A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a new settlement for Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company behind OxyContin, resolving thousands of lawsuits related to its role in the opioid crisis. The deal, which replaces a 2021 settlement rejected by the Supreme Court, requires the Sackler family to contribute up to $7 billion and relinquish ownership of Purdue, while allowing individuals to sue family members directly.
The article explores a growing trend in contemporary art where artists like Pierre Huyghe, Nina Katchadourian, and Marge Monko create works that blur the line between art objects and sentient beings. These works incorporate human performers, animals, AI, and smart devices, prompting viewers to question whether these entities possess or simulate personhood, and forcing an examination of our instinct to anthropomorphize.
The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a series of sweeping tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, ruling in a 6-3 decision that the executive branch exceeded its authority. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, stated that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not grant the president the power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited scope and duration. While tariffs on steel and aluminum remain, the ruling removes the 10 percent global blanket tariff and the 25 percent reciprocal tariffs previously levied against Canada, China, and Mexico.
Three artists—Faith Ringgold, Jean Toche, and Jon Hendricks—organized "The People's Flag Show" at Judson Memorial Church in New York's Greenwich Village in November 1970, protesting the Vietnam War and challenging US flag desecration laws. The exhibition featured around 150 artists via open call, including Yvonne Rainer, Kate Millett, and the Guerrilla Art Action Group. On November 13, 1970, Ringgold, Toche, and Hendricks were arrested and fined $100 for flag desecration; their case was later dismissed with help from the American Civil Liberties Union. Now, 55 years later, Judson Commons—the church's nonprofit arts arm—is mounting a new version of the exhibition, again via open call, featuring over 60 artists and a week of programming in the Judson Gym.
The US Supreme Court has declined to hear a case brought by computer scientist Stephen Thaler, who sought federal copyright protection for artwork created by his AI system, DABUS. This decision upholds lower court rulings that maintain human authorship as a "bedrock requirement" for copyright, effectively ending Thaler's multi-year legal battle to have his AI recognized as an independent creator of the work "A Recent Entrance to Paradise."
The US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from computer scientist Stephen Thaler, who sought to copyright an artwork generated by his AI system, the Creativity Machine. This decision upholds a lower court ruling that affirmed the US Copyright Office's rejection, which was based on the requirement that a human being must be the author of a creative work for it to be eligible for copyright protection.