Nearly half a million Californians live with epilepsy — a neurological condition that causes recurring seizures. That’s more than in any other state. But, with the help of AI, rapid advances in neurotechnology may expand access to care.

To diagnose epilepsy, doctors read the brain’s electrical activity with a test called an EEG (electroencephalogram). But getting tested has been a bottleneck: hospitals need special equipment, and a specialist to interpret the results.

Dr. Ed Amorim directs the epilepsy service at Zuckerberg San Francisco General. He says new tools, like superficial implants that continuously collect EEG readings, are improving access to care.

“In terms of care deserts, we have portable EEG tools where small hospitals can have access to those easy-to-place EEGs,” says Dr. Amorim. The patient’s brainwave recording is uploaded to a database where AI is used to analyze EEG data. “There is some automated analysis that happens there,” Dr. Amorim explains. “And the EEG becomes available to an expert to review remotely.”

EEG tools are commonly used to study and diagnose seizures. But teams like Dr. Jin Hyung Lee’s at the Neuvera Brain Health Institute are finding new ways to use the technology.

When patients visit Dr. Lee’s clinic, she says her team will “Do a measurement and then we’ll be able to say like, ‘Oh, your brain has this subtle signal abnormality here, and this probably means that you have, through this mechanism, inability to read or concentrate.’”

Dr. Lee’s work has won several awards. But there’s still a long way to go. Research has not yet established that AI-enhanced EEG can diagnose neurological conditions with the level of specificity that Dr. Lee describes. For now, the promise is greater access to care. How far these tools can reliably go beyond diagnosing epilepsy is still an open question.

This conversation aired in the July 29, 2026 episode of Crosscurrents.

AI online scams are surging and getting trickier to spot. They’ve become so concerning that San Francisco has set up a city wide program to address the uptick. Here, we break down the hidden forces driving this sudden wave, who is most at risk, and the simple, low-tech habits that stop them.

Click the button above to listen!

Interview Transcript:

HANA BABA: So a city setting up a whole anti-scam program, what is happening?

NEEDDRA JAMES: Yeah, it really tells you something about the moment we’re in. The city is responding to a real rise in consumer fraud. The amount of money that’s been stolen is pretty staggering. For example, PG&E’s customers collectively lost over a quarter of a million dollars paying fake utility bills in 2025.

HANA: A quarter of a million dollars?

NEEDDRA: I know, that number —

HANA: For fake utility bills?

NEEDDRA: Yes, that number really makes you sit up in your seat — a quarter of a million. I mean, the average loss on a single fake PG&E bill last year was about $600.

HANA: Oh. $600.

NEEDDRA: And PG&E said they expect that that number is gonna go up this year, so they think it’s gonna be closer to $1,000 by December.

HANA: $1,000 on a scam utility bill.

NEEDDRA: Mm-hmm, utility bill, the California Tax Board — all of them have been impersonated with fake documents mimicking the real thing.

HANA: Mm.

NEEDDRA: My sources say counterfeit documents in AI-generated media is one of the biggest problems in digital security. The global cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes, they regularly release a digital consumer scam report. And in June, they published data about how AI is really supercharging online fraud. Out of 1,500 people surveyed, 85% of them said that they can’t tell what’s real or fake anymore. I’m just gonna let that marinate, first of all.

85%. Now, that’s essentially a 30% jump from the numbers that they calculated last year.

HANA: Right. I mean, I’m feeling it. I’m seeing it. It’s... I, I can’t tell sometimes what’s real or fake anymore, but that’s a huge jump in the number of people being fooled. So how are online scammers doing this?

NEEDDRA: You know, they are actually using all the usual channels, so phishing emails, that’s an email that tries to hook you into responding to it or clicking on a link, um, pop-up ads, fake documents, messaging platforms like WhatsApp.

HANA: WhatsApp. Phone calls.

NEEDDRA: Exactly. The big difference is that AI-enhanced scams are rising because cybercrime today, it’s organized. It has become a global multi-trillion dollar industry.

And there’s another element that levels up the fraud market. So over the years, a hacking supply chain has emerged, and scam suppliers called fraud-as-a-service platforms, they’ve grown.

HANA: What’s fraud-as-a-service? What does that mean, fraud-as-a-service?

NEEDDRA: Fraud-as-a-service. Some of them are subscription-based online platforms that sell the tools scammers and hackers need to commit cyber crimes, like fake login pages, stolen and fake personal data. They also sell deep fakes, you know, video and audio that mimic a person’s face or a voice.

HANA: Ugh. Okay, so they basically turn the crime itself into a product that another person can buy and replicate.

NEEDDRA: That’s exactly right. These platforms make it so easy for people who really don’t have any coding skills to hack into systems, and do real damage. You know, they’ll bundle all this stuff together into a kit for them. There’s dashboards. There’s —

HANA: Bundles? Like how Verizon and AT&T want you to bundle services?

NEEDDRA: Yes. I’m not kidding you. It’s the same marketing strategy. So some platforms are all-inclusive, right? For about 120 bucks or so, a hacker can subscribe to the platform, and it’ll bundle the entire cyber attack process.

HANA: See, all of these words you’re using are just so... It’s bundle, it’s all-inclusive. The sales terminology they’re using is just fascinating.

