Computer Says Maybe

Епизоде

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  The Colossus Crossroads: Fighting for the Future of Memphis w/ KeShaun Pearson 24.07.2026 31мин

  In Memphis, companies don't come in to invest in the city. They come in to extract from its people and its land, no matter how high the human cost. That's exactly what xAI did when they decided to build one of the largest data centers in South Memphis, regardless of what it meant for the wellbeing of the people already living there.More like this: The Collective Fight for Our Humanity - REAL ResistanceIn this episode, KeShaun Pearson, Executive Director of Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP), connects this fight to a much longer history of disinvestment and oppression in South Memphis— one that existed long before xAI showed up and shaped what it actually means to become a "sacrifice zone." But KeShaun also knows that when you're fighting to take something down, you have to build something better in its place. He shares his vision for what co-governance could look like between communities, cities, and corporations, and what it would take for a company that says it's here to give something back to actually mean it.Further reading & resources:Livestream w/ Alix Dunn: The Battle for MemphisElon Musk’s Memphis AI empire is the epicenter of the data center backlash — CNBCxAI built an illegal power plant to power its data center — Southern Environmental Law CenterxAI in Memphis — What you need to know — Memphis Community Against PollutionJoin The Maybe Collective to explore the politics of technology through fresh ideas that you won't hear anywhere else. Sign up for monthly insights, access to exclusive digital events, and real ways to get more involved on issues you care about.Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  The Gig is Up: How Uber Ruined Wage Labor with Veena Dubal 17.07.2026 48мин

  In 2013, taxi drivers were beginning to notice something unusual: unmarked, black cars were cutting them off in taxi lines and picking up their passengers. Little did these drivers know that those black cars were the start of Uber — and it wasn’t just going to destroy the taxi industry, but wage labor as we knew it.More like this: REAL Resistance — Against Automated GovernmentsIn this episode, Alix Dunn sits down with Veena Dubal, one of the leading experts on gig labor and Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. Veena shares with us her firsthand account of the Uberization of everything from the beginning to now. She breaks down how this seemingly-innocuous ride sharing app would lead to algorithmic wage fixing around the world and the gamblification of workers’ lives.Further reading & resources:On Algorithmic Wage Discrimination — Veena DubalAI Shouldn’t Be Setting Prices or Wages. States Need to Push Back. — Veena Dubal, 2026How artificial intelligence uncouples hard work from fair wages through ‘surveillance pay’ practices—and how to fix it — Veena Dubal, Wilneida NegrónAlgorithms of Exploitation — Human Rights WatchJoin The Maybe Collective to explore the politics of technology through fresh ideas that you won't hear anywhere else. Sign up for monthly insights, access to exclusive digital events, and real ways to get more involved on issues you care about.Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  The Collective Fight for Our Humanity - REAL Resistance 10.07.2026 50мин

  Anna Bacciarelli and Shazeda Ahmed know more than anyone that there are only a handful of tech companies asserting dominance around the world by talking in high-level abstractions about what the future looks like. At REAL ML, they want to change that.More like this: REAL Resistance: Who's Behind Big Brother?This is REAL Resistance, a collection of conversations produced in collaboration with Real ML, featuring the experts and advocates who make up Real ML’s global network.In this final conversation, Real ML executive director Anna Bacciarelli and researcher Shazeda Ahmed discuss what it takes to knit together a global community that is working to resist the material harms of big tech: the powers that be want to keep any discussion about the future of AI as vague as possible — which is why the experts that attend Real ML workshops take the time to get specific about the issues.Further reading & resources:More about Real MLField-building and the epistemic culture of AI safety by Shazeda Ahmed et alA 2024 profile on Frantz Fanon — The GuardianComputer-vision research powers surveillance technology, by Abeba Birhane, Ria Kalluri, et al — Nature Magazine June 2025**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Who's Behind Big Brother? - REAL Resistance 07.07.2026 45мин

