AI chatbots miss initial diagnoses 80% of the time: Mass General Brigham study

 Artificial intelligence chatbots failed to accurately generate a list of possible diagnoses based on initial patient symptoms more than 80% of the time, but improved considerably when given more information, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham.

The findings from “Large Language Model Performance and Clinical Reasoning Tasks” were published April 13 in JAMA Network Open.

Five things to know:

1. The researchers set out to determine if large language models can demonstrate reliable performance across clinical workflows. They studied 21 AI models using 29 standardized medical case scenarios drawn from the MSD Manual, a peer-reviewed clinical reference used to train medical professionals, representing 16,254 responses in total. Medical students scored each model’s responses against established answer keys. Analyses were conducted between January and December 2025. Real-time web search and other add-on features were disabled.

2. The AI models were walked through the steps of a real patient encounter, including differential diagnosis — generating a list of possible diagnoses based on symptoms — followed by ordering diagnostic tests, making a final diagnosis and planning treatment.

3. Differential diagnosis was the weakest area across all 21 models tested, with failure rates exceeding 80% and reaching 100% for some models in certain scenarios. The researchers noted this weakness was consistent with a prior study by some of the same authors, suggesting newer AI versions have not resolved the problem. 

4. Failure rates for final diagnosis were less than 40% across all models. When given more information and prompted to give a final diagnosis, failure rates declined to as low as 9% for the best-performing models.

5. The authors said current models lack the reasoning processes needed for safe clinical use and concluded that the most responsible use today is targeted, clinician-supervised use in low-uncertainty tasks.

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/ai/ai-chatbots-miss-initial-diagnosis-80-of-the-time-mass-general-brigham-study/

8-figure sum NYC taxpayers will pay to fund Mamdani’s first city-owned grocery revealed

 Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first-unveiled city-owned grocery store will cost $30 million to build from the ground up at East Harlem’s longstanding La Marqueta, officials confirmed.

The La Marqueta site – announced by Mamdani during a Sunday celebration of his first 100 days in office – may be the first site selected for the mayor’s promised five city-owned grocery stores, but other locations will be picked and opened sooner, City Hall officials told The Post on Monday.

Mamdani’s administration is currently scouring the city for locations that don’t require a full ground-up build, officials said. The city has budgeted an initial $70 million to fund the city-owned stores.

Mayor Mamdani’s first city-owned grocery store comes with a hefty price tag for NYC taxpayers.Zohran Mamdani / TikTok

The selection of La Marqueta, however, carries symbolic weight that Mamdani was keen to point out – his idol, former Mayor Fiorella La Guardia, had established the marketplace as a location during the 1930s where working people could save money on fruits and vegetables.

“We will continue his legacy,” Mamdani said.

“We are building a brand-new store on city-owned land currently sitting empty in East Harlem, a neighborhood where nearly 40% of households received public assistance or SNAP in the past year.”

The East Harlem location for the city’s first grocery store.Luiz Ribeiro for NY Post
La Marqueta is one of six public markets in New York City, including Essex Market and the Jamaica Farmers Market.

https://nypost.com/2026/04/13/us-news/staggering-8-figure-sum-nyc-taxpayers-will-pay-to-fund-mamdanis-first-city-owner-grocery-revealed/

Exxon Mobil (XOM) Plans Major Overhauls at Beaumont Refinery

 Exxon Mobil (XOM) is set to implement significant maintenance activities at its Beaumont, Texas refinery, which processes 612,000 barrels per day. In May, the company will temporarily shut down its 60,000 bbl/day coker for an overhaul extending into June. Additionally, a 120,000 bbl/day fluidic catalytic cracker and two hydrotreaters will undergo maintenance in December, continuing into January. The Beaumont facility ranks as the third-largest U.S. refinery by crude processing capacity, with its FCCU and coker capacities representing 3.3% and 7.4% of the U.S. Gulf Coast capacities, respectively.

https://www.gurufocus.com/news/8782848/exxon-mobil-xom-plans-major-overhauls-at-beaumont-refinery

USDA Wants Farmers to Help With Fertilizer Probe as Prices Soar

 

The Trump administration is seeking information from farmers to help with an ongoing Justice Department probe into high costs for fertilizer, machinery and other farm inputs.

Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden said he has met with officials at the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to discuss lines of inquiry, and knows that “farmers have a lot of information that might be relevant to these investigations.” The Department of Justice is investigating whether fertilizer producers colluded to raise prices, Bloomberg reported in early March.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-13/usda-wants-farmers-to-help-with-fertilizer-probe-as-prices-soar

As The Worms Turn...

  by James Howard Kunstler,

"They’re holed up in a bank demanding three large pizzas, a helicopter, and a personal phone call from Sydney Sweeney..."

