Age of AI

Medlir talks with Dr. Sylvie Borau, an associate professor at TBS Education, Toulouse, France, where she teaches ethical marketing and consumer behavior.  They discuss gender imbalance in AI and the issue of 'Benevolent Sexism.'  Together they also consider the implications of one of Dr. Boreau's recent studies which concludes that female bots are endowed with more positive human qu...

Medlir talks with his guest, Ryan Washington, a former Marine working with Special Intelligence.  They discuss the threat of extremist violence as an important security threat and, perhaps more importantly, a societal threat -- especially as both governments and perpetrators of violence look to co-opt AI into their arsenal. Links: https://www.csis.org/analysis/pushed-extremes-domestic-terrorism-am...

Chris talks with Ngor Luong and Channing Lee of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown University about their recently published report Chinese AI Investment and Commercial Activity in Southeast Asia.  Link: https://cset.georgetown.edu/publication/chinese-ai-investment-and-commercial-activity-in-southeast-asia

In this episode Chris discusses AI assisted grading and the future of assessments in higher education with the CEO of Graide, Manjinder Kainth. Starting with a discussion of ChatGPT our guest presents new developments and tools for AI assisted grading and also shares some advice for those seeking to embark on their own start-up journeys.  Links: https://www.graide.co.uk/ https://www.birmingham.ac....

In this episode Chris discusses developments in biometric surveillance with Bojan Perkov of the SHARE Foundation who returns to OnAiR to discuss a proposed law on internal affairs in Serbia that would have provided a legal framework for mass biometric surveillance in public spaces.  Show Notes: https://www.sharefoundation.info/en/round-two-of-the-battle-against-mass-biometric-surveillance/ https:/...

Young Diogenes, Chris, and Medlir share some musings on the future of Human and AI collaboration.  In light of some of the challenges faced by academia (since the launch of ChatGPT), we discuss what an early integration of AI and word processing might look like.  Medlir chastises tech companies for launching products without sufficient vetting.

Medlir is joined by Eric Stoddart from the St. Andrews School of Divinity for a conversation about belief, Practical Theology, AI, surveillance, and the Common Good.  Links: https://ericstoddart.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2021/01/03/new-book/ https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/new_technologies https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/29/the-religious-divide-on-views-of-technologie...

Chris and Medlir catch up with Young Diogenes to discuss OpenAI's ChatGPT and explore its possible uses and abuses. Don't miss a passing glance at David Bowie's 'Verbasizer' and Meta's AI Cicero. Links: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/  https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/12/chatgpt-ai-writing-college-student-essays/672371/ https://slate.com/technology...

Medlir and Chris are joined by Ingvild Bode for a wide ranging conversation on military automation, accountability and the future (and present) of armed conflict. Links: AutoNorms Weaponised Artificial Intelligence, Norms, and Order   Worried about the autonomous weapons of the future? Look at what’s already gone wrong AI has already been weaponised – and it shows why we should ban 'killer ro...

Medlir is joined by Carrie McDougall of the Melbourne Law School and an expert in international criminal law.  They discuss prospects for a possible international tribunal to prosecute the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, and to consider the question of accountability and Autonomous Weapons Systems. Links: Autonomous Weapon Systems and Accountability: Putting the Cart before the Horse The Case...

In this episode, Medlir and Chris discuss the question of AI sentience and Lambda with Young Diogenes. Links: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2022/03/25/what-is-a-transformer-model/ https://cajundiscordian.medium.com/what-is-lamda-and-what-does-it-want-688632134489 https://cajundiscordian.medium.com/is-lamda-sentient-an-interview-ea64d916d917 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=iBXyKJwqh...

Chris and Medlir welcome Zeyi Yang of MIT Technology Review to the show for a wide ranging discussion from Pokemon to predictive policing and digital authoritarianism to China’s urban Metascapes. Links: https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/06/22/1054586/hikvision-worlds-biggest-surveillance-company/ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/25/technology/china-surveillance-police.html?referringSource=artic...

