In liberal democracies, “AI safety” usually means protecting people from powerful systems. In China, it increasingly means protecting the Party from people. My 12-minute Oslo Freedom Forum keynote on why Beijing’s approach to AI should worry us: youtu.be/2N7NGM5UqDY?si=cRW5…

If Washington now sees frontier AI models as strategic capabilities, it needs an allied-access regime for Five Eyes partners, not a one-size-fits-all foreign exclusion rule.

Hard to imagine better advertising for an AI model than the US government banning foreign access on the grounds that it’s too powerful.

I increasingly find that my primary role in the "China influence" space these days is to debunk a lot of very, very poor quality "China influence" research reports that have been coming out. I don't think it would be an overreach to call this slate of reports "China influence slop." But such a term is too kind, because it fails to indicate that these reports are primarily motivated by the desire to delegitimize grassroots American organizating by attempting to associate them with "hostile foreign forces" — a tactic widely used by the CCP to delegitimize grassroots Chinese civil society whenever it finds such movements inconvenient. Let me start with a couple recent ones: — The reports from Bitcoin Policy Institute and Power the Future which have led House reps to call for an investigation into anti-data center organizing — And this latest one about how China is supposedly bankrolling climate activism at the University of California system and thereby acting to "shape California’s climate and energy policies." I can demonstrate, very easily, that these reports are 1) exceedingly poor quality as China influence reports go and 2) primarily and overwhelmingly motivated not by a desire to uncover China's influence (and thus to preserve the integrity of US civil society), but rather to delegitimize what are very obviously organic US movements (and thus to compromise the integrity of US civil society) Reports like these represent an anti-democratic abuse of the concept of China influence research, which denies agency to real Americans. These reports, given both their methods and their political goal, are also a form of disinformation and propaganda, very similar to how China paints Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters as stooges of America. And finally, these reports make a mockery of actual, high-quality China influence research. This must stop now — and journalists reporting on this style of report should do so with the highest degree of journalistic professionalism and scrutiny.

The CCP’s United Front Work Department (the CCP body that cultivates influence among non-Party elites) has launched on Douyin with a coordinated burst of videos featuring CEOs, celebrities, athletes and official accounts. x.com/whyyoutouzhele/status/…

PropagandaScope’s elite-appearance tracker is currently flagging Li Xi 李希 — a Politburo Standing Committee member & China’s top anti-corruption official — as having gone unusually long without a public appearance. Not evidence of anything on its own, just interesting to note.

Speaking at the boy’s funeral on Saturday, the father said “the soldier opened fire, then pulled back his unit and just walked away without a single word or a second thought”. theguardian.com/world/2026/j…

How are authoritarian regimes using AI to strengthen control? At @OsloFF, ASPI Senior China Analyst @fryan explained how AI is being used to monitor citizens, censor information, spread propaganda and suppress dissent. 📺: bit.ly/3S3yKnT 📚: bit.ly/4oapg6z youtube.com/watch?v=2N7NGM5U…

🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨 In ‘Lethal humidity and the systemic risks of climate change’, Dr Robert Glasser examines the threat of “lethal humidity”, warning more than half the global population could face life-threatening humid heat by the end of the century. 🔖: bit.ly/4e6C4qT

'At the presentation of the encyclical, Leo was accompanied by Christopher Olah, a co-founder and safety researcher at AI firm Anthropic, which has tried to position itself as a proponent of AI safety.' wsj.com/world/pope-leo-ai-en…

Netanyahu: "The way that Minister Ben Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel's values and norms." Really? 9news.com.au/world/itamar-be…

Between the FT’s sourced reporting, Beijing’s denial, and Trump’s denial, I know which account I’m more inclined to believe. kyivpost.com/post/76459

The San Diego mosque shooters reportedly called themselves “Sons of Tarrant”, apparently referencing the Australian terrorist who murdered 51 people at Christchurch mosques in 2019. A grim reminder Christchurch remains a template for violent extremists. abc.net.au/news/2026-05-20/s…

Unverified reports & heavily censored footage suggest a major incident occurred around May 13 at China's "Deep Sea No. 1" ultra-deepwater gas platform off Hainan. x.com/whyyoutouzhele/status/…

PROJECT UPDATE 📢 Today @ASPI_CTS launches an update to the China Defence Universities Tracker, including insights on China-Iran research ties for the past 15 years, a major refresh of sanctions information and updates to 12 institutions. 📝 Get access: unitracker.aspi.org.au/

'Amodei says he suspects open-source models and Chinese developers will be able to replicate Mythos’s capabilities within six to 12 months.' ft.com/content/9e0e0fc6-ab7d…

'When one adviser later asked him about it, he said he came up with the [Praise be to] Allah idea himself. He said he wanted to seem as unstable & insulting as possible, believing it could bring the Iranians to the table,' wsj.com/politics/national-se…