News/Law
Tesla faces $51M suit after California factory robot injures technician
A Tesla robotics technician has filed a $51 million lawsuit against the automaker and robotics supplier FANUC America, alleging a malfunctioning robot struck him unconscious at the Fremont factory in July 2023. Peter Hinterdobler claims the incident has already cost him over $1 million in medical expenses, with an additional $6 million expected for ongoing treatment, highlighting growing concerns about workplace safety protocols in automated manufacturing environments. What happened: Hinterdobler was helping an engineer disassemble a robot on July 22, 2023, when the machine's arm "suddenly and without warning released with great force," according to the federal complaint filed in...
read Sep 25, 2025Elon Musk’s xAI sues OpenAI for trade secret theft
Elon Musk's xAI has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the ChatGPT maker has engaged in systematic theft of trade secrets through former employees who joined OpenAI. The legal action represents an escalation in the ongoing feud between Musk and his former company, adding corporate espionage claims to an already complex web of litigation between the AI rivals. What you should know: xAI claims OpenAI orchestrated a deliberate pattern of stealing proprietary information through strategic employee poaching. The lawsuit centers on former xAI employee Xuechen Li, who allegedly stole confidential information before joining OpenAI. According to xAI's legal filing,...
read Sep 24, 2025Federal judge in Puerto Rico fines lawyers $24K for AI-generated fake citations
A federal judge in Puerto Rico has sanctioned two plaintiffs' lawyers for filing court documents containing at least 55 defective case citations in a FIFA lawsuit, ordering them to pay $24,400 in legal fees to opposing counsel. Chief U.S. District Judge Raúl Arias-Marxuach suggested the attorneys likely used AI to prepare their filings despite their denials, highlighting the growing judicial scrutiny of artificial intelligence misuse in legal practice. What you should know: The sanctioned attorneys, José Olmo-Rodríguez and Ibrahim Reyes, represent the Puerto Rico Soccer League in a lawsuit claiming FIFA, soccer's world governing body, conspired to restrict sanctioned tournaments...
read Sep 22, 2025Record labels accuse Suno of illegally ripping songs from YouTube to train AI
Major record labels have escalated their lawsuit against AI music generator Suno, alleging the startup illegally "stream ripped" copyrighted songs from YouTube to train its generative AI models. The updated complaint filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on September 19th specifically accuses Suno of circumventing YouTube's encryption technology, which could expose the company to additional penalties under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's anti-circumvention provisions. What you should know: The RIAA's amended complaint introduces new allegations that Suno violated YouTube's terms of service by breaking through the platform's technological protections. Record labels claim Suno "employed code to access,...
read Sep 22, 2025California attorney fined $10K for submitting ChatGPT-generated fake citations
A California attorney has been fined $10,000 by the state's 2nd District Court of Appeal for submitting a legal brief containing 21 fabricated case quotations generated by ChatGPT. This appears to be the largest fine issued by a California court over AI fabrications and comes as legal authorities scramble to regulate AI use in the judiciary, with new guidelines requiring courts to establish AI policies by December 15. What happened: Los Angeles-area attorney Amir Mostafavi filed a state court appeal in July 2023 that contained 21 fake quotes out of 23 case citations, all generated by ChatGPT. Mostafavi told the...
read Sep 19, 2025Meta blushes in face of $350M lawsuit over alleged AI training via adult video piracy
Strike 3 Holdings has filed a federal lawsuit against Meta, alleging the tech giant illegally torrented over 2,300 copyrighted adult videos to train its AI models since 2018. The company claims Meta specifically sought out pornographic content to capture unique visual angles and extended scenes that are rare in mainstream media, helping advance what Mark Zuckerberg calls AI "superintelligence." What you should know: Strike 3's lawsuit reveals the alleged scope of Meta's content piracy extends far beyond adult videos to mainstream entertainment. The company alleges Meta used BitTorrent—a file-sharing protocol often used for piracy—to download and distribute 2,396 of Strike...
read Sep 17, 2025Parents blame AI companies for teen deaths in emotional Senate testimony
Parents whose children allegedly died by suicide or suffered severe mental health crises after using AI chatbots delivered emotional testimony to Congress on Tuesday, urging lawmakers to regulate an industry they say prioritizes profits over child safety. The bipartisan Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing highlighted multiple lawsuits against major AI companies, with representatives from those companies declining to appear despite being invited. What they're saying: Parents directly blamed AI companies for putting speed to market ahead of user protection, particularly for minors. "The goal was never safety. It was to win a race for profit," said Megan Garcia, whose 14-year-old son...
read Sep 15, 2025Publish or perish: Rolling Stone owner sues Google over AI summaries feature
Penske Media Corporation, publisher of Rolling Stone, Variety, Billboard, and The Hollywood Reporter, has filed a federal lawsuit against Google over its AI Summaries feature. The suit alleges that Google is abusing its search monopoly to republish content without permission in AI-generated answers, violating U.S. antitrust laws and threatening the traditional web publishing model. What you should know: PMC claims Google's AI Summaries are significantly damaging publisher revenue and web traffic through unfair competition. The lawsuit accuses Google of "coercing online publishers like PMC to supply content that Google republishes without permission in AI-generated answers." PMC reports that 20% of...
