The Download: murky AI surveillance laws, and the White House cracks down on defiant labs

Current US laws have not kept pace with AI capabilities, creating legal ambiguity around whether the government can conduct mass surveillance on Americans using AI systems. A dispute between the Department of Defense and AI company Anthropic has exposed this gap, with the White House responding by issuing new guidelines requiring AI companies to allow 'any lawful' use of their models, though questions about what is actually lawful remain unanswered.