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Welcome to this week's edition of The Legal Wire!

A Senate rule tweak puts Ted Cruz’s 10-year freeze on state AI laws a step from passage, drawing fire from both parties and Microsoft’s own chief scientist. OpenAI pulled its Jony Ive deal promo after a rival’s trademark claim, while the BBC threatened to sue Perplexity for scraping news content. The backlash shows regulation may stall, but legal fights over AI are just heating up.

This week’s Highlights:

• Industry News and Updates

• Custom Is the Future: How Harvey Lets Firms Build Their Own AI Systems

• AI Regulation Updates

• AI Tools to Supercharge your producivity

• Legal prompt of the week

• Latest AI Incidents & Legal Tech Map

➡️ Senate Clears GOP Plan to Block State AI Laws for 10 Years | The Senate parliamentarian has approved a provision in the GOP’s megabill that would block state and local AI regulations for a decade, tying the moratorium to eligibility for federal broadband funds. The move, led by Sen. Ted Cruz, aims to prevent what he calls a “labyrinth of regulation.” But the measure faces bipartisan backlash: Sen. Josh Hawley plans to push for its removal, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has threatened to oppose the entire bill if it stays.
^{June 22, 2025, Source: Politico}

➡️ OpenAI Pulls Ive Deal Promo After Trademark Dispute | OpenAI has taken down a video promoting its $6.5B deal with Jony Ive and Sam Altman’s device startup "io" following a court order tied to a trademark complaint from rival AI hardware firm iyO. While the video and related materials were removed, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports the deal itself remains on track. OpenAI confirmed the takedown was due to the ongoing legal dispute and says it is reviewing its options.
^{June 22, 2025, Source: TechCrunch}

➡️ BBC Threatens Perplexity with Legal Action Over AI Use of News | The BBC has warned U.S. AI firm Perplexity to stop using its content without permission, accusing the company of copyright breaches and reputational harm. The broadcaster demands deletion of scraped data and compensation. Perplexity denies wrongdoing. This marks the BBC’s first legal move against an AI company amid rising tensions between media and generative AI firms.
^{June 22, 2025, Source: Business Matters}

➡️ Microsoft Scientist Warns Trump AI Ban Could Backfire | Microsoft’s chief scientist Eric Horvitz says Trump’s plan to block states from regulating AI for 10 years would “hold us back” and slow progress. His comments come as Microsoft reportedly backs the ban alongside Google and Meta.Speaking at an AI conference, Horvitz argued regulation is key to safe innovation. Critics say the ban, part of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” favors Big Tech over public safety.
^{June 22, 2025, Source: The Guardian}

Legal Technology

Custom Is the Future: How Harvey Lets Firms Build Their Own AI Systems

If you’re subscribed to this newsletter, you’re probably interested in legal tech, and we’d say it’s safe to assume you’ve heard about Harvey, which has quickly become one of the most closely watched names in legal technology.

Harvey is positioned as a domain-specific AI platform for law firms and professional services with over 335 clients in 45 countries, and applications across contract analysis, due diligence, litigation, compliance, and more. As the legal tech space has evolved, we’ve watched Harvey become one of, if not the most important legal tech tool for lawyers. Despite its already favourable market position, Harvey is not complacent. The company continues to innovate and expand, and today added another tool to its arsenal: Workflow Builder.

With Workflow Builder, Harvey is giving firms a new degree of control over how legal expertise is captured, scaled, and deployed with AI.

Developed in close partnership with leading international firm Paul, Weiss, and select global launch partners, Workflow Builder is Harvey’s latest addition to its enterprise-grade platform. It offers law firms a way to turn internal legal processes into customized AI workflows with no code required. With Workflow Builder, legal teams can structure workflows using a variety of blocks, embed firm-specific context like templates and guidance, build logic including conditional flows, and control access with granular permissions.

Click here to continue reading the full interview

The AI Regulation Tracker offers a clickable global map that gives you instant snapshots of how each country is handling AI laws, along with the most recent policy developments.

