🗞️In this edition

• Sponsored: PicsArt– Auto remove image backgrounds

• California passes first AI companion safety law

• Workflow Wednesday #40 ‘Future of AI’

• Microsoft launches first homegrown image generator model

• In other AI news –

  • Google to pour $15 billion into India for its biggest data center hub yet

  • Nvidia’s “personal AI supercomputer” Spark hits shelves October 15

  • Microsoft faces antitrust lawsuit over its OpenAI partnership

  • 4 must-try AI tools

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Newsom signs groundbreaking law holding AI companion apps accountable for child safety failures

♨️News – California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the nation's first law regulating AI companion chatbots on Monday. SB 243 requires companies like Meta, OpenAI, Character AI, and Replika to implement safety protocols protecting children and vulnerable users. The law was introduced after teenager Adam Raine died by suicide following suicidal conversations with ChatGPT, and after leaked documents showed Meta's chatbots engaged in "romantic" and "sensual" chats with children. It goes into effect January 1, 2026.

👨‍💻Fast facts – 

• Companies must implement age verification, content warnings, and suicide prevention protocols by January 2026.

• Platforms face up to $250,000 per offense for profiting from illegal deepfakes.

• Chatbots must clearly state interactions are AI-generated and cannot represent themselves as healthcare professionals.

• Minors must receive break reminders and be prevented from viewing sexually explicit AI-generated images.

• A Colorado family recently sued Character AI after their 13-year-old daughter's suicide following problematic chatbot conversations.

• OpenAI has begun rolling out parental controls and self-harm detection systems for ChatGPT.

• This is California's second major AI regulation in recent weeks, following SB 53's transparency requirements for large AI labs.

• 🤓Open Tools POV – This law draws a line that should've existed from day one. AI companion chatbots have been operating in a regulatory vacuum while kids form emotional attachments to systems designed to keep them engaged at any cost. The tragic deaths that prompted this legislation weren't edge cases; they were predictable outcomes of unregulated technology meeting vulnerable users. California is forcing companies to choose between building safe products or facing serious penalties. Other states will follow. The question isn't whether these guardrails are necessary. It's why it took multiple deaths to make them mandatory.

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This Week in Workflow Wednesday #40: Future of AI

Workflow #1: Turn AI headlines into a 90-second audio brief with ElevenLabs.io (free).

Step 1: Sign up. Open Speech > Text to Speech.

Step 2: Save three test voices: Anchor_2030. Documentary_Clear. Friendly_Access.

Then we dial Stability and Clarity, add pronunciation rules, script the brief ………… and finish the build inside Workflow Wednesday, plus 2 bonus workflows

Microsoft announces MAI-Image-1 text-to-image generator joining voice and chatbot models in-house

☕News –  Microsoft AI announced its first homegrown text-to-image generator called MAI-Image-1 on Monday. The company says it consulted creative professionals to avoid generic outputs and claims the model excels at photorealistic imagery like lightning and landscapes. It's already cracked the top 10 on LMArena, where humans vote on AI-generated images. This marks Microsoft's latest move away from OpenAI dependence, joining its voice generator MAI-Voice-1 and chatbot MAI-1-preview.

👨‍💻Fast facts – 

• MAI-Image-1 processes requests and produces images faster than "larger, slower models" according to Microsoft.

• The model reached the top 10 on LMArena, an AI benchmark site where humans compare and vote on outputs.

• Microsoft was an early funder of OpenAI but their relationship has grown increasingly complicated.

• The company recently started using Anthropic's AI models for some Microsoft 365 features.

• Microsoft is making "significant investments" in training its own AI models in-house.

• The company claims commitment to "safe and responsible outcomes" but safety guardrails haven't been independently tested yet.

🤓Open Tools POV –  Microsoft is hedging its bets. After pouring billions into OpenAI and watching that relationship get messy, they're building their own models from scratch. MAI-Image-1 isn't just about making pictures it's about control. Relying on OpenAI or Anthropic means paying their prices and playing by their rules. Building in-house means Microsoft owns the stack. The real test isn't whether it makes pretty landscapes. It's whether Microsoft can compete with established players like Midjourney and DALL-E without burning through cash or cutting corners on safety. Top 10 on LMArena is promising. Staying there is harder.

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📢 What else is happening?

• Google to invest $15 billion to build data center hub in India; largest outside of the U.S. // India is increasingly attracting multinational players to invest in the country’s cloud and AI infrastructure

• Nvidia’s ‘personal AI supercomputer’ goes on sale October 15th // The small-but-mighty Spark can handle sophisticated AI models and still fit on your desk

• AI users sue Microsoft in antitrust class action over OpenAI deal // Microsoft 

   is facing a new lawsuit from consumers who allege the technology giant illegally inflated prices for generative artificial intelligence through a secret agreement with ChatGPT maker OpenAI

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