MORE US NEWSPAPERS TO SUE AI PLATFORMS FOR AUTHORS’ RIGHTS VIOLATION
The Seattle Times and Newsday announced on September 4, 2026, that they are suing OpenAI and Microsoft in a U.S. federal court, accusing the two tech companies of copying the news outlets’ content without permission to train their AI systems.
Seattle Times CEO Alan Fisco wrote on Friday in an email to employees. “We firmly believe we need to stand up for our contentwhich costs us millions of dollars to produce each year against any use without our consent or compensation.”. The legal advisers of the two firms say OpenAI’s models are causing significant harm to media companies. They specifically cite industry data showing that search engine traffic to mid-sized publishers dropped by 47% year-on-year in December 2025. Moreover, both media outlets also accuse OpenAI of diluting their brands by generating content that wrongly attributes fabricated information to the Seattle Times or Newsday. As a result, they are seeking damages, as well as the destruction of all AI training datasets that used their published content.
THE EU TO SORT OUT PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PROCESS
To streamline this body of rules, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation on public procurementa “Public Procurement Act” on Wednesday, September 9, effectively starting from scratch. The College of Commissioners approved it unanimously. For Stéphane Séjourné, the Commission’s Executive Vice-President who drafted the text, it represents “a radical simplification.” Once this reform of public procurement rules is complete, there will be just one text a regulation totaling 200 pages that applies directly without requiring transposition country by country, unlike a directive. The proposal will now be forwarded to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, which represents the Member States.
It should be noted that an effect of the reform will be to reduce the importance of price in the decision, while taking more in account the climate related issues, as well as some European preference.
BUT MOST RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE DRAGHI REPORT ARE STILL TO BE IMPLEMENTED
(We hereby reproduce a statement of ALLIANCY, a French publication focused on digital, no need to say that we share their conclusions)
The publication of the Draghi report (and, by extension, the Letta report) dates back two years. At the time, the former president of the ECB and the Italian Council of Ministers made a bold move, listing the measures that needed to be implemented to allow Europe to regain control, from the economy to technology. Welcomed at the time, the report has nevertheless only triggered concrete actions that are still too limited. At least, that’s what you might conclude by looking at the publications of the “Draghi Trackers,” organizations like the Joint European Disruptive Initiative (JEDI) that measure the implementation rate of these measures. Even though it’s picking up pace, we’d barely be at just over a quarter of implementation… So the road is still long for those hoping to see a real push in terms of dependency management. On the technology side, more and more efforts are being directed toward shaping the sectors through demand rather than subsidies, a good point. It must be said that digital technology is increasingly seen as a way to unlock the productivity issue, a point also at the heart of the Draghi report. Investments in quantum technology are another bet for the future that could make a difference. In any case, the roadmap is there, but after two years, European countries still seem to be coming out of their stupor too slowly.
FRANCE: A NEW START FOR SOVEREIGN SOLUTIONS IN DIGITAL AND AI
David Amiel, Minister of Public Action and Accounts, and Anne Le Hénanff, Delegate Minister in charge of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs, signed today the “Digital and AI Pact” alongside the Strategic Committee for the Software and Trusted Digital Solutions Sector, Numeum, and Hexatrust, organizer of the Summer Universities for Cybersecurity and Cloud (UECC). The government is committing to strengthening the dialogue between the state and the sector to speed up the deployment of sovereign solutions within the state and the state’s control over its deployments in strategic areas like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and cloud. This dialogue will be led by the Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM), which is set to become the State’s reference authority for artificial intelligence and digital affairs (ARIANE).
The main work will determine the definition of the state’s capacity needs; the identification of key technologies and standards; the mapping of French industrial skills; the resilience and security of critical infrastructures; and getting public actors familiar with the challenges of digital defense. The Pact is open to all French manufacturers meeting strict criteria: head office and industrial capabilities in France, no dependence on extraterritorial rules, and alignment with the goals of digital sovereignty.
While this initiative bodes well for the development of sovereign solutions, the ECA has two questions: will this lead to better public procurement ? shouldn’t this initiative be enlarged at European scale, as this is certainly the good one to develop industrial champions able to compete on the worldwide stage? For instance, Germany is taking similar approach should they remain distinct ?