  Mariel Garcia-Montes and Crofton Black share their stories and investigations that uncover the backdoor deals that allow the surveillance industry to thrive under the guise of ‘security’. If you have nothing to hide, you won’t mind if we spy, right?More like this: REAL Resistance: The Global Fight Against TechnocolonialismThis is REAL Resistance, a collection of conversations produced in collaboration with Real ML, featuring the experts and advocates who make up Real ML’s global network.In this conversation, two guests from the network take us on a guided tour of the global underground surveillance tech market:Mexico is the world’s biggest importer of surveillance tech, and has a rich history of spying on citizens. Mariel Garcia-Montes briefs us on that history and what it means for Mexico nowSurveillance technology represents a global industry that is mediated by exclusive conferences and backdoor deals; Crofton Black has spent years investigating this industry, the players, and the vulnerabilities they exploitFurther reading & resources:More about Mariel’s workSurveillance Secrets — Lighthouse Reports, 2025Ghost in the Network — Lighthouse Reports, 2023More on the Mexican Student Movement of 1968 — Eugenia Allier-Montano, 2022The Tierra Común Network, which Mariel invites any scholars and practitioners to joinJoin The Maybe Collective to explore the politics of technology through fresh ideas that you won't hear anywhere else. Sign up for monthly insights, access to exclusive digital events, and real ways to get more involved on issues you care about.Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  The Global Fight Against Technocolonialism - REAL Resistance 03.07.2026 49мин

  Paola Ricaurte Quijano, Fernanda Rodrigues, Angela Chukunzira, and Kauna Love Malgwi make it clear that colonial powers have never gone away. The people and technology powering them have just changed, and one of them is AI…More Like This: REAL Resistance: Against Automated GovernmentsThis is REAL Resistance, a collection of conversations produced in collaboration with Real ML, featuring the experts and advocates who make up Real ML’s global network.In this conversation, four guests from the network discuss how the business of AI continues legacies of colonialism in Brazil, Mexico, and Kenya:AI companies are taking land in Querétaro for data center expansion, and they’re doing it without asking first. Paola Ricaurte Quijano explains that these are the mechanisms of dispossession at play — and it’s nothing new.The government in Brazil are adopting a risk-based approach for AI regulation; Fernanda Rodrigues demonstrates the problems with this approach, and how they disproportionately harm Black people.African data workers suffer the worst mental health harms when compared to other localities. Angela Chukunzira and Kauna Love Malgwi have worked to build a resistance movement for oppressed workers, and a framework for decolonising mental health.Further reading & resources:A Mental Health Intervention for Data Workers — Kauna Ibrahim Malgwi"It's not drought, it's plunder" Querétaro, the valley of data centers — By Paola Ricaurte Quijano and Teresa Roldán Soria, July 2025Facial recognition surveillance in São Paulo could worsen racism — Al Jazeera, 2023The Feminist AI Research NetworkMore about the African Content Moderators UnionIris — The Institute for Research on Internet and SocietySiasa Place — a youth organisation that helped tech workers who had been dismissed**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Against Automated Governments - REAL Resistance 30.06.2026 53мин

  Maria Pilar Llorens, Divij Joshi, Gabriel Geiger, and Purity Mukami reveal how digitised welfare is not welfare — it’s just efficiency theatre.More like this: REAL Resistance: The AI Information WarpThis is REAL Resistance, a collection of conversations produced in collaboration with Real ML, featuring the experts and advocates who make up Real ML’s global network.In this conversation, three guests from the network explore the rapid digitisation of public and judicial services around the world:Courts in LatAm countries are using ChatGPT to power through the case backlog. Maria Pilar Llorens explains that speed is not a virtue in judicial settingsKenya has adopted algorithmic proxy means-testing for healthcare — Gabriel Geiger & Purity Mukami reverse-engineered it to reveal its inequitiesDigitised public services kind of have a formula now: Divij Joshi’s work takes an aerial view of digitised payments, IDs, and consolidated data sets that govern the efficiency playbookFurther reading & resources:Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights Courts — Maria Pilar LlorensHiding Behind AI — Gabriel & Purity’s report on the new Kenyan healthcare systemSuspicion Machines — Gabriel Geiger et al, Lighthouse Reports March 2023How an algorithm denied food to thousands of poor in India’s Telangana — Divij Joshi, Tapasya, Kumar Sambhav, Al Jazeera January 2024AI governance in India – law, policy and political economy — Divij Joshi, 2024Use of Entity Resolution in India: Shining a light on how new forms of automation can deny people access to welfare — Amnesty International 2024Join The Maybe Collective to explore the politics of technology through fresh ideas that you won't hear anywhere else. Sign up for monthly insights, access to exclusive digital events, and real ways to get more involved on issues you care about.Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  The AI Information Warp - REAL Resistance 26.06.2026 49мин

