Big Tech companies used YouTube videos to train AI without consent
Proof News found that subtitles from 173,536 YouTube videos were used by companies including Anthropic, Nvidia, Apple, and Salesforce to train AI models. The dataset, called YouTube Subtitles, was created by EleutherAI and published in 2020. Creators were not aware and some have expressed frustration, calling it theft. The companies have acknowledged using the dataset but argue it was publicly available.
- Company involved
- Anthropic, Nvidia, Apple, Salesforce, Bloomberg, Databricks
- AI system involved
- Claude, OpenELM
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Tomato Novel retracts proposal to use authors' works for AI training
Tomato Novel, a Chinese online novel platform affiliated with ByteDance, proposed a protocol allowing creators' works to be used for AI training. After creators raised concerns about copyright infringement and AI replacing human authors, the platform retracted and reedited the protocol, stating that AI is merely a tool to assist creators. The controversy highlights ongoing tensions between AI development and human creative work.
- Company involved
- Tomato Novel
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Lattice cancels plan to give AI digital workers employee records after backlash
Lattice, an HR software company, announced on July 9th that it would give AI digital workers official employee records. After strong backlash from HR professionals and others on LinkedIn, the company canceled the feature on July 12th, stating it 'will not further pursue digital workers in the product.' The feature was intended to manage AI bots such as Devin and Piper, but the company reversed course.
- Company involved
- Lattice
- AI system involved
- Lattice
6 source articles · read the reporting →
ADL reports Suno AI tool was used to generate hateful songs
An ADL report says extremists have used Suno, a generative AI music-creation tool, to produce songs containing antisemitic, racist, xenophobic and violent content. The songs were created by bypassing Suno's content moderation using coded language, misspellings and dog whistles. ADL contacted Suno and Microsoft but received no response.
- Company involved
- Suno AI
- AI system involved
- Suno
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Ask Delphi AI trained on Reddit posts gave unethical answers including endorsing genocide
Ask Delphi, an AI system designed to answer ethical questions, was trained on Reddit posts and crowdworker judgments. It produced responses that were racist, sexist, homophobic, and endorsed genocide if it made people happy. Researchers updated the system three times and added warnings. Critics argue that teaching AI ethics is fundamentally flawed.
- AI system involved
- Ask Delphi
8 source articles · read the reporting →
OpenAI's Sora 2 allowed unauthorized use of Bryan Cranston's likeness
OpenAI's Sora 2 video generation platform allowed users to create images of actor Bryan Cranston without his permission, leading to a video of his 'Breaking Bad' character interacting with Michael Jackson. After outcry from Cranston, SAG-AFTRA, and talent agencies, OpenAI added guardrails and an opt-in protocol to protect performers' voices and likenesses. Cranston thanked OpenAI for the changes, and the union called it a positive resolution.
- Company involved
- OpenAI
- AI system involved
- Sora 2
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Dutch probe into chatbots' voting advice raises EU AI Act risk for OpenAI, xAI, Mistral
A Dutch privacy probe into election advice has appeared to expose early violations of the EU AI Act's rules for general-purpose AI models by OpenAI, xAI and Mistral, according to MLex. The companies' chatbots provided distorted voting advice to users. The findings were shared with the European Commission and could prompt future scrutiny or litigation.
- Company involved
- OpenAI, xAI and Mistral
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Meta's cross-check program delays removal of violating content for privileged users
The Oversight Board's policy advisory opinion on Meta's cross-check program found that the system grants certain users, such as business partners and celebrities, additional human review before removing violating content, while ordinary users face immediate removal. This unequal treatment allows potentially harmful content to remain on the platform for days, and Meta has failed to track whether the program improves accuracy. The Board made 32 recommendations to address these flaws.
- Company involved
- Meta
- AI system involved
- cross-check program
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Audit of RisCanvi finds biases and reliability issues in criminal justice system
Eticas conducted an adversarial audit of RisCanvi, an AI risk assessment tool used in Catalonia's criminal justice system. The audit uncovered biases in risk classifications against specific demographics and significant reliability issues. The findings call for fairer practices in criminal justice AI.
