25 September 2026

Appeals court sides with the Pentagon in its dispute with Anthropic

A federal appeals court in Washington ruled 2-1 that the Department of War was entitled to put Anthropic on its list of companies posing a "supply chain risk," which bars it from working with the military and its contractors. The court also rejected the argument that the company's free speech rights had been violated. Anthropic is weighing its next steps, including an appeal to the Supreme Court, and notes that another court found a parallel government decision unlawful.

Gizmodo ↗

From recent days

AI companies are rehearsing scenarios for the "day after" a catastrophic AI incident

Leaders at Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI companies are privately analyzing scenarios of public and political backlash after a catastrophic AI incident, most likely a cyberattack that cuts off access to financial services, the internet, or power or water, Axios reports, citing industry sources. Many of them expect such an event within 6-12 months; the preparations involve analyzing worst-case scenarios and educating members of Congress in order to influence the rules authorities will reach for after the first disaster. OpenAI confirmed it runs such exercises but "does not treat these scenarios as inevitable"; Anthropic declined to comment.

Axios ↗ Gizmodo ↗

New York court sentences Michael Smith to 18 months in prison - his bots played AI songs billions of times, earning him over $8 million in royalties

Judge John G. Koeltl on Tuesday, October 6, sentenced Michael Smith, 54, of North Carolina to 18 months in prison and two years of supervised release and ordered the forfeiture of $8,091,843.64, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said. According to prosecutors, from 2017 to 2024 Smith ran thousands of fake accounts (up to 10,000 at once) that streamed hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs billions of times; in April 2023, Smith's bots using YouTube Music family plans played his music 80.9 million times, while Taylor Swift's entire catalog had 9.3 million plays on such plans. Smith pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit fraud; it is the first criminal streaming fraud case in the US, Billboard reports, adding that the defense asked for no prison time and prosecutors for at least 46 months.

justice.gov ↗ Billboard ↗ Gizmodo ↗

Bill Gates: AI companies regulating themselves is not enough, laws are needed

In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Bill Gates came out in favor of a law regulating AI: "No one thinks self-regulation is enough." In his view, AI is already so powerful that in the hands of people with bad intentions it could lead to "a billion deaths." He called a kill switch that would let authorities shut down models insufficient on its own: safeguards and oversight, he said, must be mandatory.

NBC News ↗ The Guardian ↗ USA Today ↗

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