Faith Argosino , Inquirer.net; Barzaga misses House ethics hearing, cites late-night gaming
"Cavite 4th District Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Barzaga Jr. arrived late to his own ethics hearing Monday—missing it entirely—after admitting he had stayed up late “playing computer games.”
Barzaga made the admission in an ambush interview at the House of Representatives when asked why he failed to attend the hearing."
Jordyn Holman, The New York Times; What’s the Deal With All Those FanDuel Ads?
"Since sports betting became legal in America on a state-by-state basis in 2018, a crop of online sportsbooks have fought aggressively for attention. FanDuel, whose parent company is Flutter Entertainment, is the largest, with more than 40 percent of the market.
Flutter, named after British slang for a small bet, is also the biggest online gambling company in the world, with brands like Britain’s Betfair, Ireland’s Paddy Power and Australia’s Sportsbet. It recorded 16 million average monthly users in its latest quarter.
Last year, Flutter brought in $14 billion in revenue, a 19 percent jump from 2023. It expects double-digit growth to continue this year.
Peter Jackson, Flutter’s chief executive since 2018, still sees room to grow in America, where big states like California and Texas bar online gambling.
As more people become aware of the ease of betting on their phones, on any number of moments within games, there is a push by regulators and public health officials to rein in the industry.
“People have and will always gamble,” Mr. Jackson, 49, said. “What we do is we offer a safe environment for people to do it.”
And as for all those ads? They are not letting up, he said...
People are seeing a lot of ads about sports betting. What differentiates FanDuel from the rest?
With the FanDuel brand, we spend a billion dollars on advertising and promotions. Historically, a lot was focused on bringing to life the sports betting concept into the U.S., because it was relatively new. We’re not that many years into people being able to legally bet on sports, and still only half of Americans can do it today.
But this year, we’ve slightly changed our tone. It’s really important that we start to distinguish our brand so people recognize how much better we are, and do a little bit less heavy lifting for the category and get a little more selfish.
How many FanDuel commercials is too many Fan Duel commercials?
This is the conundrum that we have around the world. At least we’re not advertising auto insurance."
Blake Brittain, Reuters; US Supreme Court asked to hear dispute over copyrights for AI creations
"A computer scientist on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider a ruling that a work of art generated by artificial intelligence cannot be copyrighted under U.S. law.
Stephen Thaler told the justices that the U.S. Copyright Office's decision denying copyright protection for the art made by his AI system "created a chilling effect on anyone else considering using AI creatively" and "defies the constitutional goals from which Congress was empowered to create copyright.""
ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, NPR; More college students are using AI for class. Their professors aren't far behind
"More college students are using AI chatbots to help them with their studies. But data recently released by an AI company shows they're aren't the only ones using the technology."
Dade Hayes , Deadline; Tilly Norwood & AI Confusion Will Shape Looming Guild Negotiations, Copyright Experts Agree
"Handel and Mishawn Nolan, managing partner of intellectual property law firm Nolan Heimann, shared their perspectives during a panel Friday afternoon at Infinity Festival in Los Angeles.
Digital scanning of human actors, for the purposes of using their likenesses in film and TV projects is another tricky area for the unions given how untested the legal questions are, the attorneys agreed.
“I actually have a client right now” whose body is being scanned, Nolan said. “What I received [from the company] was just a sort of standard certificate of engagement. It was all rights, just like you would normally use. And I said, ‘Well, what are you gonna do with the data? What is the scope of the use?’”
Because of the intense pressure on productions to move quickly, Nolan said, “everyone would like to just turn around [a talent agreement] tomorrow.” But the complexities of copyright issues raised by AI, which is evolving at a breakneck clip, require a lot more thought, she argued. “The way that we’ve always done business can’t be done in the future. It can’t be done instantaneously,” she continued. “You have to take a moment and think about, what are you doing? What are you capturing? What are you going to use it for? How are you going to use it? How long are you going to have access to it? And what happens in the long term? Who holds onto it? Is it safe? Is it gonna be destroyed?”"
Rayleigh Deaton, South Bend Tribune; Notre Dame hosts Vatican AI adviser, Carnegie Mellon professor during AI ethics conference
"The increasingly ubiquitous nature of artificial intelligence in today's world raises questions about how the technology should be approached and who should be making the decisions about its development and implementation.
