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31 Jan 2026

AI Industry Super PAC Raises $125 Million to Shape AI Regulations in Midterm Elections

Silicon Valley's Leading the Future super PAC has raised $125 million to influence midterm elections and push for national AI regulations over state-level laws. Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman are among major donors, each contributing $12.5 million. The group has already spent nearly $1.4 million opposing and supporting candidates in New York and Texas congressional races.

2 Sources

30 Jan 2026

India Launches IAIRO to Drive Sovereign AI Execution and Build Strategic Autonomy

India has formally launched the Indian AI Research Organisation (IAIRO), marking a decisive shift from AI strategy formulation to sovereign execution. Founded by Dr. Amit Sheth, IAIRO aims to develop sovereign intellectual property, build AI talent, and translate research into real-world deployments addressing India's core challenges at population scale.

2 Sources

Federal agents deploy facial recognition tech in immigration crackdown, sparking privacy concerns

Immigration enforcement takes a digital turn as federal agents use Mobile Fortify app to scan faces on the street without consent. The Department of Homeland Security's expanding surveillance apparatus has scanned over 100,000 people since last year, raising alarm among civil liberties experts who warn that citizens and noncitizens alike are being swept into vast databases with little oversight.

3 Sources

Pentagon clashes with Anthropic over AI safeguards as $200 million contract stalls

The Pentagon and AI developer Anthropic have reached a standstill in contract negotiations over safeguards preventing autonomous weapons targeting and domestic surveillance. The dispute under a $200 million contract tests whether Silicon Valley can influence how the U.S. military deploys AI on the battlefield, with Anthropic insisting on ethical AI standards while Pentagon officials argue they should deploy commercial AI as they see fit.

5 Sources

Google engineer convicted of stealing AI trade secrets for Chinese interests in landmark case

A federal jury convicted former Google engineer Linwei Ding on 14 counts of economic espionage and theft of trade secrets. Between May 2022 and April 2023, he stole over 2,000 pages of confidential data about Google's AI infrastructure, including TPU and GPU specifications, while secretly founding AI startups in China. The case marks the first AI-related economic espionage conviction in U.S. history.

15 Sources

Amazon Found High Volume of CSAM in AI Training Data, Raising Questions About Safeguards

Amazon reported hundreds of thousands of suspected child sexual abuse material cases found in its AI training data to NCMEC in 2025, accounting for the vast majority of over 1 million AI-related reports. Child safety officials express concern over Amazon's lack of origin details, which prevents law enforcement from identifying perpetrators and protecting victims.

3 Sources

29 Jan 2026

Music publishers sue Anthropic for $3 billion over illegal downloading of 20,000 songs

Universal Music Group and Concord Music Group lead a coalition of music publishers in a $3 billion lawsuit against Anthropic, accusing the AI company of illegally downloading over 20,000 copyrighted songs to train Claude. The suit alleges flagrant piracy through shadow libraries, marking one of the largest non-class action copyright cases in U.S. history.

5 Sources

CISA's Acting Director Uploaded Sensitive Files to ChatGPT, Triggering Federal Investigation

Dr. Madhu Gottumukkala, acting director of CISA, uploaded sensitive government documents into the public version of ChatGPT last summer, triggering automated security alerts. The incident has sparked a Department of Homeland Security investigation into potential data exposure and raises critical questions about federal AI governance and human element vulnerability in cybersecurity.

2 Sources

Nvidia DeepSeek controversy erupts as US lawmaker links technical support to China military AI

A US House committee chair alleges Nvidia provided extensive technical assistance to Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, helping achieve breakthrough training efficiency with just 2.788M H800 GPU hours. Documents suggest the AI models were later used by China's military, intensifying debate over US export controls and national security risks in the AI race with Beijing.

6 Sources

28 Jan 2026

UK Watchdog Pushes Google to Let Publishers Opt Out of AI Overviews Amid Traffic Concerns

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority proposed measures requiring Google to allow publishers to opt out of having their content used in AI Overviews. The move comes after news organizations reported significant drops in website traffic since Google rolled out AI-generated summaries at the top of search results. Google says it's exploring updates to provide opt-out controls while maintaining search helpfulness.

16 Sources

UK Government Offers Free AI Training to 10 Million Workers, But Experts Question If It's Enough

The UK government has launched an expanded free AI training program targeting 10 million workers by 2030, aiming to make Britain the fastest AI-adopting nation in the G7. With only 21% of UK workers confident using AI and just one in six businesses currently adopting the technology, the initiative faces significant uptake challenges despite potential economic benefits of £140 billion annually.

3 Sources

Nvidia's H200 AI chip sales to China stalled by US security review despite initial approvals

China approved imports of Nvidia's H200 AI chips for ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent in January, totaling over 400,000 units. But nearly two months later, sales remain frozen as the US State Department pushes for tougher restrictions. Chinese customers aren't placing orders until licensing conditions become clear.

18 Sources

US calls Taiwan 'vital partner' after high-level tech and AI talks on semiconductors and drones

Senior US and Taiwanese officials held their sixth round of high-level tech and AI talks, signing agreements on AI and semiconductor supply chain security. The US State Department praised Taiwan as a vital partner whose advanced manufacturing sector fuels the AI revolution, while discussions covered drones, critical minerals, and economic security cooperation amid growing geopolitical tensions.

3 Sources

AI Data Centers Face Growing Backlash as Energy Bills Rise and Communities Push Back

Communities across the US are blocking AI data centers over rising electricity costs and resource strain. Meta has spent $6 million on TV ads while over two dozen projects face delays this month alone. The issue is scrambling traditional political lines, with lawmakers from both parties calling for stricter regulations on data center energy use.

4 Sources

27 Jan 2026

AI-generated fake images flood social media, threatening to distort Holocaust memory

As the world marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day, memorial sites and historians warn that AI-generated content is surging across social media platforms, creating fabricated stories and images that distort the history of Nazi crimes. From invented victims to fake photographs, this AI slop threatens efforts to preserve accurate Holocaust memory for future generations.

3 Sources

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