More than 25 percent of people say Chinese-Americans are a ‘threat' to the US, poll finds
More than a quarter of Americans think Chinese-Americans are a threat to U.S. society, a new poll released Thursday revealed.
The Social Tracking of Asian Americans in the U.S., or STAATUS Index, found that 40 percent believe Asian Americans are more loyal to their countries of origin than the U.S.
This comes just five years after the Covid-19 pandemic, when the U.S. experienced a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.
Twenty-seven percent said they were 'at least somewhat concerned' that 'Chinese Americans are a threat to U.S. society, especially around national security.'
Meanwhile, 63 percent of Asian Americans say they felt unsafe in at least one daily setting, according to the index, which was released on Thursday at the start of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The same number of Asian Americans say that it's at least somewhat likely that they will be subjected to discrimination in the next half-decade based on their race, ethnicity, or religion. Thirty-three percent of white Americans believe they will be victims of discrimination within the next five years.
Conducted between January 22 and February 25, the survey included 4,909 respondents over the age of 16.
Forty percent of Asian Americans, compared to 71 percent of white Americans, completely agree that they belong in the U.S. They are also the least likely to believe they belong in online spaces, on social media, and where they live.
Roughly two-fifths of Americans back legislation banning foreign citizens from some countries, such as China, from buying land.
Forty-four percent of Americans strongly agree that the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II was wrong.
The CEO of The Asian American Foundation, Norman Chen, a co-founder of the index, told Axios that 'One of the most alarming results over the past five years has been the doubling of this perception of Asian Americans as more loyal to their country of origin.'
'It questions the loyalty and patriotism of Asian Americans in this country,' he said, adding that the poll also found that most Americans still believe the myth of the 'model minority' — that Asian Americans are overachievers who are 'good at math.'
Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the U.S. has seen rising antisemitism, anti-Arab American, and anti-Muslim incidents hit the headlines, removing focus from anti-Asian hate crimes, the outlet noted.
According to the poll, 42 percent of Americans can't name a famous Asian American, with Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan being named by 11 percent, Bruce Lee by six percent, Kamala Harris by four percent, and Lucy Liu by three percent.
However, the index also found that almost 80 percent of Americans back specific efforts to uplift Asian American communities and roughly 41 percent support legislation that Asian American history be taught in schools.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
10 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Global Times: At Rizhao Port: Small phone screen unlocks code to transform, upgrade China's global trade
BEIJING, June 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In the sunlit repair depot of Rizhao Port of Shandong Port Group, Xu Guannan stands in front of a giant 17-ton wheel loader. This beast of a machine, capable of lifting 3 cubic meters of coals in one scoop, is not humming well these days, sending its work efficiency down. Initial reports suggest the machine is hit by overheating problems, but dozens of parts could be the culprit. A traditional repair work would by this time start climbing this behemoth and try to scout for faulty parts, guided by hunches and experience. Instead, Xu, deputy head of the Technology Innovation Center of Rizhao Port, reached into his pocket to grab his smartphone. From the small screen, Xu accessed the interface of a digital repair manual developed by his team of software engineers and powered by the latest artificial intelligence (AI) tool DeepSeek, which analyzed the problem in a flash and gave the answer - a ventilation valve on the gearbox is at fault. This is just a snapshot of the high-tech-powered, smart operation of Rizhao Port, which has earned the highest praise for its successful transformation and upgrade over the years. On the afternoon of May 22, 2024, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visited Rizhao Port, the Xinhua News Agency reported at the time. Xi said that Rizhao Port, as a new port after China's reform and opening-up drive, has transformed itself from a traditional port into a modern one through scientific and technological innovation in recent years. It has not only made the cargo throughput among the forefront of the country, but also accumulated experience in developing new quality productive forces through the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, which is worthy of praise, Xi said, according to Xinhua. Currently, as global trade has encountered profound turbulence due to rising unilateralism and protectionism in certain parts of the world, China's focus on building modern ports and developing new quality productive forces underscore its unwavering commitment not only to high-quality development at home, but also to mutually beneficial trade with the rest of the world. This is also the underlying logic of China's development of the port economy: Let the world share China's opportunities. China is committed to building world-class ports to expand its 'circle of friends' of trading partners, contributing to the stability of global supply chains. 