News Update 5/31: Hot Pod Summer

Stanford’s Evelyn Douek and Alex Stamos weigh in on the latest online trust and safety news and developments:

• OpenAI published its first transparency report on covert influence operations using the company’s AI models finding the tools were used for existing campaigns by Russia, China, Iran and Israel with limited reach. - Ina Fried/ Axios, OpenAI 
• In very related news, Meta announced it removed foreign influence operations using AI-generated content. - Aisha Counts/ Bloomberg News, Margarita Franklin, Lindsay Hundley, Mike Torrey, David Agranovich, Mike Dvilyanski/ Meta
  • Meta claims it is still able to detect influence operations using AI-generated content, but recent Stanford Internet Observatory research found such content is being widely used for spam that generates engagement with surreal or emotional content.
  • Both Meta and OpenAI point fingers at Israeli actors for using generative AI in influence operations and Meta claimed a victory in stopping the infamous Russian Doppelganger operation.
• California legislators are considering dozens of bills with AI regulations. One of the most prominent and controversial is SB 1047, the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act. - Jeremy B. White/ Politico
  • What it Would Do: The bill would create sweeping AI safety regulations against “hazardous capabilities” and a Frontier Model Division of California Department of Technology to set those new rules for the most powerful AI models, including a “kill switch.” The bill also includes CalCompute, a public cloud computing cluster for AI safety research.
  • The Politics: The bill was introduced by State Senator Scott Wiener, an ambitious Democrat seeking to succeed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. While state lawmakers have introduced many ambitious AI safety regulations, Governor Gavin Newsom is urging a focus on innovation to protect the state’s tech industry. - Jeremy B. White/ Politico

TikTok Tick-Tock

• TikTok is funding a lawsuit brought by a diverse group of eight creators against the federal government’s divest-or-ban measure. The new suit was combined with the lawsuit brought by TikTok and parent company ByteDance with an expedited schedule to hear the case in September. - Josephine Rozzelle/ CNBC, David Shepardson/ Reuters, Julia Shapero/ The Hill, Taylor Lorenz, Drew Harwell/ The Washington Post
  • The creators include a cattle rancher, cookie baker, feminist activist, college football coach and a rapping conservative commentator. Their challenge focuses on First Amendment free speech rights.
• The tech trade association NetChoice booted TikTok earlier in May following pushback from Congressional offices that warned of an investigation into organizations tied to TikTok. - Daniel Lippman, Brendan Bordelon/ Politico
• In a possible preview of what to expect in Murthy v. Missouri, the Supreme Court released a unanimous decision in NRA v. Vullo that found a New York state official likely violated the free speech rights of the National Rifle Association by pressuring banks and insurers to cut ties with the organization after the Parkland high school shooting. - Justin Jouvenal/ The Washington Post

Down Under

• An Australian court rejected an eSafety Commissioner global removal order for X to hide content with video of a stabbing attack at a Sydney church. eSafety has since dropped the case against X. - Jake Evans, Jordyn Butler/ ​​ABC News (Australia), Rod McGuirk/ Associated Press, Tanvi Nair/ Australian Institute of International Affairs, Sumathi Bala/ CNBC, Josh Taylor/ The Guardian
  • The court ruling acknowledged that the order would likely “be ignored or disparaged in other countries.”

Join the conversation and connect with Evelyn and Alex on Twitter at @evelyndouek and @alexstamos.

Moderated Content is produced in partnership by Stanford Law School and the Cyber Policy Center. Special thanks to John Perrino for research and editorial assistance.

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