Patrick Stewart was thinking about AI ethics years before ChatGPT launched; Fast Company, October 30, 2026

 MICHAEL GROTHAUS, Fast Company; Patrick Stewart was thinking about AI ethics years before ChatGPT launched

The accomplished thespian was well-versed in the humanities, but he was also keen to consider the moral questions surrounding technology.

"Unlike other sci-fi of the time, particularly the more popular Star Wars, Star Trek: The Next Generation often explored the philosophical and social aspects of technology, with many of its most memorable episodes addressing the moral implications of scientific progress.

One particular episode, “The Measure of a Man,” from 1989, saw Stewart’s Picard make an impassioned plea and legal argument that his friend, the artificially intelligent android Data, played by Brent Spiner, should not be considered Starfleet property but a sentient being with the associated rights all individual sentient beings have.

This, of course, was decades before artificial intelligence went from being science fiction to science fact in our 21st-century world. But it’s not the only time Stewart contemplated the technology and its moral implications.

In 2014, Stewart gave an interview to Smithsonian magazine in which he, perhaps the most popular science fiction captain ever, was asked his opinion on the then-burgeoning field of artificial intelligence, and whether any future AI beings should have the same rights as humans.

At the time, Stewart was no longer just an accomplished actor. He was also in his tenth year as the Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield in the United Kingdom, a position he held from 2004 to 2015 (before continuing his relationship with the university as its Emeritus Chancellor).

During the time of Stewart’s chancellorship, the University of Huddersfield was known for its engineering and applied research programs and today runs an Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence.

In his answer, Stewart reflected on “The Measure of a Man” episode:

“I remember at one script conference, Whoopi Goldberg, during the period when she was with us on the show, saying what we ought to make clear in this­—that we’re actually talking about slavery,” Stewart recalled. “And it was a great point to make. If we create independent life but keep it under our control, what is that? It can be said to be a form of slavery.”"

Wikimedia Foundation Tries to Save Itself From Oblivion by Brokering AI Copyright Deal; Gizmodo, October 30, 2026

 WEBB WRIGHT, Gizmodo; Wikimedia Foundation Tries to Save Itself From Oblivion by Brokering AI Copyright Deal

Call it the Great Copyright Compromise.

"The nonprofit organization behind Wikipedia has a plan to save the open internet, one in which AI chatbots and human artistry can coexist peacefully."

AI data center boom faces backlash at US ballot box; Reuters, October 29, 2026

Courtney Rozen, Reuters ; AI data center boom faces backlash at US ballot box

"Voters in ​10 US states will decide on Election Day whether to curb data center development in their communities, as the ‌rapid buildout needed to power the AI boom stirs local opposition.

Resistance is especially visible in Ohio, one of the country's fastest-growing data center markets. No state has more data center-related ballot measures, with voters in more than a dozen jurisdictions set to consider 21 proposals alongside Tuesday's midterm elections, according to the ​nonpartisan research group Ballotpedia."

Backlash against AI data centers threatens GOP’s grip on Ohio, Texas; The Hill, October 30, 2026

 IRA BHAKTA , The Hill; Backlash against AI data centers threatens GOP’s grip on Ohio, Texas

"The importance of AI data centers is growing this election cycle as the fight over the infrastructure’s costs and environmental impacts may be threatening Republicans in battleground states like Texas and Ohio.

Grassroots movements in rural communities, particularly where President Trump won by double-digit margins in each of his presidential bids, are threatening the rural vote the GOP has counted on for decades, experts and voters say...

Data centers are increasingly being built in rural communities, with 67 percent of planned projects slated in rural areas, according to an April Pew Research Center study."

Ohio’s Data-Center Revolt Is Upending the Midterms; Time, October 29, 2026

 Naomi Nix , Time; Ohio’s Data-Center Revolt Is Upending the Midterms

"Community pushback prompted the Grove City council to pass a yearlong moratorium on data-center construction. In November, Grove City residents will vote on a proposal to go even further, making all large developments subject to voter approval. The issue has upended the intimate politics of this conservative community of 45,180. Community Facebook groups are filled with bickering, angry residents have filled council meetings, and activists filed freedom-of-information requests seeking answers about city officials’ communications about the referendum. Grove City’s longtime mayor, Richard “Ike” Stage, and other local leaders have fought against their efforts, saying the ballot initiative to restrict development would hurt economic growth...

