Dr Zena Assaad
@zenaassaad.bsky.social
Host Responsible Bytes Podcast 🎙 Assoc Prof in Engineering @ ANU | Deputy Director ANU Defence Institute | UNIDIR Fellow - researching the decommissioning of military AI systems | 🇦🇺🇱🇧 https://www.zenaassaad.com Repost ≠ Endorsement
A great analysis of the recent UN informal exchanges on AI in the military domain in the context of the broader multilateral initiatives in this area. It also includes an overview of potential next steps ➡️ www.justsecurity.org/144022/ai-mi...
AI in the Military Domain: Multilateralism at a Crossroad
Recent U.N. discussions add a new forum on global governance and international norms on military uses of A.I.
justsecurity.org
A judge said the Trump administration has not presented enough evidence “really justifying” its decision to ban the federal government from using AI technology from Anthropic by designating the company as a threat to the supply chain
Judge Voices Doubt US Has Justified Its Ban on Anthropic AI
A judge said the Trump administration has not presented enough evidence “really justifying” its decision to ban the federal government from using artificial intelligence technology from Anthropic PBC by designating the company as a threat to the supply chain.
bloom.bg
Thales signs tender offer deal to buy drone maker Exail reut.rs/4wzW9gn
Thales signs tender offer deal to buy drone maker Exail
Thales said on Friday it had signed a tender offer agreement with Exail Technologies setting out the terms of its planned acquisition of the drone maker, advancing a deal announced earlier this month that would expand its position in the drone warfare market.
reut.rs
This article is an example of a pragmatically framed overview of AI security breaches. It talks specifically to what happened at a technical level and it does not frame the systems as having "gone rogue".
Reuters@reuters.com · 6d agoAnthropic says Claude AI hacked three companies during cyber tests reut.rs/4yP1TnF
I read this @news.abc.net.au article yesterday and I have so many issues with it. I'm frustrated at the lack of factual accuracy in these kinds of articles, so let me add the facts here. /1 www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...
A rogue AI just gave us a warning. Australia isn't prepared
Far-fetched scenarios about artificial intelligence became more realistic last week when an OpenAI model hacked another company.
abc.net.au
If you missed our (@airwars.bsky.social and @ainowinstitute.bsky.social) launch event for "Anatomy of an AI Kill Chain", we've now uploaded the recorded session on Youtube! Thanks for the fantastic questions and discussion we had from all those who attended. www.youtube.com/watch?v=y93A...
Launch: Anatomy of an AI Kill Chain with Airwars and the AI Now Institute
YouTube video by AI Now Institute
youtube.com
Judge blocks Minnesota from implementing novel prediction markets ban reut.rs/4fBbgPj
Judge blocks Minnesota from implementing novel prediction markets ban
A federal judge on Monday blocked Minnesota from enforcing a newly enacted law that made the state the first nationally to outright ban prediction markets like those run by Kalshi and Polymarket.
reut.rs
This is a great analyses by @eryk.bsky.social on the UN Independent Scientific Panel on AI's recently published report
Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · 2w agoThe UN Independent International Scientific Panel on AI's assessment is a reference point for AI governance worldwide, writes Eryk Salvaggio. His concern: a definition that obscures human accountability "will carry that blind spot into the policies it informs."
This blog post by @jessicadorsey.bsky.social & Taylor Woodcock analyses the growing information around the Minab school bombing and highlights the issues with this attack in the context of IHL ➡️ opiniojuris.org/2026/07/17/a...
AI-Enabled Targeting and the Structural Strain on International Humanitarian Law
[Taylor Kate Woodcock is a researcher in public international law at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut and Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University School of Law…
opiniojuris.org
A deep dive into the Kimi Kontroversy, which highlights the delicate economics of the AI industry and tries to disentangle what many say is a false choice between protecting the frontier labs and ensuring US AI leadership techcrunch.com/2026/07/20/o...
OpenAI is scared of open-weight models. Should the US be? | TechCrunch
Talk of banning Chinese-made open-weight LLMs reveals the challenge of turning AI into a business.
techcrunch.com
New volume of the Australian Army Journal arrived a few days ago. The list of articles in this volume is in the second picture. For those interested, you can freely access all the articles in this journal on the AAJ website ➡️ researchcentre.army.gov.au/library/aust...
The Miami-based AI startup Subquadratic came out of stealth mode last month with a huge claim. It announced that it had solved a mathematical bottleneck that had been holding back large language models for almost a decade.
A startup claims it broke through a bottleneck that’s holding back LLMs
Subquadratic has now shared more details about its new model. But some are still skeptical.
trib.al
For decades, Australia has agreed to give away our resources for free to “encourage investment”, writes Richard Denniss. Few people realise the “investment” is really just the construction of the infrastructure foreign companies need to export their wealth. trib.al/FN81oAW
Can Anthony Albanese be trusted to negotiate on AI?
