mAIn Street #138: ​AI Chatbots Shockingly Good at Political Persuasion on Both Sides; Trump to Sign Exec Order Negating State AI Rules


DECEMBER 9, 2025

This week, things have been heating up between President Trump and the States on AI regulation, with the President nearing an Executive Order to curb and prevent in favor of a unified federal approach.

Whatever happens, expect lawsuits.

Additionally, AI has figured out how to manipulate us politically, according to a new study. We dive into that, plus more prompts and an AI tool that will read and perform your PDFs, books, and docs for you. Let's get started:

  • PromptCraft: Great Prompts for Language Learning, RPG Players, A/B Testing, and Improving Outcomes
  • THE HEADLINES: ​AI Chatbots Shockingly Good at Political Persuasion on Both Sides; Trump to Sign Exec Order Negating State AI Rules; AI That Helps Doctors Predict Premature Births; Character AI Chatbots Engaged in Predatory Behaviors with Minors
  • Tool Spotlight: CastReader Reads Books, PDFs, and Docs Aloud

PROMPTS: Great Prompts for Language Learning, RPG Players, A/B Testing, and Improving Outcomes

  • Spanish CI reading trainer prompt plus vocab table workflow: This post shares a copy‑paste system prompt that turns ChatGPT into a Spanish acquisition trainer using short scenes with translations, a learner-controlled “Unknown words” loop, and an external vocab table to reinforce parked → active → stable words while naturally increasing scene complexity.
  • High-fidelity tabletop RPG GM master system prompt: This massive system prompt configures ChatGPT as a relentless, high‑fidelity tabletop RPG GM. It enforces strict scene→mechanics→consequences structure, four A–D choices only, tracked stats, factions, clocks, reputation, encumbrance, and scars, prioritizing believable consequences, non‑railroaded play, and persistent world change.
  • Structural consistency pattern for reliable multi-purpose prompts: This discussion argues that the biggest upgrade isn’t clever wording but structural consistency in prompts. The author hints at a reusable architecture that keeps AI behaving like a stable system—researcher, strategist, writer, or teacher—rather than drifting styles every response.
  • Three-version prompt generator for instant A/B testing: Here, a meta‑prompt turns ChatGPT into a “Prompt Optimization Engineer” that takes any rough goal and generates three CRAC‑structured prompt variants—concise, creative, and precise—each in its own Markdown block, making it easy to A/B test which framing performs best.
  • Think Harder tag boosts ChatGPT career analysis: This case study shows how adding the phrase “Think Harder” to an otherwise identical career question produced a much deeper response: detailed cost breakdowns, risk matrix, validation roadmap, and decision checkpoints—highlighting how small control phrases can push models toward more rigorous reasoning.

HIGHLIGHTS: ​AI Chatbots Shockingly Good at Political Persuasion on Both Sides; Trump to Sign Exec Order Negating State AI Rules; AI That Helps Doctors Predict Premature Births; Character AI Chatbots Engaged in Predatory Behaviors with Minors

