AI exposes "how fragile the traditional essay in a coursework format has always been as a proxy for intellectual engagement. If a piece of writing can be produced convincingly without the thinking behind it, the issue lies less with the technology than with how learning & assessment are designed"

How did I miss this? It's the perfect antidote to what's going on in the world right now.

The Co-chairs of the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance are holding an Informal Stakeholder Consultation on March 18, in two time zones, with a March 16 deadline for registration. All the details available at:

"Creative industries contributed £124bn to the UK economy in 2023, £11bn from publishing. The Society of Authors is requesting consent & fair payment 4 use of work & transparency as 2 how a book was “written”. [H]ardly radical propositions. But in an era of fake news & AI slop [...] sadly necessary"

Think of the time it took for governments to respond to the harm social media can cause to tweens & young teenagers & that tech companies wouldn't address until laws forced them to. How long will it take for potential dangers of AI toys for even younger, more impressionable minds to be addressed?

My neighbours' 15yo bypasses restrictions & parents r fully aware. Same dad who thinks nudification apps shouldn't b banned but also doesn't want boys making fake nudes of his 15yo. Telling Big Tech 2 ban <16 doesn't address gap in parents' awareness of how all this tech interacts & can affect kids

Gig workers in Africa helped train AI systems for a company that performed work for a secretive U.S. military unit. Many were never told their work could be used for military purposes https://restofworld.org/2026/gig-workers-us-military-appen/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky

#ICANN85 is underway in Mumbai. I'm following remotely, but on a road trip, so my coverage of this final ICANN meeting before the launch of the next round of new gTLDs could be a bit patchy.

The location of the 1st Global Dialogue on AI Governance has been confirmed: Palexpo, Geneva, 6–7 July 2026, just before the Global AI for Good Summit & in parallel to the WSIS Forum. All three events will take place at the Palexpo.

Webcast archive of today's Melania Trump-chaired United Nations Security Council session now available.

"Altman [...] said the military wouldn't use ChatGPT 4 autonomous killing systems or mass surveillance. But [there's] skepticism by many AI experts, lawyers, tech workers & users, who asked why the US govt would abandon [...] Anthropic, only to strike a deal with OpenAI that has the same safeguards"

Russian delegation includes a pussy bow wearing woman at the UNSC session being chaired by Melania Trump. Coincidence?

Watching Mrs Trump chair the UNSC session on children & tech is giving me flashbacks to IGF 2009 in Sharm el-Sheikh, when Mrs Mubarak coopted the forum to hold her own last-minute session, "Preparing the Young Generations in the Digital Age: A Shared Responsibility". /1

"Extremely high capital requirements for developing LLMs make [AI governance] multistakeholderism even more fragile than it was in the case of the internet: without billions of $ in processing power, data & talent, there's simply no way to sit at the table as an equal" circleid.com/posts/ai-the...

For anyone flying to #ICANN85 in Mumbai & checking the ICANN homepage obsessively to see if there's updated travel advice but only seeing the big news item that predates the Iran bombing, there's actually updated advice. You just have to scroll down, click "More announcements", then "Travel Alert".

"The only way to prove someone is old enough 2 use a site is 2 collect personal data about who they r. The only way to prove u checked is to keep the data indefinitely. Age-restriction laws push platforms toward intrusive verification systems that often directly conflict w modern data-privacy law"

Wondering what effect bombing Iran will have on upcoming digital policy related mtgs: CSTD WG on Data Governance, 2-3 March, Geneva ICANN85, 7-12 March, Mumbai ITU Council, 28 April-8 May, Geneva ITU Plenipot, 9-27 November, Doha a) Flights will be an issue for many b) Existing tensions heightened

Iran has now been largely offline for 18 hours, with an #Internet shutdown put into place following strikes by the US & Israel. However, small amounts of Web & DNS traffic are still getting through, and IPv4 routes remain available, suggesting some users and sites are allowlisted for access.

Australian eSafety Commission study to follow 4000 kids+families for 2 years to see how the Social Media Minimum Age law's working (or not) & how it impacts kids. Frankly, I think parental education is key. I know a dad of teen daughters who's perfectly OK with AI nudification apps being available🫤

Yet another reason to always keep humans in the loop ... "AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations. Leading AIs from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google opted to use nuclear weapons in simulated war games in 95 per cent of cases" www.newscientist.com/article/2516...

We are very susceptible to AI manipulation. "Even when AI tools provide source, people are far less likely to check it out than they were with old-school search results. For ex, a recent study found ppl are 58% ⏬️ likely to click on a link when an AI Overview shows up at the top of Google Search."

AI Impact Summit Declaration, New Delhi (Feb 18-19, 2026) is out. As of 10 UTC, 22 Feb, "Endorsing countries/int'l organizations" are 87 countries & 1 UN agency: IFAD (Int'l Fund for Agricultural Development). But you just know it's a bland doc when even the current US administration signs it.

"large language models such as ChatGPT were consistently advising women to ask for lower salaries than men in recruitment processes,... AI tools already in use by more than half of England’s councils were downplaying women’s medical conditions, potentially resulting in unequal care"

Interesting that it's the telco's uncapped roaming charges focused on here and not the fact that social media is designed to be so addictive that a kid preferred to be glued to her phone rather than enjoy the experience of a different country right in front of her.

