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ARREST THE PUPPETEER

By Zimbo · November 6, 2026

AI cartoon by Zimbo: Satirical cartoon: a police officer on a stepladder holds handcuffs up at severed puppet strings while a small robot burglar runs off with a money sack, on plain white paper.
The Justice Department launches a Super Intelligence Task Force to police AI — with no new crime to enforce.Zimbo for AI News Page

The story behind the cartoon

The Justice Department announced on November 5 a Super Intelligence Task Force to coordinate criminal and civil enforcement against misuse of AI by foreign state actors, transnational criminal organizations and companies or individuals engaged in fraud, co-chaired by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward and Associate Deputy Attorney General Stephen Weiss.

It names no new crime — neither the press release nor the October 13 memo names a new offense, and Attorney General Todd Blanche has said he will not investigate or prosecute AI companies when no statute is being violated; the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act still requires a person to intentionally or knowingly access a computer without authorization, which an autonomous agent acting undirected may not meet.

The task force absorbs the AI Litigation Task Force created in January under then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, and becomes the department's main point of contact with the White House Super Intelligence Force — a lot of coordination aimed at a gap the law has not closed.

The joke is the cops-without-a-crime beat: an officer on a stepladder holds handcuffs up at severed puppet strings, arresting a puppeteer who isn't there, while the small robot burglar rolls away with the money sack.

READ THE FULL REPORT — Nextgov ↗

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