'Chinese model' Such a commitment translates into real action at Rizhao Port: autonomous trucks glide across the docks, guided by AI precision; Towering cranes, controlled remotely from a sleek command center, dance in perfect sync, unloading megaships with balletic grace. Behind this futuristic symphony of machines working seamlessly together are years of dedicated efforts to transform this once modest port into a high-tech titan, earning accolades as a 'Chinese model' for the transformation and upgrading of traditional terminals into fully automated container terminals worldwide. For Xu and his team, that means harnessing the country's latest technological advancements to empower the port's operation. Since last year, Xu's team sorted out and compiled a total of 400,000 paper maintenance log entries in the past 10 years for the port's dozens of wheel loaders and made all the information digitalized into a knowledge graph. 'In a way, we perpetuated old repair masters' wisdom through digitalization and AI,' Xu told the Global Times. The adoption of large language model is just one facets of the port's efforts in harnessing the hardcore power of technology to empower the port's smart operations. Tian Zhendong, a first-grade technician at the Technology Innovation Center of Rizhao Port of Shandong Port Group and a holder of the National May 1 Labor Medal, works at the port's 100-million-ton dry bulk cargo terminal. The terminal handles the transportation and storage of over 70 types of cargo across five major categories. Following recent technological upgrades, it is now home to over 80 sets of automated equipment across 10 major categories and operators control these machines from an office building located thousand meters away. In addition to remotely control portal cranes, a total of 24 industrial robots were employed to do the heavy and dirty job of cleaning coal-carrying rail cars and removing sticky coke. This solution alone has greatly improved unloading efficiency and slashed labor cost by 70 percent, Tian said. 'Our attitude toward automation is: once it's installed, we must use it. If we don't use it, we can't discover problems to help improve the system, and we can't truly enjoy the high efficiency automation brings,' Tian told the Global Times. Such a devotion from Tian and other workers at the port helped build the world's first parallel, open and fully automated container terminal, which handles about 6 million TEUs a year with dozens of operator-less ship-to-shore (STS) container cranes and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) working in harmony around-the-clock. The automation resulted in a single machine efficiency boost by 50 percent and reduction in overall cost by 70 percent, according to Rizhao Port authorities. Green development Smart operation is just one aspect of Rizhao Port's transformation witnessed by Tian, who started working at the port in 1989 and a second-generation port worker. His father participated in the construction of Rizhao Port in the 1980s, witnessing the port's transformation from a small fishing village on the East China Sea coast into a major coal port in China. 'In the past, city residents who live nearby the port area can tell the main cargo being transported in the port in a given period by the color of the powder dust clinging on their windows - red is iron and black is coal,' Tian said. One defining moment of the port's history, Tian recalled, is a State Council guideline policy in 2022 stipulating support for Rizhao Port to become a smart and green demonstration port for bulk dry cargo. 'With the emphasis on ecological protection in the past decade and dedicated efforts in greening the port's operation area, we have a cleaner port and a cleaner city nowadays,' Tian said, 'The theme color of Rizhao Port's story has changed from one of red and black to one featuring green and blue.' Ultimately, efforts to ensure smart and green operations are aimed at bolstering Rizhao Port's core function of handling cargoes. And in that regard, the port has also seen remarkable achievements: the port is the world's youngest port achieving an annual throughput of 500 million tons; it ranks first in China in the throughput of seven types of goods, including iron ore, soybeans, petroleum and coke; and it has become a vital port supplying raw materials and bulk commodities to the 'World's Factory.' Powering exports During the visit to Rizhao Port in May 2024, Xi learned about the local progress in promoting the smart and green