Stefaan Verhulst
Essay by Steven Levy: “For decades, Mark Lemley’s life as an intellectual property lawyer was orderly enough. He’s a professor at Stanford University and has consulted for Amazon, Google, and Meta. “I always enjoyed that the area I practice in has largely been apolitical,” Lemley tells me. What’s more, his democratic values neatly aligned with those of the companies that hired him.
But in January, Lemley made a radical move. “I have struggled with how to respond to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s descent into toxic masculinity and Neo-Nazi madness,” he posted on LinkedIn. “I have fired Meta as a client.”
This is the Silicon Valley of 2025. Zuckerberg, now 41, had turned into a MAGA-friendly mixed martial arts fan who didn’t worry so much about hate speech on his platforms and complained that corporate America wasn’t masculine enough. He stopped fact-checking and started hanging out at Mar-a-Lago. And it wasn’t only Zuckerberg. A whole cohort of billionaires seemed to place their companies’ fortunes over the well-being of society…It should be the best of times for the tech world, supercharged by a boom in artificial intelligence. But a shadow has fallen over Silicon Valley. The community still overwhelmingly leans left. But with few exceptions, its leaders are responding to Donald Trump by either keeping quiet or actively courting the government. One indelible image of this capture is from Trump’s second inauguration, where a decisive quorum of tech’s elite, after dutifully kicking in million-dollar checks, occupied front-row seats.
“Everyone in the business world fears repercussions, because this administration is vindictive,” says venture capitalist David Hornik, one of the few outspoken voices of resistance. So Silicon Valley’s elite are engaged in a dangerous dance with a capricious administration—or as Michael Moritz, one of the Valley’s iconic VCs, put it to me, “They’re doing their best to avoid being held up in a protection racket.”..(More)”.
Essay by Seth Lazar & Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar: “Computational progress has always been Janus-faced for democracy. The spread and networking of computing power bolster the epistemic and communicative practices on which democracies rely. Yet the same tools are among the most sophisticated instruments of coercion and control ever devised.
Every landmark in computing—from the first digital machines to the PC, the internet, and now artificial intelligence (AI)—has provoked anguished reassessment of this tension. In 1984, Langdon Winner described an enduring divide: “computer romantics” who dream that each leap forward will finally realize computing’s unkept promise for democracy; and skeptics, like himself, who think that more powerful technologies always serve the powerful first, best, and perhaps only.
For computing’s first half-century, the romantics seemed to have the better of the argument. Computational and democratic progress proceeded hand in hand. In the 21st century, however, this picture has darkened. Democratic ideals face acute pressure: just over a quarter of humanity now lives in electoral or liberal democracies, down from almost half in 2016. Countries sliding toward autocracy now double those moving toward democracy. And while computational progress has accelerated, the public’s endorsement of the social role of computing in general, and of technology companies in particular, has recently faltered. Through the mid-2010s, big-tech companies ranked among society’s most trusted institutions. Since then, a cross-national backlash against platform power and digital harms has spurred heavy regulation and, even in the United States, a bipartisan conviction that too few companies wield too much power.
Policymakers and the public today face another digital revolution. In the last decade, research progress in AI has taken off. We have already developed extraordinarily powerful and economically valuable analytical and generative AI tools. We are now on the cusp of building autonomous AI systems that can carry out almost any task that competent humans can currently use digital technologies to perform. Our democracies will soon be infused with AI agents.
In this paper, we explore how AI agents might benefit, advance, and complicate the realization of democratic values. We aim to consider both faces of the computational Janus, avoiding both Panglossian optimism and ahistorical catastrophizing…(More)”.
Issue paper by Paola Daniore: “…we outline the urgent need to foster the secondary use of health data as a strategic priority for Switzerland’s health and innovation ecosystem. In the face of rising healthcare costs, increasing international restrictions on data, and concerns over data privacy, a targeted national strategy is needed to bridge health data and privacy policies. When managed responsibly, the secondary use of health data drives research innovation, fosters evidence-based patient care, and informs public-health programs. These societal benefits of secondary use of health data must be realized and the needs guaranteed to protect sensitive health-data from misuse…(More)”.
Article by Noora Al-Emadi, et al: “Artificial intelligence (AI) has demonstrated its potential across a wide range of humanitarian tasks, offering scalable and data-driven solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. For instance, in addressing climate change, AI-powered models are being used for faster and more accurate global weather forecasting, control and design of renewable energy, and monitoring deforestation. Machine learning algorithms analyze satellite imagery and socioeconomic data to predict poverty and promote sustainable development. AI has also transformed disaster response and conflict monitoring, providing innovative solutions for assessing damage and urgent needs and tracking displacement.
