AI Weapons and Mass Surveillance — The Weekly

Hagar Chemali (Fmr. spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the UN) is back in studio with Host Ron Steslow for a conversation about how artificial intelligence is reshaping power, conflict, and accountability in real time. They discuss Ukraine’s first successful capture of a Russian position using only unmanned ground robotic systems and aerial drones and the rapid integration of AI into warfare and national security. They also examine the growing clash between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon after Anthropic refused to allow its AI tools to be used for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance, and the Trump administration responded by labeling the company a supply chain risk. Then, they dive into a new AI model that can discover and weaponize previously unknown software vulnerabilities and what that will mean for the government, banks and businesses. Finally, they debate the future of AI-powered mass surveillance and the looming reauthorization of FISA Section 702. In Politicology+ they dive into several big corruption stories: Viktor Orbán’s election loss, suspicious oil-futures trading, and the Trump family using World Liberty Coin as their personal ATM. POLITICOLOGY+ Not yet a Politicology+ member? Don’t miss all the extra episodes on the private, ad-free version of this podcast. Upgrade now at politicology.com/plus. Listen to Hagar’s new podcast, The Threat: CONTRIBUTE TO POLITICOLOGY politicology.com/donate SPONSORS & PROMO CODES Send your questions and ideas to podcast@politicology.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(703) 239-3068‬ Follow this week’s panel on X (formerly Twitter): Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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AI Weapons and Mass Surveillance — The Weekly is an episode from Politicology by Politicology.

This episode is 73:25 long.

This episode was published on Apr 18, 2026.

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