Fans used AI to celebrate safe return

After nine days of searching, Neukgu was finally returned to the zoo, where he is now recovering outside the social media spotlight.

But his Internet fame lives on as a memecoin launched shortly after his escape. On the memecoin website, Neukgu is described as a “brave wolf” in search of “freedom,” becoming a “symbol of independence” that the token supposedly represents. He’s “the wolf that wouldn’t stay caged,” the website says, while encouraging fans to buy tokens.

Early on, the wolf was nearly captured after drone footage detected him on a mountain, but he escaped the perimeter rescue workers set up, The Guardian reported. Cops also felt hot on the trail after a driver shared footage showing Neukgu trotting alongside a mountain road. Eventually, the wolf was “found and tranquilized on a hill near an expressway,” The Guardian reported. The only sign he’d left the zoo was a small fishing hook that veterinarians removed from his stomach.

You can still review Neukgu’s entire journey, however, thanks to an adorable fan-created map that tracked reported sightings. The fake AI sighting seemingly isn’t included on the map, which, translated, is titled “where you going wolf.”

Fans mapped the runaway wolf’s movements.

An opinion piece in ChoSun.com, a local South Korean outlet, suggested that although an elementary school was briefly shut down, communities never considered Neukgu to be a threat. Rather, the wolf seemed like “a lost puppy.” One X post with 2.4 million views showed the wolf as a young pup and urged, “Look at this wolf’s face… What the hell is this guy gonna do with a face like that…”

And although police have arrested one man for making an AI image that allegedly hindered their search, many other Neukgu fans have turned to AI to make celebratory posts like the “where you going wolf” map, ChoSun.com reported. AI-generated images of “Neukgu’s Daejeon Marathon,” “Neukgu City Tour,” and “Neukgu Escape Route Tracking” have reportedly been widely shared.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/after-wolf-escaped-zoo-man-arrested-for-creating-fake-ai-sighting-for-fun/

“It’s a complete rewrite of the Endangered Species Act, and there’s not one provision in the bill that would make it more likely that species would recover. In fact, it would most likely make it more likely that species would continue to decline,” she said. “This bill should just die of its own weight.”

Patrick Parenteau, an emeritus law professor at the Vermont Law and Graduate School, said the Republican representatives may have jumped ship for one specific reason.

“I can’t tell how much of the opposition is about defending the Endangered Species Act, as opposed to preventing oil and gas drilling off the coast of Florida,” Parenteau said.

The Florida Everglades ecosystem alone hosts dozens of endangered and threatened species, including manatees, Florida panthers and many birds. It also contributes more than $30 billion annually to real estate, tourism and other parts of the local economy, a recent report estimated. But that ecosystem and others in the state are threatened by fossil fuel production, experts say.

US Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) told E&E News that she is concerned about “opening up any potential avenues for drilling in the Gulf,” given how much the state relies on ecotourism, and that she wants to “see some improvements made before we’re willing to support the bill.”

Dozens of Floridians, including businesspeople, environmentalists and scientists, signed on to a letter opposing the legislation.

“Without protections for habitats and wildlife, the economic value of our natural resources to visitors will be greatly diminished,” the letter read. “Weakening the ESA would harm Florida’s wildlife and environment, as well as our communities and economy.”

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/trump-administration-attempt-to-gut-endangered-species-act-hits-roadblock/

Specifically, the committee recommended that the State Department assess whether the distillation attacks violate laws like the Economic Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. They also want “adversarial distillation” clearly defined and officially categorized as a controlled technology transfer, which would make it easier to restrict fraudulent Chinese access to models.

If such steps were taken, the US could prosecute bad actors and impose heavy financial penalties that might dissuade Chinese firms from treating “serious violations as a tolerable cost of doing business,” the committee’s report said.

China slams accusations as “pure slander”

Kratsios’ memo threatening a crackdown comes ahead of Donald Trump’s highly anticipated meeting with China’s president Xi Jinping next month.

Trump has claimed that the meeting will be “special” and “much will be accomplished.” However, at least one analyst told the South China Morning Post that the war in Iran means that Trump has “lost almost all his bargaining chips” at a time when the US and China are seeking to stabilize a trade relationship that has been tense since Trump took office.

China seems unlikely to tolerate Kratsios’ allegations. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, told FT that the White House accusations were “pure slander.”

“China has always been committed to promoting scientific and technological progress through cooperation and healthy competition,” Pengyu said. “China attaches great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights.”

Whether Trump will side with AI firms that want to see China cut off from their models and sanctioned for distillation attacks has yet to be seen. Trump has, in the past, been accused of making big concessions to China on export control matters that experts have claimed threaten US national security and the economy, as US firms claim the distillation attacks do.

