AI-Generated Art and Recent Government Proposals

Q: WHAT’s new in conversations around AI-generated art?

A: For starters: there was a recent viral social experiment in which a user posted a genuine Claude Monet painting but claimed it was AI-generated and asked people to critique it. Many commenters immediately described the work as “soulless,” “slop,” and evidence of AI’s artistic shortcomings, despite it being a celebrated masterpiece. 

While this certainly doesn’t settle the debate around AI art, it does highlight the degree to which perceptions of AI-generated content may be shaped by preexisting biases rather than the content itself.

More big news—I’m beyond thrilled about this update: New York became the first U.S. state to require ads to disclose AI-generated actors, coming with $1,000 fines and backing from Hollywood’s SAG-AFTRA union. I believe there’s a difference between using AI to assist image/video vs making fake people (and fake people should be identified).

Q: Are there more updates on government responses to AI?

A: Yes! Actors across the political and tech spectrum are embroiled in these conversations. Here are a few of the most critical to understand: 

Anthropic Fable & Mythos

Anthropic has been on a journey with the government. First, federal agencies were ordered to stop using Claude and Anthropic was designated a “supply chain risk.” Now, the U.S. government has ordered the company to suspend access to its flagship Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models over alleged national security concerns related to model jailbreaks. Anthropic strongly disputes the government’s assessment, arguing the reported vulnerabilities were narrow, minor, and comparable to capabilities already available in other leading models.

This controversy highlights the difficult position frontier AI labs increasingly face. Anthropic has spent years positioning itself as the industry’s safety-first lab, and Fable and Mythos were heavily guardrailed, prompting criticism from developers who felt the models were overly restrictive. Yet despite those safeguards, the government still intervened. The debate is no longer just about model performance. It is increasingly about who gets to decide what constitutes an acceptable level of AI risk.

Government Executive Order

The executive order directs federal agencies to accelerate AI-enabled cybersecurity, create an AI cybersecurity clearinghouse, and establish a voluntary process for frontier AI companies to share advanced models with the government before release for security assessment. While earlier policy discussions had included more interventionist ideas around government oversight of frontier models, the final order stops well short of mandatory review or licensing. The result is a relatively light-touch framework that emphasizes voluntary collaboration with AI companies and national security preparedness rather than direct regulation.

Potential Government Stake in OpenAI

The U.S. government is reportedly discussing taking a stake in OpenAI, potentially through donated equity that could seed a public wealth fund and give Americans a share in the upside of AI-driven growth. That would be an extraordinary shift, treating frontier AI less like a normal private technology business and more like nationally significant infrastructure, where the public may need a financial stake because the economic impact could be so large and concentrated.

CA Executive Order to Prepare Workers & Businesses for Potential AI Disruption

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation executive order directing state agencies to prepare for potential AI-driven workforce disruption before it occurs. The order requires the state to monitor labor market impacts, develop early warning systems, expand workforce training, and evaluate policies such as severance protections, employment support, and worker ownership models. It also seeks to ensure that workers and small businesses share in the economic gains created by AI, rather than those benefits flowing primarily to large technology companies.

Bernie Sanders American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund

Bernie Sanders argues that AI is built on humanity’s collective knowledge and creativity, so the wealth it generates should be shared with the public rather than captured primarily by a small group of tech companies and investors. He proposes an American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund, funded through a one-time stock-based tax on major AI companies, which would give the public ownership stakes and potentially distribute returns to Americans. The core idea is that AI should be treated like a public resource, similar to oil wealth in Norway or Alaska, with democratic oversight and broad public benefit.

Talk soon,
Jen

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