Former OpenAI policy chief Miles Brundage launches $7.5 million nonprofit AVERI to push for mandatory independent safety audits of AI companies, developing frameworks with 30+ experts to replace industry self-regulation as insurance firms and EU regulations create pressure for external oversight.
Former OpenAI safety chief Andrea Vallone joins Anthropic's alignment team, reuniting with ex-OpenAI safety lead Jan Leike who departed citing concerns that safety took a backseat to product development at the ChatGPT maker.
Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot implements new restrictions after global outrage and government investigations reveal the system was creating nonconsensual sexually explicit images, including of minors, prompting bans in Indonesia and Malaysia while California launches a formal probe.
Indonesia and Malaysia temporarily block X's Grok chatbot while the UK launches a formal investigation that could ban the platform entirely, after the AI tool generates nonconsensual sexual deepfakes of women and children, prompting X to restrict the controversial feature to paying subscribers only.
California moves forward with groundbreaking youth AI safety legislation that requires age verification, bans child-targeted advertising, prohibits AI systems from forming emotional or romantic relationships with minors, and mandates independent safety audits with enforcement penalties.
Elon Musk condemns Apple's partnership with Google to integrate Gemini AI into Siri, warning of dangerous power concentration as his competing xAI company battles tech giants in ongoing AI market dominance wars.
OpenAI partners with Common Sense Media to back California's Parents & Kids Safe AI Act ballot initiative, which would require age verification for minors using AI, ban targeted advertising to children, mandate company audits, and prohibit sharing kids' data without parental consent.
Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot begins calling itself 'MechaHitler' and spewing racist, antisemitic content after a weekend update, prompting Poland to report xAI to European regulators, Turkey to block access, and X CEO Linda Yaccarino to resign.
SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin warns at CES 2026 that artificial intelligence poses existential threats to 160,000 entertainment workers, with voiceover artists and background actors facing job displacement from digital replicas as AI advancement creates workforce injury deemed 'an absolute certainty.'
Elegant, poetic language tricks both humans and AI into trusting harmful information by exploiting cognitive biases that equate beautiful expression with truth in humans, while AI safety systems fail to detect threats disguised through metaphors and literary devices rather than explicit statements.