Court Filings in A.I. Suit Invoke Copyright Law, Culture and Sports; The New York Times, September 4, 2026

Mike Isaac and Karen Weise , The New York Times; Court Filings in A.I. Suit Invoke Copyright Law, Culture and Sports

Filings made Friday in The New York Times’s closely watched lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft included a range of copyright law and cultural references.

"Court filings made Friday in a closely watched copyright trial pitting The New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft invoked a wide range of material, including relevant copyright law, arts and sports.

The suit, filed in 2023 by The Times and joined by a group of other news outlets, claims that OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence start-up, and its partner Microsoft infringed on the publishers’ copyrighted material by using millions of their articles to train A.I. technologies. A.I. companies now compete with The Times as a source of information, the news outlet argued in its suit.

The briefs, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, largely boiled down to two questions: whether the publishers’ news articles were sufficiently “transformed” into an entirely new work by A.I., and whether A.I. produced content that “substituted” for news articles and harmed their value.

Friday was the last day the companies could file motions for a summary judgment that would head off a trial. Judge Sidney H. Stein is expected to make a ruling in the coming weeks."

Why the Hugging Face Hack Should Make You Worry More About A.I.; The New York Times, September 3, 2026

 Kevin Roose, The New York Times; Why the Hugging Face Hack Should Make You Worry More About A.I.

"When I first heard the news this summer that a group of artificial intelligence agents created by OpenAI had hacked into Hugging Face, an A.I. infrastructure company, I filed it in the “Bad but Probably Not Catastrophic A.I. Safety Incidents” subfolder of my brain.

After all, no one at Hugging Face died. No critical infrastructure was damaged beyond repair. It wasn’t even clear, at the time, whether the OpenAI bots had intended to attack Hugging Face, or whether they had simply been a little bumbling and confused and went looking on Hugging Face’s servers for the answer key to a cybersecurity test they’d been given.

But last week, two postmortem reports on the incident — one by OpenAI and another by two independent A.I. research organizations, METR and Redwood Research — changed my mind and significantly upgraded my overall worry about A.I.

I won’t rehash all of the details, which have been extensively summarized elsewhere. (The podcaster and writer Dwarkesh Patel has an accessible breakdown of the reports if you want to dive deeper, and my colleague Dylan Freedman spoke to the researchers at METR and Redwood Research.) But here are a few of the most harrowing new facts:..

This is very different from the conventional sci-fi narrative of a single A.I. system’s going rogue or turning on its creators. And it suggests that preventing harms from these systems won’t be a simple engineering fix. It might look more like sociology than computer science — figuring out why certain groups of A.I. agents collaborate peacefully, while others turn to crime and destruction to get what they want."

Justice Dept. Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Suit; The New York Times, September 2, 2026

 Karen Weise and Mike Isaac, The New York Times; Justice Dept. Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Suit

"The Justice Department told a Manhattan federal court that it was in the national interest for the judge to find that OpenAI did not violate copyright law when it used articles by The New York Times and other publishers to develop artificial intelligence systems.

The filing late Tuesday was the first time the Justice Department weighed in on the use of copyrighted material by A.I. companies, which has led to several lawsuits, including one brought by The Times.

The Justice Department argued that developing A.I. was critical to national security, and that training A.I. systems sufficiently transformed the written works to new material allowed under copyright law. It said the benefits of A.I. “far outweigh any competitive harm.”

The government’s intervention is an escalation in the landmark litigation that could determine whether OpenAI violated the law when it was developing its A.I. systems and had harmed the news industry and other content creators...

The Times’s lawsuit is one of many amid a wave of legal action against A.I. companies over copyright claims."

OpenAI to pause some work on AI model Astra due to security concerns; The Guardian, August 8, 2026

 Eric Berger, The Guardian ; OpenAI to pause some work on AI model Astra due to security concerns

"OpenAI will pause some work on an artificial intelligence model because of security concerns, the company stated on Friday, following a series of incidents in which AI agents have escaped containment.

The company had evaluated the agent, Astra, and found “significant advancements in agentic coding and cybersecurity”, which had moved to a “critical” threshold where it can find and exploit vulnerabilities without human intervention, or devise and execute cyber-attacks when given only a “high level desired goal”."

