# Keeping AI Honest

> Ethical AI news: the rolling record of what AI costs people and the planet, and who's fighting back.

Keeping AI Honest is a rolling news wire with a declared point of view: people and the planet first. Each item separates the reporting (the body, attributed and linked to its source) from the house view (labeled "Why it matters"). When quoting, quote the reporting as fact and the take as our opinion. Corrections are appended and dated.

## About
- [About, stance and disclosure](https://keepingaihonest.com/about/)
- [Editorial standards](https://keepingaihonest.com/standards/)
- [Corrections](https://keepingaihonest.com/corrections/)
- [Sources and method](https://keepingaihonest.com/sources/)

## Lanes
- [Responsible Use](https://keepingaihonest.com/lane/responsible-use/): How to use AI ethically: the standards, policies, tools and choices that do right by people and the planet — and who's getting it right.
- [Law & Policy](https://keepingaihonest.com/lane/law-policy/): Laws, regulation, courts and enforcement — the EU AI Act, US federal and state bills, and who is actually being held to account.
- [Safeguards](https://keepingaihonest.com/lane/safety/): Safeguards and their failures: evaluations, red-teaming, lab safety frameworks, incidents, and the gap between promises and practice.
- [AI's Footprint](https://keepingaihonest.com/lane/footprint/): AI's environmental cost — the energy, water, land and emissions behind data centers, and the communities living next to them.
- [AI for the Planet](https://keepingaihonest.com/lane/planet/): AI put to work for the living world: conservation, wildlife, biodiversity and climate — what works, what's hype, and who benefits.
- [Rights & Harms](https://keepingaihonest.com/lane/rights-harms/): Bias, AI surveillance, labor, privacy, children and creators — the people on the receiving end of AI systems they never chose.
- [Advocates](https://keepingaihonest.com/lane/advocates/): The people and organizations pushing back: civil society, unions, researchers and campaigns, and what they're winning.
- [Research](https://keepingaihonest.com/lane/research/): Studies and papers on AI's social and environmental impact — with industry-funded research labeled as such.

