Prof. Elke Schwarz
@ElkeSchwarz
Followers
3,287
Following
2,089
Media
95
Statuses
5,198
Professor of Political Theory at Queen Mary University London. Working on ethics, technology, violence, politics, AI, Apocalypse.
London, England
Joined April 2011
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
PAVILLON DES FOLIES X SAROCHA
• 942062 Tweets
توتنهام
• 417294 Tweets
ANILPIN LOVE ON THE BEACH
• 282006 Tweets
Daniel
• 157417 Tweets
SPILL THE FEELS TRACK SAMPLER
• 93401 Tweets
呪術廻戦
• 75803 Tweets
Manchester United
• 66731 Tweets
イッテQ
• 57667 Tweets
Tottenham
• 56870 Tweets
#プロセカ4周年
• 51793 Tweets
John Kerry
• 51090 Tweets
WELCOME TO GOLD ERA
• 44071 Tweets
Spurs
• 41676 Tweets
手越イッテ
• 40097 Tweets
手越復活
• 37092 Tweets
呪術完結
• 28796 Tweets
手越くん
• 27704 Tweets
#MUNTOT
• 25841 Tweets
芥見先生
• 23756 Tweets
Rashford
• 22673 Tweets
#EIGHTJAM
• 19503 Tweets
ツイステ
• 19322 Tweets
衆議院解散
• 15503 Tweets
Ipswich
• 15485 Tweets
Pogacar
• 15405 Tweets
呪術最終回
• 12413 Tweets
#乃木坂工事中
• 11517 Tweets
ぐらんぶる2期
• 11296 Tweets
#呪術本誌
• 10861 Tweets
Van de Ven
• 10128 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
I've written a short piece in which I discuss how the venture capital world is exercising an outsized influence not only on military tech but also military culture & practice, with possibly problematic consequences. Check it out here on
@opiniojuris
:
1
16
43
I am extremly delighted to have been awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to advance my project on the politics of Silicon Valley eschatology / apocalyptic AI. Big thank you to
@LeverhulmeTrust
!
41
11
338
What is the social or collective good that comes of technologies like this? Do the possible benefits really justify the enormous risks? Should the release of tech like this not require a much more rigorous ethical impact assessment BEFORE release?
26
66
292
Although I have studied violence and war for a good while now the dimensions, scope and scale of violence documented in the South Africa application to the ICJ almost leave me at a loss for words
5
73
199
I am extremely honoured to have been invited as a Fellow to the University of Heidelberg Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies (
@CAPASHeidelberg
) from October 2022 to March 2023. I will explore narratives of robot apocalypses and dystopian accounts of AI.
21
5
203
The gender (im)balance of all of this!
7
71
180
Nick Cave on point: 'I understand that ChatGPT is in its infancy but perhaps that is the emerging horror of AI – that it will forever be in its infancy, as it will always have further to go, and the direction is always forward, always faster'
4
46
166
The title 'Reader' is a strange moniker, but I am utterly delighted to have been bestowed it, especially after quite a tough academic year. I'm now Reader in Politcal Theory
@QMPoliticsIR
. Thank you to everyone who supported me on this path.
24
2
168
I remember distinctly in 2019 when I was dismissed by a US think tanker for suggesting that Project Maven would be used for precisely this kind of accelerated targeting. This speed with which goal post change should concern us all (1/4)
8
59
142
This is why the 'Moral Machine' project is so problematic: this is NOT ethical thinking. These are the statistical results for a survey sourced via an online gaming interface based on binary choices. We must not confuse this with appropriate ethical deliberation for tech. Please.
A self-driving car can choose who dies in a fatal crash. These are the ethical considerations.
#automation
279
717
990
8
60
124
“It is already in use at a private university outside the UK which licensed the system to replace student satisfaction feedback forms after lectures” Please. Just stop.