This article showcases two projects that exemplify the potential of AI-driven approaches for disaster response and displacement monitoring with case studies from the Arab World. The first case study highlights how social media data was utilized to support disaster response efforts during the devastating 2023 Türkiye-Syria earthquake.By processing vast amounts of unstructured social media content, AI-powered tools enabled real-time situational awareness, facilitating more targeted and efficient humanitarian interventions. The second case study focuses on the use of satellite imagery to monitor internal displacement during the Syrian civil war. Through the development of a region-specific vehicle detection model, we demonstrate how vehicle counts in satellite images can serve as proxies for tracking population movements. This innovative approach addresses critical data gaps in conflict-affected regions, offering a scalable solution for monitoring displacement trends in near real time…(More)”
Paper by Martin Wählisch and Felix Kufus: “The integration of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technologies into peace dialogues offers both innovative possibilities and critical challenges for contemporary peacebuilding practice. This article proposes a context-sensitive taxonomy of digital deliberation tools designed to guide the selection and adaptation of AI-assisted platforms in conflict-affected environments. Moving beyond static typologies, the framework accounts for variables such as scale, digital literacy, inclusivity, security, and the depth of AI integration. By situating digital peace dialogues within broader peacebuilding and digital democracy frameworks, the article examines how AI can enhance participation, scale deliberation, and support knowledge synthesis, —while also highlighting emerging concerns around algorithmic bias, digital exclusion, and cybersecurity threats. Drawing on case studies involving the United Nations (UN) and civil society actors, the article underscores the limitations of one-size-fits-all approaches and makes the case for hybrid models that balance AI capabilities with human facilitation to foster trust, legitimacy, and context-responsive dialogue. The analysis contributes to peacebuilding scholarship by engaging with the ethics of AI, the politics of digital diplomacy, and the sustainability of technological interventions in peace processes. Ultimately, the study argues for a dynamic, adaptive approach to AI integration, continuously attuned to the ethical, political, and socio-cultural dimensions of peacebuilding practice…(More)”.
Paper by Elinor Poole-Dayan, Deb Roy, Jad Kabbara: “In an era of increasing societal fragmentation, political polarization, and erosion of public trust in institutions, representative deliberative assemblies are emerging as a promising democratic forum for developing effective policy outcomes on complex global issues. Despite theoretical attention, there remains limited empirical work that systematically traces how specific ideas evolve, are prioritized, or are discarded during deliberation to form policy recommendations. Addressing these gaps, this work poses two central questions: (1) How might we trace the evolution and distillation of ideas into concrete recommendations within deliberative assemblies? (2) How does the deliberative process shape delegate perspectives and influence voting dynamics over the course of the assembly? To address these questions, we develop LLM-based methodologies for empirically analyzing transcripts from a tech-enhanced in-person deliberative assembly. The framework identifies and visualizes the space of expressed suggestions. We also empirically reconstruct each delegate’s evolving perspective throughout the assembly. Our methods contribute novel empirical insights into deliberative processes and demonstrate how LLMs can surface high-resolution dynamics otherwise invisible in traditional assembly outputs…(More)”.
Article by Gemma Tur et al: “In post-digital society, data literacy is an essential skill for navigating the vast amounts of data generated in everyday life and data-driven decision making are necessary skills for social innovation and justice. Game-based learning offers adults an engaging approach to developing these skills. This paper describes a study that examines adult participants’ perceptions of the DALI (Data Literacy) Toolkit, a set of educational games designed to promote data literacy through fun and interactive gameplay. Focusing on 11 non-digital games, this study explored the relationship between perceived enjoyment and learning outcomes, considering factors such as age, game experience, and the clarity and ease of use of the games. Results indicate that well-designed educational games can effectively engage and educate adult learners, regardless of their age or previous gaming experience. Significant positive correlations were found between perceived fun and learning, and between the clarity of game elements and perceptions of both fun and learning. These findings highlight the potential of games to support lifelong learning and skill development, making complex concepts more accessible and enjoyable. The DALI Toolkit exemplifies how integrating playful values into educational game design can create dynamic, learner-centered environments that foster intrinsic motivation, active participation, and meaningful learning experiences..(More)”.
UNESCO Issue Brief by Andrea Millwood-Hargrave: “This brief delineates key principles for enhancing information accessibility and meaningful access within digital realms and addressing diverse facets such as multilingualism, metadata, and interoperability. Emphasizing the critical role of transparent, trustworthy information ecosystems, the Issue Brief advocates for inclusive design, transparency, data integrity, legal conformity, efficiency, and flexibility. Through sharing good practices ranging from Canada’s accessibility tools to Chile’s initiatives in open justice and AI policy, the document articulates actionable principles for policymakers to foster equitable access to information, thereby fortifying societal resilience and informed decision-making…(More)”.
Handbook by Denis Kierans and Albert Kraler: :”…brings together concepts, findings, methods, and case studies to offer a clear, practical understanding of irregular migration data. It addresses the challenges of conceptualising, measuring, interrogating, and using data on one of Europe’s most politically sensitive migration issues. Drawing on examples from across Europe and beyond, it provides guidance on concepts and definitions, ethics, estimation methods, data innovation, and policy application. It is designed to support policymakers, practitioners and researchers seeking more informed, transparent, and coordinated approaches to irregular migration data…(More)”.
A landscape review by UNICEF: “Education technology (EdTech) offers powerful opportunities to improve learning outcomes, personalize instruction, and expand access to quality education, particularly in low-resource settings and for children with disabilities. At the same time, the collection and use of student data present significant risks, including privacy violations, biased profiling, and the commercial exploitation of children’s information.
To help address these challenges, UNICEF partnered with UNESCO and the Global Privacy Assembly to produce a global landscape review on data governance in EdTech. The paper identifies the key stakeholders in EdTech data governance and the obstacles they face in protecting children’s rights. It also examines existing multi-stakeholder governance mechanisms across countries, highlighting the respective roles of governments, data protection authorities, and EdTech companies.
The landscape review is accompanied by policy recommendations that demonstrate how sound data governance principles can be applied within the EdTech sector. Developed through a global consultation process with data protection authorities, civil society organizations, academics, and EdTech companies across five regions, the recommendations include strengthening legal and regulatory frameworks, embracing anticipatory governance, promoting rights-based business models, and fostering both multi-stakeholder and multilateral collaboration.
By adopting these recommendations, stakeholders can help ensure that EdTech not only drives innovation in education but also safeguards the rights and well-being of every child…(More)”.