re:publica 26
18.-20. Mai 2026
STATION Berlin
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.