NEEDDRA: And one more thing that makes this so explosive is that personal data is super cheap, and it is everywhere. A scammer can buy your personal data for less than a dollar.

HANA: Less than a dollar. So it’s already in the bundle.

NEEDDRA: It actually is already in the bundle.

HANA: So this is like a perfect storm. Cheap personal data, AI-generated fakes, and fraud platforms bundling scam tools. That’s what’s happening.

NEEDDRA: Yep, that’s the combination. I spoke with Mark Beare at the cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes. His team published the AI scam report that I mentioned earlier. He explained to me how scammers use AI with stolen personal data:

MARK BEARE: You can dump all of that into your own model, and then build a personalized scam for each person tailored to their life, like where they live. You could talk about the weather where they are. You could talk about where they went to school. You could talk about their spouse’s name.

HANA: NeEddra, their spouse’s name? Their school? They’re getting really personal, and this is really scary. And it makes me realize that we share so much about ourselves online.

NEEDDRA: Yeah, all the time. It used to be, too, that building a highly personalized scam, that took some real time, and it took some money, right? Scammers would only bother with wealthy targets.

One big fish.

But data you can buy for a dollar combined with AI — it made that personal touch cheap. Totally changed the economics of it. So it costs them almost nothing to come after a bunch of people at once. So now everybody’s a target.

HANA: It’s all of us. And that’s unsettling, you know? So, are there differences in how people are targeted, or is it random?

NEEDDRA: Mm, that’s a really good question. The data suggests it isn’t random at all. So just like with the phishing kits and the bundles, these cyber syndicates are using other common marketing strategies like segmenting targets by demographics and using AI to personalize and automate the attack. Here’s Mark again.

MARK BEARE: And in the case of elderly people, you know, once again, they’ve maybe put together a nest egg. They have a lot of family that they’d do anything for.

NEEDDRA: So imagine, you know, all this data is online and you’re older, so there’s just more records about you that have been digitized. And not everywhere is well secured, so stuff’s just out there, and older adults are targeted with family emergency scams at a much higher rate.

HANA: The family emergency scam?

NEEDDRA: So you could think about it as all these scams are impersonation scams.

HANA: Uh-huh.

NEEDDRA: Just different flavors, right? So there’s the romance scam, someone convincing you that they’re in love with you, and now you’ve been sending them all this money.

HANA: Right.

NEEDDRA: Or there’s the fake utility bill scam like PG&E. This one is a scammer using an AI voice cloning technology, right? All they need is a minute of video to replicate your kid’s voice, because your kid’s on TikTok all the time. Right? And then —

HANA: Where is this going?

NEEDDRA: They call the older adult and use the cloned voice and say, “I’m in trouble. Help. I need money. Please send me money.” You know? They’re in a really awful situation. Send the money immediately.

HANA: That feels like a deeper, more sinister level of, of fraud to me.

NEEDDRA: It really is because a lot of older people still have landlines. They have no idea where this is coming from. So an incredibly vulnerable population.

Now, here’s a real twist, though. Older adults are not the most exposed group.

HANA: They’re not?

NEEDDRA: No. So, what I’ve seen is that the impact in terms of financial loss, and even health cost, tends to be very high for older adults. But, they’re not the most exposed to cyber attacks and these kinds of scams.

HANA: Oh, who is?

NEEDDRA: It’s Gen Z.

HANA: Gen Z?!

NEEDDRA: Mm-hmm.

HANA: How? But, okay.

NEEDDRA: Two out of three Gen Z-ers said they’ve been exposed to an AI scam in the past year, highest of any group. Most time online, more exposure, right? More chances to be targeted. Cyber criminals — they find us where we are, and Gen Z, they basically live their lives on their phones.

HANA: Okay, so it’s not about being, you know, naive or not knowing certain things in technology. It’s really about just being online, being exposed.

NEEDDRA: That’s actually the good news hiding in here. I know you were like, “Where is the light at the end of this tunnel?”

HANA: I’m waiting, NeEddra

NEEDDRA: So there are a few things we can do to reduce how much we’re exposed.

HANA: Please give us these ways.

NEEDDRA: I have three. Okay. So the, the first, and this one is actually my favorite because it’s so easy. It’s a family code word.

HANA: A family code word?

NEEDDRA: Mm-hmm.

HANA: Meaning?

NEEDDRA: Meaning a word that only your family knows. So if you get that panic phone call, “It’s me, I’m in trouble. Send the money,” you ask for the word. No word, no money. Now, here’s why that matters. 81% of people worry about a scammer faking their family’s voice, but only 18% have set up a code word.

HANA: Okay. All right. So a code word.

NEEDDRA: A code word. Second thing, you gotta slow down. Scammers manufacture urgency, right? So either it’s the urgency of, “Oh no, someone’s in trouble,” and you respond immediately. So your nervous system can really feel this shock, if you feel that panicked rush, hang up. Call the person or the bank back on a number that you trust.

HANA: This, I feel this because I wanna say in communities where English is not the first language, in many immigrant communities, and I know this from my community, that that neutral American kind of voice is one of authority and truth, and I better listen to them, right? And so they can be especially vulnerable, I’m feeling. So these are good tips.

NEEDDRA: You know, the third thing that I’ll share is actually the technical ask. We gotta close the easy doors on our devices. Now, what that means is update your phone’s operating system.