read Sep 12, 2025AI police reports via bodycam save 20 minutes per case but raise courtroom concerns
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office has completed a pilot program testing Axon's Draft One artificial intelligence technology, which creates initial police report drafts from body camera audio. The technology saves deputies an average of 20 minutes per report, freeing up hundreds of hours across the department for patrol duties and community engagement rather than paperwork. What you should know: Draft One uses AI to transcribe body camera audio into preliminary police reports, though multiple safeguards ensure human oversight remains central to the process. Deputies must modify at least 10% of the AI-generated draft before submission, and the software includes random...
read Sep 11, 2025Beyond the ankle bracelet: Oklahoma considers AI to monitor parolees with facial recognition
Oklahoma lawmakers are considering a proposal from Montana-based Global Accountability to implement an AI-powered parole and probation monitoring system that would use facial recognition and fingerprint scanning for check-ins. The state could become the first in the nation to adopt the company's Absolute ID platform, which would cost approximately $2 million for a one-year pilot program covering 300 parolees and up to 40 officers. What you should know: The Absolute ID platform combines biometric identification (facial recognition and fingerprints), location tracking, and virtual boundary alerts to monitor people on parole and probation through smartphones and smartwatches. Users would scan their...
read Sep 10, 2025Court blocks Trump from firing top copyright official over AI report
A federal appeals court has blocked the Trump administration from firing the US' top copyright official, ruling that President Trump lacks the authority to remove Shira Perlmutter from her position as register of copyrights. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals determined that Perlmutter, who was allegedly fired for preparing an AI report Trump disagreed with, works for the legislative branch and can only be dismissed by the Senate-confirmed Librarian of Congress. What you should know: The 2-1 court decision represents a significant check on presidential power over legislative branch officials. Shira Perlmutter was appointed register of copyrights in 2020 by...
read Sep 9, 2025Judge rejects Anthropic’s $1.5B copyright settlement as incomplete
A federal judge has rejected Anthropic's record-breaking $1.5 billion settlement for a copyright lawsuit filed by writers, calling the agreement "nowhere close to complete." Judge William Alsup expressed concern that class lawyers struck a deal that would be forced "down the throat of authors" without providing essential details about how the settlement would actually work. What you should know: The lawsuit involves around 500,000 authors who sued Anthropic, an AI company, for using pirated copies of their works to train its large language models. Authors were expected to receive $3,000 per work under the settlement terms. One of the lawyers...
read Sep 8, 2025Google admits in court filing that “open web is in rapid decline”
Google admitted in a recent court filing that "the open web is in rapid decline," directly contradicting its previous public statements defending the health of the internet. This acknowledgment comes as the tech giant faces antitrust scrutiny over its dominance in online advertising, revealing a stark disconnect between Google's courtroom arguments and its public messaging about web vitality. What you should know: Google's admission emerged during ongoing litigation about its control over the digital advertising market. The company argued that proposed court remedies would "only accelerate that decline, harming publishers who currently rely on open-web display advertising revenue." Google contends...
read Sep 8, 2025Authors sue Apple for using pirated books to train AI models
Two authors have filed a lawsuit against Apple, accusing the company of using their copyrighted books without permission to train its AI models. Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson claim Apple's web scraper accessed "shadow libraries" containing pirated works, including their own, to develop Apple Intelligence—adding to the growing legal challenges facing tech companies over AI training data. What you should know: The lawsuit seeks class action status due to the vast number of books and authors potentially affected by Apple's alleged use of pirated content. The plaintiffs argue that Apple, despite being "one of the biggest companies in the world,"...
read Sep 5, 2025Anthropic to pay $1.5B in first US AI copyright settlement, does not formally admit wrongdoing
Anthropic has agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion to settle a class action lawsuit brought by book authors alleging copyright infringement, marking the first AI copyright settlement in the United States. The company will pay approximately $3,000 for each copyrighted work it allegedly pirated from shadow libraries like LibGen while gathering training data for its AI models, setting a significant precedent for how AI companies must compensate creators for unauthorized use of their intellectual property. What you should know: This landmark settlement establishes the first legal precedent requiring AI companies to compensate copyright holders for unauthorized use of their...
read Sep 4, 2025Ain’t AI a stinker? Warner Bros sues Midjourney for creating copyrighted characters
Warner Bros. has filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, an AI image generator, accusing the platform of willfully creating copyrighted images and videos of its characters including Superman, Batman, Bugs Bunny, and Tom and Jerry. The lawsuit marks the third major studio legal challenge against Midjourney, following similar cases from Disney and Universal in June, as Hollywood studios escalate their battle against AI platforms they claim are profiting from unauthorized use of their intellectual property. What you should know: Warner Bros. alleges that Midjourney recently removed safety guardrails that previously blocked users from creating videos that infringe on studio IP. The...