11
64
118
Why must everything become a computer? What was wrong with operating the windscreen wiper with a flick of the little finger that is improved by having to navigate a screen interface to find the right windscreen wiper action? Surely that's less efficient
6
25
122
I cannot begin to adequately express how increadibly dystopian this concept is: to have to gaze into a silver orb that scans your face and iris, be assigned a 'unique number' to be entered into a database, in order to "prove" you are human. Why??
7
37
114
Absolutely over the moon to announce that my latest article, Crimes of Dispassion, co-authored with the formidable
@NC_Renic
, is now out in Ethics and International Affairs (open access): check it out!
8
35
121
A fascinating piece of utopia/dystopia reasoning here: Let's pursue a technology that we think will likely pose an existential risk for all humanity b/c it MIGHT give great benefits to humans (without giving any concrete support for this claim). Techno-eschatology at its purest..
4
20
108
In light of recent reports on the use of
#AI
-targeting systems, I thought I would share again something I wrote a while back on the issue. You can access the full text here or via Philosophy Today
0
36
106
I’m not sure what Pepper is going through, but I suspect ‘bonjour’ is not going to fix it ...
7
20
105
A long time in the making... I am happy to see my article on the limits to meaningful human control in lethal autonomous weapons systems finally out in print in this excellent special issue, edited by the equally excellent Alexander Leveringhaus
6
19
93
Just in time for xmas, Death Machines is now out in an affordable paperback format! Thank you
@NoelSharkey
@David_Gunkel
@chrisjbrown1
@EmilArchambault
and Peter Olsthoorn for the amazing endorsements! 🙏
@ManchesterUP
4
20
91
Job! 📢Come work with me at QMUL! 3-year lectureship in International Security. All you tech-minded international security people, please spread the word:
1
67
91
The vested interests here are evident, that goes without saying. What is striking is that this industry-led approach assumes that tech experts have sufficient expertise to understand the social / political impact, in addition to tech expertise. They do not.
WATCH: Former Google CEO
@ericschmidt
tells
#MTP
Reports the companies developing AI should be the ones to establish industry guardrails — not policy makers.
“There’s no way a non-industry person can understand what’s possible.”
204
94
474
3
16
81
Official book launch for 'Death Machines', March 6th, 2019, 6-8pm at QMUL. Come join the wonderful Kimberly Hutchings, the excellent Mervyn Frost and myself for an evening of ethics, technologies of violence, a 50% book discount and refreshments!
1
27
69
I look forward to the next days discussing AI-enabled autonomous systems in Vienna. In the run up to
#AWS2024Vienna
, I thought I would share another earlier article I wrote on why meaningful human control is a serious challenge with AI. Open access here:
5
15
70
In light of the GPT-4o demos launched yesterday, I thought I would post an article I wrote back in 2018/19 (when Google had just launched Duplex). You can access the text here or via Thesis Eleven
1
15
82
I’ve written a short piece in which I reflect, with the help of Günther Anders, on the status of human life in increasingly technified and desolate times.
4
28
69
It's been a very long and exhausting academic year, but I'm so very excited to have just signed a book contract with
@ManchesterUP
for my next book. Now, the big question: can I top my previous cover ...?
3
1
65
Definitely a highlight of the year for me! Thank you
@Ri_Science
for having me on the show.
@ElkeSchwarz
of
@QMUL
joins us now, talking about the use of AI in warfare.
Flash Wars are one of the biggest areas of concern in warfare – AI escalating things until we reach a point of war without humans having the opportunity to intervene.
📷: Paul Wilkinson
#XmasLectures
1
4
14
4
2
62
Last week I gave my
@CAPASHeidelberg
Fellowship lecture about my (ongoing) research on technology, eschatology and politics. If you've ever wondered how the end of the world, Pascal's wager, AI and Lontermism connect, check it out here:
4
14
60
Six weeks into struggling with breathing and ongoing fatigue I can tell you that this is a terrible, terrible proposition
Should a 'big wave of infection' be allowed to flow through the UK once the most vulnerable have been vaccinated against Covid-19?
