Attorneys at Hagens Berman announced Monday that they filed a lawsuit last week against the OpenAI Foundation on behalf of the estate of Stein-Erik Soelberg “for wrongful death and negligence due to the design of its popular artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT,” which, they said, “encouraged and convinced a man to murder his mother and commit suicide.” The complaint alleges that “the chatbot’s design and response patterns intensified the user’s mental health crisis, failing to guide him toward professional assistance,” the law firm said. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California.
Wireless groups and carriers called on the FCC to push forward on streamlined rules for wireless infrastructure deployment, according to comments filed in docket 25-276. While cutting regulation is a priority under the current administration, other commenters argued that local authorities must retain oversight of permitting in their communities (see 2601020017). Hundreds of fillings also raised RF safety and other concerns. Comments were due last week, and more than 3,500 were posted as of Monday.
The timing of the White House's AI executive order, which seeks to preempt state regulation of the technology (see 2512110068), targets AI laws that took effect Thursday, according to King & Spalding technology lawyers. They wrote this week that such state laws include California’s Transparency in Frontier AI Act and Texas’ Responsible AI Governance Act. Courts will have to determine if and how the order affects state AI laws, they added.
Verizon and Frontier Communications executives warned the leaders of the California Public Utilities Commission last week that the proposed decision approving the companies' merger (see 2512150008) on the condition of delivering 100/20 Mbps broadband to particularly remote areas could be a problem.
A recent filing at the FCC from state attorneys general on wireline infrastructure changes confirmed that the states remain concerned about federal preemption of state AI laws, Robinson & Cole’s Linn Foster Freedman said in a blog post Wednesday. “Ultimately, there will be a battle between the federal government and state legislatures over AI regulation,” she wrote. “It is clear that the Trump administration seeks minimal regulation, despite the known risks, and state Attorneys General, charged with protection of consumers, feel very differently. I suspect we will see how it plays out in court.”
The FCC's revoking California's waiver from using the National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD) and federal eligibility determination will ultimately hurt the 1.77 million Californians receiving federal Lifeline support, the California Public Utilities Commission said. In a docket 11-42 filing Tuesday, the CPUC said the FCC's move also will hurt the 39 Lifeline providers designated as eligible telecommunications carriers serving those Californians. The FCC in November stopped the state from doing its own Lifeline subscriber verifications (see 2511200031).
The RAIN, LoRa, Wi-Fi, WiSUN and Z-Wave alliances asked the FCC to force NextNav to pause a field test of its 900 MHz 5G positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) network in Santa Clara County, California (see 2512110060). The commission should also amend NextNav’s experimental license to require it to provide additional information on interference and to submit periodic reports, said a filing Monday in docket 25-110.
NCTA opposes a November petition for reconsideration by the California Public Utilities Commission asking the FCC to restore E-rate funding for mobile wireless hot spots off school or library premises, according to a filing posted Monday in docket 21-31. The main argument in the CPUC petition -- “that the Commission erred in concluding that off-premises use of services and equipment was not authorized -- relies on an unconvincing reading of a subsequent statutory provision that does nothing to counter the Commission’s well-reasoned decision,” NCTA said.
California's final BEAD proposal, submitted Friday to NTIA, reaches more than 340,000 eligible locations -- more than any other state's plan -- said Maria Ellis, director of broadband initiatives for the California Public Utilities Commission, at the agency's meeting Thursday. CPUC voted unanimously to approve the submission, and Ellis said deployment work could start in the second half of 2026.
A top regulatory issue for VoIP providers remains federal preemption of state rules and what that means in states like California, said Brendan Kasper, data protection officer at telecom provider 8x8, during a webcast with former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, part of a series for the Free State Foundation. Kasper, the former president of the Voice on the Net Coalition and a former Vonage executive, noted that the FCC has yet to respond to California actions.