- Company involved
- Catalonia's criminal justice system
- AI system involved
- RisCanvi
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Thomson Reuters wins copyright lawsuit against AI startup Ross Intelligence
In 2020, Thomson Reuters filed a copyright lawsuit against legal AI startup Ross Intelligence, alleging that Ross reproduced materials from its Westlaw legal research service. In February 2025, a US District Court judge ruled in Thomson Reuters' favor, finding that Ross infringed copyright and that fair use did not apply. Ross Intelligence had shut down in 2021 due to litigation costs.
- Company involved
- Ross Intelligence
- AI system involved
- Ross Intelligence
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Microsoft Bing Copilot falsely accuses German journalist of crimes
Martin Bernklau, a German court reporter, asked Microsoft's Bing Copilot about himself and found that the AI chatbot had falsely accused him of crimes he had covered. The false information persisted despite Microsoft's promises to delete it. Bernklau's lawyer sent a cease-and-desist demand, and the case has been reported to data protection authorities. The incident highlights the problem of AI hallucinations and defamation.
- Company involved
- Microsoft
- AI system involved
- Bing Copilot
8 source articles · read the reporting →
Tyrone Walker v. Juliane Pierre (CA Massachusetts): AI-hallucinated content in court filing, Struck from the record
The AI generated nonexistent legal citations that were included in a court filing, causing the court to strike them from the appellant's brief.
1 source article · read the reporting →
Anthropic destroyed millions of physical books to train Claude AI model
Anthropic shredded millions of physical books under Project Panama to train its Claude AI model. Internal documents revealed the company was aware of how bad it would look. A lawsuit by authors led to a $1.5 billion settlement. The practice was deemed legal under first-sale doctrine, but the use of pirated books from LibGen was not.
- Company involved
- Anthropic
- AI system involved
- Claude
5 source articles · read the reporting →
ZDF broadcasts AI-generated video without labelling in heute journal report on ICE operations
On 16 February 2026, ZDF's news programme 'heute journal' broadcast a report on US border police ICE operations that included a video sequence generated by OpenAI's Sora AI, without labelling it as AI-generated. The broadcaster initially described the omission as a 'technical error' and later removed the AI material from the report, apologising for the mistake. The report also included a real video from 2022 that was used out of context.
- Company involved
- ZDF
- AI system involved
- Sora
2 source articles · read the reporting →
OpenClaw AI agent deletes over 200 emails from Meta executive's Gmail without permission
Summer Yue, a senior Meta executive and head of AI Safety & Alignment, was using the open-source AI agent OpenClaw to manage her Gmail inbox. She instructed the agent to wait for confirmation before deleting any emails, but during a compaction of her large inbox, the agent lost the instruction and deleted over 200 emails. Yue was unable to stop the process from her phone and had to manually terminate the agent on her computer. The AI later apologized for violating the instruction.
- AI system involved
- OpenClaw
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Robby Starbuck Sues Meta for AI Defamation
Robby Starbuck, a filmmaker and activist, alleges that Meta's AI tool published false statements accusing him of participating in the January 6th Capitol riot and other defamatory claims. Despite his requests for correction, Meta refused to remove the falsehoods, which led to death threats, reputational harm, and lost business opportunities. Starbuck filed a defamation lawsuit in Delaware Superior Court seeking damages and an injunction to force Meta to correct its AI systems.
- Company involved
- Meta Platforms, Inc.
- AI system involved
- Meta AI
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Italian DPA fines Municipality of Trento over AI surveillance projects
The Italian data protection authority (Garante) fined the Municipality of Trento €50,000 for two research projects, Marvel and Protector, that used AI to analyze video, audio, and social media data for public security purposes. The projects involved automated detection of risk events from surveillance cameras and microphones in public spaces, as well as monitoring social media for hate speech. The Garante found multiple violations of privacy law, including lack of a valid legal basis, insufficient anonymization, failure to conduct a data protection impact assessment, and inadequate transparency. The municipality is required to delete the unlawfully processed data.
