Dr Zena Assaad

Iran war heralds era of AI-powered bombing quicker than ‘speed of thought’ Speed and scale of US military’s AI war planning raises fears human decision-making may be sidelined

“Academics studying the field say AI is collapsing the planning time required for complex strikes – a phenomenon known as “decision compression”, which some fear could result in human military and legal experts merely rubber-stamping automated strike plans.”

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

The first episode of our new season of the #ResponsibleBytesPodcast is now live. Chatting with @brankamarijan.bsky.social about trust by design for military AI.

🎧 You can listen to this episode anywhere you get your podcasts 🎧

(Ir-)Responsible by Design? Corporate Guardrails and the Governance of Military AI [Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University School of Law; Elke Schwarz is a Professor of Political Theory at Queen Mary University London; Ingvild Bode is …

The Anthropic-U.S. DoD public dispute continues. We have unpacked the latest updates & the safety, legal & ethical concerns in our @opiniojuris.bsky.social article

@jessicadorsey.bsky.social @elkeschwarz.bsky.social @profbode.bsky.social @ncrenic.bsky.social

opiniojuris.org/2026/03/02/i...

Photoshopped image of Anthony Albanese talking to a doctor with a spine in front of him next to an image of Grace Tame wearing her 'Fuck Murdoch' t-shirt. Headline: Spineless man frustrated that woman dares to have one

“She just doesn’t have the spinlessness needed for politics,” said Albanese chaser.com.au/national/spi...

Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War A statement from our CEO on national security uses of AI

The latest statement released by Anthropic maintains they will stand their ground on the two guardrails around mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapon systems 👉🏼
www.anthropic.com/news/stateme...

The Pentagon/Anthropic Clash Over Military AI Guardrails [Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University School of Law; Elke Schwarz is a Professor of Political Theory at Queen Mary University London; Ingvild Bode is …

The Pentagon/Anthropic Clash Over Military AI Guardrails, my latest @opiniojuris.bsky.social together with @elkeschwarz.bsky.social @profbode.bsky.social @zenaassaad.bsky.social and @ncrenic.bsky.social

opiniojuris.org/2026/02/26/t...

The Pentagon/Anthropic Clash Over Military AI Guardrails [Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University School of Law; Elke Schwarz is a Professor of Political Theory at Queen Mary University London; Ingvild Bode is …

If you're looking for a summary of the Anthropic/DoD public debate & the safety, legal & ethical issues @jessicadorsey.bsky.social @elkeschwarz.bsky.social @profbode.bsky.social @ncrenic.bsky.social & I summarised the debate in our @opiniojuris.bsky.social article 👇🏼

opiniojuris.org/2026/02/26/t...

A Timeline of the Anthropic-Pentagon Dispute The dispute raises a variety of policy, legal, and ethical questions, and its outcome could set an important precedent.

Anthropic and the Pentagon are in an ongoing dispute over what Reuters describes as "usage restrictions for military purposes" — limits the AI company says are necessary. The government has given the company a Friday deadline to relent. Here’s what we know.

Pauline Hanson’s no ‘good’ Muslims comment shows how normalised Islamophobia has become in Australia Recent events show troubling signs that Islamophobia has become normalised, tolerated in ways other forms of racism are not.

Criticism of the state of Israel is considered hate speech, but a politician publicly stating there are "no good muslims" is totally acceptable. This is how normalised Islamophobia is & also shows the jarring reality of how Muslims are publicly dehumanised.

theconversation.com/pauline-hans...

Stochastic Flocks and the Critical Problem of 'Useful' AI Acknowledging that AI systems are advancing does not buy into hype, it sharpens the precision of critical thinking about their impacts, says Eryk Salvaggio.

To acknowledge the ways AI systems are changing does not buy into hype, it sharpens the precision of critical thinking about their impacts. To make sense of what AI does to people, you also need to understand what it does for them, writes Eryk Salvaggio.

Clear, sincere words from Japanese singer/songwriter Haru Nemuri rebuking Israel. She shares this anecdote: a Palestinian child throws a stone at an Israeli tank. They call the child a terrorist. The tank fires back, killing the child and they call that progress?! #FreePalestine #HaruNemuri

The panel's first report is due to be delivered by July 2026 - a very short turn around for a consensus based report being developed by 40 multidisciplinary people.

The 40 proposed names for the UN's independent scientific panel on AI has been submitted to the general assembly, which will have the ultimate say over the panel's membership. They are expected to make the final decision on membership on 12 Feb.

www.un.org/independent-...