In June, the moratorium passed 6-1. Emboldened, the anti-data-center advocates with Protect Grove City decided the one-year moratorium wasn’t enough, and wrote a proposed amendment to the city’s charter, which functions like a governing constitution. It would prohibit the city from approving zoning applications for developments that occupy at least 50 acres, use more than 20 megawatts of power at peak capacity, or consume more than 500,000 gallons of water per day unless a majority of voters have backed the project in a public referendum. To drum up support, they canvassed local farmers’ markets, parks, and sporting events to ask people to sign a petition to put the measure on the ballot in November. Within a few weeks, they secured enough signatures."

House Democrats Criticize Justice Dept. Support of OpenAI in Copyright Suit; The New York Times, October 30, 2026

 Karen Weise , The New York Times; House Democrats Criticize Justice Dept. Support of OpenAI in Copyright Suit

"Top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said on Friday that the Justice Department had overstepped its authority and made a flawed legal argument in its support of OpenAI in a landmark copyright lawsuit brought by The New York Times and other publishers.

In a filing in federal court in Manhattan, the lawmakers also signaled that if the Democrats retook the House in elections on Tuesday, the chamber was likely to shift away from its largely hands-off approach to artificial intelligence companies.

In early September, the Justice Department argued in a court filingthat using articles from The Times and other written works to train A.I. systems sufficiently transformed them into new material, which copyright law allows. And it made a broader case that developing A.I. was critical to national security and outweighed potential harms.

But the Democrats said that when Congress passed the copyright law in 1976, it did not include an exception for national security or give the Justice Department authority to assert specific or broad national security exceptions."

Ollie, a privacy-focused AI assistant, is shutting down; TechCrunch, October 30, 2026

 Lucas Ropek , TechCrunch; Ollie, a privacy-focused AI assistant, is shutting down

"Ollie, which discussed its $7.5 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures with TechCrunch in September, offered a subscription-based model. The assistant was focused on helping families stay connected and organized. The app connected to a user’s email and calendar, while also providing integrated functions to help with appointment bookings, meal planning, and bill payments. The company had also planned to eventually move into household budgeting.

Crucially, Ollie was one of the first mainstream apps that managed to achieve SOC 2, a privacy compliance standard that companies can attain via an independent audit. Unfortunately, user privacy has never been a hugely profitable aspect of the tech industry. If anything, many new digital assistants present unique privacy challenges for their users — as companies like Instinct have shown. 

Ultimately, the pressures of the burgeoning AI industry took a toll on the company, Lennon said."

Dartmouth Provost Resigns Over AI Use; Inside Higher Ed, October 28, 2026

 Kenneth C. Zirkel and Eudoro Lopez/Wikimedia Commons , Inside Higher Ed; Dartmouth Provost Resigns Over AI Use

A review committee used Santiago Schnell’s available chat logs to help determine that he overused artificial intelligence to help write published articles and wasn’t forthcoming about it.

"Dartmouth College Provost Santiago Schnell resigned Wednesday after a faculty-led review committee concluded that he “used AI to meaningfully alter his writing” and “fell short” of the university’s academic integrity standards. "

She Trusted ChatGPT With Her Medication Decisions. It Cost Her Everything.; The New York Times, October 27, 2026

 Teddy Rosenbluth, The New York Times; She Trusted ChatGPT With Her Medication Decisions. It Cost Her Everything.

The chatbot helped a woman taper off a lifesaving drug and hide the plan from her doctors.

"Bowen’s parents landed in Seattle in late February to settle their child’s affairs. They viewed her body at the funeral home, before cremation. They picked up the urn. Now, sitting in her apartment, surrounded by Bowen’s belongings, they were resolved to understand how this could have happened.

The details of Bowen’s death didn’t add up. The official cause of death was sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, which often succeeds a severe seizure. But she had lived with epilepsy for more than a decade and seemed to be on a medication that was working. Even cutting her dose by a quarter, which she had admitted to on the phone call a few days before her death, shouldn’t have been enough to cause such a catastrophic seizure.

Then, Qun opened the ChatGPT app on Bowen’s cellphone. Suddenly the details of her death were overwhelming. As he scrolled, he saw the chatbot offer plans that would take her from 400 milligrams down to 0 milligrams in a matter of weeks. The messages continued, down to the day she died — an hour-by-hour accounting of her increasing sickness and desperation."

Springdale data center hearing draws a crowd, a chorus and regional opposition; Pittsburgh's Public Source, October 29, 2026

 Jamie Wiggan and  Lucas Dufalla, Pittsburgh's Public Source; Springdale data center hearing draws a crowd, a chorus and regional opposition

Allegheny County’s in-person meeting amid its review of a data center plan filled Springdale Borough’s gymnasium. Concern over diesel generators drowned out enthusiasm for construction work.

