Technology Policy•Jul 21, 2026Anthropic Will Pay $1.5 Billion for Pirated Books. The Bigger AI Question Is Still OpenA US judge has finally approved the largest known copyright settlement in American history. The ruling punishes how Anthropic obtained millions of books, while leaving the legality of training AI on lawfully acquired works largely unresolved.
Technology Policy•Jul 19, 2026What Is a Presidential Post Worth? Truth Social Wants Wall Street to Pay $100,000 a MonthTrump Media is preparing a premium data feed that could give paying financial firms faster access to posts from Donald Trump and other influential accounts. The milliseconds may be valuable, but the model raises difficult questions about markets and political influence.
Technology Policy•Jul 19, 2026Facebook and Instagram Went Dark for Thousands. Meta Still Hasn’t Said WhyThousands of users reported trouble reaching Facebook and Instagram on July 19. The interruption was brief for some, but it exposed how much communication and commerce still depend on a small number of shared platforms.
Technology Policy•Jul 19, 2026AI’s Biggest Bottleneck Is No Longer Chips. It May Be the Communities Saying NoA coordinated day of 142 protests across 42 US states has turned local disputes over electricity, water and accountability into a national AI infrastructure debate. The reach was remarkable, even though turnout varied sharply.
Technology Policy•Jul 18, 2026The Human Inside the Machine Never Left. AI Just Learned to Hide Them BetterAmazon’s Mechanical Turk is closing to new customers, ending an era built on tiny tasks performed by invisible workers. But human labor has not vanished from AI. It has moved into expert training, safety review and a strange new battle against bots pretending to be people.
Technology Policy•Jul 18, 2026Your AI May Be Carrying Censorship Across Borders Without Telling YouA new test of 10 leading language models found they were more than twice as likely to refuse political criticism involving speech-restrictive regimes. The result does not prove government manipulation, but it exposes a hidden global free-expression risk.
Technology Policy•Jul 17, 2026The EU Is Forcing Google to Open Android and Search Data to AI RivalsNew binding EU measures require Google to give qualifying rival AI assistants access to 11 Android capabilities and share anonymised search data with competing search and AI services. The rules could reshape competition around Gemini and mobile AI, while Google warns that broader access may introduce privacy, security and trade-secret risks.
Technology Policy•Jul 16, 2026Workers Say Meta Used AI to Target Medical and Parental Leave in Mass LayoffsTwenty-six Meta employees allege that internal AI scoring and workplace-monitoring systems helped select workers for layoffs while effectively penalizing protected medical, parental and disability leave. Meta says people, not AI, made the decisions, turning the lawsuit into an important test of accountability when algorithms influence employment.
Technology Policy•Jul 15, 2026New York Becomes First U.S. State to Pause Hyperscale Data CentersNew York has paused state environmental permits for new hyperscale data centers for up to one year while regulators study their effects on electricity, water, air, noise and communities. The first statewide U.S. moratorium targets facilities capable of consuming at least 50 megawatts, with important exemptions and limits.