To the Rev. Paolo Benanti, an associate professor of ethics of AI at LUISS University and the AI adviser to the Vatican, and Aarti Singh, a professor in Carnegie Mellon University's Machine Learning Department, ethical AI use begins when the technology is used to better humanity, and this is done by making AI equitable and inclusive.
Benanti and Singh were panelists during a session on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at the University of Notre Dame's inaugural R.I.S.E. (Responsibility, Inclusion, Safety and Ethics) AI Conference. Hosted by the university's Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society, the conference ran Oct. 6-8 and focused on how AI can be used to address multidisciplinary societal issues while upholding ethical standards...
And, Singh said, promoting public AI awareness is vital. She said this is done through introducing AI training as early as elementary school and encouraging academics to develop soft skills to be able to communicate their AI research with laypeople — something they're not always good at.
"There are many programs being started now that are encouraging from the student level, but of course also faculty, in academia, to go out there and talk," Singh said. "I think the importance of doing that now is really crucial, and we should step up.""
"Authors and publishers suing the artificial intelligence giant have secured access to some Slack messages and emails discussing OpenAI’s deletion of a dataset containing pirated books and are seeking additional attorney communications about the decision. If they succeed, the communications could demonstrate willful infringement, triggering enhanced damages of as much as $150,000 per work...
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York last week ordered OpenAI to turn over most employee communications about the data deletion that the AI company argued were protected by attorney-client privilege. OpenAI may appeal the decision. A separate bid for OpenAI’s correspondence with in-house and outside attorneys remains pending."
, The Daily Beast; Republican Praises School for Turning Down Trump ‘Bribe’
"“The surest way to screw up the world’s best technical school is to let feds tell them how to run it,” Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie wrote on X. “Congrats to my alma mater for turning down a bribe to let the executive branch dictate what happens on its campus. A lot of things are wrong in [the U.S.], but MIT is not one of them.”"
Kimmy Yam, NBC News ; MIT is first school to reject Trump administration's agenda in exchange for funding benefits
"The Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday became the first school to reject an offer of federal funds in exchange for agreeing to the Trump administration's education agenda.
MIT disagreed with a number of aspects of the administration's proposal, which was sent to nine major universities last week, arguing that it would restrict the university's freedom of expression and independence, Sally Kornbluth, president of the Cambridge-based school, wrote in a letter Friday to the Department of Education.
“In our view, America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences,” Kornbluth wrote. “Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.”"
Jan-Werner Müller , The Guardian; US universities must reject Trump’s ‘compact’. It is full of traps
"As with other aspects of Donald Trump’s emerging mafia state, there is no guarantee that those bending the knee will not be bullied again. The government can always come back to universities and accuse them of having violated the agreement (still too many courses in victimhood studies; still too much “violence” – as defined by bureaucrats – vis-a-vis someone’s cherished ideas). The government will also encourage donors to claim back their cash. Since the compact’s criteria are exceedingly vague, those who take the offer will probably overdo compliance.
At the risk of sounding like one of those dreadful self-styled victims: universities are fragile institutions. Many American ones are excellent precisely because people trust each other and cooperate successfully without over-regulation (some Europeans can tell you what it means to be subject to constant assessments – and how a Soviet-style bureaucracy constantly distracts from research and teaching). Of course there is always plenty of academic infighting, but what the Trumpists are doing is consciously trying to create divisions by setting potential Trump administration collaborators against those determined to resist it. As has become apparent with other autocrats’ assaults on universities, even if institutions escape (sometimes literally, as they have to relocate to other countries) the worst, much damage has been done. This is why the nine universities should not only reject the compact, but also publicly explain what is wrong with it (otherwise they will be immediately charged with wanting to protect their tuition-racket, helping foreigners and “importing radicalism” to undermine American greatness).
Precisely because they have been losing court cases over free speech and visas for foreign students, Trumpists now seek to entrap universities in a deal that effectively removes the protections of federal law and gives the administration arbitrary power over them. The carrots serve to lure institutions of higher learning into a dark alley where, rather than just waiting with a big stick, the government can put a gun to their heads at any time."
Stephen Witt,The New York Times ; The A.I. Prompt That Could End the World
"When nuclear fission was discovered in the late 1930s, physicists concluded within months that it could be used to build a bomb. Epidemiologists agree on the potential for a pandemic, and astrophysicists agree on the risk of an asteroid strike. But no such consensus exists regarding the dangers of A.I., even after a decade of vigorous debate. How do we react when half the field can’t agree on what risks are real?"
