Interesting interview with @malachy.bsky.social, a pioneer of visual investigations on what's constant and what's changing in @reutersinstitute.bsky.social reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/new-yor...

New York Times’ Malachy Browne on the future of visual investigations in the age of AI

When Malachy Browne started piecing together videos of the Arab Spring in early 2011, he wasn’t thinking about building a new kind of journalism. He was just trying to figure out what was real.What be...

reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk

1/New with Afsaneh Rigot of @thedecenter.bsky.social with work from @witnessorg.bsky.social for @carnegieendowment.org: "Generative AI and Atrocity Denial in War." How AI has turned doubt itself into a weapon, from Iran to Gaza to Sudan. Thread: carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

Generative AI and Atrocity Denial in War

In the fog of modern war, generative AI offers every side a simple transaction: Trade documented reality for permanent doubt.

carnegieendowment.org

Can AI deepfake detectors always reliably prove whether an image is real or not?

It's August 2! It's August 2! Why am I so excited (and trepidacious)... It's the day both California and EU rules on content provenance and AI go into effect. Read on for @witnessorg.bsky.social analysis on where the EU AI Act gets it right, and where we need more. www.witness.org/witness-says...

WITNESS on the Enforcement of EU's New AI Transparency Rules: Progress but Key Gaps Remain - WITNESS

WITNESS welcomes the Code of Practice's multi-layered approach to identifying AI-generated content, but says it doesn't go far enough.

witness.org

In @techpolicypress.bsky.social shirin anlen and I on a foreseeable fiasco: how Google briefly turned 1 of world's most trusted sources of evidence into a generator of plausible fakes, and why tech cos must consult civil society experts before launch, not after www.techpolicy.press/google-earth...

Google Earth AI Fiasco Underscores Why Tech Firms Must Listen to Outside Experts

It's just one more parable in a long line of product releases by AI firms with potentially dangerous consequences, write shirin anlen and Sam Gregory.

techpolicy.press

What "on earth"? The prioritization of ground truth for journalism, and our shared sense of reality - is less important to Google than "custom images to help you visualize history, create real estate plans, and more." And no, us checking every image is not the answer. blog.google/products-and...

Transform any place with Nano Banana in Google Earth

Custom images — generated from Google Earth satellite, aerial, and 3D imagery — help you redesign any location.

blog.google

🎥 Deepfakes: Can you trust anything you see online anymore? Episode 3 in @tbij.bsky.social series 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒅: 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑨𝑰 𝑮𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝑾𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 out now! I talk the reasons we need to worry, why we need to act, and winners/losers in the deepfakes fight (spoiler: not ordinary folks) www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s0x...

Deepfakes: Can you trust anything you see online anymore?

YouTube video by The Bureau Investigates

youtube.com

😢https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/20/kevin-keegan-liverpool-legend-and-former-newcastle-manager-dies-aged-75?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Kevin Keegan, Liverpool legend and former Newcastle manager, dies aged 75

Kevin Keegan, the former England and Newcastle manager who was a member of Liverpool’s serial champions in the 1970s, has died aged 75

theguardian.com

Sigh ... www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/ai-face...

AI faces trusted more than faces of real people warn researchers - Lancaster University

Images of faces created by Artificial Intelligence (AI) are seen as more trustworthy than images of genuine faces say researchers, who warn of the risks of online fraud and other harms.

lancaster.ac.uk

AI is eroding our shared sense of reality - that's the clear message in the Independent International Scientific Panel report. So what do we do about it? In my intervention at the UN Global Dialogue on AI, I highlighted key steps + the urgency of collective action. www.linkedin.com/posts/samgre...

humanrightsdefenders.blog/2026/06/15/i...

In Memoriam: 8 women human rights defenders who shaped the MENA region

On 4 May 2026 the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) remembered eight women organizers from the region who fought for a better region and in whose stories we find inspiration: Lina Ben…

humanrightsdefenders.blog

A must-read; could literally save someone's life

Trish Greenhalgh@trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...

