News and Prophecy Staff

In Taiwan, there has been a recent outbreak of adults drugging children (BBC, June 20, 2023). One incident took place in a preschool where the staff are accused of sedating children by giving them phenobarbital and benzodiazepines via addictive cough syrups. Parents noticed their children going through withdrawal and reported the incident. The school has since been closed, and school directors fined. The principal and five teachers were arrested and are now free on bail.

AI has been in use behind the scenes for years and has become so common that it is involved in everything from the online shopping recommendations we receive to whether we are approved for a loan. But where is AI headed? Could AI even take over religion? With the advent of widely accessible AI services, such as ChatGPT, whole new realms of possibility have been opened, potentially replacing tremendous amounts of human work. Now, some are routinely using AI to generate original images, write original essays, and even imitate the voices of others.

According to a new report from the United Nations refugee agency, “Last year saw a record spike in people forcibly uprooted from their homes” (Deutsche Welle, June 14, 2023). In 2022, the number of displaced people around the globe rose by nearly twenty million—with many connected to the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Sudan. Tragically, poorer countries are bearing the burden of housing the refugees.

The United Kingdom and United States recently signed a new agreement to cooperate in the areas of “clean energy, critical minerals and artificial intelligence” (Reuters, June 8, 2023). According to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office, under the new Atlantic Declaration, “Britain and the United States will strengthen their supply chains, develop technologies of the future and invest in one another’s industries.” Mr. Sunak and U.S.

For the better part of a century, Britain brought roads, bridges, railroads, and infrastructure development to Africa—but it also took from the land and the people. In the early 1960s, Britain granted multiple African nations independence and pulled out. However, within a decade, China began to take its place (The Telegraph, May 31, 2023).