Greetings friends, and happy Thursday.
I’m afraid i’m a bit under the weather today, so no craic all content.
I am very much (and I guess quite unexpectedly) enjoying this though. Its ‘Thinking Bout You’ by Flea (which is the unexpected bit). Also listening to ‘Kitty’ by John Francis Flynn. Very nice.
Stay well. Stay lovely.
Administrative Review Tribunal of Australia, Bunnings Group Limited and Privacy Commissioner (Guidance and Appeals Panel) [2026] ARTA 130 (4 February 2026)
WIRED, At Palantir’s Developer Conference, AI Is Built to Win Wars
Reuters, Exclusive: Pentagon to adopt Palantir AI as core US military system, memo says | Reuters
NPR, Your data is everywhere. The government is buying it without a warrant (on data brokers)
The Verge, Kash Patel says the FBI is buying Americans’ location data
Information Labs, The Publisher Is Also a Data Broker. We Should Probably Talk About That. (interesting piece – also, what does this mean for anonymous peer review?)
BBC, Meta and YouTube found liable in social media addiction trial (seismic?)
The Guardian, AI got the blame for the Iran school bombing. The truth is far more worrying
The Seattle Times, Iran built a vast camera network to control dissent. Israel turned it into a targeting tool (what an incredible surveillance story/warning)
The Independent, AI, a dead student, and US airstrikes: How a civilian became caught up in a new age of warfare
The Guardian, Inside China’s robotics revolution
The Guardian, Essex police pause facial recognition camera use after study finds racial bias
The Guardian, How Google Maps is shaping where we eat – video (not AI but interesting short video on google maps, restaurants, and visibility in the digital ecosystem)
The Verge, Google Search is now using AI to replace headlines (speaking of visibility)
WIRED, Meet the Gods of AI Warfare (cue Black Sabbath)
The Hill, Tennessee minors allege Grok generated sexual images of them
ASPI, China’s plan to scale its way to AI dominance
The HIll, Google: AI tool helped prevent heat-trapping contrails
ASPI, AI is revolutionising journalism. Intelligence is next (did AI or a journalist write this?)
The Hill, Iran war disrupts helium supply, threatening chip supply chain (and hours of comedy)
Future of Privacy, Red Lines under the EU AI Act: Understanding the ban of the untargeted scraping of facial images and facial recognition databases
EDRI, Artificial Insecurity: how AI tools compromise confidentiality
Rest of World, “It feels like Squid Game”: China’s workers scramble to keep up in the AI race
Big Brother Watch, Big Brother Watch comments on Essex Police pausing live facial recognition
BBC, Essex Police tweaks ‘biased’ facial recognition software (the news happens too quick for this newsletter)
Algorithm Watch, AI probably does lead to more computer security disasters
BBC, Norfolk Police vows to be open about facial recognition use
BBC, Two suspects identified during Norwich facial recognition trial
Financial Times, Anthropic showdown fractures Trump’s pact with Silicon Valley
The Guardian, First came the AI ‘teammates’, then the layoffs: the new reality for Atlassian staff now looking for work
The Guardian, UK government yet to trial OpenAI tech months after signing partnership (but its free, right?)
Financial Times, How AI is reshaping the business of law
Financial Times, Larry Fink warns AI may intensify wealth inequality (No. Shit. Larry. This is why they’re on the big bucks)
WIRED, Your Body Is Betraying Your Right to Privacy
The Conversation, Drones paired with AI could help search-and-rescue teams find missing persons faster
New York Times, OpenAI Is Shutting Down Sora, Its A.I. Video Generator
BBC, Melania Trump hosts world counterparts and tech reps to discuss children, education and technology (documentary makers of the world unite?)