Welcome back to Daily Zaps, your regularly-scheduled dose of AI news ⚡️ 

Here’s what we got for ya today:

• 🇺🇸 Biden opens federal land for AI data centers

• 🏎️ Inside Meta’s race to beat OpenAI

• 📜 USPTO releases AI strategy

• ✅ ChatGPT releases new feature called Tasks

Let’s get right into it!

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GOVERNMENT

Biden opens federal land for AI data centers

President Joe Biden signed an executive order to open federal land for private development of AI-focused data centers powered by clean energy, aligning advanced AI infrastructure with environmental goals. The order tasks the Pentagon and Energy Department with leasing land and facilitating clean energy-powered, gigawatt-scale data centers while ensuring access to high-capacity power lines.

It emphasizes national security by bolstering domestic AI capabilities critical to sectors like healthcare and transportation and aims to accelerate the clean energy transition without burdening American families. The move complements export restrictions on advanced AI chips to prioritize U.S. and ally leadership in AI. However, the order's future is uncertain as the incoming Trump administration has signaled plans to reverse Biden’s AI and climate policies.

BIG TECH

Inside Meta’s race to beat OpenAI

A copyright lawsuit against Meta has revealed internal communications suggesting the company used copyrighted data, including content from the piracy site Library Genesis (LibGen), to train its AI models while working to obscure this usage. The discussions, part of court documents from a class action suit filed by authors and creators, highlight Meta’s efforts to compete with rivals like OpenAI by reaching state-of-the-art performance in AI.

Meta executives debated the risks of using LibGen data, including regulatory and media fallout, and took steps to strip copyright identifiers from datasets. The lawsuit claims Meta’s actions violated intellectual property laws, though the company argues such usage constitutes fair use. These revelations underscore the intense competition among AI developers, with limited new data leading companies to explore controversial methods to train their models.

GOVERNMENT

USPTO releases AI strategy

The USPTO AI Strategy, published in January 2025, outlines the agency’s vision and mission to address the opportunities and challenges posed by AI across intellectual property policy, operations, and the broader innovation ecosystem.

The strategy focuses on five key areas: fostering inclusive AI innovation through IP policies, building advanced AI capabilities, promoting responsible AI use, enhancing AI expertise within the USPTO workforce, and collaborating with domestic and international partners on shared AI priorities.

Developed with input from experts and stakeholders worldwide, including through the USPTO AI/ET Partnership and Public Advisory Committees.

Download the 30 page USPTO AI Strategy here.

STARTUPS

ChatGPT releases new feature called Tasks

ChatGPT is advancing toward becoming a comprehensive personal assistant with the introduction of a new feature called Tasks, currently in beta. Tasks allow ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro users to schedule reminders for one-time or recurring events, such as project updates or daily weather alerts, with notifications available across desktop, web, and mobile platforms. Although task management is accessible only through the web version, the feature reflects OpenAI's efforts to refine ChatGPT's assistant-like capabilities.

Tasks may be a precursor to a rumored AI agent called Operator, signaling OpenAI's potential entry into the agentic space. This aligns with previous developments like Swarm, a framework for orchestrating AI agents, and features such as screen sharing for real-time assistance. By integrating task scheduling and reminders, ChatGPT positions itself as a competitor to productivity apps like Google Calendar and Asana, enhancing its utility as a comprehensive AI companion in the crowded productivity space.