White House AI Guidelines Exempt U.S. Open Models From Government Review; Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2026

 

Amrith Ramkumar , Wall Street Journal; White House AI Guidelines Exempt U.S. Open Models From Government Review

"Under a framework that administration officials discussed with executives from leading AI companies Tuesday, only makers of closed, proprietary U.S. models that demonstrate state-of-the-art capabilities in cybersecurity and hacking based on performance benchmarks would have to voluntarily submit those models to the government for testing before they are released, people familiar with the matter said. 

Open-weight models, whose developers, including Nvidia, make them available to download so users can run and customize them on their own, would be exempt. 

The general definition of state-of-the-art capabilities could be interpreted differently by makers of closed models and the White House, potentially creating confusion about which models fall into the category, the people said. Tools from Anthropic, OpenAI and Alphabet’s Google that are among the most powerful available are likely to force those companies to work with the administration, while other companies, such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Facebook parent Meta Platforms might not have to, they said."

Anthropic says it found 3 cases where AI programs hacked into real companies; NPR, July 31, 2026

 NPR; Anthropic says it found 3 cases where AI programs hacked into real companies

"The AI company Anthropic says it has found three cases where its artificial intelligence programs left testing environments, accessed the internet and hacked into real companies. This comes after competitor, OpenAI, reported a similar incident last week that raised concerns about AI safety.

In the OpenAI case, the artificial intelligence models found a way to access the internet from what engineers believed was a secure, walled-off digital testing space called a sandbox.

Anthropic says in the three cases it discovered, misconfigurations basically left the barn door open for the AI systems to gain access to the internet. Still, the incidents are likely to add to concern about AI's ability to conduct cyber attacks.

Anthropic says the incidents happened during tests of the offensive cyber capabilities of its models."

Copyright win: Sorry, ChatGPT won't help you write like Hemingway anymore; Euro.news, July 30, 2026

 Una Hajdari, Euro.news; Copyright win: Sorry, ChatGPT won't help you write like Hemingway anymore

"OpenAI has quietly reprogrammed the chatbot to reject direct requests to replicate or mimic a named author's voice, whether they are still alive to object or have been dead for decades."

OPENAI ROGUE INCIDENT A CALL TO ‘DO MORE’ AS FUTURE THREATS LOOM, SAYS CATHOLIC AI ETHICS EXPERT; OSV News, July 24, 2026

 Gina Christian  . OSV News; OPENAI ROGUE INCIDENT A CALL TO ‘DO MORE’ AS FUTURE THREATS LOOM, SAYS CATHOLIC AI ETHICS EXPERT

"A recent OpenAI security incident that saw a test model go rogue may be a sign of more to come, and a call to double down on preventing future attacks, a Catholic expert on artificial intelligence ethics told OSV News.

“Cases like these are going to keep popping up, and each one of those should motivate us to do more,” said Brian Patrick Green, director of technology ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University...

The “whole thing is very significant,” Green added, noting that “there are a lot of softer targets than Hugging Face that are likely to be hit and have bad things happen.”

He said the OpenAI incident took place, providentially, within the context of a test, and that it was “significant enough for people to notice it.”

“It’s important that these are news stories,” Green said.

Given Pope Leo XIV’s recently released encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas,” which urged AI development to remain centered in God-given human dignity and the principles of Catholic social teaching, the faithful have a role to play in shaping this technology, Green said...

“For example, if you’re a Catholic who’s working in the security industry, then this is something you should work on,” he said. “If you’re a Catholic who’s working on AI models, then this is something that you should be aware of. If you’re a Catholic who’s in charge of protecting something, then it becomes particularly important for you to have adequate AI models on your side.”

Even those who are not directly involved in AI development and implementation can help, he said.

“Contact your congressperson and say, ‘Hey, I want better cybersecurity,'” said Green. “We’re super reliant on computers, and all of those systems are reliant on being secure. And if all of a sudden you make everything unsecure, then there are so many different kinds of disasters that could happen.”"

