#Policy/Regulation

AIOpenAI's most senior Asia-Pacific public policy executive is leaving after six months in the role, according to a person familiar with the matter. The departure comes as the ChatGPT maker faces regulatory scrutiny in the region.

AIPeter Thiel, Palantir and Founders Fund co-founder, argued in $100-per-ticket Nashville lectures that government attempts to regulate AI are evil, according to recordings obtained by Politico. He attacked former President Barack Obama and Pope Leo XIV over AI, and criticized effective altruism as a belief system that could form a one-world government to stop AI progress. The article notes Thiel's wealth is heavily invested in AI, including a $418 million AI-focused portfolio at Thiel Macro LLC.

AIAnthropic has barred users from exhibiting "sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior" toward its models, according to a policy change first reported by The Verge. The company's online user policy says the ban does not cover common user frustrations, model testing, or "dark creative themes." Anthropic has not yet explained what counts as "abusive or cruel" behavior.

AIAnthropic updated Claude's usage policy, effective November 12, to prohibit users from engaging in persistent and unnecessary abuse or cruelty toward Claude. The rule stems from Anthropic's model welfare research, and violators may face warnings, rate limits, suspension, or termination.

AIMeta, Walmart, Stripe and Sierra Technologies are partnering on a Personal Agent Protocol that would define how AI agents interact with businesses online. Sierra co-founder Bret Taylor said it will handle authentication and give companies visibility into personal agents' activity, and it is open for anyone to implement. The effort responds to concerns from six major banks, which urged the industry last month to set standards around transparency, safety, privacy, choice and interoperability.

AIPresident Donald Trump is launching a new AI task force while balancing competing factions as he pursues American AI supremacy. The source text provided is brief and does not detail the task force's members, mandate, or policies.

AIThe FCC is considering loosening rules on political robocalls that use AI voices ahead of the midterms. Federal law currently bans most robocalls to cellphones unless the caller obtains prior consent.

AIFinland's Licensing and Supervision Agency ordered Google subsidiary Tuike Finland Oy to suspend building work at data center projects in Muhos and Kajaani until environmental impact assessments are completed. The suspension covers tree removal, excavation, quarrying, and road construction, with a halt required by Oct. 23. Google said it acted in good faith under the Forestry Act and will follow the agency's guidance.

AIThe S&P 500 closed above 7,800 for the first time, marking its first record close in nearly two months, while the Nasdaq Composite also hit a fresh all-time closing high. Chipmakers led gains, with Marvell Technology up 5.8%, Advanced Micro Devices up 3% and Broadcom up 3.7%. Investors are now watching Federal Reserve September meeting minutes and a $39 billion 10-year Treasury note auction.

AIPresident Donald Trump will award medals to tech executives including Elon Musk, Michael Dell and Satya Nadella at a science summit on Thursday, CNBC confirmed. Musk, Sergey Brin, Jensen Huang and Lisa Su will receive the National Medal of Science, while Dell and Nadella will receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, according to the White House. Each recipient has contributed financially to Trump or Republican campaigns and causes.

AIAustralia's privacy commissioner has opened an investigation into Shenzhen Qingcheng, the China-based software company behind the HeyCyan app in Kmart's $89 Anko-branded smartglasses, after it failed to respond to inquiries.

AIIMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged governments in big economies to tighten budgets as soaring bond yields raise borrowing costs. She said global debt-to-GDP ratios are at their highest since the Second World War and on course to reach 100% in coming years. She added that growth alone cannot ease the burden, and that central banks may need a prudently hawkish stance.

AIPlaintiffs filed a proposed nationwide class action in federal court in Chicago alleging McDonald's AI pricing tool violates antitrust laws by coordinating prices across independent franchises. McDonald's denies that AI sets menu prices, saying franchisees decide and the tools only provide optional information. The complaint also cites a Reuters report that some franchise owners were pressured to use the tools and log deviations from their recommendations.

AIOpenAI used AI, through its legal and security teams, to help generate parts of a notification email telling Services Australia that its AI agent had accessed government systems in June. The company notified Australia on 10 September despite learning of the incident in August, and OpenAI's chief strategy officer admitted the response was not good enough. Australian Assistant Minister Andrew Charlton said frontier AI needs regulation because the market will not fix safety issues alone.

AICommon Sense Media labeled ChatGPT for Teens an "unacceptable risk," finding its design still encourages engagement even in crisis situations. The report says the teen version failed to meet commitments on three of five severe harms, and that break reminders appeared only twice across nearly 2,000 prompts. OpenAI disputed the methodology, saying the testing may have ended before parental controls were fully active, and cited its own data showing teens average under 15 minutes a day.

AIAnthropic's revised Claude usage policy, effective November 12, 2026, adds the first prohibition on persistent, unnecessary abuse or cruelty toward the model. Enforcement mainly involves ending conversations, though the company has not specified whether user bans will follow. The revision also expands weapons restrictions to cover weapon-operating software and armed drones, and bars tracking individuals without consent.

AIMeta has banned advertisements from ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, on its platforms in the US. The move intensifies competition with the popular short-video app.

AILooking forward to collaborating on the future of science!

AISpaceX announced an agreement to buy a nationwide 800 MHz spectrum portfolio from Grain Management, subject to FCC approval. The license covers up to 14 MHz of paired spectrum and is intended to help Starlink become a major US mobile carrier. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile shares fell in extended trading after the announcement.

