Click, Strip, Repeat: Sex Workers and Digital Violence Amidst the Deepfake Boom

For victims of targeted, sexualized attacks, searching for redress is not easy: they are blamed for posting pictures of them online, accused of overreacting by the police, and followed for life with the consequences of losing the control over their own body and image.

Seen and Silenced: How Russian Surveillance Software Suppresses Georgian Civilians Rights

Over the past two years, the Georgian government has built a comprehensive face recognition enforcement system, procured by a Moscow-based company with ties to the Federal Security Service (FSB). The impact on demonstrators is appalling.

How Algorithmic Systems Govern Kenya’s Content Moderators

An exclusive survey of AI workers in Kenya reveals how automated management affects their livelihoods. Unions and advocacy groups are beginning to fight back.

The murky mechanics of data centers’ green electricity

The German Energy Efficiency Act is under review. The government should change the rules for data centers. As they stand, a data center can be labeled “green” even if it runs entirely on fossil gas.

How “existential risk” became the AI industry’s most successful strategy

When their key product was faced with unfavorable scientific evidence and the risk of regulation, most businesses in the 20th century defended themselves by sowing doubt on an industrial scale. Big AI is doing something radically different: it floods the zone with potential future risks.

Where the army does not use AI

Wargames allow military officers to explore scenarios and teach them how to make decisions as if they were in combat. Although specialists have thought about it, so far they are not rushing to stuff these games with AI.

AI probably does lead to more computer security disasters

Anecdotes abound of people losing data after trusting a chatbot to look after their computer. But does that constitute a trend? And is AI to blame, or or are those who blindly trust chatbots simply the sort of people who would have done something foolish anyway? More research is needed, but there is a strong case to be made that AI is, at least partly, making matters worse.

Maybe there is no AI bubble

Despite AI companies’ utter incapacity to generate profits, investors continue to pour capital into data centers. If the financial bubble does not burst, perhaps it is no bubble at all, but classical economics may be ill-suited to explain what is unfolding.

Never tell an AI you’re from Naples

Today, I take a look at geographic prejudice among four open-weight LLMs. After reading, you might want to edit your resume to put more emphasis on anything you can find related to Stockholm or Amsterdam.

Frontex is building an ‘AI chatbot app’ to encourage repatriations

The chatbot shall provide answers, including legal advice, in many different languages although it was only fed information in English, new documents show.

Large language models as attributes of statehood

As governments champion AI, the development and control of large language models are becoming matters of state. European countries are investing heavily in language resources, with geopolitics casting a large shadow over this endeavor.

Despite plenty of renewable energy, data centers split Norwegian society

In a country with abundant hydro- and wind power, as well as plenty of water, rising electricity needs pit industries against each other. Parts of civil society attempt to slow down the building craze, to little avail.

What artificial butter tells us about Artificial Intelligence

What Ireland’s Data Center Crisis Means for the EU’s AI Sovereignty Plans

Ireland is now home to one of the highest concentrations of data centers in the world. What began as a quiet build-out of server farms around Dublin has expanded into an industrial presence with an ecological footprint that dominates the country’s electricity system. In the meanwhile, Big Tech has falsely portrayed itself as a partner in green transition.

Platform work regulation is failing cleaners

Researchers studying algorithmic management have long had a blind spot when it comes to cleaning apps’ workers. The evidence now emerging paints a nuanced picture: algorithms play a far smaller role than they do for drivers and couriers, yet cleaners still face severe consequences.

Germany’s Data Center Boom is Pushing the Power Grid to its Limits

As Europe pursues the vision of becoming an AI continent, the AI infrastructure boom in Germany is already exposing the limits of the energy supply and physical infrastructure. And the question remains: What price will society and consumers ultimately pay?

Are all LLMs the same? I set out to measure their similarity.

AI-generated text often has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi of monotony and blandness, whatever model is used. An attempt to put a number on this phenomenon shows once more that measuring meaning is close to impossible.

Why left-wing parties are not pushing for GenAI

I'm often asked why there are so few positive visions of AI. After all, machines can make work less tedious and, provided the benefits are shared fairly, increase the well-being of all. But generative AI does not quite work that way.

How to Resist Data Centers: A Guide For Local Communities in Europe

As data centers proliferate across the globe, local groups are mobilising to document the severe harm these facilities inflict on their regions and the immense strain they place on energy resources. We have compiled a set of practical steps that communities can take to educate themselves when a data center is planned in their area, and to address its potential impacts.

An AI slop farm stole my identity

AI slop is everywhere. By one estimate, roughly one in five articles referenced on Google Discover is automatically generated. It's less known that AI slop farms steal the identity of existing journalists and influencers to increase the odds of being picked up by these algorithms.

Remote biometric identification is a colonial boomerang

While many feel – rightly – outraged by how live face recognition and other remote biometric identification infringes on our freedom in public spaces, I think it misses – in part – the point of the technology. To understand its purpose, we need to look into colonial history.

AI avatars have been in politics for a decade, but Diella is different

Albania’s new “Minister for AI” is an LLM-powered avatar. AI has been touted since at least 2017 to replace politicians, but the Albanian software, which shall be in charge of public procurement, opens the gates to corruption on a new scale.

For politicians, TikTok’s algorithm is a handy bogeyman

A parliamentary report about TikTok has received lots of media attention in France in the last few weeks. It is interesting in its own right, and it's also a prime example of how many European politicians behave when faced with an issue related to algorithms.

AI Jesus: What’s left of Pope Francis’ guidance?

A church in Austria put an AI-generated exhibition on display. This does not exactly fit with the Vatican's guidelines on AI.