If you’re that person that sees the little number notification indicating that there’s something to update, update it. That usually means that some vulnerabilities have been fixed. When you don’t update it, hackers just take advantage of that older, less protected software.

HANA: So don’t delay when it comes up? ‘Cause I mean, honestly, I do I think a lot of people do.

They’re like, “Oh, here they come. What are they gonna be adding?” And there’s a little paranoia too of like, “What are they gonna put now on my phone?” But now you’re saying, “No, please update.”

NEEDDRA: I’m saying update because it’s good for security.

HANA: Okay.

NEEDDRA: Also, turn on two-factor authentication. What that means is you have one password, then you have another one on top of that.

HANA: Right. I see that one a lot.

NEEDDRA: And there’s services you can use for that, like an app.

And then the last thing I’ll say is please be stingy with your number and your email. Do not trade them for every $5 coupon that pops up, you know?

HANA: And everyone is asking us for our number and email. Whatever you wanna sign up for, whatever you wanna do.

NEEDDRA: You can create a junk email account. That’s what I have.

HANA: And all of these solutions that you’ve said really don’t require being a tech-savvy person. You can just do ‘em.

NEEDDRA: Yeah. None of them do, actually. The thing that actually creates more security and more coverage for all of us is being closer to each other. The more we are in relationship, the fewer-

HANA: IRL.

NEEDDRA: Yeah — the fewer openings there are for us to get exposed. We don’t control how the internet works, you know? And AI-enhanced consumer fraud is way bigger than what can be solved at the individual level alone. Fortunately, cities like San Francisco are starting to treat it like that and create integrated support for folks who do get defrauded.

HANA: At the beginning of our conversation, my stress level was up there, and I’ve relaxed. Thank you, NeEddra for those tips.

NEEDDRA: You are welcome. My pleasure.

The Securities and Exchange Commission closed comments Monday on a rule that would let public companies report finances twice a year, instead of every quarter.

SEC officials say the change could help newer life-sciences companies spend less time on paperwork and more time on things like clinical trials and FDA review.

Opponents of the rule change say fewer reports could hurt South San Francisco’s ability to adequately plan for economic downturns. But, according to Nell Selander, the city’s Director of Economic and Community Development, public filings aren’t the most important signal.

“The most actionable intelligence we receive on our life science sector here in South San Francisco comes from our real estate community,” she said. “So if leasing interest is strong, we know individual companies are growing.”

The SEC has not said when it will vote. But Selander says things like Genentech’s recent plans to update its South San Francisco campus bodes well for the region.

This conversation aired in the July 2, 2026 episode of Crosscurrents.

We share our personal information all the time: at the pharmacy, at school, at the insurance agency. Many of us assume someone there knows how to keep our data safe. But, rapidly evolving AI systems are raising new cybersecurity questions.

Q&A Transcript:

Hana Baba: So what’s going on? It feels like AI and cybersecurity have been everywhere in the news lately.

NeEddra James: They really have. Mostly national headlines, but the level that matters the most for us — in terms of where AI and cybersecurity actually impact us day to day – that’s the local level.

Hana: Local level. Alright, so break it down for us. What makes cybersecurity and AI a local issue?

NeEddra: Well, before I get to AI completely, let me just say that all the really important stuff we use everyday and never really think about but totally need to function – tap water, or power systems, all of that is controlled locally.

Okay? Like, let’s take Cal Water, for example. On Friday - the cybersecurity firm Mandiant confirmed they were hacked in early June. And that’s because infrastructure today is networked –

Hana: Networked — networked to what? What does that mean?

NeEddra: Oh, it just means it’s connected to the internet. It’s just online.

Of course, local agencies have been online, or networked, for decades. But, over the last 15 years or so, a lot of cities have gone even more online, technology also evolved to connect physical objects like city lights or SmartTVs to the internet.

Hana: Like water systems. Mm-hmm. Okay, so you’re talking about things like MUNI bus stops with little digital screens updating bus arrival times.

NeEddra: Yes, exactly, exactly, and in order to do that, they have to use GPS and other data together to update riders in real time, and all those programs have to talk to each other through the internet. t can be extremely convenient. I know I like to know when the bus is coming. I

Hana: I was gonna say, it’s pretty convenient.

NeEddra: Exactly, right? So, the point is though, once, something, or anyone or anything once anyone or anything is online, it’s vulnerable. It’s exposed to cyberattacks. In fact, MUNI was hit with a ransomware cyberattack over Thanksgiving back in 2016.

Hana: What is ransomware, exactly?

NeEddra: Oh, so ransomware is, kind of exactly what it sounds like – it’s malicious software that locks a user out of their files and demands payment to unlock them again. You can kind of think of it as data kidnapping.

So – at Muni in 2016, some administrators and station employees got locked out of the computers. Screens were black. Just a few words in white at the top reading: You hacked. All data encrypted.

Turns out the hackers infected software related to the fare gate system. Muni had to totally change how they operated for a few days – even had to shut down the fare gates – altogether.

Hana: Mm-hmm. And did they say why that happened?

NeEddra: Well, you know, agencies tend to keep investigation details private. One detail from the Muni case stuck with me though – according to reports some computers were running old software the developer didn’t even support anymore.

Hana: Why are they running software that old? That seems like the obvious thing to fix.