- Greg Gutfeld on Iran’s negotiating position

The Russians have a phrase for it: negotiation-incapable (ne peregovorosposobny).

That is what the Iran delegation demonstrated during a long day of talks with the US team over the weekend in Islamabad. What part of “no nukes” didn’t they understand? All of it, apparently. The corollary question on the table — arguably more pressing for Iran — was: how much more punishment are you willing to suffer to sustain your dream of atomic bombs? You have no defenses left, no control of your air-space. Do you just want to sit in the dark for the next hundred years?

Such is the obduracy of the Shia death cult. They have no friends left in the world. Russia, you think? Not really. That relationship was pegged to geopolitical dynamics that are dead and gone. Russia is much better off normalizing relations with the USA so we can both be safe and secure in our spheres of influence. Europe is busy committing suicide. In this situation, China is little more than Iran’s very unhappy customer. Maybe Uncle Xi Pooh Bear can try talking some sense to whoever is left in-charge at the IRGC. . . give up your lunatic bomb dreams and just re-open the dingdang gas station! Pretty Please!

Anyway, why interfere with US operations in Hormuz? The USA is wresting control of the Persian Gulf from these maniacs who can’t be trusted to just stay open for business. Japan, the two Koreas, Indochina, India, also have to stand by with mounting frustration as these jihad-happy idiots starve Asia’s economies. A change in Iran’s attitude can’t happen soon enough and Mr. Trump is on the case. The blockade starts at 10a.m. today, Monday. Whatever’s left of Iran’s revenue stream goes out the window. Maybe they lob some rockets and drones at our ships. Maybe they hit something, maybe not. We’ll see where they launch from and that will be the end of X-number of remaining launch sites. Then there are the bridges, the power plants. FAFO mofos.

About those 1000 pounds of 60-percent enriched uranium (their precious bomb fixings)... You must imagine that it is either buried deeply under the rubble of Fordoz and Isfahan, or maybe distributed in many secret hidey-holes all over the place... or perhaps sitting booby-trapped somewhere.

In short, there are many reasons to think that no special forces operation will be able to get at it.

So, the only other conclusion is that Iran must be driven to a place where they will surrender the stuff willingly themselves.

That could be a harsh place.

While you stay tuned to events there, plenty more developments break elsewhere in this raucous world.

Viktor Orban was voted out in Hungary. How did that happen? Maybe genuine public sentiment (sixteen years of Viktor O enough?). Maybe a whole lot of Soros money involved, plus EU backstage ballot shenanigans. Mr. Orban conceded graciously in any case, patriot that he is. Expect a blizzard of narratives to follow.

The truth will be hard to sort out. And it remains to be seen whether the new president, Peter Magyar, will throw open Hungary’s borders, hoist the pride flags, and give up importing Russian oil and natgas — all per the EU’s policy regime.

Here in the homieland, the fabulously loathsome Rep. Eric Swalwell, lover of Fang-Fang and accused multiple rapist of his office girls, shameless serial liar, and all-around uber jerk-off, has lost his shot at bringing additional ruin as governor to the forlorn state of California.

Might even be ejected from his seat in Congress. Oh, happy day!

Rumored to be released this week by the House Intelligence Committee: the transcript of former Intel Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson’s testimony about events that led to Impeachment #1 of Donald Trump in 2019.

The transcript has been locked away in a vault since October, 2019. Tulsi Gabbard rooted it out. The shadowy Atkinson played a crucial role in positioning “whistleblower” Eric Ciaramella to spark off charges of the “Ukraine quid pro quo” phone call against the president. Ciaramella was then a CIA agent planted in the National Security Council. He may have been involved earlier in co-authoring the fake Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that kicked off the RussiaGate hoax in 2017. For Impeachment #1 Atkinson reportedly changed the whistleblower rules to allow Ciaramella to convey second-hand hearsay from sketchy NSC member Col. Alexander Vindman to Rep. Adam Schiff, then chairman of the House Intel Committee. The chain of actions suggests the impeachment was a CIA setup.

The CIA director at the time was Avril Haines.

Ms. Haines ran the London CIA field office during the period when former MI6 agent Christopher Steele was concocting the notorious Steele Dossier at the center of RussiaGate.

It has long been suspected that RussiaGate was a joint CIA / MI6 operation.