Victor Tangermann, Futurism ; OpenAI’s Sora Is in Serious Trouble
"The cat was already out of the bag, though, sparking what’s likely to be immense legal drama for OpenAI. On Monday, the Motion Picture Association, a US trade association that represents major film studios, released a scorching statementurging OpenAI to “take immediate and decisive action” to stop the app from infringing on copyrighted media.
Meanwhile, OpenAI appears to have come down hard on what kind of text prompts can be turned into AI slop on Sora, implementing sweeping new guardrails presumably meant to appease furious rightsholders and protect their intellectual property.
As a result, power users experienced major whiplash that’s tarnishing the launch’s image even among fans. It’s a lose-lose moment for OpenAI’s flashy new app — either aggravate rightsholders by allowing mass copyright infringement, or turn it into yet another mind-numbing screensaver-generating experience like Meta’s widely mocked Vibes.
“It’s official, Sora 2 is completely boring and useless with these copyright restrictions. Some videos should be considered fair use,” one Reddit user lamented.
Others accused OpenAI of abusing copyright to hype up its new app...
How OpenAI’s eyebrow-raising ask-for-forgiveness-later approach to copyright will play out in the long term remains to be seen. For one, the company may already be in hot water, as major Hollywood studios have already started suing over less."
Anna Kaufman , USA TODAY; Two sides of book bans: PEN America and Moms for Liberty debate
"To hear PEN America and Moms For Liberty speak about the dangers of a society curtailing free speech, you may need to squint to see the differences.
Both organizations profess an unwavering commitment to liberty, but stand firmly on either side of a growing debate about book banning in America.
PEN America, a nonprofit aimed at bolstering the freedom to write and read, has emerged as an outspoken critic of removing reading materials from schools and libraries that have been deemed inappropriate, most often by advocacy groups, but also by individual parents. PEN has been tracking book bans since 2021 and filed lawsuits alongside families and publishers that challenge book restrictions in schools.
Moms For Liberty, a conservative collective, is among the leaders in the parental rights movement. Local chapters of the organization tackle issues across the educational landscape, guiding parents who want to raise concerns at their schools, and flexing their political might through endorsements, stamping President Donald Trump with their approval in 2024.
"Our mission at Moms for Liberty is to unify, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights," Tina Descovich, one of the organization's founders, tells USA TODAY. "Parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children, whether it be education or medical care …So they also have the right to monitor what their children are watching and reading."
They don't ban books, she says, that would require the government to bar a person from writing or selling the book. "I think many Americans have chosen to use that word to advance a political agenda instead of using the word correctly," she says.
PEN begs to differ. Kasey Meehan, director of the organization's Freedom to Read program, says, "Our guiding light has always been access." If a group of a few has the power to remove a book from a public space open to all, then that amounts to a ban, she argues.
Banned Books Week "is not about acknowledging bygone censorship, it's really about bringing awareness of censorship that’s happening today," she says. "We have seen pretty well coordinated campaigns that are put on school districts or that are driven by state legislatures or state governors to see certain types of books removed."
To put both sides of the debate in clear view, USA TODAY sent the same questions to both organizations. Here are their responses, unedited and in full."
AJ DELLINGER, Gizmodo; You Can’t Use Copyrighted Characters in OpenAI’s Sora Anymore and People Are Freaking Out
"OpenAI may be able to appease copyright holders by shifting its Sora policies, but it’s now pissed off its users. As 404 Media pointed out, social channels like Twitter and Reddit are now flooded with Sora users who are angry they can’t make 10-second clips featuring their favorite characters anymore. One user in the OpenAI subreddit said that being able to play with copyrighted material was “the only reason this app was so fun.” Another claimed, “Moral policing and leftist ideology are destroying America’s AI industry.” So, you know, it seems like they’re handling this well."
"Rethinking ownership
The intersection of AI, consciousness and intellectual property requires us to rethink how ownership should evolve. Keeping intellectual property strictly human-centred safeguards accountability, moral agency and the recognition of human creativity. At the same time, acknowledging AI’s expanding role in production may call for new approaches in law. These could take the form of shared ownership models, new categories of liability or entirely new rights frameworks.
