1/ Almost 25% of U.S. adults now use AI for therapy, many relying on ChatGPT. @irina_match describes how AI "therapy" both helped and hurt her during a breakup, examining why this $2B industry presents increasing dangers to at-risk users. buff.ly/Vc9gJn6

1/ Hours before her UN AI for Good talk, Abeba Birhane was told to censor references to Gaza/Palestine/Israel and replace “genocide” with “war crimes.” She walked away. Minutes before showtime, organisers backed down. buff.ly/8VyY2Nv

When are Western governments going to catch up to the tricks and innovations of Russian sanction dodgers and Chinese money launderers? Maybe reducing the number of US cash dollars in circulation might be a start. buff.ly/dmtPw23

The market for AI in mental health is valued at $2 billion already, and growing fast. But substituting human therapists for machines is fraught with risk, writes Irina Matchavariani. Unregulated, artificial intimacy has become a matter of life and death. buff.ly/eJnYEIc

1/ “Design is always political,” anthropologist Dragana Kaurin told Ellery Roberts Briddle. “It enacts underlying policies, biases, and exclusion. Who gets to make decisions? How are decisions made? Is there space for iterations?” buff.ly/51rjPn7

Russia's MAX app should be named Putin's Panopticon. Users say the app enables total surveillance, without the end-to-end encryption used by Western platforms. While Russians are watched by Max, migrant workers’ geolocations have to be accessible at all times. buff.ly/7NAUJBy

1/5 NEW OLIGARCHY: Old systems to shuttle money across borders, such as hawala, have long been used to bypass Western banking systems and even sanctions. buff.ly/XQ7axYU

When AI can’t read your language, it can be both a shield and a barrier. In Inner Mongolia, digital obscurity of the script helped protesters evade surveillance – but new AI projects could change: buff.ly/6PvEWpb

“Not all minds are captured in this country.”
@irmadimitradze.bsky.social on the fight for press freedom in Georgia and why it matters far beyond its borders, in conversation with @mariaressa.bsky.social, @caoilfhionn.bsky.social, and @jodieginsberg.bsky.social at #ZEG2025.