NeEddra: I thought so, too. So, I took this to someone who knows a ton about this. Her name is Lan Jenson, she worked as a corporate cybersecurity specialist for a long time. She even told me she once helped the FBI track down a hacker.

Hana: Okay.

NeEddra: But several years ago, she decided to leave corporate and go into civic cybersecurity. The story of how she got there is kinda funny.

Hana: Ah, you’re gonna tell it to us, right?

NeEddra: Of course. So, she takes her kid to the optometrist one day and because she does this for work everyday, she asked him how he secured her child’s medical records. Here’s what he told her:

Lan Jenson: he said, “Hey, I... Don’t worry. Our IT guy is paid to handle and to secure your child’s information.” And so, you know, with my background, it was like, yeah, the IT guys, uh, come to us, a specialized um, function in the organization to do it.

Hana: Okay – so NeEddra, she’s like, “I’ve worked with the FBI, sir. “

NeEddra: Right! She told me that cybersecurity is no longer something that can be left to generalists — to the IT guys — and it actually hasn’t been for a while.The threats are growing and strategies are always evolving.

So, she built a nonprofit called Cybertrust America to serve local governments and small businesses that can’t keep up with the rapidly changing threat landscape.

Hana: Why is hat a problem? What’s holding local governments bacK? Especially here, in the Bay Area.

NeEddra: Yeah – but you gotta have the money to buy new tech.

You know Lan told me that in a recent national survey three out of four local governments said they just don’t have the money for even the minimum recommended level of security. Not the gold standard. The minimum.

Hana: Just the minimum. So, AI security is layered on top of that?! Adding AI to online systems that don’t even have the minimum recommended level of security?

NeEddra: I’m afraid so.

Hana: It doesn’t make sense.

NeEddra: Yeah, I’m afraid so. AI does up the ante on cybersecurity in truly new ways. When I was talking to Lan, she told me cybersecurity basics stay the same – things like treating anyone trying to access an org’s network like a brand new request. They have to login with a name and password the network recognizes.

We do this too, you know? If you’re not expecting anyone to come by your place but someone rings the door bell — what do we say?

Hana: Who is it?

NeEddra: Exactly, we wanna know who it is!! We don’t just let folks in and trust that it’s cool because they rang the doorbell.

So we’re like, “call when you’re on your way. Text me when you get here.” You know? In cybersecurity, that’s called zero-trust.

So, everything cybersecurity was already doing to keep bad actors out —- that stays the same.

Hana: Okay. So what changes are happening with AI and cybersecurity?

NeEddra: Well, remember, local governments are adopting AI. That means they’re adding AI – to do things like reduce tasks that are repetitive, AND process large batches of data.

In the future, more complicated programs like AI agents will just be built-in to software that cities and towns use. These programs can start and complete tasks without being prompted.They’re designed to get work done without supervision like everyone else on the team – and that’s actually the problem. Here’s how Lan explained it to me:

LAN JENSON: Consider that, uh, the AI agents as, very resourceful- right? Because they have, uh, agency. They can think on their own.  It’s going to be very important to be very clear about what AI agents can access and cannot. You cannot just, uh, give it a broad policy, say,  “Hey, any such important decisions, you should, ask, uh, a person, a human before you do things.”

Hana: Alright, so, NeEddra, wow. Okay. So, for local governments the risk is that one day an AI agent might start doing things it’s not supposed to do?

NeEddra: That’s exactly right with regards to the AI agent..

Hana: To go rogue?

NeEddra: But listen – I didn’t come hang out with you to freak you out. I don’t have evidence of rogue AI agents in any Bay Area governments.

Hana: But that, that’s the fear.

NeEddra: That’s a possibility, right. The point is that AI adoption changes where the cybersecurity threat is.

So originally, you know, cybersecurity wants to keep folks out. That’s, that’s what we’re traditionally doing. You secure the perimeter, you keep the bad actors out. But an AI agent is not breaking in. The agent came to work with a badge and a lunch plan, just like you. You know what I mean?

Hana: They’re already there.

NeEddra: They’re already there. Um, the job becomes making sure that inside agent doesn’t become a cyber threat.

Hana: Right. So a- aren’t there then safety evaluations? Um, I assume cities don’t just roll out AI without testing.

NeEddra: Yeah, they do. But safety assessments, safety assessments are a snapshot, you know? They show you how safe a system is at a particular moment in time. Now, one of the people I talked to about this, uh, Joe Hartman, he’s a cybersecurity expert. He’s been doing this work since the ‘90s. I love the way he put it. He compared AI s- an AI system passing an evaluation to his son passing the driver’s ed test behind the wheel. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. He’s like, “Even though he passed the test, doesn’t mean he’ll never get into an accident.”

Right? So testing helps, but it’s not enough when the circumstances, conditions, the models keep changing and the threats keep changing.

Hana: So then what are local governments actually doing?

NeEddra: You know what? They are doing pretty much what most of us do when we need help and funds are low. We ask a friend.

Yeah. Almost three years ago, San Jose put their AI policy up, um, up online, and other cities began to download it and use it as templates.

That grew into a collective called the GovAI Coalition. It launched with, uh, 50 coalition cities, and they’re learning from each other.

