Good afternoon!

AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #23 is out.

This week, we look into how Uganda’s regime, led by dictator Yoweri Museveni for over four decades, is now using foreign surveillance technology to expand its repression.

Meanwhile, US tech giant Meta has released what it calls the “most capable” American open-weight model yet.

We close with a fireside chat with HRF’s Alex Gladstein at Bitcoin Policy Institute’s Freedom Tech DC last month, where he discussed the rapid evolution of AI, its potential to empower activists, and HRF’s work to put cutting-edge tools in their hands.

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Good morning, nostr!

Financial Freedom Report #143 is here and covers Russia's plan to ban peer-to-peer bitcoin trades between individuals beginning in July 2027.

In #Bitcoin news, Exonumia has released a human-reviewed 359-term Bitcoin Glossary that will help in the development of localized freedom tech tools.

We include an essay from the Journal of Democracy, in which economist Rabah Arezki argues that digital finance could prove to be a more durable “liberation technology” than social media and the internet did against the modern state. We then consider what that argument means when applied to Bitcoin.

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Good morning!

Financial Freedom Report #142 is here, covering an overnight currency devaluation in Iraq, where the regime cut the value of the dinar by 14.5%.

In #Bitcoin news, we break down the Ledger hardware wallet exploit and what it means for users relying on hardware devices to secure their funds.

We also feature three perspectives on financial freedom from members of HRF’s Freedom Tech team, who joined Bitcoin Magazine TV to discuss Bitcoin’s role in advancing human freedom.

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Good morning, everyone!

AI for Individual RIghts newsletter #21 is out.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele is rolling out AI-powered public services that could improve his image and expand his access to citizens' personal data, even as democratic checks on his power erode.

On the other hand, Mistral, Europe's largest AI lab, has launched its most capable model yet, Mistral Large 4, nicknamed "Le Chonk." The company says it plans to release the model's weights soon and that, once it does, Le Chonk will be the best-performing open-weight model built in the United States or Europe.

We close with a recap video from our recent AI Hack for Freedom III, where 10 activists used AI to build tools addressing the biggest challenges they face.

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Good morning, everyone!

AI for Individual Rights newsletter #20 is out.

We discuss how Xi Jinping’s visit to the US reflects the Chinese regime’s influence over the future of AI and how this risks sidelining discussions of China’s AI-powered repression.

On the other hand, Afghan tech entrepreneur Roya Mahboob is using AI to bring education to girls who are otherwise barred from it due to repressive Taliban decrees.

We close with a segment from NPR’s Weekend Edition that mentions HRF’s recent AI Hack for Freedom III as an example of how AI can be used for good.

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Good morning, readers.

In AI for Individual Rights newsletter #19, we cover how state-backed actors in Iran and China are using AI to run autonomous influence campaigns.

Meanwhile, a new AI model, Jev, offers quick decision-making at a much lower cost than existing LLMs. This launch is already inspiring open-weight alternatives that could run locally within freedom tech tools to make them faster, cheaper, and more effective.

We close with the release of a new HRF resource: "AI for Activists: A Guide to Supercharging Your Movement with Artificial Intelligence."

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Good morning, readers!

AI for Individual Rights newsletter #18 is out.

This week, China's top civilian intelligence official warned that AI could pose a security threat to Chinese Communist Party rule.

Meanwhile, a new European lab, Desert Ant Labs, launched with 18 small AI models designed to run locally and privately on a user’s phone.

We close with reflections from HRF Chief Strategy Officer Alex Gladstein on the latest developments in AI and their implications for human freedom, from the rise of local and private AI to HRF’s new “organizational brain” and the broader debates shaping AI’s future.

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Good afternoon, everyone!

This week’s AI for Individual Rights newsletter is out.

Chinese tech giant Huawei is bidding to expand Egypt’s AI capacity, which could bring more powerful AI tools into the hands of a dictatorship.

On a more positive note, US software company Perplexity launched Portable Computer, an AI agent designed specifically to operate privately on a user’s device by default (local-first).

We close with a tutorial from Freedom Tech educator Ben Perrin, who shows users how to run their own private AI server.

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HRF's Bitcoin Development Fund is awarding more than 500 million satoshis to 16 Bitcoin and freedom tech projects worldwide.

This round supports Bitcoin and Nostr development, self-custody, censorship-resistant communications, merchant and mobile payments integration, decentralized mining, research, and education.

Read our press release to learn more about the projects working to strengthen the Bitcoin protocol and expand access to secure tools for dissidents around the world.

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Good morning, friends!

This week’s AI for Individual Rights Newsletter #13 is out!

In China, an unsecured police database revealed how facial recognition and personal data can be combined to monitor foreigners.

Meanwhile, Meta committed to developing AI that empowers individuals and released a new open-weight model that individuals anywhere, in any country, under any government, can download and run privately.

We end with a tutorial from freedom tech educator, Sovereign Sessions, that shows beginners how to use LM Studio, an application for running AI models locally on their own computers.

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Good morning, friends!

This week's Financial Freedom Report #133 is here and covers Russia's official designation of HRF as an "undesirable" organization, suggesting HRF’s work is having a major impact on one of the world’s largest dictatorships.

In Bitcoin news, we cover the Red Team's response to the coldcard incident, in which a community-led effort is identifying critical vulnerabilities in Bitcoin-related software.

We end with the latest HRF x PubKey Freedom Tech Series, featuring a conversation between Russian dissident Anna Chekhovich and Finite engineer Alex Lewin.

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Good morning, friends!

Financial Freedom Report #124 is here and covers an alarming attempt by the Kenyan government to sell datasets it collects from public service portals like eCitizen.

In Bitcoin news, we highlight developments of a new layer-two called Cube, an attempt to expand the capabilities of Bitcoin without changing core operational realities.

We also feature this year’s Freedom Tech track at the 2026 Oslo Freedom Forum, where dissidents, technologists, and human rights defenders explored how Bitcoin, Nostr, Bitchat, and open-source AI can help people communicate, transact, and resist authoritarian repression.

Enjoy the report.

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