SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: The Dark Enlightenment
Big tech ideology, neo-reaction, eugenics rehabilitated as contrarianism, the Musk-Thiel-Yarvin axis, and the billionaire rejection of democratic governance.
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‘These LGBT Freaks – Do We Have Them Castrated?’: Inside Europe’s Invite-Only Conversion Therapy Conference
The event was organised by the International Foundation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice – a London-based company that says it is a ‘home for the once-gay’
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Revealed: Met Police Scans Almost Quarter of a Million Faces Using Facial Recognition Technology in 2023
This newspaper has found officers in London have been zealous users of the system, which automatically scans the faces of passers-by and matches them against a watchlist
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The Hypocrisy of the AI Summit: The UK is Doing Nothing About Political Misinformation
The Government rejected a cross party Lords recommendation that political advertising should be regulated according to factual accuracy. The former chair of the Select Committee wonders why
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‘Despite the Headlines and Handshakes, We Are No More Prepared for the Tidal Wave of AI’
Tackling the issue will require global cooperation and legislative policies – but advancing from non-binding commitments can take decades, writes Emma DeSouza
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What Can the UK Teach the World About AI Safety?
For all the PR of the AI Safety Summit, what is the UK Government actually doing to safeguard its citizens from the dangers of AI, data misuse and prejudicial algorithms?
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Inside the UK’s Frontier Artificial Intelligence Taskforce: Conflicts of Interest and the Spectre of Effective Altruism
The Citizens has been delving into the figures involved in the UK’s AI task force – can we trust them to keep us safe?
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Transparency Seems to Die a Death at the Government’s AI Summit
Why won’t the Government tell the public who’s attending – and who’s being left out in the cold?
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Chatbot Journalism: Fake Doctors, Fake Dogs, Fake EastEnders Storylines
Artificially generated nonsense is already filling the pages of Britain’s press
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Tory Party Chair Greg Hands in Apparent Data Breach Tweeting Praise for Sunak from Conservative Constituents
It’s an embarrassing gaffe for the supposed party of security.
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From Ctrl+v to ChatGPT: Generative AI Marks a Third Wave of Technological Disruption in Higher Education
Effie Webb reports on how radically the academic landscape has changed, in a short space of time, through AI and remote learning
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Over 180 Rights Groups and Tech Experts Call for UK and Worldwide Halt to Facial Recognition Surveillance
The EU is implementing a blanket ban on facial recognition surveillance by police – but the UK is ploughing ahead despite privacy fears
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Anti-Boycott Bill Will Make it ‘Almost Impossible’ to Challenge Human Rights Abusers
Council-led boycotts of goods made in occupied Palestinian territories are at risk of being banned
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‘As Iran’s Islamic Regime Draws Up Tyrannical New Hijab Plans, Where is the International Outrage?’
If a new ‘Hijab and Chastity Bill’ succeeds with no condemnation from voices abroad, the international community will be culpable, writes Parisa Hashempour
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Controversial Chinese Company BGI Genomics Found to have Worked with at Least 16 UK Universities
The genome sequencing company also administers China’s National Gene Bank, which is part of the state surveillance of minorities that facilitates the mass detention of Uyghurs
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Safe European Homes: Racist Violence Grips Tunisian City as Europe Pushes Migration Concerns Overseas
Tunisians, one of the principal contributors to irregular migration, have turned upon black arrivals in the port city of Sfax
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Privacy Battle Rages Over Government Plans which ‘Could End’ Encrypted Messaging Apps like WhatsApp and Telegram
A global coalition is urging ministers and lords to protect end-to-end encryption in the Online Safety Bill
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EU Leads the Way on Regulating AI
Rishi Sunak may have been pitching the UK as a possible global hub for AI regulation in a recent White House visit, but the reality is that the EU is the one innovating in this field
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Fears of the Singularity
The ‘intelligence’ of an AI system is a different and more potent thing, in some key respects, than human intelligence. Where will this lead us?
