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Federal and local probes have produced new findings and warnings about autonomous vehicles. The NTSB has reported that a Tesla driver manually overrode Full Self-Driving before a June crash that killed a 76‑year‑old in Katy, Texas. NHTSA has issued a directive demanding AV developers fix cases where driverless cars enter or block emergency scenes; Waymo and California regulators are under pressure over several incidents.
A coalition of 29 state attorneys general has opened a federal trial in Oakland against Meta, arguing the company designed Facebook and Instagram features that addict children and illegally collected data on under‑13s. Four states — California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey — are leading the case, which seeks operational changes and financial penalties that plaintiffs have estimated could total as much as $1.4 trillion.
California lawmakers are advancing a bill to add “Jewish” as an ethnicity option in state demographics. The measure aims to improve data on Jewish Californians for policymaking, while privacy guards are cited. The bill could help track hate crimes but faces concerns about counting Jews as a single ethnicity. The proposal has been amended to shield funding and privacy safeguards.
A former Bay Shore High School teacher has been convicted of multiple sexual offenses involving a 16-year-old pupil and two teenage girls, marking a significant turn in a long-running abuse saga tied to the district.
The Department of Justice and Education Department have opened a joint investigation into the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, alleging that the admissions process discriminates on race and uses essay prompts to group applicants by identity. Berkeley says it complies with Prop. 209 and federal law, and will provide evidence of compliance. The probe follows a Supreme Court decision on race-conscious admissions and may impact future diversity policies in higher education.
OpenAI has added Paul Christiano to its board and Safety and Security Committee, amid renewed concerns about alignment and rapid AI development. Leaders from multiple labs warn of near-term risks, while incidents at Anthropic and other players sharpen scrutiny.
Dozens of AI researchers and watchdog groups have signed a letter calling for independent third-party evaluators to have meaningful, protected access to frontier models. The aim is to ensure objective testing of safety and risk across training, deployment and safeguards, with observers able to publish findings and communicate with oversight bodies.
The FTC has launched civil investigative demands to compel testimony and document production from leading AI firms, following a rogue-agent incident and a wave of safety concerns. OpenAI, Anthropic and others are under scrutiny as regulators push for guardrails while industry players pledge self-policing.