News in the Category "Articles"
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SRI Appoints Bruce Schneier as Visiting Senior Policy Fellow
Global security expert Bruce Schneier joins University of Toronto’s Munk School and the Schwartz Reisman Institute as a visiting fellow to tackle one of today’s defining questions: how can we build AI systems—and societies—that people can truly trust?
Few thinkers have done more to reframe how we understand security in a networked world than Bruce Schneier. To him, security isn’t just about cryptography or code—it’s about trust, power, and the human choices embedded in every system we build.
For three decades, Schneier has asked what it really means to be secure, and who gets to decide. From designing cryptographic algorithms to writing bestselling books that redefined public conversations on privacy and power, the Harvard-based security expert has become one of the world’s most trusted interpreters of how technology shapes society…
Tech Experts See Artificial Intelligence as a Key Resource Ahead of Local Elections
Cambridge’s local elections are just around the corner—and scientists Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders said that artificial intelligence will be a critical tool to help inform voters before they head to the polls.
Schneier and Sanders, a Harvard Kennedy School lecturer, co-authored the book "Rewiring Democracy" that was released on Oct. 21. The two appeared at a Cambridge Public Library panel to share more about how citizens can use AI to get involved in politics on Wednesday evening.
They noted that Cambridge’s municipal elections on Nov. 4 are a prime opportunity for voters to use AI. With the most crowded field of candidates in recent memory, Schneier—a New York Times bestselling author—said the technology can be used to help summarize information about candidates…
Harvard’s Schneier Gives Lawmakers a Tour Through DOGE-Driven AI Risks
The Trump administration’s DOGE initiative to revamp federal systems and scale back the workforce has involved unvetted uses of artificial intelligence to comb through sensitive data and has exacerbated the government’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities, according to computer scientist, activist and Harvard Kennedy School lecturer Bruce Schneier.
“Data security breaches present significant dangers to everyone in the United States, from private citizens to corporations to government agencies to elected officials,” Schneier testified at a June 5 House Oversight hearing…
What Magic Johnson and Bruce Schneier Taught Us at RSAC 2025
At first glance, Bruce Schneier and Magic Johnson have about as much in common as a firewall and a fast break. But last week was the annual RSAC confab, where the agendas can read like someone spun a roulette wheel loaded with cyber policy, threat intel—and apparently, NBA legends.
Last Tuesday, Schneier delivered his keynote on “AI, Security, and Trust,” a cerebral clinic on why the tech world is barreling toward a cliff. On Wednesday, former Los Angeles Lakers point guard Earvin “Magic” Johnson took the stage with “The Art of the Assist,” where he served business wisdom with a side of charisma. It’s the kind of conference whiplash RSAC has perfected: one minute you’re deep in machine learning risk models, the next you’re in a standing ovation for a guy who redefined the no-look pass…
Researchers Find Some Worry, Some Hope for AI in Democracy
Experts say intense focus on artificial intelligence as a misinformation tool can miss the mark
When it comes to the 2024 election season, the democratic sky didn’t fall because of artificial intelligence, Harvard researchers say, with candidates using the technology to reach voters in helpful new ways. But, they warn, it is still worth keeping a wary eye on some of AI’s most insidious possible applications.
New Englanders may recall the use of artificial intelligence to mimic President Joe Biden’s voice to dissuade voters from participating in the New Hampshire Democratic primary. More than a dozen states, including Massachusetts, have adopted or …
Will A.I. Be a Creator or a Destroyer of Worlds?
Excerpt
In examining the effect of artificial intelligence on politics, especially politics in this country, Bruce Schneier, a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and a lecturer at the Kennedy School, takes speculation to a new level.
In an essay that was published last week, “How AI Will Change Democracy,” Schneier wrote:
AI can engage with voters, conduct polls and fund-raise at a scale that humans cannot—for all sizes of elections. More interestingly, future politicians will largely be AI-driven. I don’t mean that AI will replace humans as politicians. But as AI starts to look and feel more human, our human politicians will start to look and feel more like AI…
Little Lessons: AI Regulation and Data Protection Policies
Watch the Video on YouTube.com
We sat down with Bruce Schneier to discuss data protection policies in the United States, and how he envisions future regulatory change surrounding artificial intelligence.
The Hacking of Organizational Systems
“There are only two types of organizations. Those that have been hacked and those that don’t know it yet.”—John Chambers
Comcast said nearly 36 million U.S. Xfinity accounts were compromised after hackers accessed its systems through a vulnerability in third-party cloud-computing software. The breach occurred between October 16 and October 19, 2023.
On Sunday, February 18, 2024, at the Munich Security Conference, FBI Director Christopher Wray said China’s cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure are “unprecedented.”
AT&T announced that the cause of its 12-hour nationwide outage on February 22, 2024, was the “execution of an incorrect process,” not a cyberattack. In simpler terms, the company admitted to human error…
Harvard Technologist Encourages Use of AI to Protect Democracy
Exploring ways in which generative artificial intelligence will affect democracy, prominent Harvard lecturer and public-interest technologist Bruce Schneier said it’s important for people to look both ways and to be unafraid of using the technology when it can help.
Schneier said he foresees an “arms race” where those who fail to engage with the technology will quickly lose ground to those who do. He offered examples of how AI can be used throughout the democratic process, including to augment polling, fundraising and campaign strategies in electoral politics, and to more routinely submit comments to regulatory agencies, craft legislation, and improve law enforcement…
Due to AI, “We Are About to Enter the Era of Mass Spying,” Says Bruce Schneier
Schneier: AI will enable a shift from observing actions to interpreting intentions, en masse.
In an editorial for Slate published Monday, renowned security researcher Bruce Schneier warned that AI models may enable a new era of mass spying, allowing companies and governments to automate the process of analyzing and summarizing large volumes of conversation data, fundamentally lowering barriers to spying activities that currently require human labor.
In the piece, Schneier notes that the existing landscape of electronic surveillance has already transformed the modern era, becoming the business model of the Internet, where our digital footprints are constantly tracked and analyzed for commercial reasons. Spying, by contrast, can take that kind of economically inspired monitoring to a completely new level:…
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.