Artificial intelligence (AI) is the fastest-spreading technology in human history. But the crucial question is whether or not it will serve human freedom.
In a recent interview, HRF Chief Strategy Officer Alex Gladstein sat down with a leading researcher in local AI, 0xSero, to explore how AI could empower individuals living under authoritarian rule.
Putin already has armies, banks, lawyers, design firms, anything he wants, but the people don’t. And now pretty soon [with AI], the people are going to have all of that almost at their disposal.
– Alex Gladstein
Personal AI agents can now learn an individual’s needs, build tools tailored to them, and do work that once required months. And as local AI that runs privately on a user’s device and privacy-protecting AI tools improve, more people will be able to harness these capabilities without exposing their work to corporations or regimes. We are already at the point where a human rights defender can have a loyal digital ally that keeps their work private and puts an entire team’s worth of expertise at their fingertips.
That’s why HRF began hosting Agent Camps, multi-day, in-person trainings where leading dissidents deploy powerful, open-source agents and learn how to use them safely. The people confronting the world’s most repressive regimes should not be the last to receive the most powerful tools.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about HRF’s initiatives, the current AI landscape, and what must happen next to ensure AI serves those on the front lines of freedom.
Stay tuned: in the coming weeks, HRF will release AI for Activists, a new guide designed to help human rights activists understand and adopt AI tools safely.
For now, subscribe to our AI for Individual Rights newsletter for weekly updates on how dictators weaponize AI and how advancements in open, privacy-protecting AI empower dissidents.
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Each month we’ll share a concise roundup of the world’s most important AI stories exploring how dictators are using AI tools to repress and how open-source AI tools are being developed to resist tyranny.