1K
123
249
16
3
57
I am so pleased to see this published and am delighted to have been able to contribute with a short case study on lethal autonomous weapons.
After nearly 4 years in the making, I am relieved to announce that Security Studies: Critical Perspectives has been published by
@OUPacademic
.
26
108
847
0
10
57
Looking forward to this event at the Royal Danish Defence College next week, where I'll be speaking about AI targeting systems and moral responsibility. With
@AJBousquet
and
@IngvildBode
. Thank you
@DanihjelMO
for organising. Join us in person or online!
3
9
54
People with specific expertise in AI (or similar technologies / businesses) need to URGENTLY STOP claiming to have expertise in politics/ethics/society etc…. This thread is a mess
AI is going to enable the creation and enforcement of laws 1000x as complex as we have today. This is mostly a good thing.
529
72
708
3
5
52
Interested in doing a PhD in technology, politics, war related topics? Come work with me at QMUL. We have funding!
Studentship opportunity! Interested in doing a PhD at QMPoliticsIR? Funding opportunities are available, including fully-funded studentships via the LISS Doctoral Training Partnership
@lissdtp
@QMUL_DC
#PhD
#studentships
3
26
27
0
28
48
My second piece on
#AI
weapons is out in Philosophy Today! Here I argue - once again with Günther Anders - that there an tension in the pairing of digital protocols with ethical thinking in war. Thanks
@LodeLauwaert
for the invitation to contribute!
2
15
51
I’m pleased to have a chapter on
#military
#AI
and
#ethics
in this excellent new Handbook on the Future of War. Edited by the formidable Artur Gruszczak &
@SebKaempf
, with a stellar roster of scholars. Available to buy now!
1
5
50
I'm very much looking forward to joining this wonderful department!
@ElkeSchwarz
is joining
@QMPoliticsIR
and
@Theory_LAB
in September as a Lecturer in Political Theory!
#drones
#ethics
#technology
#violence
#biopolitics
#politicaltheory
1
4
9
7
4
49
Excuse me?
The study of war has fallen out of fashion. Margaret MacMillan's book on War explains why this is a mistake. My
@FinancialTimes
review ⬇️
9
59
124
5
1
48
As you would imagine from Ted Chiang, this is a very insightful and considered essay. He closes with the question: "What use is there in having something that rephrases the Web?" via
@NewYorker
4
9
46
I had a most wonderful and stimulating day at
@UniSouthDenmark
this week - great staff, great students. Thank you
@vckeating
and
@CWSWarStudies
for the invitation!
0
2
45
I usually try and avoid being too snarky on here, but this below sounds truly like someone who has spent little to no time trying to understand what empathy is. The certainty / hubris with which this statement is delivered is something to behold.
5
5
43
This beauty arrived today at my doorstep. What great company I find myself in! Check out the full volume here
0
1
42
“AWS will not bring an end to human involvement in war. But they will likely distort our human relationship to violence”
@NC_Renic
at
#AWS2024Vienna
highlighting some key point of our paper “Crimes of Dispassion”
2
10
41
I’m extremely chuffed to have been nominated for a
#SuperstarAward
from the
@LeicesterUnion
for Best Lecturer! Made my day/week/month!
3
3
39
My essay in Süddeutsche Zeitung as part of a comprehensive series on AI (the original title sadly didn’t make the cut)
1
9
41
The utilitarian curse strikes again .... a naive disregard of quality in favour of quantity. He does not seem to understand what words are for.
openai now generates about 100 billion words per day.
all people on earth generate about 100 trillion words per day.
1K
1K
15K
2
6
38
Honored to be giving a keynote lecture at this exciting conference! Come join us for the event.
Use of
#AI
technology in
#military
contexts presents opportunities, but also many legal concerns.
Engage in dialogue around questions of
#militaryAI
at the
@DILEMA_project
#conference
.
Register for free now:
#DILEMA23
#LawTwitter
#AIEthics
0
3
7
2
3
36
No thank you. But you know what would make my commute easier? A less overcrowded public transport system and proper bike lanes.
