Cyber Security

Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin are deeply concerned about the deployment of tools like ChatGPT. As co-founders of the Center for Human Technology, they are on a mission to close the gap between what the world hears publicly about A.I. and what the people closest to the risks and harms inside A.I. labs are telling them.

Two champions of free speech, one of whom sits on the Facebook Oversight Board, delve into the legal and ethical implications of content moderation online. How do social networks strike a balance between societal values, individual expression, and online safety? How should we find an equilibrium between open dialogue and harmful content?

In this new Aspen Ideas format, all attendees gather each morning to kick off the day by exploring a current issue of deep complexity. The rapid growth of generative A.I. — surpassing expectations with over 100 million users of the technology in a short span of time — is a testament to its distinct intelligence and unique approach to problem-solving. There are many upsi...

As the debate continues over whether generative A.I. will bring about an evolutionary or revolutionary change in cybersecurity, concerns are growing about implications for personal-data security and privacy. What’s the potential impact of generative A.I. on elections, financial transactions, and privacy? And most importantly, what role should the government play in protect...

For years, experts have predicted that the next major conflict would take place inside our computers, rather than on physical battlefields. But the initial months of Russia's war in Ukraine have seen a surprising absence of cyber warfare — or has it? What’s the real role digital attacks have played in that war, and what have we learned about how cyber war works — and doesn...

For the last twenty years, technology has been the most powerful force of globalization, but it now appears that the next decades will be defined by how the world splinters into different tech camps—changes driven by societal values, human rights, and nationalistic interests. Advanced technologies—from 5G to semiconductors to quantum computing—are the new currency of power...

The world is different in 2022. As we begin to emerge from a global pandemic we’re faced with a barrage of new crises that are shaking nations to their core: war, food shortages, broken supply chains, bioterrorism, energy shortages, and inflation. Will data-driven intelligence, now a critical component for countries, business managers, and economic enterprises large and sm...

Cryptocurrency is largely seen as an investment vehicle in the United States, with regular reporting on its value in the marketplace. But in other countries, especially in the developing world, such currencies are increasingly used for routine transactions, displacing more traditional money. There is growing trust and interest in this blockchain-based mechanism for both tr...

Much of the way we experience the Web today was fueled by venture capital. This Silicon Valley model helped drive an explosion of innovation — but innovation that favored huge wins and outsize returns. Entrepreneurs discovered they could achieve both by using our own data to get us hooked. Now our digital interaction is largely brokered by private companies, and their succ...

Americans are more connected than ever – at home, at work, and in everyday life. Yet few people understand the privacy trade-offs that come with each connection, and companies don’t make it easy to find out. How can we ensure consumers have a fair say in how companies use their personal data? Allstate CEO Tom Wilson and Harvard University lecturer Bruce Schneier sit down w...

Facebook holds more power globally than do few other private or public-sector entities. So, hearing from one of its top execs often sheds light on what to expect. The company’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, joins The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson to discuss a wide range of issues regarding the ever-evolving creative economy. What’s the role of virtual reality in the y...

We are increasingly living in different realities of news, politics, and information — a trend that’s undermining the shared foundation of “truth” necessary for proper functioning of society. At risk are public health, elections, and democracy itself. But America’s “fake news” problem actually runs much deeper. What are the roots of our broken information ecosystems, who i...

Robert Mueller made clear the bottom line of his investigation: Russia attacked our democracy — and, as he said, every American should focus on that. Instead, recent news reports reveal that the Department of Homeland Security wasn't even allowed to bring up the threat of election attacks with President Trump. As candidates hit the 2020 campaign trail, what should the Unit...

Vladimir Putin offered Donald Trump a swap at the now infamous Helsinki summit: I’ll let you interview the twelve Russian agents accused of hacking DNC emails, if you give my team access to Bill Browder. Browder is the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management and author of the 2015 New York Times best-seller Red Notice, which recounts his experience as the largest f...

What is trust? “A firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.” (We googled it). How much, not to mention who, we should trust is more complex now, given the technological tools we have at our disposal and the crafty creatives who might push the world’s next great product, or the next fake story, or — far worse — the hackers who can...

The public optimism that came with the launch of social media a decade ago has settled into a wariness that we might instead face a long, grueling daily fight for truth and facts in the face of unrelenting, automated disinformation online. As the 2020 elections gear up, how should our country face the threat from Twitter bots and Facebook trolls? What responsibility should...

The Internet, to date, has been an open system that has enabled ideas to spread across borders, has created transformative new economies, and has helped people connect, create, and distribute information, exposing us to perspectives that were previously out-of-reach. But it’s also left behind those on the wrong side of the digital divide, and raised thorny new questions a...

No single technology on the horizon offers the promise — or the peril — of quantum computing. This long-imagined leap in computer power could radically transform everything from weather forecasting to cryptography, and, with its arrival, make every existing encryption tool instantly breakable. What’s the reality of this new idea, and just how close are we to achieving it?