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Sue Halpern head shot - The New Yorker

Sue Halpern

Sue Halpern writes about politics, technology, and their intersection. She is the author of several books, including the best-selling “A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home” and “Four Wings and a Prayer,” which was made into an Emmy-nominated film. She was a columnist for Mother Jones, Ms., and Smithsonian Magazine, and has written for the Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and The New Republic, as well as for The New York Review of Books. Halpern founded and edited NYRBLit, the electronic-publishing imprint of New York Review Books. Halpern is a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College, where she directs the program in narrative journalism. She has been the recipient of Guggenheim and Echoing Green Fellowships, and earned a doctorate in political theory from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

The Year A.I. Ate the Internet

Call 2023 the year many of us learned to communicate, create, cheat, and collaborate with robots.

A High-Risk Legal Effort to Keep Trump Off the Ballot

Three state lawsuits could stop the former President from appearing on 2024 ballots—but they could also backfire.

In Arizona, No Labels Is Attracting Potential Candidates It Doesn’t Want

The state has recognized the group as a legitimate political party. Why is No Labels so angry?

Why Did Sidney Powell Plead Guilty?

The former attorney for Donald Trump was one of nineteen people indicted in Georgia for allegedly conspiring to overturn the result of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.

How a New Approach to Public Defense Is Overcoming Mass Incarceration

Public defenders represent eighty per cent of all people charged with a crime in this country, and they typically work in offices that are underfunded and understaffed.

A.I. and the Next Generation of Drone Warfare

The Pentagon’s Replicator initiative envisions swarms of low-cost autonomous machines that could remake the American arsenal.

Fani Willis’s Indictment of Donald Trump and a Voting-System Breach

The charges include allegations about a largely overlooked incident in Coffee County, Georgia.

A New Generation of Robots Seems Increasingly Human

Engineers are putting chatbots into mechanical bodies, with entrancing and unsettling results.

Will Biden’s Meetings with A.I. Companies Make Any Difference?

Voluntary commitments from the likes of OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google could be a small step toward meaningful A.I. regulations—or a way for Big Tech to write its own rules.

Vermont’s Catastrophic Floods and the Spread of Unnatural Disasters

In parts of the Northeast, two months of rain fell in two days.

What Is No Labels Trying to Do?

The group maintains that a third-ticket nominee may be what the country needs in 2024—but it may just be what Donald Trump needs.

Congress Really Wants to Regulate A.I., but No One Seems to Know How

Yet another hearing—this one with OpenAI’s Sam Altman—has come after a new technology with the possibility to fundamentally alter our lives is already in circulation.

The Fight for the Soul of a School Board

In a small Missouri town, a campaign to remove literature from the high-school library forced members of the community to reckon with the meaning of “parents’ rights.”

Federal Courts Battle Over the Abortion Pill

Millions of women find that their access to health care hinges on two conflicting rulings, and is seemingly headed, once more, to the Supreme Court.

Behind the Expulsions of Two State Representatives in Tennessee

How Republican super-majorities in state legislatures are undermining the democratic process.

What We Still Don’t Know About How A.I. Is Trained

GPT-4 is a powerful, seismic technology that has the capacity both to enhance our lives and diminish them.

The Latest Attack on the Abortion Pill Is Forty Years in the Making

If a Texas lawsuit prevails, mifepristone will no longer be available anywhere in the nation, even in states where abortion is legal.

Why Is Nikki Haley Running for President?

The announcement from Trump’s U.N. Ambassador that she is challenging her former boss in the Republican primary was met with some derision, but it would be a mistake to underestimate her.

The Promise of a New Alzheimer’s Drug

For decades, scientists have debated the causes of cognitive decline. Is an effective treatment finally around the corner?

Should Local Police Departments Deploy Lethal Robots?

A vote from the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco reopened the debate over deploying surplus military matériel.

The Year A.I. Ate the Internet

Call 2023 the year many of us learned to communicate, create, cheat, and collaborate with robots.

A High-Risk Legal Effort to Keep Trump Off the Ballot

Three state lawsuits could stop the former President from appearing on 2024 ballots—but they could also backfire.

In Arizona, No Labels Is Attracting Potential Candidates It Doesn’t Want

The state has recognized the group as a legitimate political party. Why is No Labels so angry?

Why Did Sidney Powell Plead Guilty?

The former attorney for Donald Trump was one of nineteen people indicted in Georgia for allegedly conspiring to overturn the result of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.

How a New Approach to Public Defense Is Overcoming Mass Incarceration

Public defenders represent eighty per cent of all people charged with a crime in this country, and they typically work in offices that are underfunded and understaffed.

A.I. and the Next Generation of Drone Warfare

The Pentagon’s Replicator initiative envisions swarms of low-cost autonomous machines that could remake the American arsenal.

Fani Willis’s Indictment of Donald Trump and a Voting-System Breach

The charges include allegations about a largely overlooked incident in Coffee County, Georgia.

A New Generation of Robots Seems Increasingly Human

Engineers are putting chatbots into mechanical bodies, with entrancing and unsettling results.

Will Biden’s Meetings with A.I. Companies Make Any Difference?

Voluntary commitments from the likes of OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google could be a small step toward meaningful A.I. regulations—or a way for Big Tech to write its own rules.

Vermont’s Catastrophic Floods and the Spread of Unnatural Disasters

In parts of the Northeast, two months of rain fell in two days.

What Is No Labels Trying to Do?

The group maintains that a third-ticket nominee may be what the country needs in 2024—but it may just be what Donald Trump needs.

Congress Really Wants to Regulate A.I., but No One Seems to Know How

Yet another hearing—this one with OpenAI’s Sam Altman—has come after a new technology with the possibility to fundamentally alter our lives is already in circulation.

The Fight for the Soul of a School Board

In a small Missouri town, a campaign to remove literature from the high-school library forced members of the community to reckon with the meaning of “parents’ rights.”

Federal Courts Battle Over the Abortion Pill

Millions of women find that their access to health care hinges on two conflicting rulings, and is seemingly headed, once more, to the Supreme Court.

Behind the Expulsions of Two State Representatives in Tennessee

How Republican super-majorities in state legislatures are undermining the democratic process.

What We Still Don’t Know About How A.I. Is Trained

GPT-4 is a powerful, seismic technology that has the capacity both to enhance our lives and diminish them.

The Latest Attack on the Abortion Pill Is Forty Years in the Making

If a Texas lawsuit prevails, mifepristone will no longer be available anywhere in the nation, even in states where abortion is legal.

Why Is Nikki Haley Running for President?

The announcement from Trump’s U.N. Ambassador that she is challenging her former boss in the Republican primary was met with some derision, but it would be a mistake to underestimate her.

The Promise of a New Alzheimer’s Drug

For decades, scientists have debated the causes of cognitive decline. Is an effective treatment finally around the corner?

Should Local Police Departments Deploy Lethal Robots?

A vote from the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco reopened the debate over deploying surplus military matériel.