For now, the legal balance remains with humans. As long as AI lacks consciousness, it cannot be considered a rights-holder under existing intellectual property theories. Nonetheless, as machine intelligence advances, society faces a pivotal choice. Do we reinforce a human-centred system to protect dignity and creativity or do we adapt the law to reflect emerging realities of collaboration between humans and machines?
This is more than a legal debate. It is a test of how much we value human creativity in an age of intelligent machines. The decisions we take today will shape the future of intellectual property and the meaning of authorship, innovation and human identity itself."
Marina Hyde , The Guardian; It’s Sam Altman: the man who stole the rights from copyright. If he’s the future, can we go backwards?
"I’ve seen it said that OpenAI’s motto should be “better to beg forgiveness than ask permission”, but that cosies it preposterously. Its actual motto seems to be “we’ll do what we want and you’ll let us, bitch”. Consider Altman’s recent political journey. “To anyone familiar with the history of Germany in the 1930s,” Sam warned in 2016, “it’s chilling to watch Trump in action.” He seems to have got over this in time to attend Donald Trump’s second inauguration, presumably because – if we have to extend his artless and predictable analogy – he’s now one of the industrialists welcome in the chancellery to carve up the spoils. “Thank you for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation president,” Sam simpered to Trump at a recent White House dinner for tech titans. “It’s a very refreshing change.” Inevitably, the Trump administration has refused to bring forward any AI regulation at all.
Meanwhile, please remember something Sam and his ironicidal maniacs said earlier this year, when it was suggested that the Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek might have been trained on some of OpenAI’s work. “We are aware of and reviewing indications that DeepSeek may have inappropriately distilled our models, and will share information as we know more,” his firm’s anguished statement ran. “We take aggressive, proactive countermeasures to protect our technology.” Hilariously, it seemed that the last entity on earth with the power to fight AI theft was OpenAI."
Kip Currier: Post to X from my Bloomsbury editor regarding my 10/9/25 library-themed Letter to the Editor:
Thank you, @BloomsburyLU author Kip Currier, for your reasoned and passionate defense of libraries in 2 PA newspapers. Libraries are the bedrock of healthy, equitable communities, and we couldn't be more proud to support libraries and library workers. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8750699042164055722/5219361931786295174
Mark Rivera and Barb Markoff, Christine Tressel and Tom Jones, ABC 7 ; Judge orders feds to dial back aggressive response to journalists, protesters in Chicago area
"A ruling in federal court Thursday restricts the tactics used by the Department of Homeland Security as they engage with protesters, members of the media and the public, the ABC7 I-Team has learned.
The temporary restraining order, or TRO, governs the behavior of federal agents in the entire Northern District, not just at the Broadview ICE processing facility, where there have seen numerous flare ups between ICE agents and the public.
It limits the indiscriminate use of riot control weapons, against peaceful protesters and journalists and requires nearly all federal agents to have visible identification even when wearing riot gear.
Rev. David Black of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago was shot in the head with a pepper bullet while peacefully protesting outside of the facility in Broadview last month by an ice agent standing on the roof of a building. He was able to get up after being hit."
BRITTANY LYTE AND CHAD BLAIR/HONOLULU CIVIL BEAT, AP; Hawaii library system bans displays that refer to ‘Banned Books Week,’ rebrands to ‘Freedom to Read’
"This week, libraries across the U.S. are observing Banned Books Week. In Hawaii, the national event has been rebranded as a week dedicated to the “freedom to read,” an attempt to cool what has become a hot-button political issue.
New guidelines issued by the Hawaii State Public Library System ahead of the 41st annual event prohibit the use of the words “censorship” and “banned,” as well as the phrase “banned books week,” in displays at 51 public libraries across the state.
Also banned are certain props and imagery, such as caution tape and fake flames, and the use of any slogans or materials from the ALA, the professional organization that has sponsored the yearly Banned Books Week campaign since its 1984 origins.
State Librarian Stacey Aldrich said in a statement Tuesday that the language used in the Freedom to Read campaign aims to be inclusive of all library patrons.
“There are people who misunderstand ‘banned books’ or believe that we are banning books,” she said...
“It’s important to get the facts out and I’m not allowed to put the facts in my display,” Kawahara said. “And this is all happening in the one week dedicated to awareness of censorship.”