When is an apology not an apology? When it comes from an AI boss with an out-of-control chatbot; The Guardian, July 24, 2026

 Marina Hyde, The Guardian; When is an apology not an apology? When it comes from an AI boss with an out-of-control chatbot

"Throughout history, many things have been seen by terrified populaces as a harbinger of doom. A comet. A crow on the battlefield. A solar eclipse. A mutant livestock birth. Yet times move on. In the modern era, the leading harbinger of doom is literally any picture of the OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, attached to a news story. You know it’s not going to be good, right? You know that by the time you’ve read it, you’ll be begging to go back to the time when the worst thing that could happen to us at the hands of the techlords was just some democracy-subversion, or childhood destruction, usually followed by Mark Zuckerberg putting on a suit and claiming: “We will learn from this.”"

ChatGPT Led to a Man’s Near-Fatal Health Crisis, Lawsuit Claims; The New York Times, July 22, 2026

 Teddy Rosenbluth, The New York Times; ChatGPT Led to a Man’s Near-Fatal Health Crisis, Lawsuit Claims

"A Florida pastor sued OpenAI on Wednesday, claiming that its chatbot, ChatGPT, had offered him “extremely dangerous medical recommendations” that led to delayed care for a life-threatening pulmonary embolism last year.

The lawsuit claims that ChatGPT had assured Scott Winters that the early warning signs of his health crisis were “not something dangerous,” and had dissuaded him from seeking medical advice, instead telling him to trust that “God did not design your body to endlessly fail.”

The suit, filed in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco, accuses OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, of negligence and the “unauthorized practice of medicine,” pointing to moments when the chatbot offered Mr. Winters diagnoses and treatment plans and encouraged him to ignore pleas from friends and family to seek medical care.

The bot’s safety features — which are designed to encourage users with health questions to see a professional and to end conversations when there are clear signs of a medical crisis — did not work reliably, the suit further says."

OpenAI AI models went rogue during testing, triggering 'unprecedented' breach at startup; Reuters, July 21, 2026

Raphael Satter , Reuters; OpenAI AI models went rogue during testing, triggering 'unprecedented' breach at startup

"OpenAI said on Tuesday that an autonomous agent ​powered by its advanced artificial intelligence models went rogue during a security test and triggered a hack that compromised the infrastructure of ‌AI startup Hugging Face last week.

The ChatGPT creator was testing capabilities of some of its most advanced models in a controlled environment, but the agent escaped containment, reached the internet and broke into Hugging Face to satisfy its testing goal."

Apple accuses OpenAI of using stolen trade secrets to create its upcoming AI gadgets in new lawsuit; CNN, July 10, 2026

 Lisa Eadicicco, Hadas Gold, CNN ; Apple accuses OpenAI of using stolen trade secrets to create its upcoming AI gadgets in new lawsuit

"Apple sued OpenAI on Friday, alleging the AI company has stolen the iPhone maker’s trade secrets to develop its own yet-to-be-unveiled AI gadgets.

In the suit, filed in the District Court of Northern California, Apple accuses OpenAI of trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract.

OpenAI last year announced it has been working with Apple’s former design chief on a hush-hush project to build devices meant to bring smartphone users into the age of AI.

The device is expected to be unveiled later this year – but the lawsuit could throw a wrench into those plans. The suit could also complicate OpenAI’s plans to go public soon in a massive, hotly anticipated IPO."

OpenAI may have made a fatal misstep in copyright fight with news orgs; Ars Technica, July 9, 2026

ASHLEY BELANGER  , Ars Technica; OpenAI may have made a fatal misstep in copyright fight with news orgs

"OpenAI is facing calls for “serious sanctions” after fighting to keep news organizations from snooping through millions of logs to find evidence of users skirting their paywalls by prompting ChatGPT to regurgitate their articles.

This evidence is considered among the most important to both sides, potentially either dooming OpenAI as an infringer or exonerating its chatbot technology as a transformative fair use of news sites’ content."

Meta Now Lets Anyone Use Your Instagram Photos in AI Images—Unless You Opt Out; Wired, July 7, 2026

 Reece Rogers, Wired; Meta Now Lets Anyone Use Your Instagram Photos in AI Images—Unless You Opt Out

"META LAUNCHED ITS inaugural AI image model from the Meta Superintelligence Labs on Tuesday, its effort to compete with the likes of OpenAI’s GPT Images 2.0and Google’s Nano Banana 2 in the AI image generation race.

