Computer Says Maybe

Latest Episodes:

SPECIAL: Israel’s AI Kill List in Lebanon w/ Nabih Bulos May 29, 2026

Show notes

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 Mahmoudi

This 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 2026
Watch the interview on our YouTube channel
Catch up on episodes of Computer Says Kill, our series on AI, warfare, and power

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Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

Computer Says Kill: Anthropic is NOT the Good Guy w/ Madeline Batt May 22, 2026

Show notes

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 Widder

For 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 Law
Buy Project Maven by Katrina Manson
Autonomised Harming — Linda Eggert, July 2023
Autonomous Weapons Systems and Human Rights — Linda Eggert, July 2024
Moral 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

Computer Says Kill: The Toxic Love Triangle of Big Tech, Big War & Big Science w/ David Gray Widder May 15, 2026

Show notes

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 Siegel

For 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 2023
Basic Research, Lethal Effects: Military AI Research Funding as Enlistment — David Widder et al
Open (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 2023
What Tech Calls Thinking by Adrian Daub
The Undone Computer Science Conference
Computer-vision research powers surveillance technology — Nature Magazine, June 2025
What’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

Computer Says Kill: The Blank Check to Beat China w/ Lis Siegel May 08, 2026

Show notes

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 Toh

In 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 2025
Silicon Valley enabled brutal mass detention and surveillance in China, internal documents show — AP News, September 2025
A Dark-Money Campaign Is Paying Influencers to Frame Chinese AI as a Threat — Taylor Lorenz, Wired, May 2026
Slogan Politics by Jinghan Zeng
Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan Wang
Final Report from the National Security Commission for AI — 2021
Yellow Techno-Peril: The ‘Clash of Civilizations’ and anti-Chinese racial rhetoric in the US–China AI arms race — Kerry McInerney 2024
Bernie 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

Short: RightsGone? Why Zambia May Have Pulled the Plug on RightsCon May 01, 2026

Show notes

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

Computer Says Kill: A License for Unlimited War w/ Amos Toh May 01, 2026

Show notes

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 Stern

Amos 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 2026
Read Amos and Emile’s explainer on the military’s use of AI
Pentagon's use of Claude during Maduro raid sparks Anthropic feud — Axios, Feb 13
Department of War's Artificial Intelligence-First Agenda: A New Era for Defense Contractors — Holland & Knight, Feb 2026
The Double Black Box by Ashely Deeks
AI at war: Five things to know about Project Maven — Euractiv, April 2026
Safety 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

Computer Says Kill: How a Calculator Company Reshaped Modern Warfare w/ Jeff Stern Apr 24, 2026

Show notes

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 Mahmoudi

In 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 now
More on Weldon Word and the development of precise weaponry during the Vietnam war
Operation Desert Storm: 25 years on — CNN 2019
Right 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

Computer Says Kill: Collapsing the Chain w/ with Matt Mahmoudi Apr 16, 2026

Show notes

How does a country wage war using LLMs? Oh and WHY?

More like this: AI in Gaza: Live from Mexico City

In 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 2023
How Israel uses facial-recognition systems in Gaza and beyond — Matt’s interview in The Guardian about the report
Crimes of Dispassion: Autonomous Weapons and the Moral Challenge of Systematic Killing — Elke Schwartz, 2023
Sam 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 Centre
What is Israel's secretive cyber warfare unit 8200? — Reuters 2024
Genocide as Colonial Erasure — Francesca Albanese, October 2024
Buy Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence, edited by Mizue Aizeki, Matt Mahmoudi, and Coline Schupfer
Buy The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World by Anthony Loewesnstein
can we add
- Francesa Albanese report
- Matt’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

Computer Says Kill: New Series Trailer Apr 16, 2026

Show notes

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

Fantasy Factory: Luddite Horror w/ Brian Merchant Apr 10, 2026

Show notes

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 Veatch

Brian 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: