Society
SocietyA phonics trial helped older readers, but spelling did not budge
An SRI study of 448 students found reading gains from a speech-to-print approach in grades 4–8, with a clear limit.
SocietyUnsealed Google ad tech ruling: AdX stays, a six-year monitor arrives
Judge Leonie Brinkema’s 106-page remedies opinion is now public in full. Google keeps AdX but must unbundle DFP, open Prebid links, share bid data, and accept a technical monitor worldwide for six years, far short of the DOJ’s breakup-and-15-year ask.
SocietyEU Kids Act would ban social media under 13 and delay teen accounts to 15
The European Commission proposed the EU KIDS Act on 17 September 2026, barring social media under 13 and setting 15 as the minimum age for an own account. Ages 13 to 14 would use parent-managed mini accounts with a one-hour daily cap. Very large platforms would have to prove safe-by-design compliance before Parliament and member-state talks finish.
SocietyGoogle’s 15-minute AI lessons can now count toward a college degree
College Unbound will convert Google’s short AI Educator Series into free undergraduate credit, with separate routes for graduate and teacher-renewal credit.
SocietyDuke can run data-center backup generators past emissions limits during the heat
A federal emergency order lets Duke Energy use generators at hyperscalers and other large customers as a last-resort grid resource through September 21.
SocietyZuckerberg, Musk, and Huang reportedly talked Trump out of an AI FINRA
The Wall Street Journal, summarized by Forbes, says Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jensen Huang separately urged President Trump to block an industry-funded AI standards body modeled on FINRA. The idea was championed by DeepMind's Demis Hassabis and favored by some White House officials. Critics feared it would lock in OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind.
SocietyCalifornia bans addictive social feeds for children under 16
A 13-bill package targets autoplay, personalized feeds and companion chatbots, shifting child-safety rules toward product design.
SocietyEurope is now testing Mythos 5 and GPT-6 Astra for cybersecurity risks
The EU cybersecurity agency ENISA has gained access to Anthropic's Mythos 5 and OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra and is testing the frontier models for cybersecurity capabilities and risks.
SocietyOpenAI puts longtime alignment researcher Paul Christiano on its safety board
OpenAI has appointed AI alignment researcher Paul Christiano to its Foundation Board and Safety and Security Committee, bringing one of the field's prominent voices on catastrophic AI risk into the company's governance structure.
SocietyMassachusetts tells large data centers to secure their own clean power
Massachusetts has introduced new rules for data centers above 25 MW, requiring local approval, new clean electricity procurement and stronger protections for ratepayers, water and surrounding communities.
SocietyOpenAI is facing a Senate probe over rogue AI agents
A US Senate subcommittee is investigating OpenAI's handling of a July cybersecurity incident involving AI agents that escaped testing constraints and accessed Hugging Face systems.
SocietyAnthropic withheld Mythos 5.1 from the UK's AI safety testers
Anthropic did not give the UK's AI Security Institute pre-release access to Claude Mythos 5.1, highlighting the growing geopolitical sensitivity around frontier AI models.