It’s Wednesday, December 17. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: The tech companies selling chatbots—but hiring writers. Jed Rubenfeld asks: Could Luigi Mangione walk free? Eli Lake on an adaptation of “Animal Farm” that misses the point. Nikki Haley and John Walters argue the war with China has already begun. And much more.

But first: Our man in Ukraine on the country’s race to save its missing children.

“How do you start looking for a missing child in the largest country on Earth?” I asked Viktoriia Novikova, a Ukrainian human rights investigator who has been tracking the thousands of children kidnapped by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

It would be best, she said, to show me.

So, taking a days-long train from Kyiv, I met Novikova in Kryvyi Rih, some 70 miles from the front line, to visit the family of one of Ukraine’s thousands of missing children.

Seven-year-old Stanislav Smetana was taken by Russian authorities from a Ukrainian children’s home during the early days of the war. Novikova has used every tool available to her—internet searches, satellite photos, documents from Russian authorities—to track children brought to Russia in the hopes of reuniting them with their families.

For three years, Novikova has been regularly trekking to Kryvyi Rih to get any additional shred of information she can, and to give Stanislav’s older sister Dasha updates on the effort to bring him home. On this trip, though, Novikova had an unsettling development to share: The trail had gone cold.

In my latest dispatch from Ukraine, I report on the urgent effort to bring back Ukraine’s children. As peace talks allow some to contemplate the conclusion of the war, there’s no end in sight to the anguish of those trying to find children that were taken by the enemy.

Why,” Dasha asked me, “should Stanislav be living in Russia when he has family here who will care for him in Ukraine?” Read my full report.

—Aidan G. Stretch

Could Luigi Mangione Walk Free?

Jed Rubenfeld

Could Luigi Mangione actually walk free? It all depends on whether the police violated the Constitution in one key moment of the manhunt for the suspected killer of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. In his latest column, Jed Rubenfeld breaks down the legal technicality Mangione’s high-powered lawyer claims will get her client acquitted—and whether or not her argument holds water. Read full story

The New ‘Animal Farm’ Movie Is Less Equal Than the Book

Eli Lake

George Orwell is surely rolling in his grave over a new animated version of “Animal Farm.” A new trailer suggests that director Andy Serkis has turned the powerful allegory about the dangers of communism into something very different. Eli Lake dives into the muddied morals of this very “modern” “Animal Farm.” Read full story

Man over Machine: Why AI Firms Are Hiring Writers

Maya Sulkin

The new, in-demand talent at AI companies isn’t coders—it’s writers. And some of them are making a killing: up to $400,000 annually. In the fight to persuade humanity of AI’s benefits, a human touch is crucial, reports Maya Sulkin. Read Sulkin’s report on the tech companies avoiding AI “slop” and shelling out big bucks for professional writers. Read full story

China’s Stealth War Has Already Begun

Nikki R. Haley and John P. Walters

Communist China’s war on the U.S. has already begun, argue Nikki R. Haley and John P. Walters. From positioning itself in choke points of the global supply chain, to waging espionage campaigns in science and academia, to TikTok propaganda—Beijing is trying to make sure Americans never realize they’re under attack. “It cannot be politically incorrect to say, ‘We are at war with the CCP,’ ” write Haley and Walters. “In fact, it is politically necessary.” Read full story

Exclusive: Republicans Accuse Climate Groups of Doing China’s ‘Dirty Work’ in the U.S.

Gabe Kaminsky

Could two prominent climate nonprofits be illegally lobbying for China? That’s what 26 Republican state attorneys general are asking the Justice Department to investigate, citing “substantial evidence” that two climate-focused NGOs acted in the interests of “foreign principals.” Read Gabe Kaminsky’s report on the latest claim about China’s attempts to influence U.S. energy policy. Read full story