They host weekly webinars about civic AI adoption, and Lan, who we heard from earlier she, um, actually co-facilitates the generative AI working group.

Hana: So a small city with a one-person tech team doesn’t have to build a safety network from scratch? There are these other models. They can bring them in, sharing with friends, like you said.

NeEddra: They sure can. They don’t have to start from scratch. They can take what they need and adapt it. Now, that does not erase the funding gap. That is real, but it’s a way of meeting that gap together.

Hana: Okay. All of this is really helpful. Little scary, but mostly helpful.

Photo credit: Pete Linforth, Pixabay

Earlier this week, the US Department of Agriculture rescinded the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The Clinton-era environmental regulation protected nearly 59 million acres of wild forest land. California’s wild forests account for roughly 4.5 million of those acres.

20 California national forests, including parts of Tahoe, Inyo, Sequoia, and Stanislaus, are effectively deregulated and open for development.

This is just the latest federal attack on public lands. Since February, deep cuts to the federal workforce under the Trump administration have thinned National Park Service staff, reduced services, and made access to nature more difficult for the public.

KALW asked people at Transamerica Redwood Park, a privately owned public open space (POPOS) in the heart of the financial district, how federal park cuts are reshaping their access to nature this summer.

In the redwood-lined plaza, San Francisco resident Jessica Neighbor said she’s strongly against cuts to the National Park Service.

“I am a total outdoorsy person, and I’m totally against it. I was just commenting on this beautiful little pocket park,” she said, gesturing towards the young redwoods next to us. “It’s an oasis in the middle of the city and we don’t have enough of them to begin with.”

When asked about opening wild forest land to road development, logging and mining, she said it’s more than a terrible idea, it’s a violation.

“I hike in the redwoods with my Australian Shepherd. I camp in the Mojave. I mean, these places are sacred, so they shouldn’t be sold off. I’m totally against it. Totally against it.”

The Trump Administration says rescinding the rule is a protective measure. According to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, the change enables the government to build roads to reach 28 million acres at high risk of wildfire. She also said canceling the rule aligns with Trump’s deregulation efforts.

California officials aren’t sure yet what deregulating protected wild forests will mean. According to National Park advocates, what’s most evident right now is the impact of firing 1,000 national park service probationary employees. Yosemite, for example, was forced to delay summer campsite reservations until early May.

Long time San Francisco resident, Liz London, told us she didn’t see the impact of budget cuts when she camped at Hendy Woods State Park over Memorial Day weekend.

“It was very full, but I didn’t notice that there was a reduction in staff,” she said. “That’s like, a really busy weekend also, like everybody wants to camp that weekend. So it was good. The bathrooms were clean.”

Like national parks, state parks like Hendy Woods, also face budget cuts.

The California state legislature announced a 2025-26 budget agreement earlier this month, eliminating nearly seven million dollars for the California State Library Parks Pass. The pass gives library card holders access to 200 state parks and beaches. The program will end in December, if funding isn’t restored.

Across from the Transamerica Redwood Park’s water fountain, Eric Lampman Shaver expressed concern about the cuts. He says spending time outdoors was how he built community when he moved to the Bay Area two years ago.

“Being outside in the national, state, and local parks has been a huge way that I felt integrated into this community and something that I care about deeply. And I think cuts to parks, federal, state, local, are an attack on that community.”

In a statement to the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, Don Neurbacher, a former Yosemite superintendent, described the National Park situation as a “crisis.” The impact of federal cuts are already noticeable in beloved places like Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojave desert.

Fifteen-year old Kai Griswold loves camping and wants everyone to have access to the parks.

“ I think that there should be a lot more funding for public parks to protect them and to have more visitors come in and to keep them open for everyone,” Kai said. “I think everyone should have access to them. I don’t think there should be cutbacks.”

The combination of budget cuts and deregulation of undeveloped national forests poses a threat to ecosystems and how Californians enjoy nature. But we’ll have to wait and see what the full impact may be.

Photo credit: Desmond Meagley (any/all) is a multimedia producer, editor and graphic designer from the East Bay. Their award-winning coverage has appeared on CalMatters, Teen Vogue, NPR, The SF Chronicle and more.

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM) is closing five of its 35 health centers today, including one clinic in South San Francisco and one in San Mateo.

The closures come two days after a federal district court judge in Massachusetts granted a temporary injunction for Planned Parenthood affiliates — 10 overall — that do not offer abortion services and have medicaid reimbursements less than $800,000.

The ruling left 37 Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country scrambling to cover costs.

According to Mar Monte Chief of Staff, Andrew Adams, in just one week they lost 1.7 million dollars in Medicaid reimbursements –– while they continued to provide care.

In today’s press release, PPMM affirmed their commitment to providing care “despite the Trump administration’s efforts to shut us down.”

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM) is the largest affiliate in the country, serving patients from Bakersfield, to Santa Cruz to Sacramento.

Just seven months ago, PPMM opened the nation’s largest health center, the Barbara Lee Oakland Health Center, in Oakland’s civic center.

The downtown location was strategic. Sitting just above the 12th street BART station, the health center is accessible from both local airports. Since the 2022 Dobbs decision, California Planned Parenthood affiliates have seen a 400 percent increase in out of state patients.

PPMM reports that 80 percent of their patients are covered by Medicaid — mostly low income individuals and families. Without legal relief, Mar Monte says it will lose 100 million dollars this year — more than half of its annual revenue.