The most recent developments from the past week:

📋 23 June 2025 | UK releases Industrial Strategy, covering AI:The UK Government has released its Industrial Strategy which sets out a 10-year plan to position the country as an engine of global technology growth and innovation – increasingly driven by cutting-edge research. In particular, it aims to make the UK an ‘AI maker, not an AI taker’, building on the £2bn previously committed under the UK AI Action Plan. Specific aspects on AI include: (1) £500m Sovereign AI Unit which will aim to “maximise the UK’s stake in frontier AI”, working with the British Business Bank to invest in data, compute and talent for UK AI capabilities, and partnering with both startups and larger organisations; (2) an industrial strategy AI adoption fund which will facilitate the development of cutting-edge AI in firms that display high-growth potential; and (3) a new £600m Strategic Sites Accelerator which aims to speed up the development of more AI Growth Zones, areas where planning restrictions are relaxed for data centres. The Industrial Strategy also touches upon quantum, semiconductors and cybersecurity.

📋 22 June 2025 | Senate parliamentarian approves state AI law moratorium in Budget Reconciliation Bill: It is reported that the The Senate’s parliamentarian (i.e. rules referee) has approved allowed the Republicans to include in the Budget Reconciliation Bill a 10-year moratorium on enforcing state and local AI laws. For background, Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) rewrote a House-passed AI moratorium to try to comply with the chamber’s budgetary rules. Senator Cruz's version tied compliance with the moratorium to eligibility for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program funding—a $42 billion federal broadband investment. Both parties made their arguments before the parliamentarian on 19 June. On 21 June, the Senate Parliamentarian determined that the proposed moratorium survived procedural scrutiny — known as the Byrd Rule — and will remain in the bill. This ruling effectively shields the moratorium provision from a filibuster hurdle and allows it to advance through the budget reconciliation process with a simple majority vote. The path forward for the AI moratorium is now procedurally clear, pending broader negotiations over the bill’s contents.

📋 20 June 2025 | Special Law for the Promotion of the Artificial Intelligence Industry introduced: The Special Law for the Promotion of the Artificial Intelligence Industry (Bill No. 2210957) has been submitted to the 22nd National Assembly. The Bill aims to support the AI industry to secure AI sovereignty, strengthen national competitiveness, and contribute to national economic development. Key features include: (1) several measures to promote and support the industry, such as establishing a basis for strategic planning to enhance AI industry competitiveness, designating and supporting the creation and operation of AI mega clusters, and promoting and verifying new AI research projects; (2) special provisions regarding the dissemination of research and development results, strategic AI projects, implementation of pilot projects, and the establishment of corporate joint research institutes; (3) groundwork for fostering industry personnel, including attracting overseas talent, surveying supply and demand trends, securing regional personnel, and promoting youth talent development through training programmes and information cooperation; and (4) grounds for financial support, such as expanding AI infrastructure, designating and supporting AI data centre special zones, special provisions regarding preliminary feasibility studies, establishing an AI industry promotion special account, tax provisions, and employment subsidies...

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🆕 HyperDraft - Transforms how enterprises paper deals. Our platform provides zero-lift automation solutions that make legal work more productive for everyone.

Want more Legal AI Tools? Check out our
Top AI Tools for Legal Professionals

This prompt provides a ready-to-file discovery package in minutes, freeing you from blank-page syndrome and ensuring every request is laser-focused on the issues that matter most.

Instructions:
Briefly describe your case (claims, defenses, key factual disputes) and the opposing party’s role. Ask your secure and private LLM to draft:

- 10 tailored interrogatories aimed at uncovering critical facts.
- 10 requests for production focused on essential documents or ESI.
- 5 requests for admission to lock in undisputed points.
- A one-paragraph rationale explaining how each set advances your theory of the case.

The Responsible AI Collaborative is a not‑for‑profit organization working to present real‑world AI harms through its Artificial Intelligence Incident Database.

View the latest reported incidents below:

⚠️ 2025-04-15 | Alleged Deepfake Investment Scam Uses Economist David Rosenberg's Likeness on Meta Platforms | View Incident

⚠️ 2025-06-12 | Alleged AI-Generated Video Ads Impersonate Bank of Montreal Strategist Brian Belski to Promote Investment Scam | View Incident

⚠️ 2025-03-09 | Financial Times Journalist Martin Wolf Reports AI-Generated Investment Scam Using His Likeness on Instagram and Facebook | View Incident

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