Bit of doomscrolling relief for you here. Genuinely sweet story. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Experience: we found a baby on the subway – now he’s our 26-year-old son

I was rushing towards the turnstile when I noticed a bundle of clothes in a corner. I walked over, peeled back a dark sweatshirt, and saw him

theguardian.com

The longer you look at this, the worse it gets

RIP Barney Frank www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/u...

Barney Frank, Gay Pioneer and Liberal Stalwart in Congress, Dies at 86

nytimes.com

So maddening to see - the devastating impact of cuts on the independent and exile media of Burma/Myanmar, just when they are needed most. reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/running...

Running a news site from a food stall: How Myanmar’s exiled media is fighting to survive a brutal funding crisis

As international funding dries up, journalists are driving taxis and selling food just to keep documenting the country’s civil war.

reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Tiny parasitic wasp named after David Attenborough for his 100th birthday

Specimen from 1983 lay forgotten at Natural History Museum until recently, when spotted by a volunteer and identified as new genus

theguardian.com

"When WIRED called the Zambian embassy in Washington, a member of the staff answered the phone and transferred the call to another staff member who then picked up for several seconds before hanging up. A follow-up call went unanswered."

The Chinese Government Just Got the World’s Largest Digital Rights Conference Canceled

Access Now, the group that organizes RightsCon, says Zambian officials asked it to exclude Taiwanese participants if it wanted the event to proceed as planned.

wired.com

Following our April 29 announcement, we believe it's important to be transparent about the context that led to the decision. We want to explain, where we can, why this was made on such short notice, only days before we were set to host RightsCon. Read: www.rightscon.org/rc26-stateme...

A statement to our community about why RightsCon 2026 will not take place in Zambia

Our official statement to the digital rights community about why RightsCon 2026 will not take place in Zambia

rightscon.org

Some useful public speaking tips from Freud here.

I wrote about RightsCon's cancellation after Zambia's government announced it would postpone the event to sort out its concerns over "thematic issues." With thousands about to depart (or already en route) to Lusaka, it's a huge blow to the digital and human rights field.

RightsCon Canceled After Zambia Requires ‘Full Alignment’ With 'National Values'

Organizers canceled the event just days before thousands were set to descend on Lusaka to discuss issues at the intersection of technology and human rights.

techpolicy.press

This is what Marco Rubio decided to do with his life: "AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to HIV Assistance: A once-robust HIV treatment and prevention system, credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives, has begun to crumble..." www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/h...

Great conversation with @tainalon.bsky.social and @felixsimon.bsky.social at #ijf26 on "When seeing is no longer believing: perils and possibilities in a world of synthetic media" with our differing viewpoints on scope, societal implications, and what to do www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYwu...

When seeing is no longer believing: perils and possibilities in a world of synthetic media

YouTube video by International Journalism Festival

youtube.com

📌 As generative AI blurs the line between real and fake, fears of a collapse in trust are everywhere. Yet audiences still believe some sources. This panel explores what has really changed in the age of synthetic media — and who is responsible for protecting truth.

"We don’t need to give up on the ability to discern what is real from synthetic. But we do need to act” Wise words from Sam Gregory, highlighting the “failure of political will at the senior levels” of big tech companies to enforce effective content labelling www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

‘They feel true’: political deepfakes are growing in influence – even if people know they aren’t real

AI images of people – such as women in military contexts – are making money and serving as propaganda, researchers say

theguardian.com

“We don’t need to give up on the ability to discern what is real from synthetic,” he said. “But we do need to act fast.” In @theguardian.com I pointed to the tech companies failure to act, as Meta's own Oversight Board just also said about C2PA implementation www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

‘They feel true’: political deepfakes are growing in influence – even if people know they aren’t real

AI images of people – such as women in military contexts – are making money and serving as propaganda, researchers say

theguardian.com

Sora “normalized a world in which people are really uncertain about what they are seeing in their timelines both when it matters & when it doesn’t matter.. whether it’s casual comedy…or conflict footage from Iran. The consequences will reverberate even if the app is gone” The Verge archive.ph/AqRO7

Sora “normalized a world in which in people are really uncertain about what they are seeing in their timelines both when it matters & when it doesn’t matter… whether it’s casual comedy… or conflict footage from Iran. The consequences will reverberate even if the app is gone.” @samgregory.bsky.social