biodiversity," said The Guardian, and in the last four decades, the sanctuary has grown from 7 acres to 79. Deforestation and climate change threaten the region, but Gurukula stands out as a "Noah's Ark for endangered plant species," including different types of rare impatiens and ferns.

Under the radar

Jared and Ivanka's Albanian island

Albania has approved a controversial $1.4 billion deal with President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner to develop the island of Sazan into a "luxury resort," said Balkan Insight. This uninhabited island off the southern city of Vlore was an "isolated military outpost" of Fascist Italy and later of Communist-era Albania, and Albania's "Cold War designation" as the "North Korea of Europe" means that it's one of the last undeveloped spots in Western Europe. But Kushner's investment firm has "big plans for tiny Albania," said Air Mail. And although "not all of the plans are crazy," they have already elicited plenty of opposition.

The investment firm Affinity Partners' plans include a 1,100-acre luxury resort on the country's Adriatic Coast, with 6,000 hotel rooms and villas. Architectural designs for the project show "modernist multi-story structures" built along the shore, dunes and headlands around the Narta lagoon, a spot currently "prized by birders for its rich avian diversity," said The New York Times. Asher Abehsera, the executive overseeing the developments, said the firm recognized the "rich biodiversity and natural landscape" of the area and had a "master plan" designed to "restore and improve ecological conditions."

Even so, locals have "expressed fears of overtourism" and water shortages, as well as the loss of their land and public access to the lagoon and beaches, said the Times. Others say "more infrastructure" will only mean "more government corruption." Albanians are "not anti-tourism," said one. They are just "against tourism that will destroy our land and our traditions."

On this day

July 9, 2011

The country of South Sudan declared its independence following a referendum to secede from Sudan. Just two years later, the nation devolved into a civil war from which it is still recovering, amid continuing violence and poverty. South Sudan remains the newest sovereign country with widespread recognition.

TODAY'S newspaperS

'Mass firings and agency overhauls'

Supreme Court justices "pave way" for the Trump administration to "slash the federal work force and dismantle federal agencies," says The New York Times. The ruling allows plans for "mass firings and agency overhauls" to proceed, says The Washington Post. Miami-Dade's mayor "demands access to Alligator Alcatraz" and calls for Florida "to lift the secrecy" surrounding the immigration detention center, citing "environmental concerns and reports of poor conditions," says the Miami Herald. As the death toll from the Texas flood rises, Kerr County governor warns that "up to 161 still could be missing," the Houston Chronicle says.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Cat(ch) him if you can

A man dressed as a giant black cat has been spotted around Wallasey, England, with one video showing him wriggling under fences before meowing and writhing on the ground. The sightings have mostly occurred in "secluded" areas near a beach, leaving witnesses "scared" and "confused," said the BBC. One resident said he thinks he knows who's inside the cat suit, and the man is not trying to terrorize the town. "He just likes being a giant cat."

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Jessica Hullinger, Justin Klawans, Summer Meza, Chas Newkey-Burden, Rafi Schwartz and Kari Wilkin, with illustration by Julia Wytrazek.