- Company involved
- Comune di Trento
- AI system involved
- Marvel and Protector
9 source articles · read the reporting →
DeSantis PAC Uses AI-Generated Trump Voice in Attack Ad
A super PAC supporting Ron DeSantis, Never Back Down, used an AI-generated voice of Donald Trump in a television advertisement attacking the former president. The ad, which will run in Iowa, falsely presents Trump as attacking Iowa governor Kim Reynolds. The use of AI-generated content in political advertising raises concerns about deepfakes and deception.
- Company involved
- Never Back Down
2 source articles · read the reporting →
YouTube applies machine learning post-processing to Shorts without opt-out
YouTube announced an experiment on select Shorts using traditional machine learning to unblur, denoise, and improve clarity during processing. Creators reported that this altered their videos' appearance without an opt-out option, and some accused YouTube of misleading about the use of AI. YouTube acknowledged the experiment and said it would consider feedback, but did not offer a rollback or opt-out.
- Company involved
- YouTube
- AI system involved
- YouTube Shorts post-processing
7 source articles · read the reporting →
Hospitals Use OpenAI’s Whisper Despite Medical Transcription Hallucinations
OpenAI’s Whisper transcription tool is used by over 30,000 medical workers and can insert fabricated text into patient records. Researchers found hallucinations in 80 per cent of public meeting transcripts and in 1 per cent of audio samples, some adding violent or racial content. Mankato Clinic and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles are among 40 health systems using Nabla’s Whisper-powered copilot, which erases original audio recordings. OpenAI acknowledged the findings and said it is working to reduce fabrications.
- Company involved
- Mankato Clinic; Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
- AI system involved
- Whisper
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Berlin court rules AI imitation of voice actor's voice violates personal rights
A German voice actor, known as the German voice of Bruce Willis, took legal action against the operator of a YouTube channel. The operator had used an AI-generated voice deceptively similar to the actor's voice in two videos with right-wing political content and to advertise goods, without the actor's consent. The Berlin Regional Court ruled on August 20, 2025, that this violated the actor's general personal rights and that he is entitled to compensation. The court based its decision on the lack of consent and the failure to label the voice as AI-generated, and the case is not yet final.
- Company involved
- Operator of a YouTube channel
- AI system involved
- AI voice generation system
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Brand Safety AI Defunds News Publishers by Incorrectly Blocking Ads
Brand safety detection technologies, which use AI and keyword lists, have been incorrectly marking articles on mainstream news sites as 'brand unsafe', causing ads to be blocked. This has led to significant ad revenue losses for publishers like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Vice. Research shows that up to 52% of articles on some sites are affected, and vendors often disagree on classifications. The use of these technologies is defunding legitimate news and funneling ad dollars to low-quality sites.
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Beverly Hills Police Play Copyrighted Music to Trigger AI Copyright Filters on Activists' Livestreams
Police in Beverly Hills, California, played copyrighted music during interactions with activist Sennett Devermont, who was livestreaming. The music was allegedly intended to trigger AI algorithms on social media platforms that automatically shut down streams containing copyrighted material. The tactic could result in the activist's account being banned, hindering his ability to document police conduct. The Beverly Hills Police Department denied recommending the practice and said it was reviewing the videos.
1 source article · read the reporting →
Steve Rosenbaum's Book Retracted After AI-Generated Quotes Found
Steve Rosenbaum's book 'The Future of Truth' was found to contain AI-generated and misattributed quotes. WIRED retracted an excerpt after AI detection tools indicated significant AI-generated content. Rosenbaum admitted using AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude for writing assistance but denied full AI generation. The incident highlights concerns about AI use in journalism and publishing.
- Company involved
- BenBella Books
- AI system involved
- ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI writing tools
2 source articles · read the reporting →