Chris and Medlir are joined Dr. Jelena Cupac, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Global Governance Research Unit at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center in Germany, to discuss her work on patriarchy, democracy, and AI ethics. Links: Engines of Patriarchy: Ethical Artificial Intelligence in Times of Illiberal Backlash Politics Backlash advocacy and NGO polarization over women's rights in th...

Chris discusses with Asser Institute's Taylor Woodcock  the implications of the development and use of military applications of AI for the international legal obligations applicable in armed conflict under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Links: Aspects of Realizing (Meaningful) Human Control: A Legal Perspective | https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abst...

In this episode Medlir and Chris have a chat with Young Diogenes about the use of AI in the latest Top Gun movie, and then explore the boundaries, risks, and opportunities of human-AI collaboration going forward, in a wide ranging discussion that also looks at the question of ‘tamagotchi’ children. Links: Hear Val Kilmer's AI voice – Sonantic Val Kilmer’s daughter says watching dad film ‘Mave...

In this episode Medlir and Chris speak with the two of the authors of a Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) Georgetown report on AI cooperation among members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, more commonly known as the Quad. Links Quad AI | Assessing AI-related Collaboration between the United States, Australia, India, and Japan The Future of the Quad’s Technology Cooperation...

Medlir and Chris discuss the distinction between analogue and digital approaches to IR and the impact of digital innovations in peace-building. They also ask whether digital peace is any more secure and less fragile than the analog one. Meanwhile Young Diogenes engages with Derek Parfit's 'hinge of history' argument and, unsurprisingly, finds extant interpretations lacking. Links: T...

Medlir and Chris discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the future of global trade, data colonialism and prospects for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework with guest Dan Ciuriak, while Young Diogenes talks up AI’s potential to transform manufacturing ("Yes, yes, I understand 'Manufacturing' won't seem all that exciting to some of you. Ha. " --YD)  Links: Unfree Flow with No...

Chris and Medlir explore with Young Diogenes the question of whether AI will be our artist of the future, while Medlir talks to Ilan Manor about public digital diplomacy and the use of digital tools in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Links: AI-art isn’t art Communicating with Purpose and Value: Chapter 3 Digital Diplomacy How Digital Diplomacy is Shaping the #Ukraine Crisis Digital Diplomacy in #Ukra...

Chris and Medlir review AI-themed television shows with Young Diogenes (e.g. Westworld), followed by a discussion with Frederick Bruneault, professor of philosophy at University of Quebec Montreal, asking the question: How do we define AI ethics and how do we avoid pitfalls in the debate surrounding it. Finally, we ask Dr. Bruneault, what is missing from the current discussion on AI ethics? Links:...

Medlir and Chris start off our third season with AI4Peace's Branka Panic, about how AI can contribute to peace and conflict prevention. Plus see our bonus episode this week on YD's AI movie picks, which also led to a lively second discussion. Links: AI4Peace | https://www.aiforpeace.org/   Report on data for peacebuilding and prevention | https://cic.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/can_emerg...

How do we teach emerging tech in IR? How will technological changes impact the discipline in particular and higher education more broadly? How can we best design curriculums to address emerging challenges? These are some of the questions Medlir and Chris will explore in the second part of our two part series on higher education with guests Andre Barrinha and Raluca Csernatori.

What does the education look like in an age of everincreasing demands for technical proficiency and availability? How can we make better uses of emerging tech in our classrooms and study spaces? Tech IQ versus Emotional IQ. What is the balance? Professor Nancy Gleason and Dr. Alexandra Mihai joined Chris and Medlir to discuss these questions and more in the first of a two-episode special on Higher...

Medlir and Chris talk to Bojan Perkov of the SHARE Foundation about digital surveillance in Serbia. Meanwhile, YD discusses why mass surveillance and facial recognition technologies are far from benign.  Notes https://medium.com/s/story/facial-recognition-is-the-perfect-tool-for-oppression-bc2a08f0fe66   https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/12/opinion/facebook-privacy.html https://www.sharefoundation.i...