Machines Like Us

Nation-states are building arsenals of zero-day exploits and other cyber weapons to stage surveillance, intelligence gathering and military strikes in cyberspace.

Tech entrepreneurs are, predominantly, white males. Because of this, much of our technology has inherent biases that align with those of its creators and disadvantage under-represented groups.

Australia’s new law seeks to fix a market failure in the journalism industry by requiring Facebook and Google to pay local media outlets and publishers for links to their work.

It is important to keep that which makes us human at the centre, both when building and using new technology.

The events around GameStop’s stock price show how digital platforms can impact our financial systems.

The January 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, demonstrated how online disinformation, amplification and platform algorithms have real-world impacts.

Online platforms aren’t designed with children in mind. For example, children are unaware of the risks that recommended content, auto-play and nudges bring to their use of the internet. Do digital spaces need strict design and development guidelines for services that will be used by young people?

The systems that underlie modern technology have gaping vulnerabilities that are being exploited by nations around the globe to maintain power and exert control.

COVID-19 vaccines are now being approved and deployed around the world. But will there be a sizable enough segment of the population willing to get them?

Where does the tech industries’ power lie? Are they “mind-control” platforms capable of influencing elections through algorithmic muscle, or does their true threat to society lie in market concentration?