#ai-regulation

#ai-regulation

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during the 2025 New York Times Dealbook Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 3, 2025, in New York City. Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images Polls show that a majority of US voters - and especially Democrats - want more robust guardrails on artificial intelligence, but Democratic governors' silence on President Donald Trump's directive banning states from regulating AI has some observers asking if lobbying by the powerful industry is to blame.

With billionaire 'AI Czar' David Sacks at his side, President Trump signed an executive order Thursday that charges the US attorney general with going after any state laws pertaining to AI regulation. The order could make it difficult for California to enact its own regulations of the industry. [Chronicle] A Vallejo woman was found fatally shot in her apartment after failing to show up for work on Tuesday.

In what's shaping up as a rotation out of technology names, the Nasdaq Composite has been left out of the broader market rally this week. After yesterday's impressive trading session in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both clinched new highs, the broader markets are looking to take more ground while tech remains sidelined. As for the Nasdaq Composite, it is eyeing a 22% gain year-to-date before any potential Santa Claus rally grips the technology sector if sentiment can be reversed.

The AGs have given Meta, Google, OpenAI, and others a deadline of January 16th, 2026 to respond to demands for more safety measures for generative AI, saying innovation is not "an excuse for noncompliance with our laws, misinforming parents, and endangering our residents, particularly children."

It was a distinctly clever, if somewhat surprising, choice from Altman who has mostly kept his personal life out of the media spotlight. But Altman is a salesman, and a good salesman understands the optics of good television. So he talked about being a dad and being worried that his son-who wasn't crawling at six months-was developing slower than other children (spoiler: he's not). "I cannot imagine having gone through, figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT," Altman told Fallon. "People did it for a long time, no problem. So clearly it was possible, but I have relied on it so much."

What changed? Republicans long characterized Silicon Valley as a bastion of liberalism. But over the past half-decade, many of tech's wealthiest titans rebelled against the Biden administration's criticism and policing of their industry. Last year, many tech barons threw their support behind the GOP, which they saw as more aligned with their often-libertarian ideals and their companies' economic interests.

The Trump administration and congressional Republicans are trying again to eliminate state-level AI regulations in favor of a federal standard. The plan faces opposition from many state governments and civil-society organizations, while AI vendors have welcomed it.

* "If you kill this witness, the case will be dismissed," advised attorney. Man, these MPRE hypos are getting super easy. [ Toronto Star] * Trump signs bill to release the Epstein files. Unclear if he drew a woman's curves around it before signing this time. [ Reuters] * Texas governor demands action on Sharia Law, so you know it's a bad news cycle for him. [ KXAN]

The speed of AI development gets most of the headlines, but the law is running a race of its own. Legislators and regulators are releasing new rules at a pace that can surprise even the most seasoned compliance teams. For in-house counsel, this creates a constant challenge: how to give sound, forward-looking advice when the ground under your feet is shifting.

Tencent's profit jumping 19% on AI gains, and 58% of UK households holding fewer than three streaming services. ITV is rewriting the rules of broadcast advertising with Live Addressable +, unveiled at its Palooza event. For the first time, advertisers can target audiences on ITV's linear TV channels with precision. And while ITV sharpens its targeting game, it's also stepping into the social spotlight by joining TikTok's Pulse Premiere, giving brands prime placement alongside trending content.

Speaking during the inquiry's second evidence session on 29 October 2025, expert witnesses told Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights that, as it stands, the UK's "uncritical and deregulatory" approach to AI will fail to deal with the clear human rights harms presented by the technology. This includes harms related to surveillance and automated decision-making, which can variously impact both collective and individual rights to privacy, non-discrimination, and freedom of assembly; especially given the speed and scale at which the technology operates.

Once a fringe curiosity, the deepfake economy has grown to become a $7.5 billion market, with some predictions projecting that it will hit $38.5 billion by 2032. Deepfakes are now everywhere, and the stock market is not the only part of the economy that is vulnerable to their impact. Those responsible for the creation of deepfakes are also targeting individual businesses, sometimes with the goal of extracting money and sometimes simply to cause damage.

We need to take a deep breath and understand it's like a meteor coming,

"Regulation is going to have to be self-regulation," said Sir Martin Sorrell, founder and executive chairman of S4 Capital, this week at the Fortune Global Forum in Riyadh. "The cat is out of the bag. We've missed the Oppenheimer moment. Many people compare it to the control of nuclear weapons."

We call for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence, not lifted before there is broad scientific consensus that it will be done safely and controllably, and strong public buy-in.