AI in Brief — Friday, 22 May 2026

President Trump delayed signing an executive order that would have required pre-release government security reviews of AI models, citing dissatisfaction with the order’s language. The move matters because it pushes the schedule for a state-led safety process just as AI systems are moving from labs into products and, increasingly, into decision-making that government and business can’t afford to get wrong. Source

Recycling startups are using AI to improve the recovery of critical minerals like aluminum, aiming to build a massive source of the metal, as aluminum prices are up 20%. That linkage between pricing pressure and machine-assisted extraction matters because it suggests the industrial AI agenda is shifting from software optimisation to physical supply chains where margins and resilience are determined by recovery rates. Source

The Path, founded by Tony Robbins and Calm alums, says its AI model has scored 95 on the mental health safety AI benchmark, Vera-MH, compared with a top score of 65 for consumer bots. The claim matters because it reframes AI therapy as a measurable safety race rather than a marketing one, which could influence how regulators, insurers, and employers decide which systems can be deployed for high-stakes psychological support. Source

Sam Altman and Elon Musk are facing off in a high-stakes trial that could alter the future of OpenAI and its product, ChatGPT. In 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding mission of developing AI to benefit humanity and shifting focus to boosting profits instead, and after nearly a month the dispute is now in court, making the outcome consequential for how mission and money are balanced in frontier model development. Source

Spotify is partnering with Universal Music Group to let Premium subscribers create AI-generated song covers and remixes, with participating artists receiving a share of the revenue. The deal matters because it turns generative AI from an enforcement problem into a licensing product, potentially setting the commercial template for how labels and streaming platforms monetise AI-derived derivative music while keeping artists within the revenue chain. Source

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