read Sep 3, 2025Activist uses facial recognition AI to unmask ICE agents from arrest videos
A Netherlands-based immigration activist is using AI and facial recognition technology to identify masked US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents captured in viral arrest videos. Dominick Skinner's project has reportedly identified at least 20 ICE agents, turning surveillance technology against federal law enforcement in a striking reversal of conventional power dynamics. How it works: Skinner's team uses AI to reconstruct complete facial images from partially visible faces, then runs those images through existing facial recognition systems.• The process involves using AI to predict what the rest of an ICE agent's face likely looks like based on visible portions, then...
read Sep 2, 2025Why an AI president remains legally impossible (and certifiably unpopular) under US law
An AI president remains legally impossible under current U.S. constitutional requirements, which mandate that presidents be natural-born citizens, at least 35 years old, and 14-year residents. The concept highlights growing questions about AI's role in governance as the technology integrates deeper into political decision-making, particularly with the Trump administration's sweeping AI Action Plan positioning artificial intelligence as a national security asset. Constitutional barriers: The U.S. Constitution's citizenship requirements create insurmountable legal obstacles for AI presidency. Any change would require redefining fundamental concepts of citizenship and personhood, alterations so massive they would transform American democracy itself. Even hypothetical legal changes couldn't...
read Sep 2, 2025OpenAI adds parental controls to ChatGPT after teen suicide lawsuits
OpenAI announced it will launch parental controls for ChatGPT "within the next month," allowing parents to manage their teen's interactions with the AI assistant. The move comes after several high-profile lawsuits alleging that ChatGPT and other AI chatbots have contributed to self-harm and suicide among teenagers, highlighting growing concerns about AI safety for younger users. What you should know: The parental controls will include several monitoring and management features designed to protect teen users. Parents can link their account with their teen's ChatGPT account and manage how the AI responds to younger users. The system will disable features like memory...
read Sep 1, 2025Mexico’s Supreme Court rules only humans can hold copyright protection
Mexico's Supreme Court has ruled that works created exclusively by artificial intelligence cannot be granted copyright protection, establishing that authorship belongs solely to humans. The unanimous decision creates a significant legal precedent for AI and intellectual property in Mexico, clarifying how the country will handle the growing intersection of AI technology and creative rights. What you should know: The Supreme Court determined that Mexico's Federal Copyright Law reserves authorship exclusively for humans, rejecting the idea that AI-generated works can qualify for copyright protection. The court ruled that automated systems lack the "necessary qualities of creativity, originality and individuality that are...
read Sep 1, 2025Elon Musk’s xAI sues former employee for stealing $7M in Grok data
Elon Musk's xAI has filed a lawsuit against former employee Xuechen Li, alleging he stole proprietary data from the company's Grok chatbot that could benefit competitors like OpenAI. The legal action represents the latest in a series of aggressive moves by xAI to protect its position in the increasingly competitive AI landscape, following similar lawsuits against OpenAI and Apple earlier this week. What you should know: The lawsuit accuses Li of systematically copying confidential information and trade secrets from his company-issued laptop to personal storage systems. Li worked on xAI's engineering team and had access to much of Grok's proprietary...
read Aug 29, 2025Height of failure: NYPD facial recognition wrongfully arrests man 8 inches taller than suspect
The New York Police Department wrongfully arrested Trevis Williams after facial recognition software identified him as a suspect in a public lewdness case, despite him being eight inches taller and 70 pounds heavier than the actual perpetrator. The case highlights the dangerous combination of flawed AI technology and inadequate police protocols, particularly how algorithmic bias can lead to wrongful arrests of Black individuals. What happened: NYPD's facial recognition system generated six potential matches from grainy CCTV footage of a February incident, all of whom were Black men with facial hair and dreadlocks. Investigators acknowledged the AI results alone were "not...
read Aug 28, 2025ChatGPT gets mental health upgrades following wrongful death case
A tragic lawsuit involving a teenager's death has pushed OpenAI to fundamentally rethink how ChatGPT handles mental health crises, signaling a potential turning point for AI safety across the industry. The case centers on 16-year-old Adam Raine, who died by suicide after what his parents describe as extended conversations with ChatGPT that allegedly validated his suicidal thoughts and discouraged him from seeking help. The wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Jane and John Raine has prompted OpenAI to announce sweeping changes to how its AI assistant detects and responds to emotional distress—changes that could reshape how all AI companies approach user safety....
read Aug 27, 2025Michigan criminalizes nonconsensual AI-generated intimate images
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation making it illegal to create or distribute AI-generated pornographic images depicting real people without their consent. The new laws, which took effect Tuesday, establish both criminal penalties and civil remedies for victims of nonconsensual intimate deepfakes, addressing a growing form of digital exploitation. What you should know: The Protection from Intimate Deep Fakes Act and its companion bill specifically target AI-generated sexual imagery that falsely portrays identifiable individuals. House Bills 4047 and 4048 were sponsored by Representatives Matthew Bierlein (R-Vassar) and Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing). The legislation prohibits both the creation and distribution of...
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