#aiuk — Public Fediverse posts

Middle East conflict

Events happening thick and fast

June 2025

Two major events have happened in the past few days in relation to the worsening situation in Gaza. A boat trying to make a symbolic visit to Gaza with food and other aid was intercepted in international waters by Israel. Today (10 June) the UK government joined others in sanctioning two members of the Israeli government. The Secretary General of Amnesty said:

By forcibly intercepting and blocking the Madleen (pictured) which was carrying humanitarian aid and a crew of solidarity activists, Israel has once again flouted its legal obligations towards civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip and demonstrated its chilling contempt for legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice

The operation carried out in the middle of the night and in international waters violates international law and put the safety of those on the boat at risk. The crew were unarmed activists and human rights defenders on a humanitarian mission, they must be released immediately and unconditionally. They must also be protected from torture and other ill-treatment pending their release. 

During its voyage over the past few days the Madleen’s mission emerged as a powerful symbol of solidarity with besieged, starved and suffering Palestinians amid persistent international inaction. However, this very mission is also an indictment of the international community’s failure to put an end to Israel’s inhumane blockade. Activists would not have needed to risk their lives had Israel’s allies translated their rhetoric into forceful action to allow aid into Gaza

Israel’s interception of the Madleen despite global calls for it to be granted safe passage underscores the longstanding impunity Israel enjoys which has emboldened it to continue to commit genocide in Gaza and to maintain a suffocating, illegal blockade on Gaza for 18 years. 

Until we see real concrete steps by states worldwide signalling an end to their blanket support for Israel, it will have carte blanche to continue inflicting relentless death and suffering on Palestinians.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International

UK government announces sanctions

Today, the UK government announced sanctions against two members of the Israeli government, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for their various statements about the conflict in Gaza. Smotrich is quoted as saying:

“Gaza will be entirely destroyed” as a result of an Israeli military victory, and that its Palestinian population will “leave in great numbers to third countries”

raising fears of ethnic cleansing in the occupied territory.

He is also quoted as saying that he wants life for the Palestinians to be as dire as possible by confining them to a narrow strip of land:

“They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places.”

These and other quotes are not from a hot-head or someone on the fringes of Israeli society but from the Security Minister (Gvir) and Finance Minister (Smotrich). Nor are they isolated statements said in the heat of the moment but part of a pattern of similar statements. The Israeli foreign affairs minister said it ‘was outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to these kinds of measures [UK sanctions]’,

The UK government has been under a huge amount of pressure to act especially as the blockage and its appalling effects began to be seen. Shooting people desperate for food after weeks of a blockade has been widely condemned.

Neither event will have much of an impact on Israel so long as America continues its unwavering support. More and more countries, under pressure from people who are outraged by what they see, are beginning to take a tougher line however. There are no viable peace talks taking place at present. The word ‘genocide’ is being used more and more: the deliberate and systematic killing or persecution of a large number of people from a particular national or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group. Just under 55,000 thousand have died in Gaza.

#AIUK #BenGvir #Gaza #Madleen #sanctions #Smotrich #UKGovernemt

The JGI team had a great time at the #AIUK national showcase of data science and AI. We recently published a blog post about how each team member experienced AI UK and their reflections on the sessions. Read more in our latest blog post: tinyurl.com/5yrx9sfs

There were some fantastic @bristoluni.bsky.social demonstration stands at #AIUK. With stalls from @ai4cihub.bsky.social, INFORMED-AI Hub, PrO-AI CDT, Bristol Centre for Supercomputing and School of Computer Science 🖥️ You can read more in our latest blog post: tinyurl.com/8zw6tthz

If you are attending the Turing AI UK 2025 conference today and tomorrow, come by the 1st floor to check out our stand. @x1xuan.bsky.social and I will be presenting our Multimodal Analytical Platform for the Delivery of Integrated Diagnostics in Oncology.

#AIUK @icr.ac.uk @maggiecheang.bsky.social

Last month Helena attended the Alan Turing Institute's #AIUK conference and now shares her reflections including on her input as a speaker on the 'Nothing About Us Without Us' panel.
https://connectedbydata.org/events/2024-03-19-ai-uk-conference

I wrote up some observations and reflections from the #AIUK panels I saw last week: “AI" from below https://tzovar.as/AI-from-below/

Also, it seems like I'm getting back into a blogging habit a bit – while becoming more and more of a luddite 🔨😀

Coming hot on the heels of #AIUK: tomorrow I’ll speak at this event on responsible “AI” in a session on transparency (though it’ll really be about participation and #citizenscience) https://www.responsible-ai.science/

AT: If you think of Data from Star Trek, he’s all about truth, and really bad at vibes. And ChatGPT is the total opposite, it’s all vibes. #aiuk :StarfleetInsignia:

Sci-fi author Adrian Tchaikovsky at #aiuk: When you outsource any part of your creative work, be it to a generative “AI” or another human, it means you are not improving your skills, art is a craft that needs to be improved.

