​A note from Alix | Video Highlights | Highlights from the Collective​

Good ideas need company

Hey everyone,

After spending the last two months working on our Computer Says Kill series, it was hard not to feel the weight of power consolidation in tech. I needed a reminder that for every violent power structure, there are incredible people organising to tear it down.

Enter REAL Resistance: a series of global conversations about tech power, accountability, and resistance. We collaborated with REAL ML to highlight a global community of experts and advocates investigating AI’s harms and pushing for something better.

This community is one of my favorite corners of this world of work. Each person is dedicated and kind, and you can feel the depth of the relationships they’ve built together. It’s so good that I could call it full of synergy and not feel weird about it!

It also reminded me that expertise alone isn’t enough. Spaces like this help experts come together and pull out shared analysis, swap notes on tactics and strategies, and help each other win their fights. That's what creates the conditions for ideas to travel further and have more influence.

Each episode features people tackling connected issues:

• ​How AI warps information with Klaudia Jaźwińska, Aliya Bhatia, and Yanick Kemayou
• ​How automating governments begets inequality over efficiency with Maria Pilar Llorens, Divij Joshi, Gabriel Geiger, and Purity Mukami
• ​How colonialism is alive and well in tech with Paola Ricaurte Quijano, Fernanda Rodrigues, Angela Chukunzira, and Kauna Love Malgwi
• ​How the surveillance industry thrives under the guise of ‘security’ with Mariel Garcia-Montes and Crofton Black
• ​How the network itself is fighting for our collective humanity with Anna Bacciarelli and Shazeda Ahmed

Each conversation left me feeling hopeful - not because our current conditions are encouraging, but because the people working on these issues aren’t working alone.

It's got me thinking about how we can be more intentional about creating spaces where people working on technology and power can find each other, learn from one another, and make each other's work more impactful. We're still building what that looks like, but I'm excited to share more soon.

Alix

Video Highlights

We just released a fascinating conversation with Veena Dubal about the Uberization of gig work and how Big Tech has inserted itself between us and dismantled labor standards around the world. Check out the full interview:

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We also shared an excerpt of a chat with Naomi Klein from our Reframing Impact series about how the fossil fuel industry sees AI as its life support. Check out the conversation on YouTube:

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Upcoming Events & Opportunities

Thursday, July 30th: Computer Says Kill: Community Conversation on the Militarization of AI. ** This is a closed-door event for members of The Maybe’s network. The session won’t be recorded, so if you want to learn from our speakers, join us live!

Highlights from the New Protagonist Network

Deepfakes

• WITNESS’s work on surveillance risks of C2PA Content Credentials was featured in Hard Reset.
• Tattle released the Deepfakes Analysis Unit Dataset, together with the Trusted Information Alliance.

AI Harms

• ​Michal Luria co-published Dark Patterns in AI Chatbots: A Taxonomy to Inform Better Design, a new report by the Center for Democracy & Technology examining how deceptive and manipulative design choices in AI chatbot interfaces may undermine user autonomy.
• ​Jenni Olson spoke to Tech Policy Press about GLAAD’s new report Build for Everyone: A Framework for LGBTQ Representation and Safety in AI.

Data Centers

• Amy Margolies’ fight against data centers in Tucker Country (West Virginia, USA) was featured in a new piece on data center resistance by the Washington Post.
• Inayat Sabhikhi co-authored “No Data Centers in Anyone’s Backyard”, an article in Tech Policy Press calling for transnational solidarity in resistance to data centers. A petition by Human Rights Forum against data centers in Vizag (India) is currently circulating.

Surveillance and Risk Profiling

• Amnesty Tech published a new report on risk profiling systems to predict crime and fraud (see also the tl;dr version).
• ​Pablo Nunes spoke to Time Magazine about an AI-camera startup in Brazil, and the surveillance concerns it poses.
• ​Soizic Pénicaud spoke to Radio France about an opaque risk-scoring algorithm used by the unemployment office.
• ​Romain Lanneau spoke to POLITICO about the European Commission’s plans to increase police agency Europol’s data sharing and analysis capabilities.

Social Media Bans and Platform Regulation

• ​Adele Zeynep Walton published an op-ed in The Observer about the UK’s recent announcement of an online curfew for 16-17 year olds. By the way, her book Logging Off is now available as paperback.
• ​Bhargav Srinivasa Desikan was a guest on Al Jazeera to discuss social media bans in the UK.
• ​Victoire Rio was interviewed by Euronews to discuss WHAT TO FIX’s research on monetization of EU sanctioned entities.

Public Opinion of AI

• ​Daniel Stone’s new research on what the British public thinks about AI was featured in The Observer.

AI Industrial Policy and Governance

• Frederike Kaltheuner co-authored a three-part Tech Policy Press series about the European Union’s AI market and dependencies, and commented the Europe 2031 proposal on the TPP podcast and in a Substack post.
• Eryk Salvaggio’s new piece in Tech Policy Press looks at “How the UN’s scientific panel erases human responsibility for AI”

Find out more about the New Protagonist Network and apply to join.

ICYMI: NPN Slack updates & welcoming new members

Welcome to our new members! Sarah Roth-Gaudette, Julia Slupska, Liz Carolan, Jacob Blumberg, Luigi Bai, Valeria Tafoya, Maha Jouini, Clarissa Redwine & JS Tan. Learn more about them on the #introduce-yourself channel on Slack.

NPN events:

• Tuesday, September 15th: a new Broadcast Media training session, delivered by our partner NEON. Places are limited and on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Some of our conversations on Slack this month:

• the London mayor blocking a deal with Palantir​
• the Pope’s encyclical​
• the Mythos/Fable ban and digital “sovereignty” issues
• CITR’s amazing victory against US immigration policy targeting technology researchers