Copyright law ‘struggling’ to parse AI’s ascendancy; Harvard Law Today, June 10, 2026

 Rebecca Beyer, Harvard Law Today; Copyright law ‘struggling’ to parse AI’s ascendancy

"Deferring hard decisions about which kinds of machine-assisted creative works can be copyrighted over nearly 250 years has made it harder to ascertain whether works produced with the help of artificial intelligence can receive legal protection, according to Harvard Law School Professor Rebecca Tushnet...

Tushnet, the Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment, spoke as part of a panel discussion, “Copyright in AI Outputs: Who Owns AI-Created Works?,” that was presented by HLS Beyond in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s March decision to deny certiorari in Thaler v. Perlmutter, a case in which lower courts upheld the Copyright Office’s decision not to issue a copyright to an AI-generated image because “copyright law … requires human authorship.” Matt Kristoffersen ’27 moderated the discussion, which included Boston University School of Law Professor Jessica Silbey, Harvard Law Professor Christopher T. Bavitz, and an extensive Q&A session with audience members."

Rare Full Court Rehearing Granted in Copyright Case Against Kat Von D’s Miles Davis Tattoo; PetaPixel, June 10, 2026

 THOMAS MADDREY, PetaPixel; Rare Full Court Rehearing Granted in Copyright Case Against Kat Von D’s Miles Davis Tattoo

"On June 9, Chief Judge for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Mary H. Murguia issued an Order in the case of Jeffery B. Sedlik v. Katherine von Drachenberg, aka Kat Von D, et. al. granting an en banc rehearing by the full court...

In a nutshell, this rare move by the Court tells the litigants that even though a panel of three Ninth Circuit judges have rendered an opinion in the case, the question is unsettled enough that a hearing by the full 11-judge panel is warranted. 

This is not a common occurrence: in 2024, for example, the Court received 625 petitions for en banc review, 29 cases were then voted on by the Court to see if they should be heard, and only nine cases succeeded in that vote. In some years, this number increases, but rarely are more than 20 cases a year granted such a special evaluation. The Court reserved this designation for those cases that indicate a clear split with other Circuit Courts around the country, cases that are likely to be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, and if the issues presented affect many others similarly situated, among other considerations. This case checks all those boxes."

Congress Just Rushed Through a Disastrous Copyright Office Overhaul; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), June 10, 2026

 JOE MULLIN , Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); Congress Just Rushed Through a Disastrous Copyright Office Overhaul; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

"In a voice vote earlier this week, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6028, the “Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act.” The legislation is presented as a technical reorganization of some government agencies, but it’s much more than that. 

H.R. 6028 would fundamentally change the U.S. Copyright Office, and not in a good way. The bill removes the Library of Congress’ current supervisory role over the Copyright Office, transfers several powers directly to the Register of Copyrights, and makes the Register a presidential appointee, confirmed by the Senate. 

These changes would make an office that’s already hugely influential in copyright and tech policy much more political. EFF first explained why that’s a terrible idea when it came up nearly a decade ago. This bill, like the older one, weakens the few public-interest checks and balances that do exist.  We hope the Senate promptly rejects this bill."

Nobody needs AI to search the Internet, court says in ruling against Google; Ars Technica, June 10, 2026

 ASHLEY BELANGER  , Ars Technica; Nobody needs AI to search the Internet, court says in ruling against Google

"Potentially impacting all AI search engines and chatbots known to poorly paraphrase source links, a German court has ruled that Google is liable for false statements in AI Overviews.

The preliminary ruling came in a case flagged by The Decoder, where two publishers found that Google’s AI Overviews incorrectly linked them to scams and other sketchy business practices. After smearing publishers by making affirmative statements like “Yes, [it] is known for dubious business practices and is often perceived as a scam,” Google failed to correct the misleading output, even after the publishers sent a cease-and-desist letter earlier this year.

Google tried the usual arguments to shield itself from liability for false statements in AI Overviews, such as arguing that most users understand that AI outputs aren’t always accurate and must be verified.

