Policy · Page 8
regulation, copyright fights, safety rules and the politics of AI
AI's e-waste bill by 2050 is far bigger than anyone was counting
A nonprofit has calculated the full weight of hardware behind AI, and the e-waste total by 2050 is enough to fill 23 million shipping containers.
Washington Is Talking About AI Regulation. Nobody Is Actually Passing Any.
A FINRA-style AI oversight agency got killed by tech-exec phone calls. Congress has three competing bills and no votes scheduled. Here is where US AI regulation actually stands.
AI could wipe out humanity, some researchers warn. How seriously should we take that?
A wave of alarming claims from AI insiders has pushed calls for slowing down development into the mainstream. Here is what the researchers are actually saying, what the tech companies want, and where governments stand.
Al Gore Says Stop Worrying About the Data Center and Start Reading the Safety Reports
The former vice president thinks emissions fears are overblown. What keeps him up at night is what AI companies are quietly disclosing about their own models.
The regulation beat just tripled on us, and it wasn't the regulators
We published 30 stories on AI regulation in the week of 8 September, up from 8 the week before. What actually moved was the argument about who gets to write the rules.
Existential risk stopped being a fringe beat in our pages this week
We ran six stories on human extinction from AI in seven days, up from one the week before. Three different outlets carried it. Here is what that shape tells us, and what it does not.
An AI Researcher Just Quit Anthropic Over Existential Fear. Should the Rest of Us Be Worried?
Jacob Coxon walked away from one of the world's top AI labs saying colleagues believe the next year or two will decide humanity's fate. Here is what that actually means.
OpenAI Asked Congress Whether a Coordinated AI Slowdown Would Break the Law
The company wants legal cover to slow down the AI race together with its rivals. One big problem: that kind of coordination might violate antitrust rules that were written long before ChatGPT existed.
AI in Schools: Are We Repeating Past Mistakes?
AI companies are pitching classrooms hard. Parents and educators think they've seen this playbook before.
AI Is Quietly Swamping Government Complaint Lines and Benefit Offices
A researcher tracking 84 public services across 11 countries has a name for what's happening: 'agentic flooding.' Most of the new filers are real people with real claims. That might be the point.
Un Antiguo Investigador de OpenAI Acaba de Renunciar a Anthropic Diciendo que Ambas Empresas Podrían Matarnos a Todos
Una advertencia desde adentro de alguien que construyó la tecnología está inquietando a personas que nunca habían pensado dos veces en la seguridad de la IA. Esto es lo que realmente dijo, y por qué importa.
Lawmakers demand answers after Anthropic researcher warns AI could end humanity by 2030
A warning from inside one of AI's biggest labs has reached the Senate floor, with politicians calling the risks of advanced AI 'catastrophic'.
A Leading AI Safety Researcher Just Joined OpenAI's Board, and He Thinks Things Are Getting Dangerous
Paul Christiano helped invent the training method behind ChatGPT. Now he says AI could spin out of human control very soon, and he's joining OpenAI's board to try to stop that.
Massachusetts tells data centers: bring your own clean power or pay up
Governor Maura Healey has signed an order forcing large data centers to supply their own clean electricity, making Massachusetts the third state in three months to crack down on the industry's appetite for power.
Microsoft Signs a Legally Binding AI Privacy Deal With America's Second-Largest Teachers Union
Ten enforceable rules will govern how Microsoft's AI tools handle student data in schools. Districts can opt in from November, with no need to renegotiate existing contracts.