  Klaudia Jaźwińska, Aliya Bhatia, and Yanick Kemayou come together to answer: What happens when a small collection of AI companies start colonising the truth?More like this: The Toxic Relationship Between AI & Journalism w/ Nic DawesThis is REAL Resistance, a collection of conversations produced in collaboration with Real ML, featuring the experts and advocates who make up Real ML’s global network.In this conversation, three guests from the network share all the ways in which AI is shaping our relationship with news, language, and learning:People are increasingly using AI for search and to get their news; but Klaudia Jaźwińska’s research finds that chatbots have a huge citation problemMany LLMs claim to be ‘multi-lingual’ — but also only tested in US English? Aliya Bhatia explains that porting outputs from English into all other languages in not gonna cut itHigher education in Africa is completely disconnected from local knowledge, which is why Yanick Kemayou founded Kabakoo: an alternative learning platform that leverages and preserves local knowledge with the use of technology, and without exploitationAs Yancik says in this episode, “openness without governance is extraction with extra steps”.Further reading & resources:AI Search has a Citation Problem — Klaudia Jaźwińska & Aisvarya ChandrasekarLost in Translation: Large Language Models in Non-English Content Analysis — Gabriel Nicholas, Aliya BhatiaMore on Kabakoo Academies, founded by Yanick KemayouThe SPUR Coalition — a UK org seeking to create standards and infrastructure for AI companies and news publishers to do businessThe State and Fate of Linguistic Diversity and Inclusion in the NLP World — by Pratik Joshi et al, 2020The #BenderRule: On Naming the Languages We Study and Why It Matters — Emily Bender, 2019The silicon gaze: A typology of biases and inequality in LLMs through the lens of place — Francisco W. Kerche et al, 2026Bamako AI FestivalJoin The Maybe Collective to explore the politics of technology through fresh ideas that you won't hear anywhere else. Sign up for monthly insights, access to exclusive digital events, and real ways to get more involved on issues you care about.Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Computer Says Kill: How To Say No w/ Matt Mahmoudi and Marwa Fatafta 19.06.2026 51мин

  How do we stand up against the human rights violations that exist in the gruesome relationship between the business of AI and war?More like this: Computer Says Kill: The AI Safety Circus w/ Heidy KhlaafIn our final installment of Computer Says Kill, Matt Mahmoudi returns, this time with Marwa Fatafta, to share the why and how of their recent joint statement on AI in warfare. The calls on AI companies to stop selling their products for use in military contexts, and for governments to cease buying them. The asks are simple while the execution is complex: what is the historical context of this fight and how long will it take to achieve some level of justice?Further reading & resources:Read the joint statement on Access Now and share across your networksMicrosoft: it’s time to come clean about your ties to the Israeli military — Access NowA million calls an hour’: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians — The Guardian, 2025AI for War: Big Tech Empowering Israel’s Crimes and Occupation — Al Shabaka, 2025On Violence by Hanna ArendtAnthropic announces 'Claude Corps' to teach nonprofits to use AI more effectively — The Independent, June 2026Artificial Genocidal Intelligence: how Israel is automating human rights abuses and war crimes — Access Now, 2024Join The Maybe Collective to explore the politics of technology through fresh ideas that you won't hear anywhere else. Sign up for monthly insights, access to exclusive digital events, and real ways to get more involved on issues you care about.Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Computer Says Kill: The AI Safety Circus w/ Heidy Khlaaf 12.06.2026 47мин

  The AI industry loves to talk about safety, but their version of safety is putting us at risk.More like this: The Palestine Laboratory w/ Antony LoewensteinFor our second to last series episode of Computer Says Kill, we’re joined by Heidy Khlaaf, a global expert in designing safe critical systems for high-risk infrastructures such as energy grids, nuclear power plants, and weaponry. Heidy outlines how the AI industry is working to redefine and shrink this essential, established field of expertise. By parading around sham “safety benchmarks”, this circus of an industry is marketing statistics that literally amount nothing at best, and proof that today’s LLMs aren’t safe at all, at worst. We explore the centuries of precedent and practice established in the safety field and examine how today’s AI safety “experts” are eroding this work to rush the incorporation of shoddy tech into the lucrative nooks and crannies of our militaries, economies, and physical infrastructure.Further reading & resources:Safety Co-Option and Compromised National Security: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Weakened AI Risk Thresholds — Heidy Khlaaf & Sarah Myers West, 2025Social Benefit versus Technological Risk: What is our society willing to pay for safety? — Chauncey Starr, 1969Israel built an ‘AI factory’ for war. It unleashed it in Gaza. — WaPo December 2024Join The Maybe Collective to explore the politics of technology through fresh ideas that you won't hear anywhere else. Sign up for monthly insights, access to exclusive digital events, and real ways to get more involved on issues you care about.Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Computer Says Kill: The Palestine Laboratory w/ Antony Loewenstein 05.06.2026 49мин