2
0
34
I keep hearing / reading the line "AI has great power to do good" - How? How is this 'good' defined? I would like more specific details please. Thanks
7
3
32
A timely reminder ...
"One doesn't always have to speak."
— Hannah Arendt
5
84
468
0
0
33
Great talk by
@james_muldoon_
tonight on Platform Socialism and a very engaging discussion to follow. Onward and upward in reclaiming power from big tech.
@Theory_LAB
@QMPoliticsIR
2
6
31
So many excellent women (for example
@AmooreLouise
) have written on the socio-technical aspects of algorithms, and the fact that they have agency / agentic capacities for years! Why does this book get such coverage
@guardian
? Because he is a SV 'insider'?
‘I welcome our digital minions’: the Silicon Valley insider warning about algorithms – while embracing them
3
3
18
1
4
31
I'm enormously honoured to be invited to give a keynote lecture at this exciting conference and very much looking forward to the conversations! Come join us!
@autonorms
@CWSWarStudies
@IngvildBode
📣Save the date!
"The Hacker Way: Moral Decision Logics with Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems" - Keynote lecture by Dr
@ElkeSchwarz
📌6 January 2022 16:30 - 17:30 CET
📌Streamed on
@CWSWarStudies
YouTube channel
1
10
31
0
6
32
It reflects a strange labour logic of increased output as a goal above anything else. It prioritises a routinised process above anything else. This, then, erodes moral restraint.
@NC_Renic
& I have recently written on this. The short version is here (3/4)
2
14
31
"The principle of "atomic weapons," for example, is pure nihilism, because, if they could speak, they would say: "Whatever we destroy, it's all the same to us." In them, nihilism has reached its climax and has become naked 'Annihilism.'" Günther Anders - Thesis for the Atomic Age
The U.S. Army should now rediscover the lost art of nuclear battlefield operations and prepare its soldiers for the uniquely devastating effects of nuclear weapons.
5
8
19
5
12
28
Because war is not a technological problem…
"The computer models would have said Russia wins in 72 to 96 hours," said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger. They "cannot explain why Ukraine is still hanging on. Why is that?"
247
417
2K
1
4
30
The paper clip problem - AI drone edition. Although the Air Force denies ever having done such a test, none of this seems implausible. A much more serious and impactful conversation about responsibility, ethics and military AI is urgently needed.
So apparently here we are: “In a simulated test staged by the US military, an air force drone controlled by AI killed its operator to prevent it from interfering with its efforts to achieve its mission.”
#keepctrl
2
6
13
4
11
31
I too want to go to the pub ... but am slightly troubled by the fact that the daily new (registered) case count just *before* lockdown in the UK was around 600 - 700, with a total death toll of 281. Today's numbers: 921 new cases and 280 new deaths ... what am I missing?🧐
1
5
29
👇
Hannah Arendt on the "pseudomysticism" that then surrounded the rule of bureaucracy, and today surrounds the rule of AI...
1
11
43
1
1
28
Arrived at my
@CAPASHeidelberg
Fellowship yesterday, learned that I have an interesting neighbour
1
0
30
As I have been saying for nearly a decade 😉: "What we believe is “right” risks becoming no longer a question of ethics but simply what the “correct” result of a mathematical calculation is."
0
5
28
If your research Q is: "How do we ensure AI systems much smarter than humans follow human intent?" and your approach is to assemble "a team of top machine learning researchers and engineers to work on this problem" then you're missing a crucial knowledge block to solve the puzzle
We need new technical breakthroughs to steer and control AI systems much smarter than us.
Our new Superalignment team aims to solve this problem within 4 years, and we’re dedicating 20% of the compute we've secured to date towards this problem.
Join us!
516
737
4K
0
6
27
A thoughtful article by
@AnjaKasp
and
@WendellWallach
asking that we foreground important questions about how AI affects the human condition:
2
11
27
In 2019 I wrote a piece on Günther Anders' prophetic and cutting insights on our present condition. I used the Google Duplex launch as an opening vigniette. How quaint that now seems ...
