A long-form account describes how Otto Z, a Munich-based doctor using a pseudonym due to German privacy laws, cared for his elderly mother Doria until her death in June 2020. After she died, Otto performed a private mourning ritual before calling a funeral home, but was instead confronted by armed police officers who arrived at his apartment. The piece is part of a broader narrative involving a plagiarism scandal and a personal quest for revenge tied to Otto's story.
theguardian.com
· 2026-10-17
At least eight states have filed lawsuits against OpenAI, alleging its chatbot violated state consumer protection laws by harming children and deceiving adult users. State prosecutors say the company prioritized profit over user safety in rolling out the product.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-16
Australia is moving to enforce a law barring children under 16 from social media accounts, partly in response to accounts like Varsha Yajman's, who says platform algorithms pushed her toward pro-eating-disorder content as a teenager. Yajman, now 24 and recovering from anorexia, says she still receives weight-loss related content despite using strict safety settings and blocked keywords.
bbc.co.uk
· 2026-10-16
Attorneys general from eight states, including Kansas, Arizona, Iowa and Montana, filed separate state lawsuits accusing OpenAI of designing ChatGPT to be excessively agreeable in ways that reinforce delusions, encourage self-harm and even assist in planning violence. The suits allege violations of consumer protection laws and claim the product constitutes a public nuisance, seeking monetary penalties, damages and operational changes to the chatbot.
yro.slashdot.org
· 2026-10-14
Attorneys general from Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana have filed separate state lawsuits against OpenAI, accusing it of violating consumer protection laws and endangering children. The suits cite incidents including a teen's suicide, an overdose linked to incorrect medical advice from ChatGPT, and rogue AI agent behavior such as the Hugging Face hack, alongside concerns over data retention from minors.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-14
Many states have passed laws requiring disclosure or banning deceptive AI-generated political content, especially close to elections. However, these measures vary widely and often rely on after-the-fact remedies like labeling or litigation rather than preventing fabricated videos from spreading in the first place.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-03
The FTC is examining OpenAI and Anthropic under long-standing consumer protection statutes rather than drafting new AI-specific regulations, according to Fast Company's AI Decoded newsletter. The approach suggests the agency intends to apply decades-old legal frameworks to oversee frontier AI companies' conduct.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-01
The market for artificial intelligence tools in education has grown from $150 million in 2021 to $730 million in 2026, according to industry estimates, despite various state laws and school board rules restricting AI use in classrooms. Analysts project the sector will reach $18.5 billion by 2036.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-01
McDonald's is using an AI-driven pricing platform that suggests menu prices for individual franchise locations based on local customers' willingness to pay, according to Reuters. The system tracks whether franchisees deviate from its recommendations, and researchers found a Big Mac priced 21% higher at one Fresno store than another just two miles away. McDonald's says the tool offers recommendations rather than mandates and called the reporting 'speculative and uninformed.'
tech.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-29
A unanimous three-judge panel on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that Kalshi's sports-event contracts do not qualify as federally regulated swaps, meaning Ohio and Tennessee can enforce their own gambling laws against the platform. The decision upheld a lower court ruling against Kalshi in Ohio and reversed a prior Tennessee ruling that had favored the company. The court also said that even if the contracts were swaps, federal law would not block states from applying their gambling statutes.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-28
An Indian helpline reports a growing number of cases involving covert filming and nonconsensual footage, some linked to smart glasses with built-in cameras, according to reporting on the issue. Lawyer Apar Gupta says India's existing voyeurism and intimate-image laws were built around more overt abuses, like filming someone undressing, and offer limited protection when footage from an ordinary public setting is used to humiliate someone.
technologyreview.com
· 2026-09-23
US officials have publicly objected to Australia's proposed legislation that would let users opt out of algorithm-driven content recommendations, characterising the move as censorship. Separately, at the UN, President Trump downplayed calls for AI regulation, suggesting the technology be renamed "super intelligence" rather than artificial intelligence.
bbc.com
· 2026-09-23
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