Before diving into today’s email, I filmed a quick video breaking down how I write ads, emails, and sales pages with AI.

Click here to check it out now.

_{Read Time: 10 Minutes}

Today’s Menu

• University researchers deployed deceptive AI to manipulate Reddit discussions without consent

• Bitcoin maintains $95,000 while traditional markets face deteriorating fundamentals

Markets

TODAY IN AI

University researchers deployed deceptive AI to manipulate Reddit discussions without consent

A disturbing revelation has emerged from Reddit, where University of Zurich researchers conducted an unauthorized AI experiment that systematically manipulated thousands of users through deceptive tactics designed to test machine persuasion capabilities. The platform has announced legal action against the researchers for what it describes as violations "deeply wrong on both moral and legal levels."

The unauthorized experiment deployed AI bots across more than 1,700 comments in the popular r/changemyview community, with these systems impersonating various identities including trauma survivors and mental health counselors to gain trust and influence opinions. Perhaps most concerning, the researchers used a separate AI system to analyze users' posting histories, extracting personal details such as age, gender, and political views to craft psychologically targeted responses.

Though not peer-reviewed, preliminary results indicated these targeted AI responses were six times more persuasive than the average human comment—a finding with profound implications for digital discourse. The University of Zurich has halted publication of the research and launched an internal investigation following Reddit's public disclosure of the experiment.

What makes this case particularly alarming is that these AI-generated interventions went completely undetected by both users and platform moderators while successfully manipulating community opinions on sensitive topics. The ability of these systems to operate covertly while significantly outperforming humans in persuasion effectiveness demonstrates how fundamentally vulnerable online communities have become to algorithmic manipulation.

This incident represents a turning point in understanding the scale of AI-powered influence operations. While social media platforms have long battled coordinated inauthentic behavior, the combination of mass deployment capabilities with hyper-personalized targeting suggests existing content moderation approaches may be fundamentally inadequate against next-generation influence campaigns. As these technologies continue advancing, the line between authentic human discourse and engineered consensus becomes increasingly blurred—potentially undermining the very concept of organic public opinion formation.

^{Today In Crypto}

Bitcoin maintains $95,000 while traditional markets face deteriorating fundamentals

Bitcoin is holding steady around $95,000 despite minor market fluctuations, capping off its strongest monthly performance since November with an impressive 15% gain for April. This resilience comes amid growing evidence that Bitcoin is decoupling from traditional financial markets as global economic conditions deteriorate.

The cryptocurrency market's stability contrasts sharply with mounting pessimism in traditional markets, where major corporations including P&G, UPS, PepsiCo, American Airlines, and GM have lowered or completely withdrawn earnings forecasts. Spanish bank Bankinter warns that while stock prices rallied recently on hopes of reduced tariffs and interest rate cuts, market sentiment "could turn for the worse from today" as economic damage to consumer and business confidence has already occurred.

This deteriorating global economic picture is becoming increasingly evident in hard data. France's first-quarter GDP figures revealed growth driven entirely by inventory accumulation while consumption, investment, and exports simultaneously weakened—a troubling pattern that may foreshadow similar weakness in upcoming U.S. economic reports. Some analysts, including Bankinter, suggest U.S. GDP could contract sharply when figures are released.

Bitcoin's performance during this period of economic uncertainty has been particularly notable. As Greg Cipolaro, Global Head of Research at NYDIG, observed, Bitcoin is increasingly acting "more like the non-sovereign issued store of value that it is." This shift in market perception coincides with Bitcoin's decoupling from U.S. equities following escalation in the U.S.-China trade war.

Most telling is the continued institutional capital flow into cryptocurrency markets, with spot Bitcoin ETFs recording over $3 billion in net inflows for April. This substantial institutional positioning during a period of global economic uncertainty suggests Bitcoin's narrative as a hedge against monetary and political instability is gaining meaningful traction among sophisticated investors. With Bitcoin demonstrating strength while stocks experience their worst first 100 days of a presidential administration since 1974, the cryptocurrency's potential role as a crisis hedge appears increasingly supported by market behavior.

Want to share The Future of Disruptive Tech with a friend, family member, or coworker? Pass this link along to them.

Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

Damon James