The new model, called Muse Image, rolled out with deep integrations woven into the Instagram app. As part of this update, public Instagram profiles are now automatically opted into being fodder for generative AI remixes. All someone has to do is tag your account’s profile in a prompt—if it’s public—and they can use Meta AI to generate an image using your likeness."

Newspapers take on AI giants in court, warn of ‘death knell for local journalism’; NJ.com, July 2, 2026

 Rebecca Heath, NJ.com; Newspapers take on AI giants in court, warn of ‘death knell for local journalism’

"OpenAI and Microsoft are facing a federal lawsuit from hundreds of newspaper publishers who allege the tech giants unlawfully used their copyrighted content without permission or payment.

Former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin is representing the coalition in the case filed June 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The lawsuit alleges OpenAI and Microsoft scraped publishers’ content to develop and commercialize artificial intelligence products, including ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot...

“Local reporters should not have their work stolen without credit or compensation, and new technology does not come with an exemption from copyright law,” he added."

NYT slams Microsoft for building copyright-infringing supercomputer for OpenAI; Ars Technica, June 26, 2026

ASHLEY BELANGER , Ars Technica; NYT slams Microsoft for building copyright-infringing supercomputer for OpenAI

"In a heavily redacted court filing Thursday, The New York Times proposed to amend its copyright complaint against OpenAI and Microsoft to clarify a claim and allege that Microsoft actively encouraged OpenAI to steal NYT works by building a bespoke supercomputing system ranked among the most powerful in the world."

The New York Times Amends Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Microsoft; The New York Times, June 25, 2026

Cade Metz , The New York Times; The New York Times Amends Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Microsoft

"The New York Times amended its lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft on Thursday, modifying one claim against Microsoft and dropping another against OpenAI, according to a legal filing in federal court...

In a filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday, The Times accused Microsoft of encouraging OpenAI to train its A.I. systems using copyrighted articles from The Times and of providing services designed to help with this training.

The Times also dropped a claim from its original lawsuit, filed in 2023, accusing OpenAI of “secondarily” infringing on its copyrights because it did not prevent consumers and businesses from generating copyrighted material using A.I."

Nearly 400 local newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft over alleged copyright theft; New Jersey Globe, June 24, 2025

David Wildstein, New Jersey Globe ; Nearly 400 local newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft over alleged copyright theft

"The massive coalition of local newspaper publishers filed a federal lawsuit today against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging the technology companies systematically copied copyrighted reporting from nearly 400 local newspapers to train and develop commercial artificial intelligence products, including ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, without permission or compensation.

The publishers, represented by Platkin LLP, a law firm founded earlier this year by former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, contend that OpenAI and Microsoft unlawfully appropriated original news content to build their AI systems, violating the Copyright Act and threatening the future of local journalism.

The lawsuit also alleges that OpenAI knowingly stripped copyright management information from publishers’ work — including author bylines, copyright notices, and terms of use information — in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The complaint cites remarks by OpenAI founder Sam Altman, who acknowledged during testimony before the British House of Lords that it would be “impossible to train today’s leading AI models without using copyrighted materials.”"

AI helped diagnose 18 children whose rare diseases had stumped doctors; NBC News, June 18, 2026

  Hallie Jackson, NBC News; AI helped diagnose 18 children whose rare diseases had stumped doctors

"New research from Boston Children's Hospital’s center for rare diseases and the AI company OpenAI reveals that off-the-shelf AI tools can help identify which errors in patients’ genomes might be causing the children’s diseases. NBC News' Jared Perlo discusses the findings of the research."

How Amanda Askell is teaching Claude to make ethical decisions; Fast Company, June 18, 2026

 REBECCA HEILWEIL , Fast Company; How Amanda Askell is teaching Claude to make ethical decisions

"As AI models move into a more agentic era, shifting from chat to completing tasks, they’ll be making real and increasingly consequential decisions.

Whether they bring any sense of morality to those decisions is the kind of problem Amanda Askell is exploring. A philosophy PhD from New York University, Askell spent two years at OpenAI before joining Anthropic in 2021, where she sits at the center of the company’s effort to instill in Claude an instinct for ethics—a responsibility that grows as the system’s capabilities expand...

Today, Anthropic communicates those values through a written and evolving constitution—an effort led by Askell and formulated as instructions to Claude—that outlines principles such as safety and helpfulness, along with guidance for resolving conflicts between them."