The Los Angeles Times reported that Spotify is introducing a new labeling system to better inform subscribers about AI-generated content on its platform. Spotify also plans to bar AI-labeled music from appearing in users' algorithmic mixes. Tiffany Naiman, director of music industry programs at UCLA, views this as a step in the right direction but is more interested in how Spotify will identify AI personas. “I want to know the process. How [will they] know the difference? Are there going to be [real] artists that get tied up in it?” she asked. Read more about UCLA in today’s New York Times, Los Angeles Magazine and others. 

More highlights from UCLA in the News: August 11, 2026

“It’s hard to imagine that it’s not related to politics. The timing of it would be too much of a coincidence,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, a former Los Angeles City Council member and Los Angeles County supervisor who now serves as chair of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. (Yaroslavsky was also featured by KNBC-TV – approx. 1:20 mark).

“This is a very important topic of discussion. We know that vaccines have recognized short-term side effects … But the evidence does not show that the number of vaccines, or cumulative vaccine exposure, or any vaccine, is linked to autism,” said UCLA’s Anne Rimoin. (Rimoin was also interviewed by CNN and KABC-TV – approx. 1:35 mark).

“Zero-sum thinking has been a real plague on the Trump administration’s economic policymaking. The most obvious example is the administration’s trade policies. International trade, much like markets in general, generates enormous benefits for both buyers and sellers. The president has insisted on broad tariff policies that reduce the mutual benefits from trade with nearly every important economy in the world,” said UCLA’s Kimberly Clausing.

Sharon Dolovich, a professor [at the UCLA School of Law], tells Time that there is “no question in my mind” that a lack of medical oversight is one of the biggest contributing factors to the increase in detention center deaths. “Although ICE has been operating detention centers now for over 20 years, the rapid expansion has meant that they're creating institutions out of nothing, and just as a practical matter, they're bringing in people who haven't done this before,” [she said.]

“It’s been on the brink for a while, but when you’re dealing with a non-democracy, they can absorb those blows because they have no accountability to the public. So basically, if you have a section of the leadership that has reinforced itself financially and has the means to sustain a war, then they can go ahead and do so, ignoring the plight of ordinary Iranians,” said UCLA’s Benjamin Radd.

“ASL has become more popular and more visible. You’re seeing people talk about it more. And people are more accepting and understanding of deafness, the Deaf community,” says Mariam Janvelyan, UCLA Interpreter for the Deaf under the school’s linguistics department. “In the past, it was very dark. People were just isolating deaf people because, ‘Oh, it’s a disability’.”

Lynn Vavreck, a political science and communications studies professor at UCLA, said the persuasive effects of Hilton’s AI videos are likely “limited” as they are most likely being watched by supporters. The videos, she said, are more akin to “content creation” than to ads.

A large analysis led by researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has challenged a widely used assumption in postoperative prostate cancer care: the pathological features that identify patients at high risk of recurrence may not reveal who will benefit most from adding hormone therapy to radiation. (UCLA’s Dr. Amar Kishan was quoted.)

According to UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute, the smoke advisory zone surrounding the Lineage Logistics fire carries a cumulative environmental burden score that’s 63% higher than Los Angeles County overall.