Some of Trump’s concessions may need to be reversed to fight the alleged “industrial espionage.”

Chris McGuire, a technology security expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, told FT that “Chinese AI firms are relying on distillation attacks to offset deficits in AI computing power and illicitly reproduce the core capabilities of US models.” To stop them, the US may need to tighten export controls that Trump loosened, such as allowing Nvidia chip sales to China so long as the US gets a 25 percent cut. That bizarre deal made “no sense” to experts who warned that Trump’s odd move could have opened the door for China to demand access to America’s most advanced AI chips.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/us-accuses-china-of-industrial-scale-ai-theft-china-says-its-slander/

“Once you install the patch, all inadvertently-preserved notifications will be deleted and no forthcoming notifications will be preserved for deleted applications,” Signal said.

Ars could not immediately reach Apple or Signal for additional comments.

User panic remains

On Signal’s thread, however, users debated whether the update was sufficient, with some urging that best practice is likely still to disable message previews entirely to limit device access to sensitive chats. Previously, Signal president Meredith Whittaker had posted on Bluesky to remind users that they can update Signal settings to “Show ‘No Name or Content’” in push notifications and avoid privacy concerns. Some users agreed that enabling message previews on any kind of device—not just Apple’s—seemed unwise in light of 404 Media’s reporting.

“By having message previews in notifications, you’re giv[ing] the OS access to that content without being sure how it will handle those messages,” a Bluesky user “LofiTurtle” wrote. “This patch removes one known method, but for full assurance you should just turn off previews so the OS never sees it in the first place.”

Another Bluesky user, “Alexndr,” speculated that Apple’s update suggested there may be other concerning content stored in ways that might frustrate other app users.

“The notification content surviving app deletion is the wild part,” Alexndr wrote. “Glad it’s patched but makes you wonder what else is sitting in iOS notification caches.”

Somewhat defending Apple, a Bluesky user, “Coyote,” emphasized that Apple’s blog made it clear that it wasn’t a caching issue, but a logging issue.

“Notification content wasn’t supposed to make it into diagnostic logs but sometimes did,” Coyote suggested. “Specifically happened when you get a notification the phone can’t handle, like when the app it is for has been deleted.”

For Apple users, questions likely remain since governments seem keen to access encrypted chats however they can. Apple made headlines last year for pulling end-to-end encryption in the United Kingdom to avoid complying with a law that made it easier for government officials to spy on encrypted chats. 404 Media noted that globally, law enforcement has increasingly relied on “push notifications more broadly as an investigative strategy.” Last year, Apple caved to legal demands that “gave governments data on thousands of push notifications,” 404 Media reported.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/apple-stops-weirdly-storing-data-that-let-cops-spy-on-signal-chats/

The lawsuit also alleges violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive acts. “Nintendo engaged in unfair acts by: (i) raising prices due to tariffs; (ii) failing to disclose that it intended to seek tariff refunds; and (iii) retaining tariff refunds despite having passed the costs to its customers,” the lawsuit said.

Of course, Nintendo didn’t know when it raised prices that the Supreme Court would strike down the tariffs the next year. It’s also unclear what it intends to do with tariff refunds that it will presumably receive sometime in the next 60 to 90 days.

Nintendo raised prices for Switch 2 accessories

The lawsuit points to price increases for Nintendo Switch 2 accessories that were announced in April 2025. The increases ranged from $1 to $10 per product. “For example, Nintendo raised the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller from $79.99 to $84.99 and the Nintendo Switch 2 Dock Set from $109.99 to $119.99,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also mentions the August 2025 increases for the original Switch console, which ranged from $30 to $50 depending on the model. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told investors in May 2025 that “if tariffs are imposed, we recognize them as a part of the cost and incorporate them into the price,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit seeks a return “of all monies wrongfully obtained by Defendant.” It didn’t ask for a specific amount in damages, but said that federal court is the appropriate venue because the class includes people from multiple states and “the amount in controversy exceeds $5,000,000.” Nintendo of America is headquartered in the Washington district where the complaint was filed.

Even if the Trump administration issues all owed refunds, Nintendo and other companies will still have an ongoing tariff problem. Trump reacted to his Supreme Court loss by imposing a 10 percent tariff, claiming he has the authority to do so under the Trade Act of 1974, and more Trade Act tariffs could be on the way. States have sued to block Trump’s new tariffs, and there may be another long round of litigation over whether the president can issue tariffs under the Trade Act.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/lawsuit-nintendo-is-getting-tariff-refunds-its-customers-should-get-them-instead/

The lawsuit also alleges violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive acts. “Nintendo engaged in unfair acts by: (i) raising prices due to tariffs; (ii) failing to disclose that it intended to seek tariff refunds; and (iii) retaining tariff refunds despite having passed the costs to its customers,” the lawsuit said.