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Rogue Drones and Tall Tales
Kate Devlin dispels the sudden Science Fiction panic around superintelligence, and looks at the real threats to employment and the environment from AI and machine learning
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How Important is it that this Article is Written by a Human?
Artificial intelligence has already made its way into newsrooms – what are the risks?
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ECHR: The Peace Machine
Seventy-five years ago, Nuremberg prosecutor David Maxwell Fyfe – an artisan of the European Convention on Human Rights – spoke in Brussels of his fear that the high ideals of the victors would be forgotten. His grandson explores why his legacy matters now more than ever
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Lack of Transparency over Police Forces’ Covert Use of Predictive Policing Software Raises Concerns about Human Rights Abuses
UK police forces are under scrutiny for their lack of transparency regarding the use of harmful technologies known to exacerbate racist policing
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Debate Over AI in Journalism: ‘Can Machines Replace Human Reporters?’
In a dialogue with ChatGPT, Iain Overton explores whether truth and meaning can really be left to machines
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The Global Network Behind Arrested Anti-Abortion Protestor
A woman arrested for ‘praying’ outside an abortion clinic may have been acquitted but she is one node of a global network, reports Sian Norris
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Fighting Back Against Big Tech
Emma De Souza reports on how countries are tackling the rise in misinformation through the legal and education systems
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‘Musk’s Twitter Buy Makes No Sense – Unless It’s Part of Something Bigger’
Brexit and Trump were initially seen as jokes, but the new owner of the social media giant could pose a serious threat to democracy – and a boon for Vladimir Putin, writes David Troy
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Elon Musk Takes Over Twitter – Is a Rise in Hate Speech and Abuse Inevitable?
Adrian Goldberg speaks to Imran Ahmed of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and Heidi Cuda from the Radicalized Pod about developments at the social medial platform for the Byline Times Podcast
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‘The Dark Heart of Trussonomics: The Mainstreaming of Libertarian Theories of Social Darwinism and Apartheid’
The legacy of the Nazi ideology of eugenics – popularised by Charles Murray’s controversial book ‘The Bell Curve’ – goes some way to explaining Trussonomics, writes Nafeez Ahmed
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More than Half of Incels Support Paedophilia, Finds New Report
Research by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate has found widespread acceptance of sexual violence against children in ‘incel’ communities
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Government Refusing to Release Documents Related to Meeting Between Boris Johnson and Cambridge Analytica
The Foreign Office is withholding information about the Prime Minister’s meeting with the defunct data firm in the wake of Donald Trump’s 2016 victory, Sam Bright reports
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A Force for Good? The Firm Following in the Footsteps of Cambridge Analytica
Matt Bernadini investigates Auspex – a successor to the infamous political consulting firm – which was launched with a promise to deliver more positive social change
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Boris Johnson’s Tenure is Disastrous Enough: Spare Us the Pretence that it Surprises You
Musa Okwonga lays the blame for the Prime Minister’s lawless rule squarely on the shoulders of the Conservative politicians and pundits who promoted him
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The Online Arms Race Benefits the Conservatives at the Expense of Democracy
Former Labour MP Ian Lucas explores how politics is being warped by online surveillance, data harvesting and ruthless social media campaigning – and why opposition parties need to take action to tackle this
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Cambridge Faculty of Divinity Ignores Demands for Inquiry into Peter Thiel’s Far-Right Influence
Cambridge University fails to answer questions raised by staff and students after Byline Times’ revelation that racist pseudoscience is being promoted on campus under the guise of ‘freedom of speech’
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Peter Thiel’s Free Speech for Race Science Crusade at Cambridge University Revealed
In a special investigation, Nafeez Ahmed reveals how Palantir-linked Donald Trump lobbyists are using ‘free speech’ to normalise white nationalism on UK campuses
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For Whom the Bell Curves: Advisor to Johnson’s Levelling Up Ally Hosts Race Science Extremist
Nafeez Ahmed reveals how a pioneer of scientific racism was hosted at British universities by a charity with close Conservative Party and Government ties