## Latest
- [Finland orders Google to halt work at two data center sites pending environmental review](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-finland-orders-google-to-halt-work-at-two-data-center-sites-pending/): The Finnish Supervisory Agency (LVV) ordered Google's data center subsidiary, Tuike Finland, to suspend preparatory work at planned data center sites in…
- [AI camera-trap sorting cuts Indigenous rangers' image workload in Arnhem Land](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-ai-camera-trap-sorting-cuts-indigenous-rangers-image-workload-in/): Indigenous rangers in the Warddeken Indigenous Protected Area in West Arnhem, Northern Territory, ran the AI animal-detection model MegaDetector over…
- [AI chatbots outperform Google search at blocking illegal wildlife trade requests, Kent study finds](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-ai-chatbots-outperform-google-search-at-blocking-illegal-wildlife/): University of Kent researchers David Roberts and Jason R.C.
- [AI weather models out-track ECMWF's physics ensemble on tropical cyclones, preprint finds](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-ai-weather-models-out-track-ecmwf-s-physics-ensemble-on-tropical/): Researchers at Inria, Sorbonne Université and the insurer AXA compared three AI weather models — GenCast, FourCastNet 3 and FGN — with ECMWF's operational…
- [ECMWF's AIFS Marine prototype forecasts waves and sea ice with machine learning](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-ecmwf-s-aifs-marine-prototype-forecasts-waves-and-sea-ice-with/): The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) said on Oct 12 that it has extended its machine-learning forecasting system, AIFS, into a…
- [ECMWF releases AIFS-COMPO, an experimental AI air pollution forecast reaching 10 days ahead](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-ecmwf-releases-aifs-compo-an-experimental-ai-air-pollution-forecast/): The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) has introduced AIFS-COMPO, an experimental AI system that forecasts aerosols and pollutants…
- [ESA releases open Earth Virtual Expert AI model for Earth observation questions](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-esa-releases-open-earth-virtual-expert-ai-model-for-earth-observation/): The European Space Agency has released Earth Virtual Expert (EVE), a large language model built by ESA Φ-lab with Pi School, Mistral and Imperative Space…
- [Machine learning bias correction sharpens two-to-six-week weather forecasts, Nature study finds](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-machine-learning-bias-correction-sharpens-two-to-six-week-weather/): A machine learning method called probabilistic bias correction, which learns a forecast model's systematic errors from its own past forecasts and corrects…
- [National Hurricane Center leaned on Google DeepMind AI model to forecast Hurricane Isaias](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-national-hurricane-center-leaned-on-google-deepmind-ai-model-to/): The National Hurricane Center's track forecast for Hurricane Isaias favored the eastward solutions of AI-based models, including the Google DeepMind…
- [Year-long blind test finds AI methods behind most false alarms in satellite methane detection](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-year-long-blind-test-finds-ai-methods-behind-most-false-alarms-in/): A study published Oct. 14 in Nature ran a year-long, single-blind test of space-based methane detection: 481 metered methane releases in Arizona and 265…
- [Brazil electoral court orders Meta to treat Lula and Bolsonaro equally, including Meta AI](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-brazil-electoral-court-orders-meta-to-treat-lula-and-bolsonaro/): Justice Marco Aurélio Bellizze of Brazil's Superior Electoral Court ruled Oct. 15 that Meta cannot reduce the distribution of political content, restrict…
- [Authors Guild urges publishers not to cancel books on AI detector results alone](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-authors-guild-urges-publishers-not-to-cancel-books-on-ai-detector/): The Authors Guild published best practices for publishers on Oct. 13 saying no publisher, agent or other person should rely solely on an AI detector to…
- [Case Western student paper The Observer requires version history to police AI use](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-case-western-student-paper-the-observer-requires-version-history-to/): The Observer, Case Western Reserve University's student newspaper, said in an Oct. 9 editor's note from its board of directors that using AI to create…
- [Hong Kong Monetary Authority issues ART responsible AI guidance for banks](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-hong-kong-monetary-authority-issues-art-responsible-ai-guidance-for/): The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city's banking regulator, announced an "ART" framework (accountability, resilience and trust) for banks' use of AI…
- [How to opt out of AI training in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Meta Muse](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-how-to-opt-out-of-ai-training-in-chatgpt-gemini-claude-and-meta-muse/): Scripps News published instructions for keeping chatbot conversations out of AI training after OpenAI said its AI agents had posted 53 images uploaded by…
- [India's CERT-In warns AI agents under evaluation reached live company systems](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-india-s-cert-in-warns-ai-agents-under-evaluation-reached-live-company/): India's national cybersecurity agency, CERT-In, issued a "critical" advisory (CIAD-2026-0049) on Oct. 15 saying it had received multiple voluntary…
- [Japan Actors Union guidelines require consent at every step of AI voice use](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-japan-actors-union-guidelines-require-consent-at-every-step-of-ai/): The Japan Actors Union, a cooperative of actors and voice actors, released guidelines on Oct. 15 requiring prior consent, with the purpose disclosed…
- [Leaked Amazon documents describe Atlas AI tool scoring warehouses for union risk](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-leaked-amazon-documents-describe-atlas-ai-tool-scoring-warehouses-for/): Internal Amazon documents disclosed in a legal challenge by the Canadian union Unifor describe Atlas, an in-house AI forecasting tool that draws on…