  1. IBM to Acquire Confluent to Create Smart Data Platform for Enterprise Generative AI
  2. The accounting uproar over how fast an AI chip depreciates
  3. AI Surveillance Startup Caught Using Sweatshop Workers to Monitor US Residents
  4. America’s AI dominance depends on winning the ‘power race’ against China, energy expert warns
  5. Why AI coding agents aren’t production-ready: Brittle context windows, broken refactors, missing operational awareness
  6. Trump Says He’ll Sign Executive Order Curbing State AI Rules
  7. Exclusive: SoftBank, Nvidia looking to invest in Skild AI at $14 billion valuation, sources say
  8. Nokia CEO: The workforce is becoming AI-native. Leadership has to evolve
  9. Intel, Adobe, and these other ‘AI loser’ stocks could get left behind in the next phase of the tech boom
  10. What’s next in AI: 7 trends to watch in 2026
  11. UF ethicist calls the DeSantis AI bill of rights plan ‘exemplary’
  12. AI and the future of industrial work: a framework for enhancing employee experience from satisfaction to flourishing
  13. Yes, AI is in a bubble. No, it’s not just hype.
  14. BlackRock Bets On ‘Pick And Shovel’ Trade, Singling Out Clear Winners In AI Spending Spree
  15. Riyadh Air and IBM Partner to Launch World’s First AI-Native Airline
  16. Scores of UK parliamentarians join call to regulate most powerful AI systems
  17. There’s a new face in Hollywood, generated by AI
  18. AI chatbots raise safety concerns for children, experts warn
  19. A mom thought her daughter was texting friends before her suicide. It was an AI chatbot.
  20. JP Morgan CEO says AI won’t reduce jobs dramatically — but he still expects one major thing
  21. With one small step for AI, Chinese scientists make giant leap for humanity
  22. The power crunch threatening America’s AI ambitions
  23. Chinese phonemakers seize on Apple’s AI struggles to grab market share
  24. Rowan engineering experts are developing AI tools to improve NJ’s bridge asset management strategies
  25. ByteDance’s agentic AI smartphone dials up a digital backlash from China’s top apps
  26. Block all AI browsers for the foreseeable future: Gartner
  27. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis says AI scaling ‘must be pushed to the maximum’
  28. The New York Times sues Perplexity as tensions rise between publishers and AI
  29. Yoodli triples valuation to $300M with human-first AI approach
  30. How J. Crew’s CIO Used AI To Supercharge The Brand’s Comeback
  31. Meta acquires AI-wearables startup Limitless
  32. Google’s AI Deletes User’s Entire Hard Drive, Issues Groveling Apology: “I Cannot Express How Sorry I Am”
  33. How AI could help doctors predict premature births
  34. Counterfeit toys and AI chatbots pose new threats to child safety
  35. State-level AI rules survive — for now — as Senate sinks moratorium despite White House pressure
  36. We’re running low on data to train AI. The good news is there’s a fix for that
  37. Jimmy Wales on the Legacy of Wikipedia and AI
  38. A Once-in-a-Decade Investment Opportunity: 2 Brilliant AI Stocks to Buy Now (Hint: Not Nvidia or Palantir)
  39. Anthropic’s Philosopher Shares Secrets to Mastering AI Prompts with Clarity and Precision
  40. Fidelity pros reveal top AI stocks for 2026 (it’s not just Nvidia)
  41. AI is making spacecraft propulsion more efficient – and could even lead to nuclear-powered rockets
  42. AI baby monitors are rising, but experts warn about overreliance
  43. Character AI chatbots engaged in predatory behavior with teens, ignored suicide threats, families allege
  44. AI-powered police body cameras, once taboo, get tested on Canadian city’s ‘watch list’ of faces
  45. Is that an AI robot calling you? Sen. John Curtis thinks you deserve to know.
  46. Praxie Launches New AI Workspace
  47. Eau de AI: Amazon gives techies a whiff of software-driven perfume
  48. Anthropic signs $200M AI Deal with Snowflake
  49. Introducing Anthropic Interviewer: What 1,250 professionals told us about working with AI
  50. Google partners with Replit in vibe-coding push
  51. Gemini 3 Deep Think is now available in the Gemini app
  52. The State of AI: An Empirical 100 Trillion Token Study with OpenRouter
  53. Persuading voters using human–AI dialogues
  54. U of T establishes new Hinton Chair in AI with support from Google
  55. How AI is supercharging cybercrime in Seattle and beyond
  56. Legal AI startup Harvey confirms $8B valuation
  57. Why AI infrastructure is ‘unprecedented’ compared to cloud buildout
  58. AI expert warns we’re close to extinction
  59. DeepSeek’s self-correcting AI model aces tough maths proofs
  60. This 24-Year-Old Built A Multibillion-Dollar AI Training Empire In Eight Months
  61. EIB Group and European Commission join forces to finance AI gigafactories
  62. AI Slop Is Ruining Reddit for Everyone
  63. MIT researchers “speak objects into existence” using AI and robotics
  64. AI ‘creators’ might just crash the influencer economy
  65. AI chatbots can effectively sway voters – in either direction
  66. US senators unveil bill to prevent easing of curbs on Nvidia chip sales to China
  67. Meta strikes multiple AI deals with news publishers
  68. AI’s rise stirs excitement, sparks job worries
  69. AI startup Cohere CEO says US holds edge over China in AI race
  70. In radiology, an early adopter of AI, technology is advancing faster than the field can keep up

CastReader Reads Books, PDFs, and Docs Aloud

CastReader is an AI text‑to‑speech reader that doesn’t just read your books, PDFs, and documents aloud—it turns them into full‑cast audio with matched voices, animated scenes, and character maps so you can see and hear the story unfold.

It’s designed for heavy readers, audiobook lovers, and neurodivergent or visually impaired users who benefit from richer, multimodal input.

It matters because it upgrades basic TTS into an immersive experience, automatically assigning distinct voices to characters and visualizing dialogue so long‑form reading becomes more engaging, accessible, and easier to follow.

Learn More: https://castreader.ai/


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