As ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on September 16, 2026

At a Glance

Opinion Summaries Posted for Week Ending  October 16, 2026 

Criminal Law

“Over the past three months, the Congressional Budget Office has produced a variety of budget and economic analyses, cost estimates, and analytical products, thus fulfilling its core mission of supporting Congress during each stage of the legislative process. This newsletter is a companion to CBO’s Recent Publications and Work in Progress as of September 30, 2026, which offers a summary of recent publications and those scheduled to be released in the coming months.

CBO also regularly publishes presentations and budget and economic data, which can be found on the agency’s website, as well as models and code, which are posted on the agency’s Github page.To learn more about CBO, see An Introduction to the Congressional Budget Office.”

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Introduction

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into professional practice, education, government, healthcare, and everyday life, questions concerning the reliability and safety of AI-generated responses have taken on growing importance. A particularly troubling possibility is that an AI chatbot may initially provide appropriate, useful, and accurate information, only to begin producing potentially harmful responses as a conversation progresses.

Opinion Summaries Posted for Week Ending  October 9, 2026 

Criminal Law

Microsoft is pushing artificial intelligence beyond the familiar chatbot model toward something considerably more ambitious: AI systems that can not only answer questions and generate content but also perform, coordinate, and continue work on behalf of users. A recent video from AI Study Hub, Microsoft Has Revealed a Major New Wave of AI Technology, presents these developments as potentially reshaping computers, software, and business. Although the video provides a useful starting point, Microsoft’s own announcements and other recent reporting provide important context for understanding what has actually been announced, what remains in preview, and what the longer-term implications may be.  At the center of these developments is Microsoft’s major redesign of Copilot.

From AI Assistant to an “Operating System for Work”

Opinion Summaries Posted for Week Ending  October 2, 2026 

Criminal Law

Professional conferences have long occupied an important place in the continuing education and development of law librarians and legal information professionals. They provide opportunities to learn about emerging technologies, exchange ideas, establish professional relationships, and consider developments affecting the future of the profession. Yet these benefits raise a question that has become increasingly important in an era of constrained budgets and rapidly evolving technology: How can the value of conference participation be demonstrated not only to those who attend, but also to the institutions that employ them and pay the bills?

A September 29, 2026, article published on On Firmer Ground, titled “Why Attend? Reflections on the 2026 AALL Annual Conference and the PLLIP Summit”, provides a timely starting point for considering this question. The reflections in that article invite a broader examination of professional conferences as opportunities not merely for individual advancement but also for strengthening the institutions that employ legal information professionals. That distinction becomes especially important as artificial intelligence transforms legal research, information management, and organizational decision-making.

Two different pieces of pending federal legislation share the acronym GUARD Act, but they address technological risks at opposite ends of the age spectrum. The Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue Act of 2026 (S. 3062) would seek to protect minors from potentially harmful interactions with artificial intelligence chatbots and companions through age verification, access restrictions, disclosures, and other safeguards. The separate Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception Act (H.R. 2978/S. 2544) would strengthen law enforcement capabilities to investigate increasingly sophisticated financial fraud affecting older Americans, including schemes involving artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. Neither proposal has yet been enacted into federal law. Examining the two measures together highlights both their potential benefits and their possible unintended consequences, including questions involving privacy, cybersecurity, parental authority, access to beneficial AI technologies, digital inclusion, and civil liberties. Their contrasting approaches also raise a broader question likely to become increasingly important as artificial intelligence permeates everyday life: How can society protect people who may be particularly vulnerable to emerging technologies without unnecessarily limiting their ability to benefit from those same technologies?

Introduction

Opinion Summaries Posted for Week Ending  September 25, 2026 

Criminal Law