Policy

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) gained access to the limited release cybersecurity-focused model last week, Nextgov/FCW reports. It’s just a little late, since the rest of the world has mostly moved onto the drama around the Trump administration’s block of the safeguarded public version of the model, Fable.

AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:

We’ve had unboxings, hands-ons, and teardowns, but Bloomberg is the first publication to give the T1 Phone a detailed review. It might be kinder than you expect — Verge alumnus Chris Welch admits the specs aren’t bad — but still reaches the obvious conclusion: “It’s easy to find a better phone than this.”

A major case surrounding lookalike products (“dupes”) came to a close this week, in which Deckers, the maker of UGG boots, sued direct-to-consumer brand Quince, alleging it had knocked off its shearling ankle boot. A jury found that Quince’s version was indeed substantially similar to the design patent for the UGG boots — but also that the patent itself was invalid in the first place.

In response to the Stop Destroying Videogames initiative, the European Commission said it can’t propose legislation to keep games playable after they’re removed from sale due to intellectual property rights. Instead, the Commission will work to develop new industry standards for video game shutdowns.

The Justice Department argues that xAI’s Mississippi data center should be allowed to pollute the air because it’s “critical” for military operations, which honestly explains a lot.

As we discussed, Epic and Google will be back in court July 16th to answer six specific questions from the court — as it decides whether to force Google to carry rival stores inside its own app store, or let it adopt “Registered App Stores” in the US instead. What do you think of the embedded arguments?

Anthropic and the US government are once again at odds, this time over the Claude Fable 5 model that either is, or is not, or might be, far too dangerous to release to the world. The Verge’s Hayden Field explains what’s going on with Fable, Mythos, and the whole idea of American AI exceptionalism, before also answering your questions about how WhatsApp and Siri might one day work together, and whether Apple messed up by calling it Siri AI.

The Roku Netflix Player was originally a streaming box that then-Netflix CEO Reed Hastings decided not to build.

The Justice Department is trying to intervene and dismiss a case from the NAACP alleging xAI’s use of gas turbines in Mississippi are illegally polluting the air. Preventing xAI from using them would endanger national security, DOJ argues, because “Grok provides critical support for the Department of War’s military operations.”

A month after a jury dismissed Elon’s claims in the Musk v. Altman case, US District Judge Rita Lin dismissed an xAI lawsuit accusing OpenAI of stealing trade secrets and poaching employees. This time, it was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can’t be refiled, unlike when she dismissed the case in February.

On Sunday, the rich and powerful gathered to watch men choke each other out on the White House lawn. Welcome to peak idiocracy.

Unlike Eric Schmidt or Gloria Caulfield, Pichai didn’t mention AI. Instead, it seems the students were protesting Google’s broader politics, and chanted “Free Palestine” over Pichai’s speech as they filed out.

DJI sued in China when Insta360 muscled in on drones, and both companies are Spider-Man Pointing in US lawsuits now they’re competing on stickcams. Recall: Insta360 just launched its Osmo Pocket competitor Luna Ultra in the US, but DJI can’t sell its Osmo Pocket 4 here.

“Outsider Enterprise” allegedly distributes phishing templates that have scammed people out of millions of dollars. Google says over a million fraudulent URLs are linked to the group, and that over just two weeks, it sent 2.5 million messages to Android users with links to fraudulent websites.

Among the moratorium’s fiercest supporters were Amazon employees, who joined others to testify in support of the policy in multiple Seattle city council hearings.

Russia banned Roblox last year over “LGBT propaganda” and “extremist” content, but the platform “has fully complied with Russian legislation on ensuring user safety,” according to a statement from the country’s Digital Development Ministry reported on by Interfax.

A report from 404 Media shows how more than a dozen cases around the US have shown police using Flock to illegally stalk victims. Flock acknowledged it’s aware of 15 incidents, claiming“each surfaced because of the transparency and accountability features deliberately built into our platform.”