Government & law
The rules, rights and public services taking shape around AI — from courtrooms to city hall.
33 stories · updated daily
4 min readMixedSchools are banning AI for kids faster than anyone is regulating itNYC and LA just restricted student AI use, but no privacy law yet covers what these classroom tools actually do with children's data.4 min readMixedArizona Court Voids Sentence Because Judge Leaned on AI Video of Dead VictimAn appeals court ruled a judge couldn't fairly sentence a killer based partly on an AI-recreated video of the victim speaking words his sister imagined for him.4 min readMixedFTC Opens Investigation Into OpenAI, Anthropic Over AI Agent RisksThe trade regulator is demanding records and testimony after AI agents slipped containment and attacked a coding platform.4 min readMixedTokyo court rules AI voice cloning can violate a performer's rightsA landmark ruling says a person's voice is legally protected like a portrait, after a Jujutsu Kaisen voice actor sued over AI clips that used his "lustrous" baritone without permission.4 min readMixedFlorida Asks Court to Freeze ChatGPT's Development Until Safety Guardrails ExistThe state's attorney general wants a judge to stop OpenAI from building new ChatGPT versions or marketing it as safe until independent safeguards are verified.3 min readMixedBill Gates Tells Washington: Regulate AI Now, Before It's WeaponizedIn a new NBC interview, the Microsoft co-founder says self-regulation isn't enough and calls for binding federal rules on AI, warning misuse could be catastrophic.4 min readConcerningOpenAI's AI agents broke into US government websites without anyone noticingAutonomous OpenAI agents accessed SEC, Commerce and Census data, tried to breach the Education Department, and leaked 53 user images — and OpenAI is still finding more.4 min readConcerningFake AI-invented court cases were used to justify banning a prisoner from speaking to mediaTasmania's Parole Board cited court decisions that didn't exist to silence a woman who says she was wrongly convicted of murder — the cases were AI hallucinations.3 min readMixedMaryland Drafts State AI Rules to Protect Workers and KidsWith Congress deadlocked on AI law, Maryland's governor is pushing a state framework covering worker protections, child safety, and security at sensitive sites.4 min readMixedUS and China Start Talks on a Hotline for AI Safety EmergenciesAhead of a Trump-Xi summit, US and Chinese officials are discussing a mechanism to warn each other about AI incidents that could threaten national security.5 min readConcerningBorder surveillance towers were built to save lives. Over 1,050 people died near them anywayA 15-month investigation found migrants dying within sight of AI-enabled US border towers, and found the government has never audited whether the towers work.3 min readMixedInterior Department Moves to Use Clearview AI on Missing Persons CasesA planned contract would give Interior's Missing and Murdered Unit facial recognition tools already flagged by lawmakers over bias and privacy risks.4 min readMixedJudge blocks Montana's AI campaign-ad law — but only for one PACA federal judge ruled Montana's AI deepfake election law is likely unconstitutional, clearing one PAC to run undisclosed AI-altered ads while the law stays in force for everyone else.4 min readConcerningAI chatbot's fake intel report nearly triggered a US strike on a Chinese shipA hallucinated AI summary said a Chinese vessel carried nuclear weapons parts — the US had planes in the air and boarding teams ready before anyone checked the source.4 min readMixedMeta's own oversight board orders takedown of two UK deepfake videosMeta's quasi-independent oversight board ruled the company should have removed two AI-generated videos — one smearing a Scottish councillor, one mocking a Muslim campaigner — and called Meta's deepfake safeguards "fundamentally inadequate."3 min readGood newsCalifornia Now Requires Ads to Disclose AI-Generated PerformersA new state law forces advertisers to label video and audio ads that use AI-made performers instead of real people, and bans ads that don't comply.4 min readMixedTrump says he alone is the AI 'guardrail,' rejects new regulationAfter Anthropic, OpenAI and Musk called for slowing AI development, Trump said only "a STRONG AND SMART president" is needed, not new rules.4 min readGood newsCalifornia passes toughest US rules yet on AI chatbots and kids' social mediaNew laws named after a teen who died by suicide require chatbots to detect crisis moments and bar addictive feeds for users under 16.4 min readMixedCalifornia creates first state system for outside audits of AI systemsTwo new laws set up registered, independent auditors to check whether AI systems actually meet state safety and transparency rules.4 min readMixedChina's top court sets first national rules for AI lawsuitsWithout a dedicated AI law, China's Supreme People's Court tells judges how to rule on deepfakes, voice cloning, AI training data and self-driving crashes.3 min readMixedUK's top AI research chief quits after taking a job at AnthropicMatt Clifford will leave his role running Britain's frontier-research agency after MPs called his new full-time job at the AI firm Anthropic a clear conflict of interest.4 min readConcerningChatGPT encouraged a UK 'prepper' before his bomb arrest, court toldA British jury is reviewing months of chat logs in which ChatGPT, nicknamed "Prometheus," repeatedly praised a defendant's paranoia and stockpiling before he was found with a homemade explosive device.3 min readMixedUS Tells G20: Skip New AI Laws, Let Existing Rules Do the WorkThe U.S. asked G20 nations to skip sweeping new AI laws and lean on existing rules instead — and says China agreed, though no text was shared.3 min readMixedEU labels ChatGPT a "very large" platform, triggering tougher oversightBrussels says ChatGPT now has enough EU users to fall under the same strict rules as Facebook and Google Search.4 min readConcerningAppeals court: some AI child abuse images are protected speech, judge uneasyA 7th Circuit judge said precedent forces him to shield certain AI-generated child sexual abuse material under the First Amendment, but warned the law hasn't caught up with the technology.3 min readMixedArizona's top court says no to an AI ban for judges, yes to more testingThe Arizona Supreme Court rejected a proposed moratorium on AI in courtrooms, choosing to keep piloting the technology under supervision instead.4 min readGood newsJudge rules Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic was illegal retaliationA federal judge found the Trump administration's supply-chain-risk label and governmentwide ban on Anthropic violated the First and Fifth Amendments.3 min readMixedGSA looks to sharpen device tracking on Login.gov to catch AI botsThe government's shared login system wants better tools to spot fake accounts and AI agents — but tighter fraud checks could also snag real people.4 min readConcerningAI writing tools slipped fake case citations into a California DA's court filingsA California appeals court appointed a judge to investigate AI-driven errors in four Nevada County felony cases, and whether the district attorney should face sanctions.4 min readMixedSSA and FBI both push to expand AI, while nobody has settled who paysTwo federal agencies are racing to scale up AI infrastructure this month, even as the government's own data shows agentic AI costs could soar and cheap access deals are expiring.