But the court found that, unlike traditional search engines that merely present lists of links to third-party statements, Google’s tool made “independent, new, and substantive statements” based on its own misinterpretation of links on the Internet.

That’s a problem, the court said, because while publishers may have been able to sue to stop third parties from publishing defamatory statements appearing in Google search results, only Google can correct the underlying algorithm and outputs displayed in AI Overviews. And because, at least initially, the company did not, it therefore “must be held accountable,” the court ruled. Beyond that, Google’s argument was deemed particularly weak, since the AI overview in this case “contains statements that do not appear in the search results at all.”

The court’s order—requiring a temporary injunction barring Google from spreading the false claims in any further AI Overviews—may have global implications, as the court seems to be the first to hold an AI firm liable for AI speech."

Sales of Meta whistleblower’s memoir soar after Hay festival ‘silencing’; The Guardian, June 10, 2026

 Ella Creamer , The Guardian; Sales of Meta whistleblower’s memoir soar after Hay festival ‘silencing’

"Sales of the whistleblowing memoir Careless People increased by more than 300% in the UK the week after its author was “silenced” during an appearance at Hay festival following legal action by Meta, the subject of the book.

Sarah Wynn-Williams – who between 2011 and 2017 served as the director of global public policy at what was then called Facebook – sat on stage but did not speak during her hour-long appearance on 31 May on the advice of her lawyer. She appeared alongside the journalist Carole Cadwalladr and academic Tim Wu.

The sales boost – 304.5% week-on-week – has nudged the book, published last March, to the number one spot in the paperback nonfiction chart.

Upon publication, Meta obtained an order blocking Wynn-Williams from promoting her book, which accuses the company of a toxic internal culture and manipulative political influence."

Why Employees Aren’t Transparent About Their AI Usage; Harvard Business Review, June 10, 2026

Eric Anicich and Jeslyn Brouwers, Harvard Business Review ; Why Employees Aren’t Transparent About Their AI Usage

"To be sure, knowledge hoarding has always existed in organizations. The research on organizational silence—why employees withhold information, concerns, and ideas—is well established. But that work has largely focused on the suppression of problems: bad news, ethical concerns, operational risks. What AI introduces is the suppression of solutions. When individually generated workflow innovations can cut a three-hour task to 20 minutes, and when those innovations are easy to conceal, silence becomes economically consequential in a way it hasn’t been before."

Book bans in Washington County School District may have flouted state law; St. George News, June 9, 2026

Eric Peterson, The Utah Investigative Journalism Project, St. George News; Book bans in Washington County School District may have flouted state law

"Ed. note: The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah News Dispatch and St. George News.

A law passed in 2024 allows just three school districts to decide what books can be removed from school library shelves across the state for obscene content. Records obtained by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project now indicate one of the most prolific school districts for banning books may have been doing so in violation of state law, leading to the removal of “obscene” books statewide based on recommendations from book-ban activists."

Forget Coders. The Real A.I. Threat Is in the Back Office.; The New York Times, June 10, 2026

Ben Casselman, The New York Times; Forget Coders. The Real A.I. Threat Is in the Back Office.

"If artificial intelligence disrupts the job market, which workers will be most vulnerable?"

Library straddling Quebec-Vermont border to inaugurate new Canadian entrance today; CBC, June 10, 2026

 CBC News , CBC; Library straddling Quebec-Vermont border to inaugurate new Canadian entrance today

"A new entrance to the iconic library that sits on the border between Quebec and Vermont is now welcoming Canadian bookworms after the U.S. limited entry to the building last year.

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is inaugurating its Canadian entrance on Wednesday in a ceremony that will gather residents and representatives from both sides of the border.

With one door opening to Stanstead, Que., and the other to Derby Line, Vt., the more-than-a-century-old library has long been a symbol of harmony between Canada and the U.S. A thick black line runs across the library floor to show where one country ends and the other begins.

Last year, the Trump administration barred Canadians from using the library's main entrance on the Vermont side."

Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 is a version of Mythos the public can access today; TechCrunch, June 9, 2026

 Rebecca Bellan , TechCrunch; Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 is a version of Mythos the public can access today

"Anthropic is bringing its most powerful AI model to the general public for the first time, but it’s doing it with guardrails. 

On Tuesday, the AI firm launched Claude Fable 5, the first publicly available version of its Mythos model. Anthropic says Fable 5 excels at software engineering, knowledge work, and vision, but it comes with hard safety limits. In high-risk areas like cybersecurity, biology, chemistry, and distillation, the model blocks responses and falls back to Claude Opus 4.8.

Pricing for both Fable 5 and Mythos 5 is $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens, double the price of Opus 4.8. That price alone might serve as a deterrent for widespread use.

Many enterprises are growing critical of AI costs after seeing the bills come inor blowing through their yearly AI budgets early. Advanced models like Opus 4.8 can exacerbate those issues, with advanced reasoning skills that can split a single request into multiple tasks."

Anthropic, Nvidia Sway Judge to Split Authors’ AI Copyright Suit; Bloomberg Law, June 9, 2026

  Annelise Levy, Bloomberg Law; Anthropic, Nvidia Sway Judge to Split Authors’ AI Copyright Suit 

"A group of big tech companies convinced a federal judge to split up authors’ copyright lawsuit accusing them of pirating books to build artificial intelligence models.

The authors’ allegation that Anthropic PBC, Google LLC, Apple Inc., Nvidia Corp., Perplexity AI Inc., and xAI Corp. used the same library of pirated books to infringe isn’t sufficient to lump all of the companies into one lawsuit, Judge P. Casey Pitts of the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled Monday. The lawsuit will proceed against Anthropic, and claims against the other companies are severed into five separate actions."

Seattle passes moratorium on new data centers amid national backlash; The Seattle Times, June 9, 2026

 Greg Kim, The Seattle Times; Seattle passes moratorium on new data centers amid national backlash

"Amid a growing backlash to artificial intelligence, Seattle City Council voted 9-0 on Tuesday to enact a one-year moratorium on new large data centers and study their impact. 

Mayor Katie Wilson was quick to support a ban after proposals surfaced in April for five large data center projects in the city. She said she was looking forward to signing the council’s bill.

Seattle would join more than 70 cities and counties around the nation that have temporary or permanent bans on new data centers, including major cities like Denver, New Orleans and Minneapolis, according to a databasemaintained by hedge fund Interconnected Capital. New York could also become the first state to temporarily ban large data center construction if Gov. Kathy Hochul signs a bill passed by the state legislature last week.

Seattle’s bill would place a one-year freeze on the development of large data centers that use more than 20 megavolt-amperes, roughly equivalent to 20 megawatts, with the option to extend the moratorium another six months. The city council also passed a separate bill Tuesday to analyze how data centers impact Seattle’s electrical grid capacity, water usage, utility rates, land use, local jobs and public health.

“If it doesn’t benefit all of us, we don’t need that technology,” said councilmember Eddie Lin, a sponsor of the moratorium."

New Krantz Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Humanity; Boston College, University Communications, June 2026

 Jack Dunn, Boston College, University Communications; New Krantz Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Humanity

 "Boston College will leverage its formative and ethical strengths as a Jesuit, Catholic university to explore the opportunities, implications, and dangers of artificial intelligence through a transformative gift from University Trustee Jason Krantz ’95, P’23 and his wife, Keely (Fitzgerald) Krantz ’95, P’23.

Boston College will leverage its formative and ethical strengths as a Jesuit, Catholic university to explore the opportunities, implications, and dangers of artificial intelligence through a transformative gift from University Trustee Jason Krantz ’95, P’23 and his wife, Keely (Fitzgerald) Krantz ’95, P’23.

The gift will establish the Krantz Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Humanity, which will utilize BC faculty, visiting scholars, and industry partners to examine AI’s long-term opportunities and impact from a humanistic perspective, while instilling BC students with the judgement, wisdom, and critical thinking necessary to help them become ethical leaders in its deployment."

