Photorealistic image of a military operator in a dark control room, monitoring multiple screens with satellite maps and conflict data, symbolising AI in warfare and the role of technology in modern conflict zones.
Emerging Technologies and Geopolitical Power Shifts Ethical AI

When Peace Becomes Unprofitable: Big Tech, AI and Warfare

From a silenced keynote at the UN’s AI for Good Summit to $47 billion in defense contracts, Big Tech’s entanglement with AI warfare reveals a troubling reality: the same firms promoting “AI for Good” are profiting from its use in war. Behind the glossy rhetoric of ethics and innovation lies a structural paradox, when profit depends on military AI, peace itself becomes a threat to business. This article explores how tech giants have entered the military-industrial complex, why their profit motives create a “peace trap” where conflict fuels innovation, and what it would take to realign AI with the pursuit of peace.

By Alissa Chmiel
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Europe's digital sovereignty crisis demands urgent action. A photorealistic image shows the European Union flag fractured across a digital circuit board. The golden stars are split by a deep crack in the screen, symbolising European Digital Dependency, technological fragility, and the erosion of sovereignty in the digital age.
Emerging Technologies and Geopolitical Power Shifts Geopolitical Impact of New Technology The role of social media in shaping public discourse

European Digital Dependency and the Battle for Democracy

From Musk’s vulgar dismissal of the EU Commissioner to Europe’s reliance on Google Cloud and Chinese 5G, the story of European Digital Dependency is one of sovereignty without power. This article explores how regulations like the DSA clash with harsh realities: Europe depends on the very technologies it seeks to govern. From military contracts to social media platforms shaping elections, it traces how foreign tech has become embedded in Europe’s democratic core, and what pathways exist to reclaim digital resilience.

By Alissa Chmiel
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Person in a dark hoodie using a smartphone, symbolising Pegasus spyware surveillance in Europe
Uncategorized

How Spyware is Rewriting the Rules of Democracy

Pegasus spyware Europe has turned smartphones into weapons of surveillance, piercing the heart of privacy and trust. What once seemed like the tool of authoritarian regimes has quietly entered Europe’s democratic core.

From Poland’s elections to Spain’s independence movements and Germany’s secret purchase, spyware is no longer just a foreign policy concern – but a domestic democratic crisis. This article explores how Pegasus spyware reshapes European democracy, undermining press freedom, competitive elections, and the citizen–state relationship itself.

By Alissa Chmiel
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Close-up digital artwork of a human face made of binary code, split into blue and red halves, symbolizing AI bias, data-driven influence, and polarized information.
Emerging Technologies and Geopolitical Power Shifts Ethical AI

Rewriting Truth – the AI Manipulation Era Has Arrived

AI is becoming an unseen editor of reality itself. With US oversight dismantled and “anti-woke” neutrality redefined, political agendas can now guide what AI says, what it omits, and how billions worldwide come to understand the world. From curated search results on Truth Social to loosened safeguards on Elon Musk’s Grok, we are entering an age where AI shapes opinion one private conversation at a time. This article traces how deregulation in Washington is setting the stage for a global wave of AI systems that claim impartiality while quietly rewriting truth.

By Alissa Chmiel
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Abstract digital artwork showing distorted text with words like “create,” “harmonize,” and “disrupt” – symbolising the conflicting forces at play in peace influencing and digital communication.
Information and Cognitive Warfare The role of social media in shaping public discourse

Rethinking Influence in the Age of Algorithmic Warfare

In today’s landscape of information warfare, where war influencing has become a prevalent force, using digital communication to divide, manipulate, and destabilise; peace influencing could serve as a vital counterstrategy. This article explores digital peace through the lens of peace journalism and media theory, tracing how narratives shape conflict and cohesion alike. It examines the historical role of media in war, the transformation brought by social platforms, and how strategic communication is now being reclaimed to foster dialogue, empathy, and democratic resilience. From global grassroots efforts to evolving norms in digital communication, it argues that influencing for peace is no longer idealistic, but necessary.

By Alissa Chmiel
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Blurred human face partially obscured by strands of glowing lights, symbolising cognitive overload, digital entanglement, and the loss of mental clarity in the age of algorithmic influence.
Information and Cognitive Warfare Uncategorized

The Hidden Democratic Cost of Cognitive Offloading 

We increasingly let machines think for us, not just in everyday choices, but in how we navigate reality itself. Cognitive offloading describes this process of delegating mental tasks to external systems. What begins as a tool for convenience can quietly erode our ability to notice, remember, and decide for ourselves. As artificial intelligence mediates how we access information, make decisions, and even perceive the world, this quiet handover of our cognitive autonomy is not only convenient, but becoming dangerous. This article explores how cognitive offloading undermines our ability to think critically, and why that erosion poses a structural threat to our democracies.

By Alissa Chmiel
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Person holding up a rectangular mirror that replaces their face, reflecting only blue distortion. The background shows a metallic shutter in digital blue tones. A metaphor for emotional loss of self in the age of social media.
Information and Cognitive Warfare

Why Emotional Intelligence is a Democratic Skill

In an age where outrage is monetised and emotional manipulation is engineered at scale, emotional intelligence is no longer a wellness trend, but becoming a democratic necessity. This article explores why individual emotional resilience should be recognised as a key pillar of democratic resilience in the 21st century and how developing it could be the most overlooked defence against digital polarisation and political manipulation.

By Alissa Chmiel
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A black-and-white photo of a lamppost covered in worn stickers, one of which reads “BIG DATA IS WATCHING YOU.” The blurred city lights in the background create a dystopian feel, underscoring the urgent need to reclaim digital sovereignty.
Emerging Technologies and Geopolitical Power Shifts Emerging Technologies and Geopolitical Power Shifts

Why We Need to Talk About Data Again.

Data is the defining resource of the 21st century, but the question of who owns, controls, and benefits from it has become strangely opaque. This article revisits the idea of digital sovereignty in light of three technological frontiers: the Internet of Things, Brain-Computer Interfaces, AI and its acceleration through quantum computing. It traces how regulatory retreat and public disengagement have opened the door to unprecedented forms of data extraction, including from the human brain itself. The fight for data rights may well be the defining democratic struggle of our digital future. This article calls for a renewed public conversation about data as the foundation of democratic self-determination.

By Alissa Chmiel
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A high-resolution aerial photograph of a modern city at dusk, featuring illuminated highways with streaks of traffic lights and a subtle digital network of softly glowing lines and nodes, visually representing IoT connectivity across buildings and infrastructure beneath a fading sunset sky.
Emerging Technologies and Geopolitical Power Shifts Emerging Technologies and Geopolitical Power Shifts

How IoT Security Risks Enable Modern Cyberwarfare

The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming the invisible infrastructure of modern life: deeply integrated but wildly insecure, and increasingly inescapable. This article explores the escalating security risks of a connected world, where everyday devices like baby monitors and smart meters can be weaponised. It asks what happens when digital participation becomes mandatory, and argues for a Digital Peace approach that puts rights, resilience, and democratic oversight above profit and convenience.

By Alissa Chmiel
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Close up of a quantum computer
Emerging Technologies and Geopolitical Power Shifts Geopolitical Impact of New Technology

How Quantum Computing will affect Global Security

Quantum computing is no longer science fiction. As new processors reach milestones in error reduction and qubit counts, they raise urgent questions about digital sovereignty, cybersecurity, and global inequality. This article explores how quantum technologies might reshape international security frameworks and asks whether their development will serve the public interest or reinforce existing power asymmetries.

By Alissa Chmiel
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