#Society & jobs

AIMichael Smith of Cornelius, North Carolina, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $8,091,843.64 after using bots to inflate streams of his AI-generated music on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. The US Justice Department said he used up to 10,000 bots at a time, and he pleaded guilty in March 2026 to conspiring to commit wire fraud. He was not prosecuted for making AI-generated music, but for falsely boosting streams to collect per-stream royalties.

AIRohit Prasad, a longtime Amazon AI executive who helped build Alexa, will lead Boston Dynamics as the robotics company prepares to manufacture humanoid robots at scale. The source does not give further details on the appointment or production timeline.

AIMeta's Muse AI agent has millions of users and can handle tasks from refunds to insurance shopping. Its broad access to personal data has already led to some unnerving mistakes, according to Fast Company.

AIFlock Safety plans to cut about 18% of its roughly 1,500 employees, affecting around 270 people after a voluntary buyout program, people with direct knowledge of the plans said. The company, which runs a network of about 120,000 AI-powered license-plate cameras across 49 states, declined to comment. The cuts come as Flock faces growing opposition from communities, lawmakers and privacy advocates, including Florida's ban on automated license plate readers on state highways in September.

AIA new poll finds 64% of Americans think AI is developing "too fast." The source text provides no further detail on the poll's sponsor, sample, or method.

AIMeta's Muse AI agent has millions of users and can handle tasks from refunds to insurance shopping. Its broad access to personal data has already led to some unnerving mistakes, according to Fast Company.

AIBryce Vincent Gowryluk, 16, had to be rescued by North Shore Rescue after following route directions from the AI chatbot Claude that took him to the base of the Widowmaker Arete, a 1,700-foot wall in British Columbia. He had asked Claude to plan a route from Grouse Mountain to Crown Mountain and back, and he was ill-equipped for the rock climbing the wall requires. Rescue manager Paul Markey warned hikers not to rely blindly on AI for route planning.

AIThe FCC is considering loosening rules on political robocalls that use AI voices before the midterms. Federal law currently bans most robocalls to cellphones unless the caller obtains prior consent.

AIThe FCC is considering loosening rules on political robocalls that use AI voices before the midterms. Federal law currently bans most robocalls to cellphones unless the caller obtains prior consent.

AIAI Studio Authors First has launched with $10 million in backing and pledges to help writers faithfully adapt their books. The company positions its tools as a way to keep authors in control of how their work is translated to screen. The post links to a Variety report with further details.