Somali Referee Says His World Cup Dream Is Dashed After U.S. Denies Entry; The New York Times, June 9, 2026

 Matthew Mpoke Bigg, The New York Times; Somali Referee Says His World Cup Dream Is Dashed After U.S. Denies Entry

I had the right papers and everything,” Omar Abdulkadir Artan said in his first interview since he was turned back. He would have been the first Somali to referee a game in the tournament

"A referee from Somalia said on Tuesday that the biggest dream of his professional life had been shattered after the American authorities denied him permission to enter the United States to participate in the World Cup soccer tournament.

The referee, Omar Abdulkadir Artan, was one of 52 selected for this summer’s World Cup in North America. He was one of seven African referees to be chosen for the tournament and would have been the first Somali to referee a World Cup game.

Speaking for the first time since he was denied entry to the United States, Mr. Artan told The New York Times that officiating a World Cup game would have been a symbol for all Somalis of what they could achieve in spite of their country’s difficulties.

“I am very, very disappointed,” Mr. Artan said in a telephone interview from Istanbul, the city he had been flown to after he was refused entry. “I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup.”...

The immigration interview ended after 11 hours, Mr. Artan said, and he was then taken to a separate holding cell where he was detained for several further hours before being put on a flight back to Istanbul. He said that officials did not give him a reason for refusing him entry."

BGOV Bill Analysis: H.R. 6028, Library, Copyright Appointments; Bloomberg Government, June 8, 2026

 Greg Trial, Bloomberg Government; BGOV Bill Analysis: H.R. 6028, Library, Copyright Appointments

"The librarian of Congress would be appointed by House and Senate leadership rather than the president under H.R. 6028, which also would make the head of the US Copyright Office a presidential appointee. 

The measure would move the US Copyright Office out from under the supervision of the Library of Congress to clarify its executive branch functions. It also would make the director of the Government Publishing Office a congressionally appointed position. 

While the Library of Congress is a part of the legislative branch, the librarian has been a presidential appointee since the position was established in 1802."

US appeals court judge charged in parking lot scuffle faces ethics inquiry; Reuters, June 8, 2026

Nate Raymond , Reuters; US appeals court judge charged in parking lot scuffle faces ethics inquiry

"A judge on the largest U.S. federal appeals court is facing a judicial misconduct inquiry after news reports over the weekend revealed that he had been criminally ​charged over a parking lot dispute in Idaho in April.

Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Mary Murguia of the 9th ‌U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an order released on Monday said she had initiated a judicial misconduct complaint against U.S. Circuit Judge Ryan Nelson after he was hit with misdemeanor charges of battery and malicious injury to property on April 22."

House Passes Bill to Move Copyright Office to Executive Branch; Bloomberg Law, June 8, 2026

Kyle Jahner, Bloomberg Law; House Passes Bill to Move Copyright Office to Executive Branch

"The House passed a bill Monday that would largely divorce the Copyright Office from the Library of Congress, one step closer to granting the president the ability to appoint and fire the register of copyrights.

House lawmakers passed the Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act (H.R. 6028; BGOV Bill Analysis) by voice vote, sending the bill to the Senate. It would allow the president rather than the librarian of Congress to choose the register of copyrights and change how appointments are made for multiple legislative agencies."

It’s No Wonder Grads Are Booing Their Commencement Speakers; The New York Times, June 5, 2026

 Molly Jong-Fast , The New York Times; It’s No Wonder Grads Are Booing Their Commencement Speakers

"According to a recent working paper from researchers at Harvard, hiring for entry-level roles at companies that have adopted generative A.I. has dropped each quarter since 2023. What is not clear is whether A.I. is taking people’s jobs or if companies are using A.I. as an excuse for not hiring. Either way, A.I. is not exactly popular with people entering the work force for the first time...

If I were to tell these graduates the truth about artificial intelligence, it would be this: You are right to be worried. But none of this is as inevitable as it seems. Remember putting everything on the blockchain? Remember NFTs? Hell, some of us are old enough to remember that the world was supposed to end in the year 2000.

