Resources^ from the Rest of Us (12.01.26)

Opinions, investigations, reports & opportunities

Hey everyone! Resources^ from the Rest of US posts highlight some of the things I’m reading — including expert opinions from folks in my region, investigations and reports. I also include things that impact us and our communities. When I come across research or fellowship opportunities, I’ll tag those at the bottom.

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Featured Resources 1:

Dr. Courtney Radsch | The Battle for Cognitive Liberty in the Age of Corporate AI

This is hands down the best piece I’ve read on the real harms we are facing from an AI ‘revolution’ driven by perverse market incentives, billionaire bros, and the system which the powerful have created to internalise the lucrative returns on manipulating our cognition while externalising all the harms.

There are so many great take-aways and pull out quotes from here that I can’t put them all in this post. But one that really stood out for me is this:

“𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭.”

And if you thought an American democracy could be counted on, think again:

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢’𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦’𝘴 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴: 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦.”

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Investigations / Expert Op-Eds

1. CNAS | The Export Control Loophole Fueling China’s Chip Production

2. Paris Marx | Getting of US tech: a guide

3. Belfer Center | Middle Powers: An Intellectual Framework

4. Michael Geoffrey Asia | The Emotional Labor behind AI Intimacy

5. East Asia Forum Editors | As the United States walks away, Asia can’t give up on the rules based economic order

6. Joseph Stiglitz | America’s Age of Empire

7. Daron Acemoglu | What Now for the “Rules-Based Order”?

8. Jorge G. Castrañeda | Yankee Go Home, Again

9. Courtney C. Radsch | The Battle for Cognitive Liberty in the Age of Corporate AI

Blogs / Substacks

1. Center for Humane Technology and Josh Lash | China isn’t racing the U.S. toward the same AI future

2. Asma Derja | AI governance did not happen.

3. Asma Derja | Redefining Hope in AI (Part 1): A personal reckoning with responsibility

News

1. Fortune | Why Singapore is the only Southeast Asian country in Pax Silica, the U.S.’s new AI ‘inner circle’

2. Reuters Special Report | Meta tolerates rampant ad fraud from China to safeguard billions in revenue

3. The Nation | Trump exit from 66 bodies raises global policy risk

4. The Asia Business Daily | China Criticizes U.S. withdrawal from Multiple International Organisations: “We will uphold multilateralism”

5. The Standard | ทรัมป์พาสหรัฐฯ ถอนตัว 66 องค์การระหว่างประเทศ กระทบโลกและไทยอย่างไร

6. Xinhua | China affirms support for UN following U.S. withdrawal from 66 international organisations

7. Global Times (China) | US pulling out of international bodies “is no longer news”: Chinese FM on US withdrawal from 66 international organisations

8. AP | Malaysia and Indonesia become first to block Musk’s Grok over sexualised AI images

9. AP | China to probe Meta’s acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus

10. Asia News Network | Why South Korea is vying to be first to regulate AI

Reports

1. 7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media | The Impact of the Gaza Blockade and the Destruction of Telecommunications Infrastructure on the Digital Economy Amidst Genocide

2. Centre for Democracy & Technology | Risky Business: Advanced AI Companies’ Race for Revenue

3. Digital Good Network | Derya Ozkul, Marie Godin | Exclusion by Design: Digital Identification and the Hostile Environment for Migrants

Government / UN / CSO Announcements

1. United States | Withdrawing the United States from International Organizations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States

2. People’s Republic of China | Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning’s Regular Press Conference on January 9, 2026

3. Taiwan, Republic of China | MODA Strongly Condemns Cyber Violence and Urges All Sectors to Work Together in Protecting Digital Human Rights

4. Taiwan, Republic of China | Legislative Yuan Passes Artificial Intelligence Fundamental Act in Third Reading, Laying Foundation for AI Innovation, Security Governance in Taiwan

5. Observacom | Shadow Banning”: The Subtle and Covert Censorship of the Major Tech Platforms (in English, Spanish and Portuguese)

6. 7amleh | 7amleh Calls on Linkedin not to Support Annexation Policies and Settlement Discourse

Company Announcements

1. Meta | Human Rights Report 2024

Podcasts/Webinars

1. Instagram | On Empathy (not the title but an IG video I saw that I think you’ll like)

2. Reboot Democracy | Using AI to Support Public Deliberation: A Conversation with Audrey Tang