“What gives me hope about AI in particular? @pluralistic’s anger” - @billt at #aiuk 💕

Today we spoke at #AIUK about how data & AI decisions should be made with the people that are impacted. 'Nothing About Us Without Us'. Right now, those decisions are being made by big tech companies & Government.
🎥 Data and AI are changing our world. Let's decide how, together.

Looking forward to the session on "Data, Labour and AI" that is just starting! #AIUK

I had the pleasure of giving a lighting talk on our work on embedding patients lived experience into research on multiple long-term conditions at #AIUK, you can find the slides here: https://zenodo.org/records/10838499

Love to hear James bring his first-hand experiences of challenging sensory processing to this audience, and explaining why community input is so important to doing research into this! #actuallyautistic #aiuk

James on the Nothing About Us panel: “Often engaging the public comes too late, when most decisions are already made.” #AIUK

Back in London at #AIUK, talking about the #ColouringCities project. Come and say hi! #AIUK2024

Heading to #AIUK where I’ll give a lunchtime lightning talk on patient engagement around multiple long-term conditions.

Honoured to say that later today I'll be speaking on behalf of @utaw at #AIUK 2024 on the topic of "Data, Labour, and AI". Looking forward to a thorough discussion of how we tackle the deeply ingrained issues of worker exploitation in the Al field.

https://www.eventsforce.net/turingevents/281/register

Today Helena will speak at @turinginst #AIUK Conference, with a member of the People's Panel on AI.

Research, data science and AI aim to improve our lives – but they are often designed, developed and deployed without us. Citizen science and social campaigns are changing that. We and AutSPACES (a platform for autistic people to share their lived experiences) and CONNECTED BY DATA will lead a thought-provoking session, entitled 'Nothing About Us Without Us'.

Helena will be speaking at the @turinginst #AIUK Conference, alongside a member of the People's Panel on AI.

We and AutSPACES will explore how participatory methods are successfully applied to transform data subjects into agents; building trust and empowering communities.

Our @metofficece Prof Penny Endersby CBE is speaking at @Agile_Rabbit’s #AIUK fringe event at @DartingtonTrust today alongside fellow leaders in #DataScience to ask:

Can #AI help us find solutions to address society’s most pressing environmental issues?

🐦🔗 https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/1765761826900299888
🕐 07/03 15:30

Importantly, focusing on what individual people _can_ do is misleading. The incentives must align so that different career pathways fit together effectively to deliver collaborative projects. #AIUK

Quantitative researchers do SO MANY THINGS. And they can do many of them. But they can’t do all of them equally well. So these “unicorns” 🦄 don’t really exist!!

#AIUK

At #AIUK I went back to the bird app 🦤 because that’s what I’m used to for fast updates.

So with apologies for this being out of time please find the slides for my talk “Stop Breeding Unicorns” (build diverse teams instead!) 💗💕🦄

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7749650

That's it for #aiuk. It was great to be involved and I feel like I learnt a lot. Pretty exhausted now.

'Regulation in an.age of radical transformation' ICO is a key regulator for AI governance. Stephen Almond (ICO): We're focused on ensuring AI devs using personal data understand the procedures for processing, but also that it's being done in a way people expect #aiuk #turinginst

"Supporting roles, such as programme manager, should be recognised as integral to the research team. It is everyone working together to achieve global impact" @KirstieJane at #AIUK

'Can AI solve the ecological crusis?' Evangeline Corcoran: We need to democratize access to computing resources, HPC, for applying methods and collaborating more widely. #aiuk #turinginst

@KirstieJane introducing and explaining the data wrangler role #TIR #AIUK

And several other roles such as #RSE research software engineers, #CommunityManagers, and research application managers: see the slides here https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7749650

@KirstieJane introducing and explaining the data wrangler role #TIR #AIUK

And several other roles such as #RSE research software engineers, #CommunityManagers, and research application managers: see the slides here https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7749650

@KirstieJane introducing and explaining the data wrangler role #TIR #AIUK

And several other roles such as #RSE research software engineers, #CommunityManagers, and research application managers: see the slides here https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7749650

@KirstieJane introducing and explaining the data wrangler role #TIR #AIUK

And several other roles such as #RSE research software engineers, #CommunityManagers, and research application managers: see the slides here https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7749650

@KirstieJane introducing and explaining the data wrangler role #TIR #AIUK

And several other roles such as #RSE research software engineers, #CommunityManagers, and research application managers: see the slides here https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7749650