The brief · 2 March 2026

The AI brief, 2026-03-02

Today the FDA cleared an obstetric AI and Claude buckled under its own popularity. On the agenda: health, infrastructure, and copyright, seen through the lens of ultrasounds and overloaded servers.

2 min read J / K to navigate

FDA Clears AI That Estimates Due Dates From Ultrasound Images

Ultrasound AI just landed a De Novo clearance, the FDA pathway reserved for genuinely novel devices with no existing equivalent on the market. The tool predicts delivery dates from ultrasound images alone, no other clinical inputs needed. That matters most when standard methods struggle, particularly late in pregnancy or with atypical fetal measurements.

practitioners › Cloud-based SaMD powered by deep learning, cleared March 2, 2026 as an adjunct tool, not a standalone diagnostic.

FDA →

Claude buckled under its own demand

If you use Claude daily, you probably watched the app crash that morning. Anthropic is blaming unprecedented demand, which is actually good news for the company but bad news for your reliability if work depends on it.

practitioners › Outage started around 7am ET on March 2, nearly 2,000 reports at peak, resolved same day per Anthropic's status page.

Anthropic status page →

FDA clears AI that predicts due dates from a single ultrasound scan

Due dates have traditionally relied on standard obstetric formulas, which can be unreliable depending on the stage of pregnancy. Ultrasound AI's tool is a decision-support aid, not a standalone diagnostic, refining that estimate directly from ultrasound images.

practitioners › De Novo clearance granted March 2, 2026; cloud-based SaMD designed to support, not replace, clinical judgment.

FDA →

Supreme Court Won't Hear Thaler Case: AI Still Can't Be an Author

On March 2, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal in Thaler v. Perlmutter. That leaves the lower court rulings intact: no human behind the work means no copyright in the U.S. If you're generating visuals or text with AI for commercial use, legal protection still hinges on your own creative input, not the tool's.

practitioners › Cert denied March 2, 2026, case no. 25-449: the Copyright Office's human-authorship requirement stands.