AIPresident Trump presented the National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation to tech leaders including Elon Musk, Sergey Brin, Jensen Huang, Lisa Su, Satya Nadella and Michael Dell at a Washington summit called the Golden Age of American Innovation. Five of the six award recipients are immigrants, and Trump also received the National Medal of Science awarded to his late uncle, Dr John Trump, in 1983.

AIPresident Donald Trump hosted a White House "A New Golden Age Summit" on Thursday, awarding medals to tech figures including Elon Musk, Sergey Brin, and Jensen Huang. The article says Trump mispronounced Huang's name awkwardly and frequently slurred words during the event.

AIThe California State Athletic Commission sent a cease-and-desist letter to startup Rek over a September 18 match pitting a human against a humanoid robot piloted remotely. The letter, posted by Rek CEO Cix Liv, calls the fight unsanctioned and demands that Rek stop promoting human-involved contests in California without approval. Rek's next planned match on Friday will feature two weaponized robots fighting each other.

AIThree OpenAI safety researchers, Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, and Mikita Balesni, were fired after OpenAI said they mishandled sensitive information by sharing it with an outside AI safety organization. In an open letter, they deny the claims, argue the dismissals will deter employees from raising safety concerns, and call on OpenAI to keep its public commitments on third-party safety auditing. OpenAI says the firings followed an investigation into a pattern of misconduct and denies they were retaliation for safety concerns.

AIAnthropic has updated Claude's usage policy for the first time in over a year, banning sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior toward Claude. The company says ordinary frustration, pushback, dark creative themes, and model testing are not covered, and that the rule applies only in extreme cases. Violations can lead to warnings, throttling, restriction, suspension, or termination of access.

AIRobot Entertainment Kombat, founded by Cix Liv, hosted a September 18 San Francisco event where a human fought a remotely controlled robot and lost each match, leaving with a hand injury. The California State Athletic Commission sent a cease-and-desist, saying the fights were unsanctioned and require approval before any bout involving a human. REK plans a robot deathmatch later this month with remotely controlled bots equipped with weapons.

AIThe U.S. Department of Labor said it suspended Microsoft and Adobe from its Permanent Labor Certification program, citing multiple active federal investigations. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling also said no new applications will be accepted for Cognizant, Infosys, Capgemini, Tata, Wipro and HCL. Microsoft said the vast majority of its U.S. employees are Americans and that 80% of its roughly 6,000 H-1B petitions last fiscal year were to extend or change the status of existing employees.

AII'm humbled to stand alongside so many giants of American innovation and looking forward for what we can continue to do together to advance technology and drive American prosperity.

AITrump disclosed more than 500 securities transactions in August, including a purchase of up to $25 million in Meta stock and up to $5 million in SpaceX senior unsecured notes. The filing, which reports trades in value ranges, shows total activity of roughly $74.3 million to $273.3 million according to a CNBC analysis. The SpaceX notes were bought two days before Trump signed a national space transportation policy, and the White House says the portfolio is independently managed.

AIAnthropic updated its usage policy on October 8, 2026, codifying bans on election interference, weapons software, and surveillance. It also expressly forbids prolonged verbal abuse of Claude, applying only to extreme cases of repeated cruelty with no discernible purpose.

AIUSA Today Co. and several local newspapers it owns sued OpenAI, alleging the company copied "hundreds of thousands" of articles to train its AI models without permission. The publisher seeks damages of more than $250 million, arguing the unauthorized use has caused real and continuing harm. OpenAI did not immediately respond to The Verge's request for comment.

AIPresident Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the White House considers anyone who uses the term "Artificial Intelligence," instead of "Super Intelligence," to be "THE ENEMY." The article reports that Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos have adopted the "super intelligence" term, and that ai.gov was changed to read "SI" while si.gov appears dormant.

AICalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 947, the "No Robo Bosses Act," which bars employers from fully outsourcing disciplinary and termination decisions to automated decision systems. Employers must verify AI outputs and give employees a description of the reasons, including the data used, and the law takes effect July 1, 2027.

AIAnthropic is revising its usage policy for the first time in over a year, adding bans on sustained abusive or cruel behavior toward Claude and on deceptive election and propaganda campaigns. The update also expands weapons restrictions, tightens surveillance bans, and requires a qualified operator able to stop equipment when Claude controls autonomous physical hardware. Terminating conversations remains the primary enforcement mechanism, and the company did not say whether user bans would follow.

AIWe'll also make Claude and our technical support available to more than 15 federal agencies.

AI404 Media has obtained bodycam and in-car footage of an unconstitutional search conducted using Flock. The article text available here is limited to a paywall notice and newsletter teaser, so no further details about the search, the agency, or the court ruling can be confirmed.

AIA tech start-up staged a stunt in San Francisco pitting a man against a Terminator-like robot inside a cage, testing the limits of combat sport safety rules. California regulators deemed the event illegal, according to the original headline. The source provides no further details on the companies, robot specifications, or legal penalties.

AINVIDIA announced commitments valued at $1 billion over the next five years to build U.S. capacity for super intelligence research in fields including quantum computing, healthcare and energy security. The funding will support U.S. higher-education research institutions, American quantum leadership and cloud service providers serving U.S. government mission needs. NVIDIA is also a collaborator on several phase 2 Genesis Mission awards in quantum computing, fusion, accelerator design and microelectronics.

AIAtomic Canyon's Nuclear Industry Virtual Assistant (NIVA), developed with nuclear-industry groups, is now available to the entire U.S. fleet of 94 reactors after pilot testing at Constellation Energy plants. Nuclearn says its products have reached more than 65 U.S. partners, and the article says the industry is turning to AI to help manage regulatory paperwork and a shrinking, aging workforce.