When you drink your own AI Kool-Aid across your critical infrastructure this can happen:

1/ Sounds like a great way to unintentionally: 1. Further push other countries towards sovereign Internets 2. Dismantle a traditionally US-based Internet ecosystem (ICANN & most domain name registrars are still based in the US, as is most of Big Tech) 3. Reduce US Big Tech profits because of 1 & 2

The DOJ is now openly advertising it's the Ministry of Crimethink. And Trump's DOJ chose to unveil a huge banner of a scowling Trump announcing this fact on the very same day Trump's Peace Panel - a dystopian showcase of authoritarian, non-democratically elected world leaders - met in DC. #orwell

Are we headed for 194+ sovereign Internets? Cuts “make it easier to build a ‘digital iron curtain’ [...] Easier for the Kremlin to put Russians in a digital info bubble that reinforces specific narratives about ppl outside Russia. This makes it easier for China to do this. For Iran to do this”

Most "smart" home devices are basically adult versions of whatever faddish toy every kid wants for Christmas: people want the "in" thing, but ultimately find it fails to live up to the hype. Consumerism at its worst basically. Not just e-waste in waiting, but also a major privacy/security risk.

"According to the World Health Organization’s Global E-Waste Monitor, the world generated 62 million tons of this trash in 2022, yet only 22 percent was formally recycled. The rest was dumped, landfilled or processed informally, often far from where the electronics were originally bought."

"Tech firms from US & China have controlled vast data sets from across the world [...] at times collected without clear consent or compensation. Now, many countries, esp. emerging economies, are building frameworks to claim ownership & protect their data by storing it within their borders."

"Over the last 2 decades, Brazil has become something of an emblem of the global battle for digital sovereignty." But not so much now, it seems. tribunemag.co.uk/2026/02/is-b...

The problem with these Palantir deals is not primarily data security. It's the fact we are creating single points of failure in the NHS, armed forces, and police. Palantir has massive leverage over essential information and logistics systems. A bad idea.... www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

USA declared it “will not cede authority over AI to int'l bodies.” The US position is "crystal clear: accelerate innovation 1st, regulate later & definitely don’t let the UN slow things down" "The EU, China, & developing nations see the panel as essential for equitable AI governance."

"This panel is not a global AI regulator. It cannot fine companies, approve models, revoke access to infrastructure or impose licensing requirements. The General Assembly vote did not create an enforcement agency. It did not pass a treaty. It did not install an inspection regime."

Least developed countries’ share of digitally deliverable services, like telecoms & financial services, dropped to 0.16% in 2024 – the lowest on record. Closing digital divides & supporting SMEs are key to competing in modern services. UNCTAD #LDCs Report 2025: https://ow.ly/HR4E50YbR1K#LDCs

So coffee is getting more expensive due to climate change. (Entire communities are gradually disappearing under water... priorities!) But this para left me stunned that anyone could drink what's basically liquefied coffee ice-cream daily for years & admit it! www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Sometimes it’s good just to step away from digital policy & geopolitics & instead take some time to watch a Digger Bee (Amegilla genus) grooming after rain.

First EU focused on regulating Big Tech, insisting they follow laws of countries they operate & make $$$ in. Then Europe started developing home-grown alternatives. Now Russia is doing the same (different political goals). Is this the beginning of the decline & fall of the US tech empire?

The UNSG has recommended 40 proposed panelists to form the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence (an outcome of the 2024 Global Digital Compact). The top 40 list was whittled down from ~2,700 received in an open call, 25 Sep-31 Oct 2025. Next step: UNGA endorsement.

First there was crotch-stitch-gate, then there was the ICE-as-US-bodyguards drama, and now this. What the heck is going on in winter sports, people???

"[Prime Minister] Sanchez said Spain had joined 5 other European countries he dubbed the "Coalition of the Digitally Willing” to coordinate & enforce cross-border regulation. The coalition will hold its 1st meeting in the coming days, he said. Sanchez did not say which countries were in the group"

This is why male-dominated tech is bad: they don't see it as permanent harm: “Once it's gone out, there’s no reclaiming ur dignity, ur identity. Even if the perpetrator [says], ‘Oh, that was a deepfake,’ u cannot tell the amount of ppl that have seen it. The reputational damage is unrecoverable.”

Ongoing supersizing of Trump's architecture projects makes me wonder: when USA eventually stops eating itself, what happens to them? Renamed buildings can easily return to earlier names but what about these hugely expensive vanity projects? Will they be torn down like fascist architecture post-WWII?

France takes a leaf out of Gavin Newsom's book & is now co-opting confrontational online behaviour traditionally associated with Trump, his administration & supporters to push back against... Trump, his administration & supporters.

While the French govt's moves to a sovereign tech platform, Suite Numérique, this Guardian article demonstrates the flip side of the coin - that national digital infrastructure can be used to spy on & control citizens using it: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

"The Institute 4 Public Policy Research (IPPR) said AI firms were rapidly emerging as the new “gatekeepers” of the internet" & recommend: ▪️Standardised labels 4 AI-generated news showing info sources used 2 create it ▪️UK licensing regime 4 publishers 2 negotiate w tech companies over content use

"Two-thirds of the domain names of Dutch govts, schools & other critical companies rely on at least 1 US cloud provider [...] with Microsoft the frontrunner. 'We are the most Microsoft-loving country of the whole world,' said Bert Hubert [...] 'The Dutch govt uses more Microsoft than the US govt.'”

If a new form of surgery or new way of constructing houses is developed, we expect laws to be created to make sure people stay safe. But when regulation happens in tech, the industry often pushes back, saying "it's killing competition!" Even though tech has a vast array of real world consequences.

With a 2nd country now banning kids from social media, & soon probably more, it's maybe time for social media to develop more robust, less privacy risking "ad hoc to suit one country's needs (Australia)" mechanisms for age checks. Or perhaps deal with the root problem: enabling abuse & misuse.