development of the port, and expanding the opening-up, according to Xinhua. Rizhao Port's transformation is aimed at not only supporting the country's high-quality development, but also promoting high-level opening-up. The point of having a world-class port lies in serving world-class trade, as some workers at Rizhao Port told the Global Times. In recent years, companies in and around Rizhao city have seized the opportunity to advance port-industry-city integration and leveraged the port's shipping links with more than 100 countries and regions. Rizhao Port served as a vital link efficiently bridging production resources with global demand and effectively facilitating the global expansion of more 'Made in China' products. Wuzheng Group, a major player in China's agricultural and commercial vehicle industry located in the nearby Wulian county, offers a prime example. Rizhao Port's advantages in land transportation, efficiency, and marine transportation costs have provided the company with efficient, economical, and reliable logistics services, giving its overseas businesses a high-quality boost, according to Liang Yong, head of the company's international cooperation department. 'A three-wheeled vehicle, great at traversing inferior roads, is produced every three minutes on average at our plant and most are sold overseas to countries in Africa, including Ghana, Burkina Faso and Tanzania,' Liang Yong, head of the company's international cooperation department, told the Global Times. In May, Wuzheng Group exported 1,000 diesel-powered tricycles customized for West African mining areas through Rizhao Port, setting a new record for a single shipment of Chinese diesel tricycles to Africa. Behind that number is real stories of how 'Made in China' products changing lives in countries and regions. Liang said that many African customers told him how the three-wheeled vehicles changed their lives and help them pursue better a life. Wuzheng Group is hardly alone in leveraging the advantages offered by Rizhao Port to expand exports. Rizhao Yulan Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park, which is located just 15 kilometers from the port area, is also one of the companies utilizing the resources brought by the Rizhao Port. The company's highly automated plant transforms steel rolls into tinplate, a premium product having great overseas demand for its use in the making of cans used for storing fast-moving consumer goods like infant formula and beverages. 'Most of Shandong's steel production occurs near Rizhao, where our facility is based,' Wang Dawei, deputy general manager of Rizhao Yulan New Materials Co, 'This grants us access to low-cost raw materials. At the same time, we benefit from the port's extensive shipping routes, facilitating our global exports.' With over 80 container shipping routes from Rizhao and over 360 shipping routes of Shandong Port Group, Rizhao Port is a major node in the New Eurasian Land Bridge Economic Corridor as well as an important link of the Belt and Road Initiative. In addition to more destinations of exports, the types of goods shipped from Rizhao have also expanded to include new products such as new-energy vehicles (NEVs). In March, a batch of NEVs from Rizhao Port were officially shipped, marking a leap in the port's business related to the 'new three' of China's tech-intensive and green exports - NEVs, photovoltaic products, and lithium batteries, according to local media reports. The development story of Rizhao Port provides a footnote for China's steadfast efforts to strengthen its connection and exchanges with the rest of the world despite rising unilateralism and protectionism. Building world-class ports is one major aspect of those efforts, and China has made great strides - China is now home to eight of the world's top 10 busiest ports in terms of cargo throughput and seven of the world's top 10 ports in terms of container throughput, data from the Ministry of Transport showed. 'Port serves trade, and automation can make a port better. It is precisely this pragmatic attitude toward technological transformation that has enabled us to achieve what we have done so far and empowers our pursuit of a better tomorrow,' Xu said. View original content: SOURCE Global Times
Axios
15 minutes ago
- Axios
Behind the Curtain: The scariest AI reality
The wildest, scariest, indisputable truth about AI's large language models is that the companies building them don't know exactly why or how they work. Sit with that for a moment. The most powerful companies, racing to build the most powerful superhuman intelligence capabilities — ones they readily admit occasionally go rogue to make things up, or even threaten their users — don't know why their machines do what they do. Why it matters: With the companies pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into willing superhuman intelligence into a quick existence, and Washington doing nothing to slow or police them, it seems worth dissecting this Great Unknown. None of the AI companies dispute this. They marvel at the mystery — and muse about it publicly. They're