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  8. Elvis Presley’s rightsholders sue Anthropic over training on 274 songs

Storylines

Procurement as AI policy

How has the US government used its buying power to shape which AI it uses and how labs behave?

Federal AI procurement began with new governance memos. Then came $1 enterprise deals, contract terms on ‘neutrality’, the exclusion of a lab over its usage limits, classified-network deals for the eight that accepted the terms, and a standard clause letting agencies test and suspend any model they buy. Purchasing rules now do much of the work regulation would otherwise do.

KeyStoryAlso on another Storyline

  1. Rule changeGovernmentUS
    DHS orders DeepSeek products out of federal civilian IT systems and procurement

    The first DHS supply-chain order under FASCSA bars DeepSeek, and anything built on it, from civilian agency purchases and systems.

    Source, source copy (PDF, saved 20 Oct 2026)

  2. Rule changeGovernmentUS
    GSA issues AI clause letting agencies test purchased models and requiring change notices

    A standard clause lets agencies test any purchased model and suspend it, and requires notice of model changes.

    Source, source copy (PDF, saved 18 Oct 2026)

  3. Enforcement or court caseDefenceUS
    Appeals court upholds Pentagon’s supply-chain-risk label on Anthropic

    An appeals court accepts that vendor guardrails can justify exclusion.

    Also on The Pentagon, the labs and the limits on use, Who supplies the AI-first military?

    Source, source copy (PDF, saved 18 Oct 2026)

  4. ProcurementDefenceUS
    Pentagon signs classified-network AI deals with eight firms, leaving out Anthropic

    Eight firms get classified-network deals on ‘lawful operational use’ terms; the one that kept limits is left out.

    Source, source copy (PDF, saved 18 Oct 2026)

  5. Enforcement or court caseDefenceUS
    Pentagon labels Anthropic a supply-chain risk after it refused to drop two limits

    A dispute over usage limits leads to a government-wide ban and a supply-chain designation.

    Also on The Pentagon, the labs and the limits on use, Project Meridian and the race to govern military AI, Who supplies the AI-first military?

    Source, source copy (PDF, saved 18 Oct 2026)

  6. PolicyGovernmentUS
    OMB memo M-26-04 makes ‘unbiased AI’ terms mandatory in federal LLM contracts

    Neutrality clauses and model disclosures become contract conditions.

    Source, source copy (PDF, saved 18 Oct 2026)

  7. ProcurementGovernmentUS
    OpenAI, Anthropic and Google offer frontier AI to US agencies for about $1 via GSA

    Labs compete to supply agencies at near-zero prices.

    Also on The Pentagon, the labs and the limits on use

    Source, source copy (PDF, saved 18 Oct 2026)

  8. PolicyGovernmentUS
    White House publishes America’s AI Action Plan and three executive orders

    Calls for frontier-model access across agencies and launches the ‘Woke AI’ order.

    Also on Washington vs the states on AI rules

    Source, source copy (PDF, saved 18 Oct 2026)

  9. PolicyGovernmentUS
    OMB replaces Biden-era rules with new memos on federal AI use and AI buying

    Sets the baseline rules for agency AI use and AI contracts.

    Source, source copy (PDF, saved 18 Oct 2026)

Related developments

Connected developments not on this line