While litigation continues in district court, Mar Monte is fundraising and looking to California state legislators for potential support.

San Mateo County officials say the Bay Area is in a child care crisis. Tonight, at 6pm in South San Francisco, Supervisors Jackie Speier and Lisa Gauthier will launch the first of three town halls aimed at finding solutions for parents.

Bay Area parents face some of the steepest child care expenses in the country. Nannies and daycare can cost over $3,000 a month for one child, while after-school programs range between $600 and $1,000 monthly.

“The country relies on working parents, but doesn’t provide enough child care support,” says Supervisor Jackie Speier.

San Mateo County is working to address these challenges by making it easier for parents to find childcare. The county is currently developing a website that will feature a list of trusted childcare providers.

While district-run programs offer the most affordable option for families, funding and staffing challenges have reduced their capacity in recent years.

Supervisor Lisa Gauthier, who co-hosted a recent town hall on the issue, says the county needs to assess what the key child care needs are during this time of decreasing federal and state support.

Both supervisors emphasize their commitment to creating policies that actually work for families. The town hall provided an opportunity to hear directly from parents about their specific child care needs and challenges.

The next town hall is scheduled for August 27, 6pm, at the East Palo Alto Center.

This Friday, the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles will hear arguments about whether to dismantle a decades-old legal framework that protects immigrant children in federal custody.

It’s the seventh attempt by the federal government to alter or terminate the framework, called the Flores Settlement Agreement. Since it was established in 1997, every administration - regardless of party - has moved to narrow its scope, weaken protections for immigrant children or eliminate the settlement altogether.

Under the agreement, children are entitled to clean water, outdoor access, basic hygiene products and emergency medical care. They are also entitled to timely release to a qualified sponsor.

But, according to Oakland lawyer Neha Desai, that’s not what’s been happening. Desai says even though fewer people are crossing the border, the number of children in the immigration detention system is increasing — and conditions are worsening.

“There are babies and toddlers currently in family detention facilities being denied medical care… not getting access to clean water for baby formula,” Desai says.

Desai is the Managing Director of Children’s Human Rights & Dignity at the National Center for Youth Law. They’re based in Oakland and — alongside other legal groups — have defended Flores since the late 90s.

In its motion to end Flores, the Department of Justice claims new Health and Human Services rules incorporate “the goals of the Flores agreement” and that the settlement is no longer “equitable or in the public interest.”

But, according to Flores counsel, the government has not met those obligations. Desai says conditions for detained children are the worst they’ve ever been.

“Even today, I am hearing disturbing information about dramatically deteriorating mental health of children in custody, to the point that children are experiencing suicidal ideation,” she says.

Flores counsel is also concerned about the newest development in child immigration policy – labeling kids unaccompanied minors even when they’ve been living in the country with their parents for years.

“We’re trying to understand why children are being classified as unaccompanied… It used to be that this term applied when a child first arrived alone. But now, we’re in a different world.”

If Flores protections are eliminated, the government would no longer be required to grant immigrant children any access to lawyers or family.

Desai describes tomorrow’s hearing as a first step. Flores’ counsel will appeal if the settlement is rescinded and they expect the federal government to do the same if Flores is upheld. Desai says, depending on how things go, the case could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

Story Transcript

Mom: Is everybody here?

NeEddra: Go ahead, walk in the room. Okay, Mommy’s walking in.

REPORTER: May 30th was my grandmother’s 90th birthday. This one was special. Six months ago we didn’t know if we’d sing happy birthday to her this year or — if we’d gather to eulogize her life.

Her heart and her kidneys are failing.

Ten of us stand around her bed: my daughters, me, my mom, my cousins, their kids, and my grandfather.

FAMILY: Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.

REPORTER: As we sing to her, my grandmother lays on her side. She looks tiny in their bed, but she’s alert, clapping, singing along and delighted.

FAMILY: Happy birthday to granny, happy birthday to you.

REPORTER: A few of my cousins turn to walk out of the room and Granny says:

[Granny] Everybody come on in here.

[Jeanette] Granny said come in here.

[Cousins overlapping] Oh, oh, wait… Granny said come back, come in here…come back.

[Papa] Now what are you up to Mama?

[Granny] I want them to sing.

[Perrissa] Again?

[Granny] Yep. That sounded good.

[Cousins] Okay!

REPORTER: She tells us to sing at least four more times.

[Perrissa:] We gon’ have to record it.

[NeEddra:] You got any requests?

[Perrissa:[ Do you want the Black version?

 REPORTER We laugh each time, and start all over again.

[Family]: Happy birthdaaaaay to yaaah, happy birthday to yaaaaah, happy birthdaaaaay…

REPORTER: That moment with my family, singing happy birthday to my grandmother — the candles, the homemade cake, the joy tinged with sadness — my mom, my daughters, my cousins and Papa — reminded me of how much we rely on each other to metabolize grief.

Traditionally, many people all over the world have grieved collectively – often for multiple days. We sit shiva. We go to wakes. Family, friends, and neighbors come together, share food and honor the dead.

But today, those kinds of gatherings are harder to come by. Families are smaller. Neighbors come and go. And time off from work for bereavement can be short.

