May 14, 2026

AI companies distracting with fear-mongering, Faculty Associate says

BBC

AI companies are marketing their products as powerful and potentially problematic to “humanity,” which critics say is a distraction from the harm they’re actually doing. In the BBC article “Why AI companies want you to be afraid of them,” experts say that there may some psychology at play. “It’s just part of this pattern of […]

May 5, 2026

Co-Director notes flaw in Meta’s threats in New Mexico

New York Post

A judge in New Mexico is considering whether the state attorney general’s requests to Meta amount to “overreach.” The New York Post article “New Mexico’s proposed kids safety fixes for Instagram, Facebook may go too far, judge warns” details how the state is embroiled in a case that has found Meta failed to protect children […]

April 24, 2026

Co-Director’s book formally fills content gap

UW Daily

Seeing the need for books on approaching technology from a legal perspective, TPL  Co-Director Ryan Calo wrote “Law and Technology: A Methodical Approach.” Calo, who holds a joint appointment at the UW Information School and an adjunct appointment at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, published his book in September 2025.

February 27, 2026

If chatbots are therapists, what are obligations? Co-Director asks

A recent New York Times article considers the questions surrounding use of AI that endangers public safety, including instances where individuals built bombs or planned large-scale attacks. “When Chatbots Are Used to Plan Violence, Is There a Duty to Warn?” brings forward issues of privacy vs. safety, including questions around when to report to law enforcement […]

January 18, 2026

Fake sexualized images create real harm, TPL student says

CNET

xAI’s Grok is now under formal investigation in California for the tool’s creation of nonconsensual sexualized images. In addition to being potentially illegal these altered photos can inflict deep damage, according to Natalie Grace Brigham, Tech Policy Lab Ph.D. student who studies sociotechnical harms. “Although these images are fake, the harm is incredibly real,” Brigham […]

January 1, 2026

Science fiction AI is nowhere near reality

National Geographic

The media has created stories of AI ending humanity but that’s not close to our current reality, Faculty Associate Emily Bender says. In a recent article in National Geographic, Bender argues that current AI tools share little with the thinking, feeling AIs of science fiction. “What companies mean when they say AI is ‘venture capitalists, […]

December 20, 2025

Co-Director skeptical of legality of nonprofit’s live cameras

NPR

A move by a New Orleans nonprofit to make the city “safer” could be circumventing legal protections, Co-Director Ryan Calo said in a recent NPR article. Project NOLA has built a network of cameras that allow for facial recognition with the goal of making it easier to find suspects after a crime is committed. But […]

December 12, 2025

Time’s new AI agent undermines journalism, Faculty Associate says

Yahoo! News

Time magazine recently launched an “Ask Me Anything” AI chatbot on its website. This window can’t be closed, which is a problematic feature, according to Faculty Associate Emily Bender. “Any journalistic outfit that values the work of their journalists wouldn’t offer to present it as papier-mâché,” Bender said of the AI chatbot, “and certainly wouldn’t […]

December 7, 2025

Robot dogs have role in thoughtful policing, Co-Director says

Bloomberg News

The growing use of robot “dogs” in policing across the country has raised ethical concerns and the public is calling for oversight and transparency. “Spot” is a German Shepherd-size robot being deployed by around 60 departments in the United States. It can intervene in situations that may be life-threatening for a human police officer or […]

Lab-led research finds AI bias impacts human hiring decisions

UW Today

Research led by Co-Director Aylin Caliskan is bringing forward questions about how to address bias in the hiring process that emerges when humans work with AI systems. “No Thoughts Just AI: Biased LLM Hiring Recommendations Alter Human Decision Making and Limit Human Autonomy,” presented in October at the AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and […]