Bet on This
A small newsletter on legaltech
AI
Both the White House and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have issued drafts of an national AI policy framework that would pre-empt state laws on AI regulation
White House proposal: [National Policy Framework for AI | Politico | K&L Gates |
Sen. Blackburn draft: [Draft text | Axios | IAPP | Politico] | Bloomberg Law ($)]
From Wired [$]: “OpenAI is refocusing its research efforts and throwing its resources into a new grand challenge. The San Francisco firm has set its sights on building what it calls an AI researcher, a fully automated agent-based system that will be able to go off and tackle large, complex problems by itself”
OpenAI has decided to shut down its video generation app Sora, which led Disney to withdraw from its deal to invest US$1 billion in OpenAI [Hollywood Reporter | Deadline | Ars Technica]
Google has confirmed that it is testing Gemini AI re-writing/replacing headlines of articles in search results [The Verge ($) | Search Engine Land]
Fabrication Follies
A California attorney who submitted fabricated case citations in an appellate brief (Noland v. Land of the Free, L.P.) is facing one year of stayed suspension and probation after stipulating to discipline by the State Bar Court [Metropolitan News-Enterprise | Law360 ($) | Stipulation]
Miscellaneous
During Senate testimony, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that the agency has bought location data from private brokers to track movements and location history of people [Politico | Engadget]
An officer on a French aircraft carrier reportedly revealed its position, while on its way to the eastern Mediterranean, by uploading their exercise activity to Strava, which then created a map of the person’s location [BBC]
From Bloomberg Law News [$]: “US’s Mysterious $15 Billion Crypto Haul Faces Questions in Court” [archive]
The FCC has instituted a ban on all new foreign-made network routers; manufacturers must seek conditional approvals from the agency to sell new models in the U.S. going forward [Ars Technica | Engadget]
Meta has been found liable in two civil trials this week:
K.G.M v. Meta Platforms Inc.(plaintiff argued that Meta and Google made design choices that addicted her to Instagram & YouTube apps when she was a minor; $3 million in compensatory damages & $3 million in punitive damages) [Law360 ($) | NPR | Courthouse News]
State of New Mexico v. Meta Platforms, Inc. ( state AG sued Meta for failing to protect child users of its services from predators; $375 million in civil penalties) [NM DOJ Press release | CNBC | AP News]
From 404 Media [$]: WebinarTV, a company that bills itself as ‘a search engine for the best webinars,’ is secretly scanning the internet for Zoom meeting links, recording the calls, and turning them into AI-generated podcasts for profit”
Prediction Markets
From the Wall Street Journal [$]: “‘Is This Insider Information?’ The Prediction Market Bets Driving a Campus Frenzy”
From Punchbowl [$]: “Vault: Prediction Markets have a champion in the CFTC”
Related: the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued an advisory and an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking with a request for public comments in connection with prediction markets
From Reuters: “Kalshi criminally charged in Arizona for operating illegal gambling business”
Several bills have been introduced in Congress this month dealing with prediction markets:
End Prediction Market Corruption Act (S. 4017) - “To amend the Commodity Exchange Act to ban certain Government officials from trading event contracts, and for other purposes”
The Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act (S. 4160) - “To amend the Commodity Exchange Act to prohibit certain
event contracts involving sports and casino-style games” [Bill Text | Congress.gov]
Prediction Markets Security and Integrity Act of 2026 (S. 4060) - “To provide national safeguards to prevent abuse and fraud in online prediction markets, prevent underage use of online prediction markets, protect consumers, and return regulatory authorities and oversight of online prediction markets to States”
Long Reads
Harrington, Sean & Stillwell, Hayley, Michael Scott Is Not A Juror: The Limits Of AI In Simulating Human Judgment, 8 UNT DALLAS L. REV. ON THE CUSP 75 (2026), https://onthecusp.untdallas.edu/docs/2026/michaelscottisnotajuror.pdf
Sourati Z, S. Ziabari A, Dehghani M., The homogenizing effect of large language models on human expression and thought, Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2026) https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(26)00003-3
Bessis, Toscane F., Andy J. Wills, Bartosz W. Wojciechowski, Lee C. White, and Emmanuel M. Pothos, Legal Decision Biases in GPT: A Comparison with Human Judgment, 16 Behavioral Sciences 3: 437 https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16030437
