Center for Democracy & Technology
@cdt.org
The Center for Democracy & Technology. Shaping technology policy and architecture, with a focus on equity and justice. @cdteu.org for our EU-based team.
https://cdt.org
https://cdt.org
CDT’s Crawford: "Especially as OpenAI moves to explore advertising as a business model, it's crucial that separation between this sort of health data and memories that ChatGPT captures from other conversations is airtight.”
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health to review your medical records
The firm says its chatbot sees health and wellbeing questions from 230 million people every week.
www.bbc.com
January 9, 2026 at 10:16 PM
CDT’s Crawford: "Especially as OpenAI moves to explore advertising as a business model, it's crucial that separation between this sort of health data and memories that ChatGPT captures from other conversations is airtight.”
“Crawford said AI firms were ‘leaning hard’ into finding ways to bring more personalisation to their services to boost value.”
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health to review your medical records
The firm says its chatbot sees health and wellbeing questions from 230 million people every week.
www.bbc.com
January 9, 2026 at 10:16 PM
“Crawford said AI firms were ‘leaning hard’ into finding ways to bring more personalisation to their services to boost value.”
CDT’s Crawford: "New AI health tools offer the promise of empowering patients and promoting better health outcomes, but health data is some of the most sensitive information people can share and it must be protected.”
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health to review your medical records
The firm says its chatbot sees health and wellbeing questions from 230 million people every week.
www.bbc.com
January 9, 2026 at 10:16 PM
CDT’s Crawford: "New AI health tools offer the promise of empowering patients and promoting better health outcomes, but health data is some of the most sensitive information people can share and it must be protected.”
“Laws ‘require enforcement by the federal govt, the Justice Department in the case of criminal [law], but the FTC in the case of the takedown piece,’ Jain said. ‘And so there might be questions also about the degree to which the admin would be committed to enforcing those laws against X and Musk.’”
January 9, 2026 at 8:53 PM
“Laws ‘require enforcement by the federal govt, the Justice Department in the case of criminal [law], but the FTC in the case of the takedown piece,’ Jain said. ‘And so there might be questions also about the degree to which the admin would be committed to enforcing those laws against X and Musk.’”
“However, [ CDT’s Jain] also posited that Musk’s status with the Republican Party and President Donald Trump could also deter federal agencies from taking a hard line.”
‘Elon Musk is playing with fire:’ All the legal risks that apply to Grok’s deepfake disaster
There are legal tools in place to curb what’s happening on X, but the incident will be precedent-setting for how these laws and regulations are wielded for AI-generated images.
cyberscoop.com
January 9, 2026 at 8:53 PM
“However, [ CDT’s Jain] also posited that Musk’s status with the Republican Party and President Donald Trump could also deter federal agencies from taking a hard line.”
CDT’s Jain: “There’s a good argument that [Grok] at least played a role in creating or developing the image, since Grok seems to have created it at the behest of the user, so it may not be user content insulated by section 230.”
‘Elon Musk is playing with fire:’ All the legal risks that apply to Grok’s deepfake disaster
There are legal tools in place to curb what’s happening on X, but the incident will be precedent-setting for how these laws and regulations are wielded for AI-generated images.
cyberscoop.com
January 9, 2026 at 8:53 PM
CDT’s Jain: “There’s a good argument that [Grok] at least played a role in creating or developing the image, since Grok seems to have created it at the behest of the user, so it may not be user content insulated by section 230.”
CDT’s @kateruane.bsky.social: “[X is] on record saying that they will do these things, and they are not.”
Grok assumes users seeking images of underage girls have “good intent”
Expert explains how simple it could be to tweak Grok to block CSAM outputs.
arstechnica.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:30 PM
CDT’s @kateruane.bsky.social: “[X is] on record saying that they will do these things, and they are not.”
“Dwyer pointed to other policy efforts among states looking to make their data protections more comprehensive. Like Connecticut, many states are exploring how they can fortify general data protections, she said.”
As feds press for state data, officials may bolster privacy protections
Legal and policy pressure could be a key tool for states looking to shield their residents’ personal data from the federal government.
www.govexec.com
January 8, 2026 at 9:55 PM
“Dwyer pointed to other policy efforts among states looking to make their data protections more comprehensive. Like Connecticut, many states are exploring how they can fortify general data protections, she said.”
“In Connecticut, for example, policymakers passed a law in November that bans state and local agencies from disclosing nonpublic ‘info that provides the date, time or place where such individuals may be located.’”
As feds press for state data, officials may bolster privacy protections
Legal and policy pressure could be a key tool for states looking to shield their residents’ personal data from the federal government.
www.govexec.com
January 8, 2026 at 9:55 PM
“In Connecticut, for example, policymakers passed a law in November that bans state and local agencies from disclosing nonpublic ‘info that provides the date, time or place where such individuals may be located.’”
The recent announcement by OpenAI introducing ChatGPT Health means that a number of companies not bound by HIPAA’s privacy protections will be collecting, sharing, and using peoples’ health data.
January 8, 2026 at 5:31 PM
The recent announcement by OpenAI introducing ChatGPT Health means that a number of companies not bound by HIPAA’s privacy protections will be collecting, sharing, and using peoples’ health data.
The U.S. doesn’t have a general-purpose privacy law, and HIPAA only protects data held by certain people like health care providers and insurance companies. AI companies, along with the developers and companies behind health and apps, are typically not covered by HIPAA.
January 8, 2026 at 5:31 PM
The U.S. doesn’t have a general-purpose privacy law, and HIPAA only protects data held by certain people like health care providers and insurance companies. AI companies, along with the developers and companies behind health and apps, are typically not covered by HIPAA.
Risky Business provides a framework to understand these moves and their implications. As AI becomes central to our lives, companies and policymakers alike must anticipate incentives, mitigate harms, and safeguard the public interest.
Risky Business: Advanced AI Companies’ Race for Revenue
Companies developing advanced AI find themselves at a critical juncture. Some have transformed from research labs to product companies, others from social media platforms and internet giants to competitors in the race toward general-purpose artificial intelligence. Recently, these frontier AI companies have faced increasing scrutiny as to whether their business models and corporate structures will […]
cdt.org
January 7, 2026 at 8:34 PM
Risky Business provides a framework to understand these moves and their implications. As AI becomes central to our lives, companies and policymakers alike must anticipate incentives, mitigate harms, and safeguard the public interest.
Many AI companies are racing to generate revenue via subscriptions, APIs, advertising, e-commerce, government contracts, and more. But like social media, these choices can incentivize things like maximizing user engagement and data collection, raising risks for privacy, safety, and rights.
January 7, 2026 at 8:34 PM
Many AI companies are racing to generate revenue via subscriptions, APIs, advertising, e-commerce, government contracts, and more. But like social media, these choices can incentivize things like maximizing user engagement and data collection, raising risks for privacy, safety, and rights.
The report examines 5 major players — Google, Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI — analyzing how their market strategies and corporate structures shape decisions around product features, model development, safety, data collection, and policy positions.
Risky Business: Advanced AI Companies’ Race for Revenue
Companies developing advanced AI find themselves at a critical juncture. Some have transformed from research labs to product companies, others from social media platforms and internet giants to competitors in the race toward general-purpose artificial intelligence. Recently, these frontier AI companies have faced increasing scrutiny as to whether their business models and corporate structures will […]
cdt.org
January 7, 2026 at 8:34 PM
The report examines 5 major players — Google, Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI — analyzing how their market strategies and corporate structures shape decisions around product features, model development, safety, data collection, and policy positions.