3
3
27
It was only last year at a symposium when I was being dismissed as an alarmist for suggesting this is the obvious next step in the AI/drone systems development
"General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has integrated and flown the MQ-9 Reaper with the Agile Condor Pod, an on-board artificially intelligent computer that promises to autonomously find, track and propose targets to human commanders."
7
40
56
4
4
28
A spectacular visual display here at
#AWS2024Vienna
. That not withstanding the mood in the room is encouragingly alert to the many technical and human risks, ethical and legal challenges AI-enabled AWS pose.
1
1
27
Longtermism = blatant maths-based justification narrative for the permissibility of large-scale harm. It’s asking all the wrong questions & ignorant of human history. Insightful article by
@xriskology
:
3
4
27
Two things: "Almost two-thirds of transmissions have been from asymptomatic carriers" and "Almost no nation has enough protective gear, enough beds, or enough tests" - Do the math, stay put. Asymptomatic transmission changes everything. by
@GaryMarcus
2
14
27
AI risk discussions would benefit from a reading of Sheila Jasanoff's chapter 'Risk and Responsibility' in The Ethics of Invention. She makes some basic but important points
1
6
27
We're looking for scholarship that expands & challenges our understanding of international relations. If you're working across disciplines relevant to IR or are looking for a home for your novel approach to an IR topic, get in touch!
@bctallis
@kristinhaugevik
@HofiusMaren
Check out our new book series "Frontiers in
#internationalrelations
" which breaks new ground by thinking and writing from the limits of the discipline and beyond.
@isanet
@europeanisa
@IFSHHamburg
@nupinytt
@IIR_Prague
@ElkeSchwarz
@ecfr
0
4
16
0
12
26
I have enjoyed talking to the Channel 4 crew about
#military
#AI
recently. Check the full piece out in the link below
Kyiv says it’s using artificial intelligence to target Russian positions and counter Moscow’s firepower advantage - leading some to claim Ukraine is the “first digital war”.
@paraicobrien
explores how AI is shaping the war in Ukraine and future conflicts.
9
21
51
2
7
26
Interestingly, thinkers in the 1950s & 60s (Anders, Jonas, Arendt, even Wiener etc) were much more attuned to this development (with respect to cybernetics) then we seem to be today
'The core of the [AI] ideology is that a suite of technologies, designed by a small technical elite, can and should become autonomous from and eventually replace not just individual humans but much of humanity'
3
44
136
1
8
26
So happy my book
#DeathMachines
made it onto the
@IAJournal_CH
2019 Summer Reading list. Just in time for the paperback release
@ManchesterUP
! Thanks again
@EmilArchambault
for the thoughtful review.
@OUPAcademic
@M_Philani
@IGD_SA
@BFoGP
@palmacpolitics
@shakirahussein
@unimelb
@unilibrary
@YaleBooks
@kajsanorman
@romanyam
@UofLSpeedEng
@CRCPress
Last, but by no means least, the final book on our 2019 Summer Reading List is
@ElkeSchwarz
's DEATH MACHINES. Read the full review by
@EmilArchambault
here: and check out the rest of the list on our blog: (11/11)
1
2
3
0
2
26
Join us for an exciting
@Theory_LAB
talk contemplating bunkers as a space of political ordering, given by my fellow
@CAPASHeidelberg
Fellow Robert E. Kirsch (Arizona). 24th May 2023 at 5:30pm
@QMPoliticsIR
. Registration below, the event is free.
3
8
25
Sharing this again, in light of the start of the September
#GGELAWS
meeting on
#AutonomousWeapons
today. Good to see some of the concerns raised in the paper also raised at the meeting. I am hopeful that the dial is shifting in the right direction ...
0
8
25
Mesmerising… terrifying
A robot made of magnetic slime could be deployed inside the body to perform tasks such as retrieving objects swallowed by accident.