Of course, Nintendo didn’t know when it raised prices that the Supreme Court would strike down the tariffs the next year. It’s also unclear what it intends to do with tariff refunds that it will presumably receive sometime in the next 60 to 90 days.

Nintendo raised prices for Switch 2 accessories

The lawsuit points to price increases for Nintendo Switch 2 accessories that were announced in April 2025. The increases ranged from $1 to $10 per product. “For example, Nintendo raised the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller from $79.99 to $84.99 and the Nintendo Switch 2 Dock Set from $109.99 to $119.99,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also mentions the August 2025 increases for the original Switch console, which ranged from $30 to $50 depending on the model. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told investors in May 2025 that “if tariffs are imposed, we recognize them as a part of the cost and incorporate them into the price,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit seeks a return “of all monies wrongfully obtained by Defendant.” It didn’t ask for a specific amount in damages, but said that federal court is the appropriate venue because the class includes people from multiple states and “the amount in controversy exceeds $5,000,000.” Nintendo of America is headquartered in the Washington district where the complaint was filed.

Even if the Trump administration issues all owed refunds, Nintendo and other companies will still have an ongoing tariff problem. Trump reacted to his Supreme Court loss by imposing a 10 percent tariff, claiming he has the authority to do so under the Trade Act of 1974, and more Trade Act tariffs could be on the way. States have sued to block Trump’s new tariffs, and there may be another long round of litigation over whether the president can issue tariffs under the Trade Act.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/lawsuit-nintendo-is-getting-tariff-refunds-its-customers-should-get-them-instead/

McCasland disappeared about six days after Trump announced that he planned to release files related to UFOs and aliens, the NY Post reported. Police searching for McCasland told the NY Post that they’ve received “some tips with some outlandish theories, conspiracy theories,” but promised that “we will look into everything.”

Another former US Air Force member, intelligence officer Matthew James Sullivan, died in 2024 “before he could testify in a federal whistleblower case about UFOs,” CNN reported. That death is a suspected suicide, but Rep. Burlison told CNN he considered the circumstances suspicious.

Families, lawmaker doubt tabloid links

Law enforcement has yet to find any connections between the deaths and disappearances, with cases varying widely in circumstances, CNN reported. While several scientists’ cases seem to follow a similar pattern, two other cases involve fatal shootings of scientists where suspects have been arrested and charged, CNN reported. At least one member of the House committee launching the probe, Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), expressed doubts that any links will be found.

“The United States has thousands of nuclear scientists and nuclear experts,” Walkinshaw told CNN. “It’s not the kind of nuclear program that potentially a foreign adversary could significantly impact by targeting 10 individuals.”

Families of two scientists have “pointed to preexisting medical conditions or personal struggles as explanations.” Hicks’ daughter, Julia Hicks, told CNN that she couldn’t help but laugh at the conspiracy theory the tabloids have raised, despite the probe suggesting that it’s now “getting serious.”

“From what I know of my dad, there’s no train of logic to follow that would implicate him in this potential federal investigation,” she said. “I don’t understand the connection between my dad’s death and the other missing scientists.”

Similarly, the family of Amy Eskridge—who cofounded the Institute for Exotic Science, a facility experimenting with anti-gravity technology—has pushed back on recent efforts to link her 2022 death to the conspiracy.

“People should realize that scientists die also and not make too much of this,” the family told CNN.

But some lawmakers suspect foul play regardless.

“It’s very unlikely that this is a coincidence,” Comer told Fox News on Sunday, while confirming that the probe would remain a top priority for his committee.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/tabloid-reports-linking-10-missing-and-dead-scientists-spur-fbi-probe/

McCasland disappeared about six days after Trump announced that he planned to release files related to UFOs and aliens, the NY Post reported. Police searching for McCasland told the NY Post that they’ve received “some tips with some outlandish theories, conspiracy theories,” but promised that “we will look into everything.”

Another former US Air Force member, intelligence officer Matthew James Sullivan, died in 2024 “before he could testify in a federal whistleblower case about UFOs,” CNN reported. That death is a suspected suicide, but Rep. Burlison told CNN he considered the circumstances suspicious.

Families, lawmaker doubt tabloid links

Law enforcement has yet to find any connections between the deaths and disappearances, with cases varying widely in circumstances, CNN reported. While several scientists’ cases seem to follow a similar pattern, two other cases involve fatal shootings of scientists where suspects have been arrested and charged, CNN reported. At least one member of the House committee launching the probe, Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), expressed doubts that any links will be found.