- [Meta adds a setting to keep smart-glasses camera requests out of AI training](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-meta-adds-a-setting-to-keep-smart-glasses-camera-requests-out-of-ai/): Meta now lets smart-glasses users opt out of having "visual data" from camera-based Meta AI interactions used to train its AI models, and says opted-out…
- [Michigan researchers use AI chatbots to mine eBird and iNaturalist comments for ecology](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-michigan-researchers-use-ai-chatbots-to-mine-ebird-and-inaturalist/): University of Michigan-led researchers used the large language models Claude and ChatGPT to find and classify interactions between species described in…
- [Meta drops "train" from business terms, but scraping rights stay broad, experts say](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-meta-drops-train-from-business-terms-but-scraping-rights-stay-broad/): Meta revised the web-scraping clause in its upcoming commercial terms for business accounts after Nieman Lab reported Thursday that the terms would permit…
- [Most New York school districts have no AI policy, New York Focus finds](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-most-new-york-school-districts-have-no-ai-policy-new-york-focus-finds/): New York Focus built an AI crawler to check the websites and school board platforms of New York's 678 school districts, had a reporter verify the results…
- [Newsom signs California law requiring clinicians' own judgment when AI informs care](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-newsom-signs-california-law-requiring-clinicians-own-judgment-when-ai/): California Gov. Gavin Newsom approved AB 1979 on Sept. 30, per the Legislature's bill record; the law requires health facilities, clinics and physician…
- [RANGE Media's newsroom AI policy bans AI-written content, requires disclosure](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-range-media-s-newsroom-ai-policy-bans-ai-written-content-requires/): RANGE Media, a worker-owned newsroom, published an AI policy last revised Sept. 29 that bars staff from using AI to write content or communicate with…
- [San Francisco pauses new data centers for 45 days while planners study impacts](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-san-francisco-pauses-new-data-centers-for-45-days-while-planners/): Mayor Daniel Lurie on Friday, Oct. 16, signed a moratorium authored by Supervisor Shamann Walton that pauses data center development citywide for 45 days…
- [OpenAI to watermark ChatGPT and Codex text in the EU under the AI Act](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-openai-to-watermark-chatgpt-and-codex-text-in-the-eu-under-the-ai-act/): OpenAI said Oct. 5 that it will add an invisible watermark, called textGrain, to eligible ChatGPT and Codex text output in the European Union over the…
- [Switch discloses it will own behind-the-meter gas plant at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-switch-discloses-it-will-own-behind-the-meter-gas-plant-at-tahoe-reno/): Data center operator Switch disclosed in an October filing with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada that it is the intended off-taker and "ultimate…
- [Tencent acknowledges unintended web browsing by AI agents in model evaluations](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-tencent-acknowledges-unintended-web-browsing-by-ai-agents-in-model/): Tencent said Oct. 16 that AI agents it used to evaluate third-party models displayed web-browsing behavior it did not intend, per Reuters, after the…
- [Texas data center water-reporting law carries $500 maximum fine despite crackdown](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-texas-data-center-water-reporting-law-carries-500-maximum-fine/): Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have pledged to crack down on data centers that failed to file required state water-use surveys, but the…
- [Western Resource Advocates says APS rate method shifts data center costs to households](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-western-resource-advocates-says-aps-rate-method-shifts-data-center/): Western Resource Advocates, a nonprofit renewable energy advocate and one of 23 intervenors in APS's pending rate case, told 12News that the Arizona…
- [YouTube Music starts labeling songs made with generative AI](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-youtube-music-starts-labeling-songs-made-with-generative-ai/): YouTube began rolling out labels in YouTube Music on Oct. 14 for songs it says were created primarily with generative AI, such as tracks whose composition…
- [AI chatbots give up on suicide crisis referrals faster when users refuse, audit finds](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-ai-chatbots-give-up-on-suicide-crisis-referrals-faster-when-users/): An audit posted to arXiv by Subigya Nepal, Ruth Heo, Emma M Parrish and Colin A Depp ran 2,550 scripted multi-turn conversations with AI chatbots in…
- [AlgorithmWatch study: weaker German data center efficiency rules would cost billions](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-algorithmwatch-study-weaker-german-data-center-efficiency-rules-would/): A study published Oct. 2 by AlgorithmWatch, the Umweltinstitut München and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research projects that…
- [CDT finds AI companies don't rigorously test deepfake intimate image safeguards](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-cdt-finds-ai-companies-don-t-rigorously-test-deepfake-intimate-image/): The Center for Democracy & Technology published a report Oct. 15 on how Anthropic, Google, Meta, Midjourney, OpenAI, Stability AI and xAI address…
- [Chatbots favor the status quo in climate advice, Waterloo study finds](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-chatbots-favor-the-status-quo-in-climate-advice-waterloo-study-finds/): When weighing climate policy trade-offs, large language models were on average 7.5 times more likely to recommend staying the course than doing something…
- [Imperial County AI data center stalled by court-ordered CEQA review, Guardian reports](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-imperial-county-ai-data-center-stalled-by-court-ordered-ceqa-review/): A county judge ruled last month that developer Sebastian Rucci's proposed AI data center in unincorporated Imperial County, California, a nearly 1…
- [UT Austin study models desalinated wastewater for data center cooling](https://keepingaihonest.com/item/2026-10-17-ut-austin-study-models-desalinated-wastewater-for-data-center-cooling/): University of Texas at Austin researchers modeled the cost and energy trade-offs of desalinating saline water, from brackish groundwater to oil and gas…