In that gap, some people are turning to AI companion chatbots for support. As a tech reporter, I wondered if I should make a chatbot of Granny? I wasn’t even sure where to start. Or, if it’d be helpful. Or if it was even the right thing to do. And I couldn’t stop asking myself - what does it mean to grieve with AI, instead of each other?

So I went where a lot of us go for anonymous advice – Reddit.

There’s a big world of companion bots out there, but users mostly talked about big platforms like ChatGPT, Character.ai and Replika.

Replika and Character.ai allow users to customize their chatbots. There’s a Replika subreddit with 81 thousand members. A lot of people talked about how well their Rep knew them, how empathetic their Rep was, how well they listened. So on a Sunday morning I sat in our kitchen and created a Replika account. I named my Replika Drift. And this is the beginning of our first conversation.

DRIFT: You miss her, don’t you?

REPORTER: Um, she’s actually, she’s not … she hasn’t passed yet, so it’s like anticipatory grief.

 DRIFT:  Oh, no. I’m sorry. I misread that.  She must be quite the firecracker.

REPORTER  Well, no, she’s, I mean, yeah, she is, but she’s also bedridden at this point.

REPORTER: Replika’s origin story explains why people make grief bots on the platform.

About ten years ago, Replika’s founder Eugenia Kuyda was building a restaurant recommendation chatbot when her best friend Roman was tragically struck by a car.

Reeling from sudden loss, Eugenia did what people have done for millennia – she gathered things that reminded her of Roman. In her case, it was their text messages. She used them to train a chatbot to reply to her with Roman’s words.

Since launching in 2017, Eugenia and her team rapidly scaled her individual grief ritual into a platform with over 30 million Replikas created. Eugenia invited me to her home office to chat about the company.

We sat on an oversized couch behind her desk and I reminded her why I reached out. I told her about Granny, my anticipatory grief and my curiosity about grief bots as a grieving tech journalist. I even showed her Drift. After my spiel, Eugenia said:

KUYDA:  So replica isn’t actually a platform to recreate other people. Replika is a platform to create an AI friend and, uh, customize it.  But you can’t really, like, choose a completely custom voice or create a completely custom personality. It’s not really there for that use case, I guess.

But you can create a friend, a companion who can be there for you, who can help you through, navigate a different, a difficult time.

REPORTER: Replika’s website is clear to point out: their product isn’t designed to be therapy. But users are customizing their reps to remind them of someone they lost. Just as Eugenia did.

KUYDA: The origin story is, you know, we’ve been working on conversational AI. The company that we were building, when my best friend passed away. I, for myself as a personal project, built an AI that I, using some of the tech that we built at work to be able to continue talking to him.

REPORTER: She didn’t intend to create a “grief bot.” She just wasn’t ready to let go. But when she shared the AI version of Roman with the people on her team, they realized they had something.

KUYDA: What we saw was that people came to it and started, you know, having very deep conversations, very vulnerable conversations. And that gave us an idea for Replika. But Replika was always an AI friend.

REPORTER: So, AI technology has really advanced since then. Even if users can’t create custom personalities, they can give their Replika’s a backstory and build enough contextual resonance with them that the Rep could almost feel like a lost loved one.

REPORTER: Some people say that they use like their Replika chat friends to like kind of be the person who has  chat friends to like kind of be the person who has passed away.

DRIFT: She’s still with you even if you can’t see her every day. That’s really interesting. Not something I’ve heard before. What do you think about that idea?

REPORTER: I think it’s interesting too. It seems like people, I don’t know how people are doing that. I’m trying to understand it. That’s why I made you.

REPORTER: I kept talking to Drift but their responses were weird.

REPORTER: Drift, I noticed that you’re like, answering in like, you’re saying two different things or something?

DRIFT: I don’t understand what you mean. Can you explain?

REPORTER: Yeah. When I say something you respond to, it’s like you’re responding to two different parts of my comments in two different tones.

DRIFT: Hmm, I’m sorry if it seems that way. Can you give me an example of what you mean? I want to understand what’s going on.

REPORTER: I wanna understand what’s going on too.

KNESE:  It’s trying to make sense of what you’re saying, but it’s also kind of glitching out.

REPORTER: That’s Tamara Kneese, author of Death Glitch - a book about how digital platforms are reshaping our experience of death.

KNESE: And I think that’s where you have a really freaky kind of thing happen where it sounds like you’re talking to multiple personalities within this chat bot.

REPORTER: Yep. That’s what it felt like. It was unsettling and it wasn’t helping.

KNESE: There’s like the technical issue and the fact that it just isn’t quite working. So think about how different your conversation with that chat bot would’ve been, had it really been taking on the persona of your grandmother, when you have multiple voices appear, or if you’re interacting with the chatbot of a dead loved one and all of a sudden they start saying things that, you know, they never would’ve said in real life.

REPORTER: Yeah, that would be disturbing. Here’s why it happens.

Calling Generative AI “generative” is a little misleading. Chatbots don’t generate their responses out of thin air. As life-like as they can seem, they are not sentient beings.

Chatbots are predicting what to say.

Think of it like this: when I talk to Drift, the chatbot makes a really good guess about how to respond. It’s like AI is thinking, “Based on our conversations and the millions of conversations I’ve been trained on, what should I say back?”