“The United States has thousands of nuclear scientists and nuclear experts,” Walkinshaw told CNN. “It’s not the kind of nuclear program that potentially a foreign adversary could significantly impact by targeting 10 individuals.”

Families of two scientists have “pointed to preexisting medical conditions or personal struggles as explanations.” Hicks’ daughter, Julia Hicks, told CNN that she couldn’t help but laugh at the conspiracy theory the tabloids have raised, despite the probe suggesting that it’s now “getting serious.”

“From what I know of my dad, there’s no train of logic to follow that would implicate him in this potential federal investigation,” she said. “I don’t understand the connection between my dad’s death and the other missing scientists.”

Similarly, the family of Amy Eskridge—who cofounded the Institute for Exotic Science, a facility experimenting with anti-gravity technology—has pushed back on recent efforts to link her 2022 death to the conspiracy.

“People should realize that scientists die also and not make too much of this,” the family told CNN.

But some lawmakers suspect foul play regardless.

“It’s very unlikely that this is a coincidence,” Comer told Fox News on Sunday, while confirming that the probe would remain a top priority for his committee.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/tabloid-reports-linking-10-missing-and-dead-scientists-spur-fbi-probe/

Under the newly adopted policies, the Corps of Engineers must weigh the energy produced per acre for any projects under its oversight against the potential impact of alternative uses of the land. The Department of the Interior was ordered to make a similar consideration.

For the purposes of a temporary injunction, that turned out to be enough. Given this justification, Casper said she could not conclude that the suing organizations were likely to win on their claims that the policy was arbitrary and capricious. That determination would have to await a full trial.

But it won’t, because those rules turned out to be illegal for other reasons.

Casper’s ruling notes that the laws governing the use of public lands require agencies to weigh multiple factors, balancing the benefits of different uses versus preservation. The rules instituted at Interior and the Corps of Engineers made a simple energy-density calculation the sole determinant of whether a project could proceed, sidestepping the process set forth in the relevant laws. As such, those policies also merit an injunction.

At least for the parties involved in the suit, none of the hurdles the Trump administration placed on renewable energy will apply. And the groups involved in the suit included many renewable energy developers*. That said, involved agencies could still create informal obstacles without violating the injunction, such as quietly slowing the pace of project approvals. The government can also potentially appeal this injunction.

So while the ruling is good news, it’s not a guarantee that the growth of renewables will continue unhindered over the next several years.

* The full list of plaintiffs: Clean Grid Alliance, Alliance For Clean Energy New York, Renew Northeast, Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition Action, Renewable Northwest, Carolinas Clean Energy Business Association, Southern Renewable Energy Association, Interwest Energy Alliance.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/new-court-ruling-blocks-many-of-the-governments-anti-renewable-policies/

So last January, Sam created Emily Hart, a registered nurse and Jennifer Lawrence look-alike. On an Instagram account for Emily, @emily_hart.nurse, Sam posted photos of her ice fishing, drinking Coors Light, and shooting off a few rounds at the rifle range, with emoji-laden captions like “If you want a reason to unfollow: Christ is king, abortion is murder, and all illegals must be deported,” and “POV: You were assigned intelligent at birth, but you identify as liberal <clown emoji>.”

Though Sam has never lived in the United States, he became an assiduous student of MAGA ideology. “Every day I’d write something pro-Christian, pro-Second Amendment, pro-life, anti-abortion, anti-woke, and anti-immigration,” he tells me.

The grift seemed almost too obvious, but to Sam’s astonishment, he says the account “blew up.”

“Every Reel I posted was getting 3 million views, 5 million views, 10 million views. The algorithm loved it.” he claims. Within a month, Emily Hart had more than 10,000 Instagram followers, many of whom also subscribed to her softcore AI-generated content on the OnlyFans competitor Fanvue. And between Fanvue subscriptions and selling MAGA-themed T-shirts (one sample message reads ”PTSD: Pretty Tired of Stupid Democrats”), Sam estimates he was making a few thousand dollars a month.

“I was spending maybe 30 to 50 minutes of my day, and I was making good money for a medical student,” he says. “In India, even in professional jobs, you can’t make this amount of money. I haven’t seen any easier way to make money online.”

Emily Hart is one of a slew of AI-generated hot girl MAGA influencers inundating social media, thanks to technologically savvy young men like Sam capitalizing both on pro-Trump sentiment and Americans’ relative lack of digital literacy.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/indian-med-student-rakes-in-thousands-with-ai-generated-maga-hottie/