Neil Chilson, head of AI policy at the Abundance Institute and former FTC chief technologist, said government-backed antitrust exemptions for AI labs could create a lasting 'cartel' that harms competition. He argued safety standards can be coordinated without suspending antitrust rules, and existing consumer protection laws already address AI harms.
The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, led by Josh Hawley, will hold a September 23 hearing titled 'Always Watching: Flock's Nationwide AI Surveillance Network.' CEOs of Flock Safety, Axon, Motorola Solutions and Verkada were invited; Verkada declined to participate.
In a declassified court document, publishers quote Microsoft and OpenAI executives acknowledging that training LLMs on copyrighted content is the “largest theft of labor in history” and that chatbots pose an “existential threat” to the press. The document was filed in consolidated lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft, including suits by The New York Times and Ziff Davis.
At the All-In summit, Musk said companies should test each other’s models for safety issues before release rather than rely on regulators. According to WSJ, he, Jensen Huang and Zuckerberg advised Trump to oppose an industry AI regulator.
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed Order 22 on September 18, 2026, barring NDAs, requiring local approval for data centers above 25 MW, and ending subsidies and fast-track permitting. An AI task force will assess privacy, cybersecurity and job displacement risks.
The Guardian examines Europe's absence from AI safety debates: the continent lacks OpenAI- or Nvidia-scale giants, and slowing AI development is impossible without US and Chinese support. Lagarde and Vestager urge building domestic data centers and AI technology to cut dependence.
The Federal Register removed a search tool built on Alibaba's Qwen model after users noted the contradiction: the FBI calls such models a threat while a US government body used one. The open Qwen3 0.6B model ran locally and processed only public data.
The US and China are preparing to discuss AI governance at a Trump-Xi meeting in Washington next week. Both sides see each other as a threat: the US accuses China of technology theft, while China accuses the US of trying to monopolize AI. Experts consider a full agreement unlikely.
Sony Music and Universal Music Group filed a new lawsuit against Suno in federal court. The labels claim Suno's new model, trained in partnership with WMG and BMG, infringes copyright because it is based on a previously infringing model.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on AI oversight. A panel of experts will propose recommendations within two months, including a mandatory kill switch for frontier models, independent audits, and reporting on loss of control.
Westpac NZ became the first New Zealand bank accredited to issue digital credentials under the government DISTF system with Mattr support. Business clients can store bank credentials in the Govt.nz app wallet and share them via QR code valid for 72 hours.
A NATS investigation found that a failure in the flight data processing system on September 8 caused squawk code corruption in a millisecond, leading to a national system restart and 6-hour restrictions. 2,163 flights and about 300,000 passengers were affected, with disruptions lasting more than two days.
The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a DMCA lawsuit by programmers against GitHub, Microsoft, and OpenAI, ruling that Copilot generates code rather than reproduces it, so the demand to remove authorship information does not apply. Two breach-of-contract claims remain active.
Starting January 1, 2027, AI cannot solely deny medical claims or cut doctor payments for ~270,000 state employee health plan participants in Connecticut; a human must confirm decisions. Insurers must disclose AI use and verify system accuracy and fairness.
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in Virginia voted 7-1 to pause accepting new data center construction applications for 12 months. The county is the world's largest data center hub with gigawatts of capacity; the pause is to assess impact on residents and revise rules.
Brazilian President Lula signed bill 278/2026 establishing the ReData special tax regime for data centers: elimination of import duties, IPI, PIS/Pasep and COFINS on ICT equipment. Benefits last up to five years, then become permanent; 2026 revenue losses are estimated at 5.2 billion reais ($1 billion).
Solana is reducing account data storage cost by 90% in five stages; since September 11, 2026, the second step is in effect — 5080 lamports per byte instead of 6960. Accounts created at the old price hold excess funds that can be withdrawn without closing via WithdrawNonceAccount, Withdraw and WithdrawExcessLamports instructions.
On June 18, 2026, Solana mainnet activated v5 of the stake program, raising the minimum delegation from 1 lamport to 1 SOL. The program became upgradeable on-chain Core BPF bytecode, so rules change via program upgrade rather than validator release. Existing delegations below the threshold continue earning rewards but cannot be split or moved.
On Solana mainnet, the create_account_allow_prefund feature was activated on May 29, 2026, epoch 979, adding the CreateAccountAllowPrefund instruction. It allows creating an account at an address that already received SOL: the existing balance is counted, and the sender only pays the difference.
After SIMD-0500 activation, the Solana loader will stop freezing programs with old SBPF v0–v2 bytecode: the SetAuthority instruction with authority=none will fail. As of September 17, 2026, the rule is in the validator but not activated on mainnet. To renounce program rights, it must be rebuilt with a current toolchain, upgraded, and only then frozen.
The draft EU Kids Act mandates age verification for all users of online games. Under current wording, single-player games are also covered if distributed or updated via Steam. Only games on physical media without online components are exempt.
On September 16, the Scottish Parliament voted 80 to 26 to block all planning decisions for new hyperscale AI data centers until national planning rules are published. The reason cited is a grid crisis: curtailed renewable energy costs consumers over $1.6 billion annually in balancing payments.
A Shanghai court ruled illegal the use of generative AI to reproduce and sell the voices of 63 Genshin Impact characters. The defendant must stop distribution and pay MiHoYo 750,000 yuan (about $112,000); it withdrew its appeal.
A JAMA Network Open analysis of 903 FDA-approved AI medical devices found fewer than a third include performance data by sex. MIT researchers found the models recommend less intensive treatment for women than men with identical symptoms.
The FCC repealed the rule limiting foreign ownership to 25% and allowed three sovereign funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi to own 49.5% of the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. The commission cited the shares' lack of voting rights, but Free Press and Democrats criticized the decision.
Malaysia is expanding its MyDigital ID national digital identity system: since May 1 it is the only way to log into the MyJPJ app, with 12 million registrations out of a population of 35 million. App technical failures drew criticism, especially from rural residents.
Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to reduce AI risks: a panel of experts will prepare recommendations within two months on strengthening AI safety laws. Possible measures include independent audits of frontier models and a mandatory kill switch.
The European Union is investigating Amazon over possible unfair restrictions on companies selling on its platform, including suspicions of imposed pricing conditions on sellers.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is traveling to the US to promote social media reform: the under-16 ban has already closed about 5 million accounts. Plans include a digital duty of care and the right to disable algorithmic recommendations, with fines above A$100 million.
Super PACs tied to AI labs and investors have directed about $1 million to the Senate campaign of Republican Mike Rounds in South Dakota. Defend American Jobs, funded by an Andreessen Horowitz entity, spent about $600,000, with another $215,000 from employees and PACs linked to Anthropic, Google and Microsoft.