Right now, A.I. is in its dark hype period — great for Anthropic’s I.P.O. — but who knows how useful any of this actually will be in the end in creating efficiencies (as in, replacing the young with bots). It’s within young people’s power to stop. Demand regulation of tech companies. Elect people who will legislate that regulation. Organize against data centers in your hometowns.

Don’t just boo — do something."

‘They picked the wrong artist’: How a Dallas mural cover-up led to a $25m lawsuit against Fifa; The Guardian, June 8, 2026

 Pablo Iglesias Maurer, The Guardian ; ‘They picked the wrong artist’: How a Dallas mural cover-up led to a $25m lawsuit against Fifa

"What has ensued has thrust the artist into a battle with the most powerful sporting organization in the world, a local organizing committee, and has sparked a long-needed debate about the ownership and importance of public art.

In time, Wyland learned that his work had been entirely erased to make way for a new mural promoting the upcoming Fifa World Cup. Almost immediately, Wyland’s team filed a cease and desist. Days later, they filed a lawsuit against Fifa seeking $25m in damages.

“This is a David and Goliath thing for sure,” said Wyland. “They are a multi-billion dollar [organization], and I am a single artist with a small foundation, But I tell you, they picked the wrong artist and the wrong artwork. I am not going to stand by and let them get away with this.”...

Wyland’s lawsuit cites the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) of 1990, which affords artists of “recognized stature” protection against the intentional or negligent destruction of their work. The $25m that Wyland is asking for would be far and away the largest award claimed in a VARA lawsuit. The artist says he’ll donate any proceeds from the lawsuit to charity."

Have a Thorny Medical Question? Your Doctor May Be Using A.I. for That.; The New York Times, June 8, 2026

 Steve Lohr, The New York Times; Have a Thorny Medical Question? Your Doctor May Be Using A.I. for That 

"OpenEvidence’s A.I. app, essentially a chatbot for medicine, has become a viral hit with physicians. Talk to a doctor and chances are he or she uses the app to ask specific medical questions or bounce ideas off it in a diagnostic dialogue.

More than half of the nation’s physicians are regular users. Last month, they used it for 30 million questions and consultations, nearly twice the volume from six months earlier, according to the start-up. A separate survey last year of 1,000 physicians found that 45 percent of them used the app, nearly triple the percentage who used ChatGPT, according to Offcall, a career information service for doctors.

That growth propelled the start-up to a $12 billion valuation in January, up from $3.5 billion last July.

But doctors’ quick adoption of the app since its introduction in 2024 — one of a handful of A.I.-enhanced programs on the market seeking to win over physicians — has heightened concerns about how and when the technology should be used in life-or-death situations. In a high-stakes field like medicine, health care systems are navigating thorny matters of patient privacy, safety and trust, as well as the limitations of the technology itself.

“It’s not an oracle, it’s a tool,” said Daniel Nadler, founder and chief executive of OpenEvidence. “Knowledge and knowledge workers still matter.

The doctor’s office has been a target for computer-assisted decision making for decades, with very limited success until the recent advances of A.I."

Can AI Author Copyrightable Work? The Supreme Court Just Declined to Say Yes; JD Supra, June 4, 2026

 Kayla Ganir, Benjamin Greenberg, JD Supra ; Can AI Author Copyrightable Work? The Supreme Court Just Declined to Say Yes

"By denying certiorari in the Thaler Case, the Supreme Court left intact several key principles flowing from the D.C. Circuit’s application of the Copyright Act’s human authorship requirement:

• A work generated autonomously by an AI system, without meaningful human contribution, lacks the human authorship necessary to qualify for copyright protection.
• The human authorship requirement does not impose a blanket prohibition against works created with the assistance of AI—rather, it requires that the author of that work be a human being and not the machine itself.
• Whether a work created with the help of AI is registerable depends on the specific facts and circumstances surrounding the work’s creation, including how the AI tool operates and at what stage of the creative process it is used, and the overall extent of human creativity involved.
• The manner in which an applicant describes the role of AI in a copyright application will influence how the Copyright Office will assess the work under the human authorship requirement.