  Israel has a long history of making new technological weapons of war and exporting them to the world. They have used Palestine as a testing ground to show how new tools can enable mass killing. And they are banking that demand for their products might protect them on the world stage.More like this: Anthropic is NOT the Good Guy w/ Maddy BattIn part seven of Computer Says Kill, author of The Palestine Laboratory Antony Loewenstein explains that for Israel, precision warfare is just performative. Israel has the means to kill with precision, but this is at odds with the logics of genocide. Antony will take us through the history of Israel’s dealings with authoritarian states, and Israel and American states do not need to take state control of a their domestic tech industries because they are already so ideologically aligned with their regimes.Further reading & resources:Buy The Palestine Laboratory by Antony Loewenstein (Verso Books)Watch The Palestine Laboratory series on Al Jazeera‘Hondurasgate,’ the alleged US and Israeli interference plot to destabilize Mexico and other progressive governments — El Pais May 2026Israeli drone strikes on vehicles in Lebanon kill 12 people, including 2 children — LA Times May 2026What is Project Nimbus? Al Jazeera, 2024Israeli authorities are using facial recognition technology to entrench apartheid — on ‘Red Wolf’ from Amnesty International, 2023Check out our Youtube for Tech Story of the Week**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  SPECIAL: Israel’s AI Kill List in Lebanon w/ Nabih Bulos 29.05.2026 19мин

  The Israeli military is using data, surveillance, and AI to kill noncombatants in Southern Lebanon. More like this: Computer Says Kill: Collapsing the Chain w/ with Matt MahmoudiThis week, we're kind of taking a break from our Computer Says Kill series to play a interview from our YouTube channel that is extremely relevant to the conversations we've been having about AI and militarization. Alix sat down with Nabih Bulos, the Middle East Bureau Chief at the LA Times, to discuss his recent reporting on Israel’s complex system of surveillance-driven targeting where, as he writes, even data from a phone can become a death sentence.Further reading & resources:Inside Israel’s AI targeting system: How data from a phone become a death sentence — Nabih Bulos, The Los Angeles Times, May 2026Watch the interview on our YouTube channelCatch up on episodes of Computer Says Kill, our series on AI, warfare, and power **Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Computer Says Kill: Anthropic is NOT the Good Guy w/ Madeline Batt 22.05.2026 41мин

  Anthropic’s AI systems have been used in illegal American invasions in Iran and Venezuela. They have partnered with Musk in the disastrous Memphis Colossus facility. And yet! News coverage, some civil society, and a lot of normies act like Anthropic is one of the good guys. They aren’t!More like this: The Toxic Love Triangle of Big Tech, Big War & Big Science w/ David Gray WidderFor part six of Computer Says Kill, we are joined by legal fellow Maddy Batt, who filed an amicus brief in the courtroom battle between Anthropic and the US Department of War. We talk about what we know from the lawsuit, what we know about how AI is being used in illegal invasions, and what might be possible for corporate accountability.Further reading & resources:The amicus brief filed by Tech Justice LawBuy Project Maven by Katrina MansonAutonomised Harming — Linda Eggert, July 2023Autonomous Weapons Systems and Human Rights — Linda Eggert, July 2024Moral Crumple Zones: Cautionary Tales in Human-Robot Interaction — Madeleine Clare Elish, 2019**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Computer Says Kill: The Toxic Love Triangle of Big Tech, Big War & Big Science w/ David Gray Widder 15.05.2026 37мин

