Editor’s Note: In 2026, shrinking organic reach and autonomous search agents are changing what “visibility” even means—and press releases are being rebuilt as influence infrastructure rather than legacy copy. For CMOs and communications leaders, the challenge isn’t writing better announcements; it’s engineering distribution and credibility across the systems that shape AI search and machine-cited answers.
February Wrap-Up: Taxes and Tech
February! It’s the month of love! It’s the month of taxes! And, weirdly, a month of tangentially related tech?
Changes to Postmark rules
It’s tax season! If you send your tax return in by mail, you may want to drop it off a few days early. Recent changes to post office operations mean your mail
Wyndham and IHG Join the AI Conversation While Booking Holds Its Ground
Good Sunday evening from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, February 20, 2026, is below. Last week we featured stories on the reported AI activities of Marriott and Hyatt, and this week we feature updates on both Wyndham and IHG. This week’s Update also offers a
Outlook 2026: Emerging Technology
As innovations continue to accelerate, the technology landscape in 2026 may reach a turning point, marking a shift from research and development (R&D) to adaptation. This year’s outlook highlights a shift towards smarter, autonomous systems that operate within the physical world. Organizations that embrace this shift may thrive, while those that lag behind may risk
Will AI Mean the Death of the Billable Hour in Legal?
With artificial intelligence, legal professionals are getting much more done in a day. But for law firms that bill primarily by the hour, this may not bode well. As lawyers complete their work faster for clients, they log fewer billable hours, which means less revenue for the firm.
Due to this conflict between efficiency and
Judge rules that AI created documents were not protected under Attorney-Client Privilege!
The ABAJournal.com reported that “A federal judge in New York ruled Tuesday that documents that a Texas financial services executive created using artificial intelligence sent to his attorney did not qualify for privilege.” The February 17, 2026 article entitled “AI-created documents sent to attorney aren’t privileged, judge says” (https://tinyurl.com/3eyk6c9y) included this ruling from
Sweeping Claims, Sliding Stones: Mastering AI Patent Prosecution with a Curling Twist
As the 2026 Winter Olympics captivate audiences, one sport in particular―curling―stands out as the perfect metaphor for the challenge of prosecuting AI inventions before the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Both arenas demand foresight, adaptability, and strategic thinking, whether it’s guiding a stone across the ice or shepherding an AI patent application through evolving legal terrain. Victory, in either case, belongs to those who embrace teamwork and anticipate the unexpected. Curling is often misjudged as slow or simple, but insiders know that it’s a chess match on ice, where teams slide polished granite stones across pebbled sheets, aiming for the house—the scoring target—while simultaneously disrupting the opposition’s setup. Wins are earned through foresight, precision, and the ability to pivot strategy as conditions change.
Just as innovation in curling equipment and strategy can shift the outcome on the ice, success in AI patent prosecution hinges on ingenuity and adaptability. Practitioners must respond to shifting legal guidance much like curlers adapt to changing ice, always ready to refine claims and strategies in response to examiner feedback. For further details, see our blog covering the USPTO’s recent guidance on subject matter eligibility for software inventions, emphasizing the need for well-defined technical solutions in claims and specifications.
Fire on World Legacy Kills 1 Crew Member, Injures 4 Passengers
A fire broke out on the World Legacy cruise ship on Friday, February 20, 2026, killing one Indonesian crew member and hospitalizing at least four passengers. The deceased crew member joined the World Legacy only a couple of months ago. The fire originated at roughly 4:00 a.m. in a lounge area of the ship while
Recent Federal Privilege Ruling Related to AI Tools Has Implications for Routine Tax Advisor Arrangements
On February 10, 2026, Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York ruled in United States v. Heppner that documents generated through a consumer version of Anthropic’s Claude AI were not protected by the attorney-client privilege or the work-product doctrine under the circumstances presented. The decision appears to be the first to squarely address privilege and work product claims arising from a non-lawyer’s use of a consumer-grade insecure, non-enterprise AI tool for “legal research,” as well as the potential consequences of inputting privileged information (provided to an individual by counsel) into an AI tool. However, putting the novelty of the AI context aside, Judge Rakoff grounded his analysis in traditional privilege principles: that disclosure of privileged communications to a third party in circumstances that undermine confidentiality (here, the corporation operating the AI tool) may result in waiver. And that an AI tool is just that – a tool, not an attorney. Accordingly, this decision reinforces the importance of only using properly secured AI tools with confidential or privileged information and for decisions about using AI in the privileged context to be made by those who best appreciate the risks involved: i.e., lawyers.
CAS Legal Mailbag – 2/20/26
Originally appeared in the CAS Weekly Newsletter
Guest Columnist: Joseph Miller
Hello, Legal Mailbag.
Your posts are so helpful to us school administrators—we appreciate you!
The latest misbehavior we’ve been facing from high-schoolers is sprouting from the AI world. Students can copy a picture posted to a peer’s social media and run it through an