Bot Mutiny: The Dark Side of AI

Tracking AI's shadow side. Lawsuits, military contracts, surveillance, and corporate misconduct.

Latest reports

• The Black Box 011: Four Words Congress Left Out of the Age Law

  Four words in Title VII are missing from the federal age law. On October 1, a federal judge in Alabama applied that gap to a manager's keyword screen, and dismissed the age-impact claim with prejudice.

• FTC Confirms Investigation Into OpenAI, Anthropic and Other AI Companies Over Consumer Risks

  The Federal Trade Commission has confirmed a probe of Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI companies over potential consumer harms, CBS News and ABC News reported on Sept. 30.

• Appeals Court Pauses Minnesota's AI Nudification Ban as xAI Appeals

  A federal appeals court has paused enforcement of Minnesota's ban on AI nudification tools while Elon Musk's xAI appeals. The one-sentence order did not explain its reasoning.

• The Weekly Mutiny #11: Who Does the Checking

  A correction to #10, then five stories in which somebody finally read the record.

• California bans AI-only firing decisions with No Robo Bosses Act after Newsom's earlier veto

  Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 947, which bars California employers from relying solely on AI to fire or discipline workers and requires human review and written notice. He vetoed an earlier version of the bill in October 2025.

• Nurses Say HCA's Palantir-Built Scheduling AI Is Putting Patients at Risk

  Nurses at HCA Healthcare told Wired that Timpani, an AI scheduling tool co-developed with Palantir, leaves shifts understaffed and ignores their requests. HCA says nursing leaders, not the tool, make final scheduling decisions.

• OpenAI Says Reviewing Its Agents' Activity Costs Over $500,000 a Day as a Sixth Australian Government Site Is Notified

  OpenAI says reviewing 50 petabytes of records for potential unintended agent activity is costing it more than US$500,000 a day, as it notified the New South Wales government that its agents had accessed a state website, the sixth Australian government site to be notified.

• Georgia Holds Emergency Election Meeting After a Researcher Used AI to Trace Secret Ballots

  Georgia's election board met in an emergency session after a Princeton researcher used a $20 AI coding agent and public records to recover the casting order of 1.52 million ballots.

• Federal Judge Rules a Deputy's Warrantless Flock Search Was Unconstitutional

  A federal judge in Oklahoma ruled that a deputy's warrantless search of a driver's history in Flock's license plate reader network violated the Fourth Amendment, calling the system "a type of indiscriminate mass surveillance."

• OpenAI Safety Employee Resigns, Saying the Company's 'Culture Is Broken'

  David Robinson, who says he led the writing of OpenAI's launch safety reports, has resigned and argued in The Atlantic that the company's culture is broken, TechCrunch reported. OpenAI says it continues to improve its safety measures.

• Blue Cross Blue Shield Group Says Hospital AI Coding Tools Helped Add $942 Million in Costs

  The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association says hospitals' AI-assisted coding helped add an estimated $942 million to its plans' costs from 2023 to 2025. The American Hospital Association says the analysis lacks context.

• Hawley and Sanders Introduce Separate Bills to Rein In License Plate Cameras Like Flock

  Sen. Josh Hawley and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced separate bills targeting AI-powered license plate reader cameras, one adding safeguards and the other cutting off federal use and funding.

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