Mapping the AI War Cloud

Sarah Ciston

18.05.2026 17:30–18:00
Stage 6
Englisch
(Kurz-) Vortrag
Politik & Gesellschaft
#KI #Überwachung #Data #Business models
Your smartphone and a military drone might have more in common than you think. Beneath the seamless interface of the "cloud" lies a hidden ecosystem where our daily tools and the machinery of war are inextricably linked. Sarah Ciston pulls back the curtain on the invisible infrastructure that connects our living rooms to the frontlines.

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We are often told that the "cloud" is a weightless, virtual space. But every prompt we type and every device we carry is tethered to a physical reality of extraction, labor, and power. What happens when the same machine learning systems that organize our digital lives are also used to automate the logic of conflict?

In this talk, artist and researcher Sarah Ciston explores the chilling intersections between commercial Big Tech and the modern military-industrial complex. By tracing the obscured connections within the AI War Cloud Database project, Ciston reveals a feedback loop, a "techno-imperial boomerang", that travels from the consumer market to the battlefield and back again.

To see these hidden networks for yourself, make sure to visit the "AI War Cloud" installation, which is exhibited throughout re:publica. 

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