  Academia, Big Tech, and the military are caught in a sordid love triangle — and their love language is money.More like this: Computer Says Kill: The Blank Check to Beat China w/ Lis SiegelFor part five of Computer Says Kill, researcher David Widder describes the powerful trifecta that is academia, Big Tech, and the US military: all of them need each other to survive, but who is benefiting the most? Half of Carnegie Mellon’s research funding comes from the DoW or the DHS — and David will explain how it’s being used to both prop up war apparatus, and serve as an on-ramp to Big Tech platforms.Further reading & resources:It’s about power: What ethical concerns do software engineers have, and what do they (feel they can) do about them? — David Widder et al, June 2023Basic Research, Lethal Effects: Military AI Research Funding as Enlistment — David Widder et alOpen (For Business): Big Tech, Concentrated Power, and the Political Economy of Open AI — David Widder, Sarah West, Meredith Whittaker, August 2023 To Build Our Future, We Must Know Our Past: Contextualizing Paradigm Shifts in Natural Language Processing — Sireesh Gururaja, Amanda Bertsch, Clara Na, David Widder, Emma Strubell, December 2023What Tech Calls Thinking by Adrian DaubThe Undone Computer Science ConferenceComputer-vision research powers surveillance technology — Nature Magazine, June 2025What’s happening in Memphis with Anthropic? — The Maybe Media**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Computer Says Kill: The Blank Check to Beat China w/ Lis Siegel 08.05.2026 43мин

  The US is in a race to ‘beat China’ at AI. Or is it? What if I told you that powerful actors in the US have built the story of an all-or-nothing race to get what they want?More like this: Computer Says Kill: A License for Unlimited War w/ Amos TohIn part four of Computer Says Kill we are joined by Lis Siegel who shares the history. We start with a document produced by China in 2017, and arrive at today when the Chinese bogeyman is being used to drive money, political influence and supply chain control to a few US tech giants. Listen in for some insight into how we got here.Further reading & resources:Examining AI Safety as a Global Public Good: Implications, Challenges, and Research Priorities — Lis Siegel et al, March 2025Silicon Valley enabled brutal mass detention and surveillance in China, internal documents show — AP News, September 2025A Dark-Money Campaign Is Paying Influencers to Frame Chinese AI as a Threat — Taylor Lorenz, Wired, May 2026Slogan Politics by Jinghan ZengBreakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan WangFinal Report from the National Security Commission for AI — 2021Yellow Techno-Peril: The ‘Clash of Civilizations’ and anti-Chinese racial rhetoric in the US–China AI arms race — Kerry McInerney 2024Bernie Sanders urges international cooperation to halt AI’s ‘runaway train’ — The Guardian, April 2026**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Short: RightsGone? Why Zambia May Have Pulled the Plug on RightsCon 01.05.2026 13мин

  RightsCon has just been cancelled by the Zambian government with no word to the organizers, five days before it was set to begin.RightsCon is the biggest annual global gathering of the digital rights community. Every year thousands of people come together to figure out how to make the internet safer and freer for everyone. When they can't connect, we all lose.Alix shares a few theories about why Zambia pulled the plug (geopolitics, trade deals, and "values"). She also talks through her views on what it could mean that safe global spaces for this work are collapsing, and why you should care even if you've never heard of RightsCon.If you were planning on attending RightsCon we're so sorry. If you're in Zambian civil society fighting for space to engage on these issues, please know there is a global community that has your back.Further reading & resources:World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference Suddenly Canceled — 404 Media, April 29**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Computer Says Kill: A License for Unlimited War w/ Amos Toh 01.05.2026 47мин

  Military spending on AI is a triple black box: How is AI being used in the military? Who is winning these contracts and what are they worth? And what is the military’s end-game here?More like this: How a Calculator Company Reshaped Modern Warfare w/ Jeff SternAmos Toh will help us answer these questions in part three of Computer Says Kill. We will cover how military spending has changed over the last couple of decades: there has been a clear shift from the straightforward buying up of jets, to the over-reliance on licensed software. Amos also shares what hasn’t changed, which is: yes, the government still spend a hell of a lot of money on military tech.Further reading & resources:The Business of Military AI — Amos Toh, Emile Ayoub, March 2026Read Amos and Emile’s explainer on the military’s use of AIPentagon's use of Claude during Maduro raid sparks Anthropic feud — Axios, Feb 13Department of War's Artificial Intelligence-First Agenda: A New Era for Defense Contractors — Holland & Knight, Feb 2026The Double Black Box by Ashely DeeksAI at war: Five things to know about Project Maven — Euractiv, April 2026Safety Co-Option and Compromised National Security: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Weakened AI Risk Thresholds — Heidy Khlaaf, Sarah Myers West, April 2025**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Computer Says Kill: How a Calculator Company Reshaped Modern Warfare w/ Jeff Stern 24.04.2026 37мин

