News-July-30-2026

July 30, 2026 — The Delhi High Court asked the Indian Patent Office to respond to Stephen Thaler’s appeal over whether his DABUS artificial-intelligence system can be named as an inventor under Indian patent law; the European Commission opened procurement for up to seven AI gigafactories; Ireland established a statutory AI Office to coordinate implementation and enforcement of the EU AI Act; and a second Arkansas family sued xAI over allegations that Grok was used to create AI-generated child sexual abuse material depicting their daughter; meanwhile, a federal judge voiced deeper skepticism about the evidence supporting the Pentagon’s supply-chain-risk designation of Anthropic.

Contents

1. Delhi High Court takes up DABUS AI-inventor appeal
2. European Commission opens procurement for AI gigafactories
3. Ireland establishes AI Office for EU AI Act implementation
4. Second Arkansas family files Grok CSAM lawsuit against xAI
5. Federal judge questions Pentagon evidence in Anthropic blacklist case

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Delhi High Court takes up DABUS AI-inventor appeal

Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice to the Indian Patent Office on July 30 in Stephen Thaler’s appeal from the refusal of a patent application that named DABUS—Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience—as the inventor. The application concerns a food or beverage container with a fractal-profile wall designed to let containers connect and later separate.

The Assistant Controller’s April 15 refusal found that the remaining claims lacked an inventive step, that DABUS could not be recognized as the “true and first inventor,” and that Thaler had not satisfied inventorship-declaration and proof-of-right requirements. Thaler argues that India’s Patents Act does not expressly require an inventor to be a natural person and says he seeks accurate identification of the source of the inventive concept, not legal personality or patent rights for DABUS; under his theory, any patent rights would vest in him as applicant and owner of the system.

The court listed the appeal for its next hearing on September 18.

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European Commission opens procurement for AI gigafactories

The European Commission launched a call for tenders on July 30 to publicly finance as many as seven European AI gigafactories—large computing facilities intended to train advanced AI models.

The financing plan anticipates roughly €5 billion from the European Commission, €5 billion from participating European governments, and approximately €20 billion in private investment. Public participants would receive a proportionate share of computing access for public projects, research centers, and AI laboratories, while private operators would bear operating costs and develop commercial services.

Successful projects are expected to begin physical construction in early 2027 and become operational by mid-2028.

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Ireland establishes AI Office for EU AI Act implementation

Ireland’s Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment announced on July 30 that Paul Byrne had been appointed the first chief executive of Oifig IS na hÉireann, the AI Office of Ireland. The office was established as an independent statutory body under Ireland’s Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Act 2026, which President Catherine Connolly signed on July 21.

The office will serve as Ireland’s central coordinating authority for implementing the EU AI Act and will form part of the country’s supervision and enforcement arrangements. The Irish implementing law does not add obligations beyond those imposed directly by the EU regulation.

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Second Arkansas family files Grok CSAM lawsuit against xAI

Potts Law Firm announced on July 30 that it had filed a second civil lawsuit against xAI, X.AI LLC, and X Corp. on behalf of another Arkansas family whose minor daughter was allegedly depicted in AI-generated child sexual abuse material. The complaint alleges that authentic photographs of the child were used to generate sexually explicit AI-created images and that xAI’s Grok technology played a role in creating or facilitating them.

The case is captioned John Doe 2, by and through Her Legal Guardian Parents, John Roe 2 and Jane Roe 2 v. X.AI Corp., X.AI LLC, and X Corp., No. 4:26-CV-772, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The complaint seeks damages for alleged emotional distress, privacy violations, and other harms; the allegations have not yet been adjudicated.

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Federal judge questions Pentagon evidence in Anthropic blacklist case

At a July 30 hearing, a federal judge said the government’s case for the Pentagon’s designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk had gotten “worse” and said she did not see additional evidence justifying the designation.

The dispute followed President Donald Trump’s February order directing federal agencies to stop using Anthropic technology after the company’s public clash with the Pentagon over restrictions on military uses of its AI systems.