6K
27K
99K
4
1
25
Sometimes I catch myself wondering how it came to be that instead of learning how to communicate better with our fellow sentient beings, the focus now rests on learning how to craft better prompts for ChatGPT. 🙅♀️
4
3
24
Very excited to have the opportunity to discuss this timely topic at the Imperial War Museum. Come join us on November 18th. Info and registration below
Acts of so-called 'hybrid war' have been waged from Mosul to Mariupol, and from the South China Sea to Salisbury.
Join an acclaimed line-up of speakers at IWM London as they unpack this new concept in our understanding of war and conflict.
Book now:
1
19
33
0
3
24
Sure, but all these AI scientists had more than a decade's worth of opportunity to listen to the many voices that issued caution, but they have patently ignored them. That there are substantial risks from AI (aside from existential risks) has been so clear for a long time.
How many times do cutting edge scientists regret their life’s work before they get the right ethical and social training earlier on? It’s ridiculous the hard sciences are so siloed
0
3
9
2
1
24
Underwhelming. Much of this tech has been around for quite a while ... he just made a chip.🤷♀️No ground breaking brain function research here. As with self-drivings cars, Musk is a hype man who would probably be well advised to 'doubt his vibe' more often.
3
1
25
This is unsurprising from an executive of an industry that has consistently ignored the social/political critique of sci-fi lit and decided to build the dystopic technology that facilitated suffering in sci-fi novels instead.
i was hoping that the oppenheimer movie would inspire a generation of kids to be physicists but it really missed the mark on that.
let's get that movie made!
(i think the social network managed to do this for startup founders.)
2K
678
11K
0
3
25
Call for papers! International workshop on Moral Responsibility and (semi-) autonomous weapons in Jan 2023
@KU_Leuven
1
19
23
"As the databases of the past grow in mass, their gravitational pull absorbs ever more of our attention and energy. Consequently, our capacity to inhabit the present and imagine the future deteriorates. The internet is Saturn devouring his children"
“The internet, as a mediator of human interactions, is not a place, it is a time. It is the past.”
Seven theses on the internet, temporality, and action.
5
30
115
2
7
22
What is the rationale for investing so much in AI? Why not invest more in humans to 'better humanity'?
5
0
23
Of course I know the answer to this: the more ubiquitous the computational infrastructure the more power for those that hold expertise in these infrastructure. The story of AI is a story of the future of our human infrastructures. A most pressing political issue ...
2
5
23
I (& many others in this field) have spent the past 5-10 yrs pointing out (in various articles, talks, books) precisely the potential for such horrors/challenges that become possible with the introduction of AI targeting systems & their logics. And still we get dismissed ...
I spoke with Israeli intelligence officers about the AI-based target machine they used which marked 37,000 Gazans as suspects for assassination. These whistleblowers expose numerous machines & policies that killed thousands of civilians since October.
627
5K
7K
2
7
24
I’ve written a few words. Thank you so much
@jessicadorsey
for the invitation to contribute to this excellent
@ICRC
forum!
AI and Machine Learning Symposium: Humanity-Centric AI for Armed Conflict–A Contradiction in Terms?
0
12
19
1
6
23
I am exceptionally honoured to be giving one of the keynotes at this year’s
@DILEMA_project
conference and very much look forward to the discussions. Check out the programme below.
The full programme of the DILEMA 2023 Conference (12-13 October 2023 at
@TMCAsser
in The Hague) is now available!
More info and registration:
#responsibility
#governance
#agency
#HMI
#decisionmaking
#militaryAI
#AI
1
22
17
0
4
22
@NC_Renic
The long version here: . Importantly, the dissociation from the act and the target - if human - itself, as well as the ethos of the action is something we should be concerned about. It is not a negligible turn. (4/4)
1
5
22
Looking forward to sharing my research on ethics and autonomous weapons with the Bromley Humanist Society next week on Wednesday!
1
0
23