Stickers emblazoned with “censorship is so 1984,” the ALA’s 2025 Banned Books Week theme, were also confiscated from the Lihue library...
On Monday, at a press conference in downtown Honolulu, the Hawaii Library Association and ACLU Hawaii launched the Freedom to Read initiative in support of intellectual freedom.
The occasion marked Banned Books Week 2025, which runs through Saturday, is intended to raise awareness of increasing challenges to books in classrooms and libraries. Banned Books Week was launched by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom “in coalition with publishers, booksellers and writers’ organizations,” according to the ACLU."
I am sharing a copy of my library-themed 10/9/25 Letter to the Editor that was published in the print versions and the digital versions of the Oil City (PA) paper The Derrick and the Franklin (PA) Times-Union newspapers in Venango County, Pennsylvania. The two newspapers share the same Monday-Saturday content under their own banners for each city. I wrote my letter in response to a 9/26/25 Letter to the Editor written by a Cranberry (Township) resident (not to be confused with the Cranberry in Butler County); I've copied the writer's letter below, after mine. Note: The typo at the start of the newspapers' copy of my letter was the fault of the paper and was not in the letter I emailed to them.
Editor,
This is in response to the Sept. 26 letter to the editor titled “Tax proposal needs to ‘die’ with the library” by Betty M. Hepler.
The author could not be more wrong or misinformed about the state of American libraries and the value they contribute to our lives and communities: libraries are vital necessities and community anchors in towns and cities throughout this nation. See www.pewresearch.org.
1. Libraries provide information and resources that help to educate citizens at all levels of our communities — from blue collar to white collar workplaces and everything in between. See www.ala.org.
2. Research studies demonstrate that libraries economically benefit businesses that are located nearby. See www.imls.gov.
3. Research data also show that libraries are a good “return on investment” (ROI): for every dollar of support to a library, library users are able to save hundreds of dollars by checking out thousands of books, movies, video games, and more, at no charge. See https://slol.libguides.com.
4. Today’s libraries offer all kinds of life-enhancing activities and services — story time for kids, book discussion groups for teens and seniors, access to free WiFi and computers, and classes and webinars on topics like “where to find jobs,” “starting your own business” and “how to use AI chatbots.” See https://action.everylibrary.org.
5. Libraries have been a foundational part of human life and history for thousands of years. They are essential tools and places that can benefit our lives; enable us to think, learn, and grow from our yesterdays; and fuel our hopes and dreams for better todays and tomorrows.
Libraries continue to change and evolve to better suit and meet our needs, just as humans and societies must change, adapt and evolve in order to survive and thrive.
Each of us knows that we need to take good care of ourselves to live the best lives we can. Let’s take good care of the libraries that support and serve us too. See https://www.ala.org.
Long live the library!
— Kip Currier,
Emlenton
Editor,
I am amazed that we are trying to keep alive a mostly dead memory — the library. We have been propping them up for decades.
The Encyclopedia salesman has lost his job; books are not being sold at the same rate as before, being available on tape or kindle now; libraries and bookstores have fallen to the side of the road.
Wake up! Most things have a time to shine but lose out to progress. Now we are trying to keep alive something that needs to admit its death.
The overburdened taxpayers of this country are having the blame and responsibility thrown on their shoulders.
On the front side, one may think it is a charge of $12.50. But my understanding is the cost is $12.50 per every $50,000 in assessment. All properties, for the most part, have seen a dramatic rise in their assessment; so this is a lot of money for something that is dead.
Let it die!
Turn it into a museum. No more taxes.
— Betty M. Hepler,
Cranberry
Alex Woodward, Independent; Pastor shot in the head by ICE agents sues Trump administration over First Amendment threats in Chicago
A Presbyterian minister in Chicago is suing Donald Trump’s administration after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were captured in viral video firing pepper balls at his head during protests against the president’s anti-immigration agenda.
The Rev. David Black joined a lawsuit with Chicago reporters and protesters accusing the administration of unconstitutional threats to their First Amendment rights and religious freedoms with “a pattern of extreme brutality” designed to “silence the press and civilians.”
Last month, Black — dressed in black and wearing a clerical collar while standing with demonstrators — was hit with chemical agents while praying in front of an ICE facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb that has emerged as a flashpoint for protests against the administration as the president deploys National Guard troops to Illinois."
