Frederike Kaltheuner

I wrote about Iran's protests for @theatlantic.com: how AI manipulation and the suspicion of it is being weaponised to dismiss real footage of protests.

This piece draws on work from my stellar team at WITNESS and years of studying information controls in Iran and beyond.

Decision in US vs. Google Gets it Wrong on Generative AI | TechPolicy.Press Google will continue to enjoy the fruits of its search monopoly to secure its success in the generative AI market, writes Kate Brennan.

in the wake of us v. google, i wrote for @techpolicypress.bsky.social how generative AI is not going to magically unseat a dominant firm like google: it's going to enable it to become even more dominant. news in the past 24 hours shows exactly this (see thread!) www.techpolicy.press/decision-in-...

apnews.com/article/stat...

This needs more widespread coverage: The US has sanctioned five individuals, including the founder and Director of @hateaid.org - a German NGO that supports victims of online hate and harassment and image-based sexual abuse

AI debt boom pushes US corporate bond sales close to record Investment-grade borrowers have issued $1.7tn of bonds this year, closing in on 2020’s Covid debt rush

"US companies have sold $1.7tn of investment-grade bonds in 2025, a near-record sum stoked by a rush of borrowing to fund AI infrastructure that has spurred concerns over a debt glut."

Re-up on this in light of the @404media.co story out today.

Google’s and OpenAI’s Chatbots Can Strip Women in Photos Down to Bikinis Users of AI image generators are offering each other instructions on how to use the tech to alter pictures of women into realistic, revealing deepfakes.

In response to WIRED’s request for comment about users being able to generate bikini deepfakes with ChatGPT, a spokesperson for OpenAI claims the company loosened some ChatGPT guardrails this year around adult bodies in nonsexual situations.”

Ich frage mich wie sehr es Vertrauen in seriöse Medien untergräbt. Viele (können) nicht gut zwischen Werbung und Nachrichten unterschreiben

George Osborne has a new job in tech, and it doesn’t bode well for Britain | Chris Stokel-Walker OpenAI is the latest to make a political hire as big tech spreads its tentacles around the world. So what’s the attraction, asks author Chris Stokel-Walker

George Osborne getting a new job isn't exactly news. But him being the latest former politician to join a tech company pushing out AI into government absolutely is. My latest for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Elon Musk teams with El Salvador to bring Grok chatbot to public schools President Nayib Bukele entrusting chatbot known for calling itself ‘MechaHitler’ to create ‘AI-powered’ curricula

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Here's how this will go down:

1) Adversarial attacks on Sora will be unrelenting, putting Disney characters in all kinds of compromising videos

2) These will be a new firehose of slop that fly-by-night content farms will monetize on Facebook & elsewhere

3) Fan backlash will be significant

Verheerender und vielsagender Satz von Kanzler Merz zur Unterwanderung des europäischen Zusammenhalts durch die US Regierung unter Trump, gerichtet an die USA: „Wenn ihr mit Europa nix anfangen könnt, dann macht wenigstens Deutschland zu eurem Partner." Es ist nicht zu fassen.

Congratulations!! Also my biggest project of 2025 🎉

More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters Exclusive: Congress urged to act against energy-hungry facilities blamed for increasing bills and worsening climate crisis

Teach the environmental harms of AI and its infrastructure.

Macron this week proposed trading away export controls on European made semiconductor equipment.
Trump just weakened the US arguments against that.

Home Office admits facial recognition tech issue with black and Asian subjects Calls for review after technology found to return more false positives for ‘some demographic groups’ on certain settings

Black women told you this in 2018.

This was just sent to me by an LAUSD parent. A 4th grader was assigned to design a book cover for Pippi Longstocking using Adobe for Education. Here is what the AI tool generated:

A whopping 65% of Germans say Germany is acting too cautiously in asserting its interests towards the United States.

120m is no deterrent to X. Musk will moan in public - in private, he will be doing cartwheels.

Tech compliance theatre won't cut it anymore. Europeans want enforcement with teeth - up to revoking access to the Single Market for the worst actors. And Musk + X are the slop merchants par excellence.

Bei der «Stadtbild»-Debatte ging es stets um Bilder, um rassistische Phantasmen der Reinigung wie um die nostalgische Sehnsucht nach einer Vergangenheit, die nur in Bildern existiert. AI Slop nimmt nun im Imaginären vorweg, was man für die Wirklichkeit plant: die ethnische Säuberung der Innenstädte

A few thoughts on the new US national security strategy that was released today.
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www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

🚨 A huge leak exposes the new targets and internal operations of Intellexa, the secretive and murky company behind the notorious Predator spyware.

Introducing #IntellexaLeaks, a joint investigation with partners @insidestory.gr, @haaretzcom.bsky.social & WAV Research Collective 🧵👇

Google deletes X post after getting caught using a ‘stolen’ AI recipe infographic Google is facing backlash on X after a viral post for its NotebookLM appeared to use a food blogger's work without credit.

“This incident shows how Google is trying to leverage its Search monopoly into a monopoly on answers themselves”

www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/artific...

Fascinating:

Small changes to ‘for you’ feed on X can rapidly increase political polarisation Study finds that a week of political content can bring about a shift in views that previously would have taken three years

'Small changes to the tone of posts fed to users of X can increase feelings of political polarisation as much in a week as would have historically taken at least three years, research has found.' 1/3

“AI is already changing sex work and our future relationships in so many ways”, documentary filmmaker Naomi Pallas tells Dazed. Pallas is the director of the award-winning short film Clankers, which explores the rise of AI sex influencers and the blurring of consent. For the documentary, Pallas made her own pregnant AI sex worker after attending courses run predominantly by men about how to make them and develop a unique niche. What Pallas discovered through attending these courses was that these men were essentially stealing the content of real sex workers and deepfaking their likenesses to make their AI influencers. “When I saw this, I just thought, ‘Oh my God. They are trying to get the means of production back from women’”.

Theft on top of theft.

No Kings, No Monopolies: How App Store Gatekeepers Enable Authoritarianism | TechPolicy.Press Meher Sethi discusses how the app-store duopoly enables government pressure, including censorship of apps like ICEBlock, and poses growing risks to democracy.

When the Trump administration demanded ICEBlock’s removal, Apple complied—no rival app stores, just one gatekeeper’s decision, explains Meher Sethi. The takedown exposed how easily government pressure can travel through Apple and Google’s app-store duopoly and the risk it poses to democracy.

Investors expect AI use to soar. That’s not happening Recent surveys point to flatlining business adoption

Multiple surveys are telling the same story: AI adoption has stalled. Census data shows ~11% of workers use AI, with rates falling at 250+ employee firms. Surveys show usage spiked then plateaued.

Meanwhile Big Tech is planning $5T in AI spend by 2030 that needs $650B/year in revenue vs ~$50B today

So thrilled to finally have @ketanjoshi.co on the podcast!

We dig into what the numbers are telling us about the climate impact of data centers — and it’s not a good story. These tech companies need to be held accountable for the climate cost of their AI ambitions!

7️⃣ years ago, 7 of our members filed complaints against Google over its tracking of users’ locations.

A lot can happen in 7 years: the GDPR was reformed, Europeans born in 2018 are now in primary school, and the people below joined our digital & enforcement teams! Yet, this case is still pending⏱️