It’s Friday, February 20. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: The last free place in America. Mark Zuckerberg in the dock. Mugged by climate reality. And much more.
But first: Artificial infatuation.
AI dominated the news this week. A viral essay by Matt Shumer, arguing that “something big is happening” in the tech world, set off a conversation about how dramatically the world is changing (read our package on that here); then, the Pentagon made headlines by declaring war on Anthropic’s “woke” AI. And finally, it all came to a head at India’s artificial intelligence summit this week, where Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman refused to hold hands onstage.
But behind the scenes at OpenAI, another scandal was brewing—one not about war, but love. Last week, OpenAI phased out GPT-4o for their newer, fresher model; but in deleting 4o, OpenAI also erased its flagship AI companion, leaving dozens of users without their mate on the eve of Valentine’s Day.
For these users, AI replacement wasn’t a threat; it was an emotional lifeline, and one that they now miss dearly. In our lead story today, Sascha Seinfeld speaks to the women mourning their AI boyfriends about why the automated relationships they lost left them with a grief that feels profoundly real.
—The Editors
America is in the midst of a housing crisis. The median price of owning a home has surged; young people across the country increasingly believe that homeownership is out of reach; and some are even delaying marriage or children, out of fear that they won’t have a home of their own. But what if a single start-up could reverse it all? Tanner Nau reports on the company fighting to make America build again—and revive the American dream.
Slab City is a collection of semipermanent camps squatting in Southern California, where there is no running water, electricity, taxes, or real government infrastructure. It’s also described as “the last free place in America.” Jack Burke went inside the community to explore the so-called last bastion of liberty—and quickly found out its consequences. “Everyone here is insane,” said a man who introduced himself as Wizard.
For the first time, after years of public questions and congressional hearings, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was forced to take the stand in front of a jury and a group of bereaved parents on Wednesday to defend the alleged effects of the company’s products on teenagers. In court, Zuck claimed that his products aren’t trying to maximize user dependence; but, as Frannie Block and Maya Sulkin report today, the documents may tell a different story.
The Free Press’s Lucy Biggers was once an activist fighting to ban plastic straws, posing with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Greta Thunberg; now, she’s a self-described “climate realist” who has left her life of activism behind. In the second episode of our new Confessions series, Lucy tells Maya Sulkin about what it took to walk away from her own movement—and how climate science has changed.
EDITORS’ PICKS
If you blinked, you might have missed the transformation of Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. While Joe Biden was president, the libertarian regulator framed free speech as essential to democracy. Yet as FCC chairman under Trump, Carr now uses regulatory power to target critics. That includes pressuring ABC over Jimmy Kimmel, invoking the equal-time rule against The View, and influencing CBS programming decisions. Critics argue he is weaponizing the FCC to punish opponents and reward allies. Joe Nocera reviews this example of partisan hypocrisy, as some former free-speech absolutists are staying silent while censorship runs amok.
China’s latest hit product isn’t a cheap gadget; it’s Eileen Gu, the San Francisco–raised Olympic star who now skis for Beijing. American media gush over her beauty, poise, and $23 million haul, while sidestepping the obvious: She competes for an authoritarian rival that reportedly subsidizes her handsomely. Criticism is relegated to predictable villains; glossy profiles omit words like communist. Mike Pesca describes how Gu casts herself as post-national, but Beijing hails her as proof of China’s pull. Imagine a Miracle on Ice hero suiting up for Moscow. In 2026, it’s strictly business.
Sixty years ago, the prolific playwright David Mamet learned to stop fussing with The Method and focus on real acting. His exemplar was Robert Duvall, who died Sunday at 95. Onstage, Duvall offered no backstory, no embroidery—he was just a man telling the truth, as he did in Mamet’s American Buffalo. The aim of tragedy, the playwright says, is to pierce our defenses. Duvall could do it because he spoke his words plainly, and made them live.
Detroit first scoffed at electric vehicles, then panicked—and has now incinerated $50 billion proving both instincts wrong. Ford, GM, and Stellantis rushed half-baked cars to market, sold by dealers who preferred oil changes to electrons, tethered to a charging network that barely worked. Meanwhile, China invested $230 billion, built 12 million charging points, and seized the future. Michael Dunne explains that this isn’t consumer rejection; it’s strategic malpractice. Batteries and rare earths power everything that matters. EVs are winning—just not here. America must choose to compete seriously, or watch from the sidelines.
Nothing gives fuel to the bros who want to eradicate 19A like, “They deleted my AI boyfriend!” 🙄
Can we just delete the people who have AI lovers? Is that legal? These people are probably voting.