Isn’t it about time that Avril Haines sat for a deposition in these various matters?

It might be nice to know if our main Intel Agency was involved in serial schemes to overthrow the US government.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/worms-turn

Chevron, Shell to Sign Agreements for Oil, Gas Areas in Venezuela, Sources Say

Chevron is expected to sign agreements on April 13 to participate in an extra heavy crude block in Venezuela’s main oil region, while returning to a gas area that Shell is set to operate, three sources close to the preparations said.

 The agreements are among the first big expansion deals since the U.S. launched a $100 billion reconstruction plan for Venezuela’s energy sector after capturing President Nicolas Maduro.

https://www.hartenergy.com/upstream/he-chevron-shell-venezula-oil/

Bank Lobby Fires Back At White House, Saying Stablecoin Study Ignores Community Bank Threat

 by Micah Zimmerman via BitcoinMagazine.com,

The American Bankers Association is warning that the White House’s latest stablecoin study is asking the wrong question and underestimating the threat to community banks.

On April 8, the Council of Economic Advisers released a 21‑page paper modeling what happens if payment stablecoin issuers are barred from paying yield. The analysis, tied to the 2025 GENIUS Act’s prohibition on interest for payment stablecoins, finds that banning yield would raise bank lending by only about 2.1 billion dollars, or roughly 0.02% of a 12 trillion dollar loan book. 

The report also estimates that consumers would forgo around 800 million dollars in returns, producing a cost‑benefit ratio of 6.6 in which lost yield outweighs gains from slightly lower borrowing costs. 

In short, White House economists concluded that stablecoin yield, under current conditions, is unlikely to trigger the sweeping deposit flight some academic studies had projected.

ABA: the real risk is yield‑paying coins at scale

The American Bankers Association fired back today, arguing the CEA framed “the wrong question” by focusing on the effect of a prohibition rather than the impact of allowing yield as the market grows. 

ABA chief economist Sayee Srinivasan and banking research VP Yikai Wang warned that yield‑paying payment stablecoins could accelerate deposit migration out of insured accounts, especially at community banks. 

Their analysis points to a future market of 1 to 2 trillion dollars in payment stablecoins, where competitive yields on tokens backed by Treasuries and other safe assets become a direct rival to local deposits. In that scenario, they say, even single states could see multi‑billion‑dollar contractions in bank lending as cheap funding drains away.

Deposit stablecoin reshuffling vs. community bank pressure

The White House paper stresses that when consumers move cash into stablecoins, issuers reinvest reserves into Treasury bills, repos, and money‑market funds, sending most of the money back into the banking system. 

That “reshuffling” means aggregate deposits stay largely flat, and, with banks currently holding over 1.1 trillion dollars in excess liquidity, the model finds little system‑wide constraint on lending. 

The ABA response counters that this misses what happens at individual institutions when deposits walk out the door, forcing community banks to replace funding with higher‑cost wholesale borrowing or by raising deposit rates. 

Those higher funding costs, they argue, translate into less local credit and higher loan rates for households, farmers, and small businesses that rely on relationship lenders.

The debate lands on top of the GENIUS Act, the 2025 law that created the first federal regime for payment stablecoins and hard‑coded a ban on issuers paying yield to holders. 

That ban does not extend to third‑party platforms, leaving room for arrangements such as Coinbase’s USDC rewards, which share reserve income with users at rates similar to high‑yield savings accounts. 

Some versions of the proposed CLARITY Act would close this channel by barring intermediaries from passing yield through, a move the CEA notes but does not fully evaluate. ABA’s authors say policymakers should treat a prohibition on yield as a “prudent safeguard” that keeps stablecoins in a payments role instead of letting them evolve into a high‑yield substitute for insured deposits.

Both sides touch on a deeper question: whether yield‑bearing stablecoins effectively create a form of narrow banking that siphons funds out of traditional credit intermediation. The CEA frames narrow‑bank‑like structures as potentially safer for payments, assuming reserves stay in Treasuries and other ultra‑safe assets, while downplaying near‑term lending losses. 

The ABA warns that pushing activity into such models without a plan to preserve community‑bank lending ignores Congress’s reluctance to endorse central bank digital currencies for similar reasons. 

With more than 80% of stablecoin activity already offshore and issuers holding Treasury portfolios larger than some sovereigns, the White House also flags global demand and U.S. borrowing costs as an underexplored part of the yield debate.

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/bank-lobby-fires-back-white-house-saying-stablecoin-study-ignores-community-bank-threat