To understand Australia’s approach to artificial intelligence, you have to understand the colonial mindset that enfeebles Australian politicians.
trib.al
As a robotics researcher, learning scientist, and author who has followed Realbotix for years, I'm compelled to do a Bluesky thread on this whole pivot that Realbotix is now trying, turning from humanoid sex robots to classroom "education" robots. Buckle up. nysfocus.com/2026/07/14/n... 🧵
Rural NY School To Launch Humanoid Robot Teacher
Plans to deploy a "lifelike" robot and avatar teaching assistant at Salamanca High School have sparked debate over the role of technology in schools.
nysfocus.com
I wrote a book chapter on this topic and spoke about the importance of the process of turning data into information and then into knowledge and how AI flattens that process and in turn degrades the integrity of research 👉🏽 www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...
Power Broking Knowledge | 31 | Implications of AI for Research and Kno
Research and knowledge security are often in conflict. The former thrives on open and rigorous inquiry, public dissemination, and engagement, and the latter
taylorfrancis.com
Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · 3w agoPolicymakers treat critical infrastructure as physical: power grids, communications networks, transportation systems, and satellites. In the age of generative AI, writes Rachel A. George, another kind deserves equal attention: the institutions that determine what governments believe to be true.
New #ResponsibleBytesPodcast episode with @artcotterell.bsky.social just dropped. We chat about the nuclear renaissance & its implications for energy security, safety standards & space-based data centres. 🎧 Listen anywhere you get your podcasts. 📹 Full episode is also up on our YouTube channel.
Albanese is establishing an Office of AI in his own Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet 👇🏽 theconversation.com/view-from-th...
View from The Hill: Albanese takes oversight of government’s response to AI under his own wing
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is taking direct oversight of the government’s handling of Australia’s AI rollout with the creation of an Office of AI.
theconversation.com
China's DeepSeek considers new fundraising after first round, FT reports reut.rs/4ffqHfN
China's DeepSeek considers new fundraising after first round, FT reports
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is weighing raising new funds one month after closing its first round, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
reut.rs
In Israel’s prisons, torture and death have become a norm that it barely tries to hide | Nesrine Malik
In Israel’s prisons, torture and death have become a norm that it barely tries to hide | Nesrine Malik
The suffering of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya is no isolated case. The abuse of Palestinian detainees is happening in plain sight, yet nothing changes, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
theguardian.com
Researchers cobbled together funding and time to show how quantum computing could aid in the development of drugs to help underserved populations and combat rare diseases. www.wired.com/story/scient...
Scientists’ Side Hustle? Using AI and Quantum Computing to Generate New Peptides
Researchers cobbled together funding and time to show how quantum computing could aid in the development of drugs to help underserved populations and combat rare diseases.
wired.com
I've shared some of my reflections on the recent UN informal exchanges on AI in the military domain in my latest blog post, focusing on the relationship between militaries and the private tech sector 👉🏽 www.zenaassaad.com/blog/8w6aee5...
Consumer and Supplier - The self serving feedback loop — Dr Zena Assaad
Some reflections on the UN informal exchanges on AI in the military domain, specifically exploring the relationship between the tech industry and consumers.
zenaassaad.com
I was interviewed by e-tech news recently on the project I am leading on decommissioning military AI systems. The full interview is now live ➡️ etech.iec.ch/issue/2026-0...
etech.iec.ch
Last year I contributed input to the @unidir.org scenario compendium for the legal, operational & technical analysis of Lethal autonomous weapon systems, which has now been released ➡️ unidir.org/publication/...
Scenario Compendium for the Legal, Operational and Technical Analysis of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems → UNIDIR
Compendium comprising multi-domain catalogues of scenarios that depict realistic operational contexts in which LAWS could be used for targeting purposes
unidir.org
Miami-based AI startup Subquadratic came out of stealth mode last month with a huge claim. It announced that it had solved a mathematical bottleneck that had been holding back large language models for almost a decade. But some are still skeptical.
A startup claims it broke through a bottleneck that’s holding back LLMs
Subquadratic has now shared more details about its new model. But some are still skeptical.
trib.al
'AI literacy' that isn't critical isn't literacy at all.
Paris Marx@parismarx.com · 2mo agoGovernments are chasing AI investment, even as their publics turn against the technology and the data centers that power it. Canada’s Mark Carney has chosen a shameless approach: to cast the opposition as a lack of “literacy” as he sets out to (re)educate Canadians about the benefits of AI.
"I also struggle with the persistent focus on privacy as the purported barrier to solving these issues, when we have most of the Epstein list walking around without consequences."
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 2mo ago“We can’t live a full dignified life — with the ability to question authority, have different relationships with people, test ideas [and] blow off steam — if we don’t have private communication.”
Using China as an excuse to abandon climate ambitions seems a tad irrational
POLITICO Europe@politico.eu · 2mo agoEurope must prioritize AI over its immediate climate ambitions or risk surrendering its tech sovereignty to China, the president of the European Data Centre Association has said.