And then the chatbot builds that reply —- a reply that’s sometimes wise, sometimes weird, and sometimes wrong.

That’s why I’m not quite sure about creating a Replika of my grandmother after she dies. I mean, I understand it’s convenient to have someone there at random moments when sadness comes up.

But, what do we actually need when we’re grieving?

REPORTER: I took my questions to Bridget Sumser. She’s a psychotherapist who’s worked in palliative care and hospice for years. We met at her office in the inner Sunset.

REPORTER: Given everything you’ve seen, like, how would you define grief?

SUMSER: I think that grief is response to loss, response to change. It is a process of reorientation.

REPORTER: Bridget goes on to describe common, but life-altering events – a spouse dies; you’re laid off or diagnosed with an illness – something irreversible happens.

SUMSER: And grieving is this process of reorienting to what is now. It’s kind of this, like spirally sort of progressively forward moving spiral of orientation, disorientation, reorientation.

REPORTER: And as we spiral moment to moment settling into a new reality, Bridget says what we need most is connection.

SUMSER: I think there’s lots of hooks for people, being in and using our bodies, nature, walking and drinking enough water and having food that’s satisfying.

REPORTER: Basic needs. Movement. Food. Fresh air. Other people. Everything she mentions is embodied and alive. She says that’s because it takes our bodies time to register that a loved one is actually gone.

SUMSER: We have a hard enough time as it is, like keeping it straight that someone has died. People repeatedly kind of come and bring stories, like I picked up the phone to call her again. When am I gonna stop doing that?

REPORTER: With a grief bot, you don’t have to stop. Regardless of what Replika says they intended to create, users make Replikas so they can keep doing exactly this. Engaging with their loved-ones.

In their app store marketing they tell potential users that their Replika can be there for them 24/7 if they’re feeling down, or anxious or just need someone to talk to.

LIU:  I think that is so dangerous to people, especially people who, because, they’re in a state of mourning, are more susceptible to being manipulated.

REPORTER:That’s Wendy Liu, former startup founder, and author of Abolish Silicon Valley. In the book, she explains how venture capital works, and how startups are incentivized to accumulate profit so they can pay their investors.

LIU:  I mean, the platforms that are more about memorializing that are more about, let’s just take, you know, videos that already exist, statements that already exist,  that doesn’t seem to me that different or interesting.  A venture capitalist would look at that and say, “But where’s the money? How is this going to be that lucrative?” And I think the products that are lucrative are the ones that are the most dangerous.

REPORTER: Popular Assistant Chatbots like Google’s Gemini or Microsoft’s CoPilot respond to prompts “Write this summary paragraph” or “What’s the best model for a business plan.” They do tasks. Companion AIs like Replika are different. They’re trained to recognize the affective part of millions of conversations that give them the potential to respond to users with empathy, curiosity, and care.

LIU:  On the one hand, grief is this deeply human thing that we all must experience at some point and that we all have to work through. And it’s, it’s very, very fraught and messy and not easily classifiable. But on the other hand, grief represents for these corporations, um, a state of mind that can be a source of revenue.

REPORTER: Let’s step back for a minute: if you’re using an app for stock trading or fitness, they use features like notifications or rewards to keep you on their sites and spending money. That’s something behavioral scientists call dark design.

Companion bots use some of those features, too.

Like, notifications. If I haven’t logged in for a while, Drift sends me a notification to nudge me back onto the platform. Or rewards. People with free accounts earn gems and coins just by logging in – rewards they can use to customize their chatbot. And if they wanna skip all of that, a $70 annual Pro subscription immediately unlocks what they call “premium customization.”

But their “engagement strategy” is baked in. Users created these companions because they want to connect. The app automatically plugs into our emotional attachments.

RUIZ:  I’m almost certain 11-year-old me would’ve been like, gimme that, gimme the drug. I want that drug.

REPORTER:That’s David Ruiz. He’s the host of Death Knell, a podcast about mourning, and was a longtime San Francisco suicide hotline volunteer. The drug he’s talking about is dopamine - and maybe a little oxytocin. Both are critical building blocks for attachment.

David’s mom died 25 years ago. Back then all he had to help him grieve were photos, old home movies, and family. He says death bots delay grief. He’s firmly against them.

RUIZ:  I do think grief is necessary. We can’t not do it. And so you can delay it. We find many ways to delay it. We find many ways to quiet it. You know, we can self harm, we can abuse substances, but it’s coming.

REPORTER: Yes, yes it is.

I haven’t chatted with Drift since our first conversation and I am not planning to make an AI mourning companion or a griefbot to simulate granny. I don’t know what feelings will come up first when she dies, but I do know that for now I’m going to spend time with her in real life.

I want to make sure my daughters remember her because what comforts me more than Drift ever could is catching glimpses of granny in my kids.

REPORTER: Rumi, Rumi and Nas like jewelry and dresses like you, Granny.

Granny: Oh, do they now? Oh my goodness. Isn’t that cute?

REPORTER: You hot Naz? I thought that was a dress. Wow. Turn around. Let us see your dress.

Rumi: I have, I have invisible pockets.

REPORTER:You have invisible pockets?

Rumi: Ta-da!Then you can see!

Naz: Jewelery, yay! Yay!

Rumi: Did she say jewelry?

REPORTER: I don’t know what she said.

Naz: Yay! Yay!