• 1 min read

How Technology Empowers—and Imperils—Dictators

This essay was written with Seva Gunitsky, and originally appeared in Foreign Affairs. Two weeks after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, the Russian TV Channel One editor Marina Ovsyannikova burst onto the set of the…

What happened

The latest analysis post sets out a development that is directly relevant to security operators. This essay was written with Seva Gunitsky, and originally appeared in Foreign Affairs. Two weeks after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, the Russian TV Channel One editor Marina Ovsyannikova burst onto the set of the evening newscast.

Why it matters

This matters because AI-related risk increasingly shows up through deployment choices, interfaces, and governance gaps rather than model headlines alone.

Assessment

The strongest signal here is not just the headline event, but the wider pattern it points to. In practice, that means operators should read this as a broader signal over noise item rather than a narrow one-off.

  • Monitor follow-on reporting or primary-source updates for scope expansion, implementation guidance, or stronger enforcement signals

Further reading