A deepfake cameo of OpenAI Ceo Sam Altman in a Sora 2 video. Courtesy OpenAI
Q1. In 2024, a federal law was passed banning short form video sharing app TikTok unless its Chinese owners sold it to US interests by Jan 19, 2025 (a deadline since extended by President Trump).
Lawmakers and others were concerned that the algorithm TikTok uses to determine which videos are fed to which people could be used by China to disrupt US society. Some cited perceived political views promoted on the platform such as anti-Israel, others worried about its addictive nature, so powerful as to entice half of all Americans to be regular users.
Last month, a tentative deal was reached for the Chinese owners to sell the app to US interests including Oracle, Dell, Fox, and hedge fund Susquehanna. The US owners will license a copy of the algorithm, and be able to tweak it as it sees fit.
Are you pleased TikTok will remain available with the new owners, and do you think their management of the algorithm will be better for Americans than with Chinese ownership?
Lawmakers and others were concerned that the algorithm TikTok uses to determine which videos are fed to which people could be used by China to disrupt US society. Some cited perceived political views promoted on the platform such as anti-Israel, others worried about its addictive nature, so powerful as to entice half of all Americans to be regular users.
Last month, a tentative deal was reached for the Chinese owners to sell the app to US interests including Oracle, Dell, Fox, and hedge fund Susquehanna. The US owners will license a copy of the algorithm, and be able to tweak it as it sees fit.
Are you pleased TikTok will remain available with the new owners, and do you think their management of the algorithm will be better for Americans than with Chinese ownership?
(Image: Oracle founder Larry Ellison, world's 2nd richest person at $380b, has donated at least $30m to Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces. Her at Wimbledon, 2014. Getty // Stockman)
male
female
rep
ind
dem
18-29
30-44
45-64
65+
Don't care
10%
8%
11%
8%
9%
11%
2%
10%
11%
11%
Q2. Last month, Apple blocked apps that enable users to track US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after pressure from the Justice Department. Attorney General Pam Bondi said "ICEBlock (one such app) is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed."
ICEBlock's website says the app is “a crowdsourced platform that allows users to report ICE activity with just two taps on their phone,” which they say is needed because ICE has been involved in "alleged civil rights abuses and failures to adhere to constitutional principles, making it crucial for communities to stay informed about its operations."
ICEBlock's founder also argued against his app's removal by comparing it to widely available Apple apps that crowdsource speed traps.
Which apps have you used, and which do you think should be banned? (check all that apply)
ICEBlock's website says the app is “a crowdsourced platform that allows users to report ICE activity with just two taps on their phone,” which they say is needed because ICE has been involved in "alleged civil rights abuses and failures to adhere to constitutional principles, making it crucial for communities to stay informed about its operations."
ICEBlock's founder also argued against his app's removal by comparing it to widely available Apple apps that crowdsource speed traps.
Which apps have you used, and which do you think should be banned? (check all that apply)
(Image: ICE activity in Los Angeles, July 2025. Getty)
male
female
rep
ind
dem
18-29
30-44
45-64
65+
Used ICEBlock or similar
6%
5%
7%
0%
8%
11%
13%
7%
5%
3%
Have not
87%
88%
85%
93%
86%
82%
87%
83%
88%
90%
ICEBlock or similar should be banned
38%
47%
30%
81%
25%
5%
61%
22%
45%
35%
Should not
55%
48%
61%
13%
68%
88%
37%
75%
46%
55%
Have used speed trap apps
20%
23%
16%
14%
27%
22%
38%
26%
15%
10%
Have not
73%
72%
75%
81%
67%
69%
60%
67%
78%
82%
Speed trap apps should be banned
22%
24%
21%
42%
19%
7%
40%
18%
19%
25%
Should not
64%
66%
63%
42%
71%
82%
57%
75%
63%
56%
Rather not say
1%
0%
1%
0%
2%
1%
0%
0%
1%
2%
Not sure
6%
4%
8%
8%
6%
4%
3%
2%
9%
7%
Don't care
2%
2%
2%
2%
1%
3%
0%
2%
1%
6%
Q3. Last week, OpenAI released an AI video app called Sora. Like TikTok, it allows users to make and share short form videos, though Sora's main attractions are AI "deepfake" videos which employ likenesses of the user, their friends, celebrities, and others.
Users are given the option to create a digital likeness of themselves by saying a few numbers aloud and turning their head around as the app records. Thus a likeness of themselves (and others) become available to use in videos.
Users tap on the faces they want to include in their videos as "cameos" and give the AI a short text prompt. In testing, Wired Magazine prompted a video with "fight in the office over a WIRED story." But you could just as easily prompt "my partner and I in a dance scene from Saturday Night Fever, or "my nephew hits a home run in the World Series off Sandy Koufax and Lassie follows him around the bases." (An example Sora video is linked in Additional Information on the results page.)
The app includes the advisory "Some videos may depict people you recognize, but the actions and events shown are not real."
What do you think about this app? (check all that apply)
Users are given the option to create a digital likeness of themselves by saying a few numbers aloud and turning their head around as the app records. Thus a likeness of themselves (and others) become available to use in videos.
Users tap on the faces they want to include in their videos as "cameos" and give the AI a short text prompt. In testing, Wired Magazine prompted a video with "fight in the office over a WIRED story." But you could just as easily prompt "my partner and I in a dance scene from Saturday Night Fever, or "my nephew hits a home run in the World Series off Sandy Koufax and Lassie follows him around the bases." (An example Sora video is linked in Additional Information on the results page.)
The app includes the advisory "Some videos may depict people you recognize, but the actions and events shown are not real."
What do you think about this app? (check all that apply)
(Image: An early deepfake, with cameo by Jack Torrance. Courtesy Warner Bros)
male
female
rep
ind
dem
18-29
30-44
45-64
65+
Sounds like it would be fun
32%
36%
28%
33%
33%
31%
65%
37%
26%
17%
Not fun
34%
32%
36%
32%
34%
37%
20%
38%
37%
34%
Dangerous
86%
84%
88%
89%
82%
85%
100%
91%
83%
78%
Not dangerous
2%
4%
1%
2%
5%
2%
0%
2%
3%
2%
Will be very popular
66%
68%
65%
70%
63%
62%
68%
79%
61%
55%
Will not be
5%
6%
3%
4%
8%
4%
4%
2%
6%
6%
Not sure
13%
13%
12%
10%
10%
15%
26%
10%
11%
13%
Don't care
4%
4%
5%
5%
4%
4%
0%
0%
6%
9%
Sora video with Shaggy, Scooby, Gandalf, SpongeBob, Walter White, MJ, JFK, and OPEN AI founder Sam Altman in the ring in more ways than one
26% wanted TikTok to stay available regardless
51% said only open if sold to US owners
13% wanted it banned regardless
Poll Comments (22)
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