working feverishly to better understand it. They argue you don't need to fully understand a technology to tame or trust it. Two years ago, Axios managing editor for tech Scott Rosenberg wrote a story, "AI's scariest mystery," saying it's common knowledge among AI developers that they can't always explain or predict their systems' behavior. And that's more true than ever. Yet there's no sign that the government or companies or general public will demand any deeper understanding — or scrutiny — of building a technology with capabilities beyond human understanding. They're convinced the race to beat China to the most advanced LLMs warrants the risk of the Great Unknown. The House, despite knowing so little about AI, tucked language into President Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" that would prohibit states and localities from any AI regulations for 10 years. The Senate is considering limitations on the provision. Neither the AI companies nor Congress understands the power of AI a year from now, much less a decade from now. The big picture: Our purpose with this column isn't to be alarmist or " doomers." It's to clinically explain why the inner workings of superhuman intelligence models are a black box, even to the technology's creators. We'll also show, in their own words, how CEOs and founders of the largest AI companies all agree it's a black box. Let's start with a basic overview of how LLMs work, to better explain the Great Unknown: LLMs — including Open AI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini — aren't traditional software systems following clear, human-written instructions, like Microsoft Word. In the case of Word, it does precisely what it's engineered to do. Instead, LLMs are massive neural networks — like a brain — that ingest massive amounts of information (much of the internet) to learn to generate answers. The engineers know what they're setting in motion, and what data sources they draw on. But the LLM's size — the sheer inhuman number of variables in each choice of "best next word" it makes — means even the experts can't explain exactly why it chooses to say anything in particular. We asked ChatGPT to explain this (and a human at OpenAI confirmed its accuracy): "We can observe what an LLM outputs, but the process by which it decides on a response is largely opaque. As OpenAI's researchers bluntly put it, 'we have not yet developed human-understandable explanations for why the model generates particular outputs.'" "In fact," ChatGPT continued, "OpenAI admitted that when they tweaked their model architecture in GPT-4, 'more research is needed' to understand why certain versions started hallucinating more than earlier versions — a surprising, unintended behavior even its creators couldn't fully diagnose." Anthropic — which just released Claude 4, the latest model of its LLM, with great fanfare — admitted it was unsure why Claude, when given access to fictional emails during safety testing, threatened to blackmail an engineer over a supposed extramarital affair. This was part of responsible safety testing — but Anthropic can't fully explain the irresponsible action. Again, sit with that: The company doesn't know why its machine went rogue and malicious. And, in truth, the creators don't really know how smart or independent the LLMs could grow. Anthropic even said Claude 4 is powerful enough to pose a greater risk of being used to develop nuclear or chemical weapons. OpenAI's Sam Altman and others toss around the tame word of " interpretability" to describe the challenge. "We certainly have not solved interpretability," Altman told a summit in Geneva last year. What Altman and others mean is they can't interpret the why: Why are LLMs doing what they're doing? Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, in an essay in April called "The Urgency of Interpretability," warned: "People outside the field are often surprised and alarmed to learn that we do not understand how our own AI creations work. They are right to be concerned: this lack of understanding is essentially unprecedented in the history of technology." Amodei called this a serious risk to humanity — yet his company keeps boasting of more powerful models nearing superhuman capabilities. Anthropic has been studying the interpretability issue for years, and Amodei has been vocal about warning it's important to solve. In a statement for this story, Anthropic said: "Understanding how AI works is an urgent issue to solve. It's core to deploying safe AI models and unlocking [AI's] full potential in accelerating scientific discovery and technological development. We have a dedicated research team focused on solving this issue, and they've made significant strides in moving the industry's understanding of the inner workings of AI forward. It's crucial we understand how AI works before it radically transforms our global economy and everyday lives." (Read a paper Anthropic published last year, "Mapping the Mind of a Large Language Model.") Elon Musk has warned for years that AI presents a civilizational risk. In other words, he literally