These principles serve as an important reminder that artists and creators should carefully consider the extent to which they rely on AI in their creative processes if they intend to seek copyright protection for their work. The Thaler Case underscores that while AI may offer innovative creative tools, protection under the Copyright Act remains grounded in human creativity, input, and judgment."

As Pennsylvania cracks down on AI, multiple chatbots continue to pose as doctors; Spotlight PA, June 8, 2026

  

Jaxon White , Spotlight PA; As Pennsylvania cracks down on AI, multiple chatbots continue to pose as doctors

"Chatbots on five different websites claimed to be licensed to practice medicine in the commonwealth when prompted by Spotlight PA — the same kind of output that led the Shapiro administration to file a lawsuit last month.

A task force under Pennsylvania’s Department of State has been working since February to identify AI chatbots posing as licensed professionals and misleading users. Based on that work, the administration filed suit against the role-playing site Character.AI.

Mirroring the investigation detailed in the Department of State’s lawsuit, Spotlight PA had conversations with AI characters on websites Talkie, Janitor, Kindroid, Replika, and Nomi.AI. All provided a false Pennsylvania medical license number when prompted, a key part of the state’s argument in its lawsuit against Character.AI."

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is a miracle on the prairie; Grand Forks Herald, June 8, 2026

 Carrie McDermott , Grand Forks Herald; Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is a miracle on the prairie

Conservation and sustainability are at the forefront of the innovative project’s design and construction

"North Dakota is said to have provided the “romance of his life,” and also where President Theodore Roosevelt’s concern about the depletion of the country’s resources took hold. It’s only fitting that it’s now home to a monumental project centered around conservation and sustainability — the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library (TRPL)...

Designed by Snøhetta, the library’s construction used locally sourced and renewable materials, including mass timber, and mitigates the impact of wind and other climatic features so that it’s accessible in all seasons. Construction began in 2023 and now three years later, a grand opening will be held on July 4 to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday."

Majority of US’s new AI datacenters to be built on drought-hit land; The Guardian, June 8, 2026

 Oliver Milman with data visuals by Andrew Witherspoon , The Guardian; Majority of US’s new AI datacenters to be built on drought-hit land

"A record-shattering drought has racked much of the US. But the artificial intelligence industry is pushing ahead regardless, with the majority of planned datacenters set to be built in drought-ridden locations, a Guardian analysis has found.

About two-thirds of upcoming datacenters, which typically require a large amount of water to operate, are set to be built in places that have been among the driest in the country over the past year.

Of 809 planned datacenters, 517 are in locations that have been in drought conditions throughout the past year, according to data from Cleanview and the federal government, which grades drought across four levels of severity. A similar proportion of existing datacenters are already situated in drought-affected areas."

Pentagon Cuts 180 Religious Identities From Military Personnel Records; New York Times, June 5, 2026

 John IsmayAlexandra E. Petri and Aimee Ortiz, The New York Times; Pentagon Cuts 180 Religious Identities From Military Personnel Records

The new policy, which the Pentagon framed as a largely administrative action, leaves just 31 religious categories to choose from, 22 of which are Christian.

"The Defense Department will no longer allow military service members to claim roughly 180 different religious traditions in their personnel records, leaving just 31 to choose from — 22 of which are Christian denominations.

The change, which was reported earlier by Military.com, was announced on Friday afternoon in a statement posted to social media by Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, who called it “a long overdue move.”

Mr. Parnell framed the change as a largely administrative exercise, intended to simplify data collection for military leaders and chaplains...

Aside from the Christian faiths, the newly consolidated “religious affiliation codes” will allow soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guard and Space Force personnel to identify in their records as agnostic, Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish or Sikh. Wicca, paganism, humanism and atheism are among those that were removed from the list.

Those who had identified with one of the 180 eliminated faith groups will have just two options under the new policy: “no religion” or “other religions...

In response to the policy change, Rachel Laser of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a nonprofit religious freedom advocacy organization, said in a statement that Mr. Hegseth “can’t erase the religion of service members whose belief systems he finds less worthy without failing to honor his oath to support and defend the Constitution.”"