"Speakers took turns denouncing the data center plans in prepared speeches, then a spirit of improv took over. One attendee who said she had driven to the Allegheny Valley town from Pittsburgh performed a song she’d written for the occasion on a three-quarter-sized acoustic guitar. Then the crowd broke into a chorus of “we don’t need your damn pollution” to the tune of Pink Floyd. 

The carnival-like protest came ahead of a county-led hearing on Dynamo DC’s plans to transform a former coal-fired power plant site into a mega data center campus. 

With borough approval already secured in December, opponents from Springdale and beyond  see Allegheny County’s land development review as their last chance to halt the project." 

Episode 54 Bonus (Oct 2026): From the Care of Bodies to the Care of Minds; Library Journal, October 27, 2026

Dave Lankes, Library Journal ; Episode 54 Bonus (Oct 2026): From the Care of Bodies to the Care of Minds

"This special bonus episode is from a keynote address delivered at the opening of the new ESSECI Public Library in Cuneo, Italy, at the end of September 2026. “From the Care of Bodies to the Care of Minds” explores what libraries can and must become in an age of generative AI, declining trust, and profound changes in how people create knowledge. Dave argues that libraries offer something machines cannot: accountable human relationships grounded in community. He calls on libraries to move beyond repositories of information and become platforms for conversation, cultural heritage, creativity, and collective action."

All the latest updates on AI data centers; The Verge, October 28, 2026

 Verge Staff and Justine Calma , The Verge; All the latest updates on AI data centers

"Massive new data centers are the physical foundation for tech companies’ hopes and dreams for AI. But the rush to expand warehouses full of energy-hungry servers has also kicked up fights across the world over their impact on power grids, utility bills, nearby communities, and the environment.

From audacious plans to launch data centers into space to the latest legal battles over pollution, The Verge has the biggest news and reporting surrounding data centers."

To make AI morally good, tech companies are turning to religion. But some say it isn’t that simple; AP, October 25, 2026

 KRYSTA FAURIA, AP; To make AI morally good, tech companies are turning to religion. But some say it isn’t that simple

"Religion is more than a set of rules to follow

For decades, scholars have pushed back against a widespread view of religion as a set of rules or principles that can be divorced from the “messy, practical, ad hoc” ways adherents live, argues Webb Keane, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan.

The idea that religion can be separated from things like culture and politics remains entrenched, even though it suffuses both in many ways. Some worry that AI companies, as they ask various faith leaders to answer ethical questions, will further perpetuate a theory of religion that fails to recognize the importance of doctrine, ritual and relationships.

Here’s the issue, Keane argues: If you assume that religion overall can offer a distinct set of extractable moral principles, using it to train AI risks prioritizing certain traditions and distorting others — particularly when it comes to faiths that do not see themselves primarily as a system of ethics.

“There’s a very conventional way of thinking of religion as a rule book,” he said. “It is certainly very tied to scriptural religion, and the scriptural religions at the end of the day really turn out to be the Abrahamic religions.”"

BC Professor Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over Use Of Copyrighted Textbooks; The Heights, October 25, 2026

 Nikita Osadchiy , The Heights; BC Professor Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over Use Of Copyrighted Textbooks

"A Boston College finance professor is among six textbook authors suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, alleging the companies downloaded their books from pirate websites and used them without authorization to train their large language models (LLMs), including ChatGPT.

“OpenAI reproduced Plaintiffs’ and the Class’s Works without authorization by downloading them from shadow libraries, copying them into datasets and computer memory, converting them into training-ready formats, and copying them into the materials used to train their LLMs and ChatGPT,” the textbook authors argued in their complaint. 

The suit seeks to represent every textbook author whose copyrighted work OpenAI or Microsoft allegedly copied. 

Alan Marcus, the Mario J. Gabelli endowed professor of finance at the Carroll School of Management, filed the proposed class-action lawsuit on Aug. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alongside five current and former professors from across the country. 

The plaintiffs name Microsoft in the lawsuit for its role in building the infrastructure on which OpenAI trained its models and profiting by building those models into products like Bing Chat and Copilot, the complaint alleges."

Kent Branch Library closes due to patron allegedly throwing box infested with cockroaches; WTOL, October 27, 2026

 WTOL Staff, WTOL ; Kent Branch Library closes due to patron allegedly throwing box infested with cockroaches

"Toledo-Lucas County Public Library's Kent Branch is closed for the entire day Tuesday after a patron reportedly threw items covered in cockroaches at a staff member. 

A TLCPL spokesperson confirmed that a library customer threw a box with cockroaches in/on it at a staff member, leading library staff to shut down the building and restrict public access. The spokesperson said that 911 was called, but it is unclear if law enforcement was on scene."