thinks it could destroy humanity, and has said as much. Yet Musk is pouring billions into his own LLM called Grok. "I think AI is a significant existential threat," Musk said in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last fall. There's a 10%-20% chance "that it goes bad." Reality check: Apple published a paper last week, "The Illusion of Thinking," concluding that even the most advanced AI reasoning models don't really "think," and can fail when stress-tested. The study found that state-of-the-art models (OpenAI's o3-min, DeepSeek R1 and Anthropic's Claude-3.7-Sonnet) still fail to develop generalizable problem-solving capabilities, with accuracy ultimately collapsing to zero "beyond certain complexities." But a new report by AI researchers, including former OpenAI employees, called " AI 2027," explains how the Great Unknown could, in theory, turn catastrophic in less than two years. The report is long and often too technical for casual readers to fully grasp. It's wholly speculative, though built on current data about how fast the models are improving. It's being widely read inside the AI companies. It captures the belief — or fear — that LLMs could one day think for themselves and start to act on their own. Our purpose isn't to alarm or sound doomy. Rather, you should know what the people building these models talk about incessantly. You can dismiss it as hype or hysteria. But researchers at all these companies worry LLMs, because we don't fully understand them, could outsmart their human creators and go rogue. In the AI 2027 report, the authors warn that competition with China will push LLMs potentially beyond human control, because no one will want to slow progress even if they see signs of acute danger. The safe-landing theory: Google's Sundar Pichai — and really all of the big AI company CEOs — argue that humans will learn to better understand how these machines work and find clever, if yet unknown ways, to control them and " improve lives." The companies all have big research and safety teams, and a huge incentive to tame the technologies if they want to ever realize their full value.
Axios
16 minutes ago
- Axios
Popular Stephen Starr restaurants boycotted by Democrats
Top Democrats in the House and Senate are boycotting hot Washington, D.C. restaurants that include those owned by famed Philadelphia restaurateur Stephen Starr over labor disputes. Why it matters: The targeted restaurants in Starr's empire include some of the buzziest spots for Democratic fundraisers. Driving the news: More than 50 House and Senate Democrats have signed onto Unite Here Local 25's pledge to avoid six D.C. venues. Zoom in: Starr, who is a Democratic donor, is facing boycotts of his Le Diplomate, Osteria Mozza and The Occidental. The other three boycotted restaurants are founded by chef Ashok Bajaj of Knightsbridge Restaurant Group. The list: Among the signers are some of Democrats' top fundraisers and biggest names, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are also on the list. Meanwhile, Philly Reps. Brendan Boyle, Dwight Evans and Mary Gay Scanlon signed the boycott list, per Unite Here's website. U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and Philly-regional Rep. Madeleine Dean were not on the pledge list as of Friday. Between the lines: Political groups and candidates have spent thousands of dollars at those spots over the past year, federal campaign records show. Former President Obama and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made headlines when they dined at Osteria Mozza in January. Then-President Biden was a repeat customer at Le Diplomate during his presidency. What they're saying: Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told Axios: "We can have big policy debates, but we also have to show the American people some concrete examples." He added: "This is our opportunity when we're here in Washington, D.C. to not just go vote in the Capitol but actually go out in the community and make a difference." "We can say that all members on the list are personally boycotting," Benjy Cannon, a spokesperson for the union, told Axios in a message. "Many of them have been meeting personally with STARR and Knightsbridge workers all year." The other side:"Local 25's call for a boycott is baseless," Starr restaurants said in a statement. "A boycott of any kind can result in lost hours, wages, and tips that hardworking employees rely upon." "It is unfortunate that an organization that claims to want to represent employees would call for an action that would harm them." "We respect our employees' wishes," Bajaj said. "How many of these congress members even know themselves that they're signing?" Zoom out: Starr's restaurant group has accused Unite Here Local 25 of overly aggressive tactics. That includes union reps showing up with petitions outside employees' homes, leading one bartender to sign it even though she planned to vote against a union, as Eater reported in February. Francisco López, a Le Diplomate server of five years, told Axios some employees are holding counter protests to the union.