The Illusion of AGI, or What Language Models Can Do Without Thought It is not simple stubbornness that LLMs are not “intelligent,” much less a form of “general” intelligence, writes Eryk Salvaggio.

The most important question about AI isn't determining whether the machine thinks — it's whether interacting with it displaces the conditions under which we think, writes Eryk Salvaggio.

Hacked, leaked, exposed: Why you should never use stalkerware apps | TechCrunch According to TechCrunch’s ongoing tally, including the most recent data spill involving uMobix, there have been at least 27 stalkerware companies since 2017 that are known to have been hacked, or leaked customer and victims’ data online. 

According to TechCrunch’s ongoing tally, including the most recent data spill involving uMobix, there have been at least 27 stalkerware companies since 2017 that are known to have been hacked, or leaked customer and victims’ data online. 

US, China opt out of joint declaration on AI use in military Around a third of countries attending a military AI summit agreed on Thursday to a declaration on how to govern deployment of the technology in warfare, but military heavyweights China and the U.S. op...

"Around a third of countries attending a military AI summit agreed on Thursday to a declaration on how to govern deployment of the technology in warfare, but military heavyweights China and the U.S. opted out." www.reuters.com/business/aer...

Thank you for sharing!

The level of disappointment I feel for the Australian government supporting & enabling Isaac Herzog's visit is immeasurable. What happened at Bondi was a horrific terror attack & our government responds by inviting a man who incited & supported genocide to comfort the victims. Make that make sense?

What Does the First US Social Media Addiction Trial Mean for the Tech Industry? Is social media addictive? And if so, can social media companies be held responsible? Varsha Bansal reports from Los Angeles.

The first big social media addiction case in the US is going before a jury. Tech Policy Press fellow Varsha Bansal breaks down what's at stake and what to expect in court, from executives testifying to troves of internal evidence showing companies knew the harm their designs caused.

Why comparisons between AI and human intelligence miss the point Human intelligence is social and embodied – but AI is very different.

AI is often incorrectly compared to human intelligence - it's really more of a marketing agenda than anything else. This article in @aunz.theconversation.com does a great job of explaining why AI and human intelligence are not the same, nor accurately compared 👉🏽 share.google/n6FTOvvNFN5a...

The 3rd REAIM summit has now come to an end. I spoke on the opening plenary panel about the technical challenges of AI in the military domain.

If you're not familiar with the REAIM summits, this article in @justsecurity.org is a helpful & worthwhile read - www.justsecurity.org/129936/third...

🚨 New publication 🚨

My latest article is out, discussing the complexity of AI-DSS in resort to force decision making. You can freely access the article here 👇🏼

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Australian CEOs say AI isn't creating revenue gains ROI, skills, and confidence elusive as worried execs invest trillions.

"Australian businesses are throwing money at heavily hyped artificial intelligence solutions but just one in seven companies is seeing revenue gains as a result, new surveys have shown as CEOs worry they are not keeping up with AI’s risk and complexity." ia.acs.org.au/article/2026...

The United States’ new military strategy is a case of ‘AI peacocking’ The new strategy leans heavily on AI hype – with potentially fatal consequences.

In my latest @aunz.theconversation.com article, I talk about the US Department of War's AI stragey, calling it out as a case of “AI peacocking” – loud public signalling of AI adoption and leadership, which clouds the reality of unreliable systems.

theconversation.com/the-united-s...

Unhinged

Reading recommendation 📚📚

This newly published paper by @jessicadorsey.bsky.social which examines the growing use of AI-DSS in targeting operations and their implications for proportionality assessments under international humanitarian law 👇🏼

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

I think it's a marketing agenda more than anything else. Presenting a front of being "AI-first" when the reality is quite different

Trump's greenlight for Nvidia AI chips to China draws fire from lawmakers, former officials U.S. lawmakers and former officials on Wednesday questioned President Donald Trump's decision to allow Nvidia to sell its second most powerful AI chips in China, arguing the move erodes America's AI edge and threatens to electrify Beijing's military.

Trump's greenlight for Nvidia AI chips to China draws fire from lawmakers, former officials reut.rs/4jH7DZx

Gemini's new beta feature provides proactive responses based on your photos, emails, and more | TechCrunch Personal Intelligence is off by default, as users have the option to choose if and when they want to connect their Google apps to Gemini.

Personal Intelligence is off by default, as users have the option to choose if and when they want to connect their Google apps to Gemini.

The aversion to DEI also negates to consider relevant fundamental technical safety implications, which will actually make these systems more brittle and vulnerable. It's counter-intuitive to chase speed at scale at the expense of technical integrity.