Kent Branch Library closes due to patron allegedly throwing box infested with cockroaches; WTOL, October 27, 2026

WTOL Staff, WTOL ; Kent Branch Library closes due to patron allegedly throwing box infested with cockroaches

"Toledo-Lucas County Public Library's Kent Branch is closed for the entire day Tuesday after a patron reportedly threw items covered in cockroaches at a staff member. 

A TLCPL spokesperson confirmed that a library customer threw a box with cockroaches in/on it at a staff member, leading library staff to shut down the building and restrict public access. The spokesperson said that 911 was called, but it is unclear if law enforcement was on scene."

Anthropic IPO filing warns some risks may be uninsurable. AI coverage will be issue for every company; CNBC, October 28, 2026

Kevin Williams, CNBC; Anthropic IPO filing warns some risks may be uninsurable. AI coverage will be issue for every company

"Anthropic’s IPO filing includes many words covering many risks, from IP theft to security incidents, data loss, climate change, rogue agents and all the way to an existential crisis for humanity. Embedded in all of the risk language are basic questions about insurance: What’s going to be covered? Is it even possible to provide a policy for all of the ways that AI could go wrong? Anthropic, even with more cash than almost any company in America, couldn’t answer that question with confidence."

Owners of Elvis Presley’s Music Sue Anthropic for Copyright Infringement; The New York Times, October 25, 2026

  Derrick Bryson Taylor, The New York Times; Owners of Elvis Presley’s Music Sue Anthropic for Copyright Infringement

The $41 million lawsuit contends that the A.I. company used Presley’s music to train its models without permission. Anthropic disagrees with the claims.

"The owners of Elvis Presley’s music sued the artificial intelligence company Anthropic, saying it trained its models on more than 200 of Presley’s songs without their permission, and accusing it of copyright infringement.

The suit, filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of several parties, seeks a jury trial and more than $41 million, or $150,000 per song, in damages.

The owners of the music, who include the licensing company Authentic Brands Group, Raleigh Music Publishing, multiple trusts and at least one individual, also accused Anthropic, the company behind the popular chatbot Claude, of circumventing measures used to protect the music and removing or altering copyright management information from the songs."

Gulliver fans celebrate three centuries of Jonathan Swift’s classic satire; The Guardian, October 28, 2026

 Rory Carroll, The Guardian; Gulliver fans celebrate three centuries of Jonathan Swift’s classic satire

"In March 1726, an Irish clergyman visited London and arranged for a courier to deliver a manuscript to a publisher under cover of night. The dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin knew his novel would cause trouble and wanted to publish it anonymously.

His name was Jonathan Swift and the story was called Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. The satirical work was published that October and is better known 300 years on as Gulliver’s Travels.

An immediate sensation, it skewered Georgian pretensions and entered popular culture through translations, children’s versions, comics and films. The anniversary is now being celebrated at Swift’s alma mater, Trinity College Dublin, and at events around Ireland.

Exhibitions, festivals, seminars, art competitions and workshops are exploring the origins of Swift’s masterpiece, its retelling through a feminist lens, and its prophetic depiction of a society in thrall to a form of artificial intelligence...

Gulliver’s experiences in Laputa, a floating island dedicated to arts and science, resonated with our era’s anxieties about technology, said Douglas. Its inhabitants seek to extract sunbeams from cucumbers and obtain knowledge via an “engine” of wires, handles and paper that can produce tracts on philosophy, poetry and mathematics “without the least assistance from genius or study”."

Neil Young sues Trump for $10M over unauthorized use of 'Rockin' in the Free World'; ABA Journal, October 27, 2026

 AMANDA ROBERT , ABA Journal; Neil Young sues Trump for $10M over unauthorized use of 'Rockin' in the Free World'

"Legendary musician Neil Young is suing President Donald Trump for $10 million over his use of song “Rockin’ in the Free World” at a midterm election rally in Ohio in early October.

In an Oct. 26 complaint, which was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, Young alleges that the PAC Trump 47 Committee played his song before Trump took the stage at the rally in Youngstown, Ohio, despite promising not to do so in a settlement six years ago...

“‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ is a blistering anthem that contrasts the hollow promises of American political rhetoric with the harsh realities faced by the poor, homeless and forgotten,” Young said in his complaint, which seeks relief for copyright infringement. “The lyrics paint vivid street-level portraits—a mother discarding her baby, addicts lost in despair, garbage piling in the shadows of prosperity—while the repeated chorus delivers a savage irony, celebrating freedom that clearly isn’t shared by all.”

“In short, the song is the opposite of everything that Donald J. Trump stands for,” Young added."