  Precision weapons are meant to make warfare more exact. But what happens when the executive branch uses precision as an excuse to make more war and target with less and less accountability for accuracy?More like this: Computer Says Kill: Collapsing the Chain w/ with Matt MahmoudiIn part two of Computer Says Kill, Jeff Stern shares how a calculator company transformed modern warfare by making more precise weapons. After the Second World War, the US military wanted to be able to wage more war and target with more accuracy. At first it was about saving American troops. Over time it became a permission structure for more executive control over lethal force.What does this history tell us about the role of precision and accountability in war?Further reading & resources:Get The Warhead by Jeff Stern nowMore on Weldon Word and the development of precise weaponry during the Vietnam warOperation Desert Storm: 25 years on — CNN 2019Right to strike when your boss sells AI to the military? — Cori Crider, The Register Lecture, 2019 **Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Computer Says Kill: Collapsing the Chain w/ with Matt Mahmoudi 16.04.2026 49мин

  How does a country wage war using LLMs? Oh and WHY?More like this: AI in Gaza: Live from Mexico CityIn Computer Says Kill Ep #1 we are joined by Matt Mahmoudi. The US Department of War is leaning heavily on AI technologies to attack Iran. Matt explains how the use of LLMs to identify ‘legitimate targets’ is collapsing the chain of decisions that lead to lethal force. We discuss what this means at a time when fascist governments are eager to demonstrate their strength on the global stage. From Israel field-testing AI weapons in Gaza, to the US using AI tools in horrifying new ways to perpetuate ever worse war crimes, we start to connect the dots between the technology, the people powering it, and the human costs.Further reading & resources:Automated Apartheid — Amnesty International 2023How Israel uses facial-recognition systems in Gaza and beyond — Matt’s interview in The Guardian about the reportCrimes of Dispassion: Autonomous Weapons and the Moral Challenge of Systematic Killing — Elke Schwartz, 2023Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? — By Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz, The New York Times, April 2026“Big Brother” in Jerusalem’s Old City — Who Profits Research CentreWhat is Israel's secretive cyber warfare unit 8200? — Reuters 2024Genocide as Colonial Erasure — Francesca Albanese, October 2024Buy Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence, edited by Mizue Aizeki, Matt Mahmoudi, and Coline SchupferBuy The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World by Anthony Loewesnsteincan we add Francesa Albanese reportMatt’s research (Automated Apartheid, and anything else on warfare to link to?)Palestine Laboratory**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Computer Says Kill: New Series Trailer 16.04.2026 1мин

  This is Computer Says Kill, a new series on series focused on tracing the people, decisions, and systems that have recklessly ushered AI into the business of war.What we’re watching play out— from AI military chatbots to tech companies in bed with authoritarian governments— isn’t a new story. It's the latest chapter in a much older relationship between technology, military power, institutional systems, and capital— one that has always moved faster than accountability, and always found a way to make the next thing feel inevitable. We're not convinced this is inevitable. But we think it’s time to understand to understand exactly how we got here.The first episode in the series launches Friday, April 17th.Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout
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  Fantasy Factory: Luddite Horror w/ Brian Merchant 10.04.2026 35мин

  What better way than movies to help us process the world. Brian Merchant shares how our collective anxieties turn into cultural products.More like this: One Filmmaker’s Fight Against AI w/ Valerie VeatchBrian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine, joins us this week to discuss his favorite unsettling, horror and thriller picks that bring our fears about AI and tech to life on screen.Alix and Brian talk Terminator, Pluribus, and how even comedies about technology have a spectre of violence that helps us understand everything form labour exploitation to alienation to machine autonomy. All of this contributes to the role that film plays in helping us make sense of societal and technological change.Click here to vote for us for the Webbys!Further reading & resources:The best books, film, and TV about AI in 2025 — Brian Merchant, Dec 2025The Complete Guide to Luddite Horror Films — Brain Merchant, Oct 2024The Chair Company (TV show)Pluribus (TV show)The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas PynchonExhalation and *The Lifecycle of Software Objects* by Ted ChiangThe Most Aggressively Anti-AI Film of the ChatGPT Era — Brian Merchant on ‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die’, March 2026The Comeback (TV series staring Lisa Kudrow)Mrs Davis (TV series about a nun on a mission to destroy AI)Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout