Garry Kasparov's Blog, page 5

There will be no “we didn’t know” for Ukraine. We know about the missile attacks on cities, the torture and rape, the kidnapped children & planned genocide. We know NOW, in real time. We could be doing everything to stop it, but are choosing not to. @JohnAvlon @92ndStreetY https://t.co/y5Ws1OI6XI

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) May 15, 2023

Tomorrow, NYC! https://t.co/HRGxW7Wy5H

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) May 13, 2023

You can read more about this event at the 92nd Street Y.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. 60! Who can believe it? I may not be this “young firebrand” anymore, and my diet has had to change with age, but my family and a steady diet of new challenges have kept my fires burning! What passion keeps your spirit young? pic.twitter.com/XHzUPsm5cr

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) April 13, 2023

Happy 60th birthday to the 13th World Chess Champion, the greatest of all time, the Beast from Baku, @Kasparov63

Photo taken in NYC in 2003 before the Kasparov vs. X3D Fritz match. pic.twitter.com/AvUVD9LBPA

— John Fernandez (@jfernandez) April 13, 2023

Thank you, my friendshttps://t.co/IyWmAW9Xi6

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) April 13, 2023

Thank you! I’m convinced that couraging young talent helps keep me young of mind and heart.https://t.co/DxU7xj1aOe

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) April 13, 2023

Happy Birthday to our friend and chess legend @Kasparov63! #HappyBirthday #GarryKasparov #WorldChessHOFhttps://t.co/80ykA3OAiE pic.twitter.com/7OCx2jOgul

— World Chess Hall of Fame (@WorldChessHOF) April 13, 2023

Happy 60th birthday to my friend and fellow warrior for freedom and democracy, Garry @Kasparov63 Kasparov! pic.twitter.com/8oVr5ph1zq

— Mikhail Khodorkovsky (@mbk_center) April 13, 2023

https://t.co/yswUkYdXGa

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) April 14, 2023

It certainly changed my mind! I have much more to say about this topic in my next book (!), but of course I’m sensitive to how we keep repeating the cycle of missing the AI forest for the trees, now with ChatGPT. AI is a million tools & applications, not a monolithic thing. https://t.co/Des8L2AxGs

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) April 11, 2023

This article is a reprint. You can read the original at Gizmodo.

By Thomas Germain

“In May of 1997, Garry Kasparov sat down at a chess board in a Manhattan skyscraper. Kasparov, considered the best chess player of all time, wasn’t challenging another grandmaster. He was playing with an AI called Deep Blue. Deep Blue was one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, built by IBM with a specific goal in mind: to beat humanity at its own game. For IBM, billions of dollars worth of business clout was on the table, and to a certain extent, Kasparov was playing for the fate of chess itself. He had never lost a multi-game match in his entire career. Could a machine beat him? Newsweek ran a cover story with his picture alongside the words “The Brain’s Last Stand.” As Kasparov joked years later, “No pressure.”

Over 25 years later, we’re living through another moral panic over artificial intelligence. Thanks to ChatGPT, once hypothetical questions about the future of work, art, and disinformation are now immediate concerns. The only question is how far AI can go. Google CEO Sundar Pichai offered his expectations a few years ago. AI is “one of the most important things that humanity is working on,” he said. “It’s more profound than, I don’t know, electricity or fire.” It seems we’re dealing with something entirely new—except we aren’t.

In the ‘90s, we went down a similar road, with the same questions, the same fears, and nearly identical conversations. The biggest face-off between man and machine already happened, and it culminated with a single move during a few games of chess. As the world watched Kasparov stare out at a field of black and white pieces, we got our first glimpse of what it feels like when computers start acting like human beings.

“There are very few instances of an arena where the human body and mind can compete on equal terms with a computer or a robot,” Kasparov said in a 2017 TED Talk. “It was my blessing, and my curse, to literally become the proverbial man in the man versus machine competition.”

It’s a story of cheating accusations, media frenzy, and a final answer to one of life’s great questions: have we created machines so powerful that they can replace us? And if so, what now?

“If you want to know what the future of AI looks like, look at chess,” Frederic Friedel, the co-founder of ChessBase and Kasparov’s computer advisor during the match, told Gizmodo. “It happened to us first, and it’s going to happen to all of you.”

The Contenders

Garry Kasparov wasn’t just a chess savant, he was a cultural phenomenon. He was famous enough to be in a Pepsi commercial. At the height of his stardom, the name “Kasparov” was sort of like “Einstein,” marking the pinnacle of human intelligence. He was rebellious and outspoken, and Kasparov knew how to work the media to his advantage. He’d stunned the chess intelligentsia a decade prior, defeating grandmaster Anatoly Karpov at just 22. That made him the youngest-ever world champion, a record that’s still unbroken.

In 1997, Kasparov was a darkly handsome 34-year-old with piercing eyes and a perpetual look of seriousness. Though he stood at 5’9’’, Kasparov was so intimidating on the chessboard that some opponents said it felt like he towered over them.

“He was a monster,” Friedel said. Kasparov was unstoppable, leagues ahead of all the other grandmasters. “He’s one of the deepest players I’ve ever encountered.”

IBM, on the other hand, wasn’t at the top of its game. Through the 1980s, IBM was one of the most powerful companies on earth, manufacturing 80% of the computers in the United States. But IBM’s dominance slipped away to Microsoft and other competitors as the 20th century wore on. The company wanted to prove it was still a leader, and building the world’s smartest computer was a perfect PR coup.

Kasparov vs Machine Pepsi Commercial

“For IBM, I think it was an indication that we could sort of swing for the fences,” said Murray Campbell, an AI researcher at IBM and one of the lead architects behind Deep Blue. “It changed the mindset in terms of how the world reacted to IBM. For many people, it was their first experience of a computer doing something they thought only humans were capable of.”

The games were actually a rematch. Kasparov beat Deep Blue, just barely, in a series of games in 1996. But the computer won the first game, and two out of six were a draw. IBM wanted more, and Kasparov was excited about the scientific pursuit, so they agreed to play again. It wasn’t just about bragging rights, either. The loser of the match would take home $400,000, while the winner would net $700,000. The difference meant $300,000 was at stake during the games, not a small amount of cash. But there was even more money at stake. In the weeks after the 1996 match, IBM’s stock rose almost 20%.

Deep Blue rattled through hundreds of millions of chess positions a second to find the right move.Photo: Wikimedia Foundation

‘’Forget the $300,000,’’ said Maurice Ashley, an international grandmaster, speaking to the New York Times. “The future of humanity is on the line.’’

Weighing in at 1.4 tons, Deep Blue was a pair of two hulking computer towers, each over six-and-a-half feet tall. IBM upgraded the machine for the 1997 games, with over 500 processors and 480 specially-designed “chess chips’’ running in parallel. Deep Blue could search through hundreds of millions of chess positions a second to find the best move.

“As soon as computers know how to do something, people say it’s not intelligence anymore, it’s just an algorithm. But I think that’s not really fair,” Campbell said. “Deep Blue was intelligent—if only a tiny bit. But that’s just the bit it needed to handle this problem.”

At the time, no system outside of the human mind could approach Deep Blue’s chess abilities. If Deep Blue could beat Kasparov, it would be the best chess player on earth.

The Anti-Computer Strategy

Kasparov arrived in New York in May with his posse just before the match. They stayed at the Plaza Hotel, eating meals as a team and taking walks together through Central Park. “Those were not happy days,” Kasparov said in an interview years later. “From day one we had so much tension.”

Kasparov didn’t have access to any of Deep Blue’s prior games, which put the grandmaster at a significant disadvantage. “It was very intimidating for him,” Friedel said. “Any top player will prepare for their opponent, but this was a blind game for Garry.”

Still, Kasparov was the favorite. “The feeling in the room was Kasparov was the guaranteed winner,” said Monty Newborn, former chairman of the Computer Chess Committee and head of officials for the match.

The games took place on the 35th floor of the Equitable Building in Manhattan. Only a few dozen VIPs were allowed in the room, but on the floors below, hundreds of spectators packed an auditorium to watch the games play out on screen, with grandmasters commentating on stage.

During the games, rotating members of the IBM team typed in Kasparov’s moves and moved the pieces on Deep Blue’s behalf. Murray Campbell was one of them.

“It was the thrill of my life,” Campbell said. “I was nervous going into the first match in ‘96 because the system was brand new and we hadn’t really gotten the chance to thoroughly test it. But by 1997, my expectations were greatly increased.”

The grandmaster drew white, which meant he went first in game one. Kasparov moved his knight out on the board, and Deep Blue responded with its queen’s pawn, which developed into a set of moves known as the Réti opening. For such an unusual match, things we’re off to a normal start.

Deep Blue had analyzed a large history of recorded games, and it was intimately familiar with the norms of chess playing. That meant the machine was prepared for Kasparov’s usual aggressive style. But Kasparov landed on an “anti-computer” strategy.

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS (AP)

“Anti-computer chess means you play rope-a-dope chess,” said Kenneth Regan, a computer science professor at the University of Buffalo renowned for his chess research. A computer’s calculating ability gave it an advantage when it came to attacking or defending over the course of one or two moves; it could always find the perfect response. But long-term strategy requires a different kind of “thinking.” Strategy is where great human players excel, but no computer had ever shown an ability to plan ahead for later in the game.

“So you play conservatively,” Regan said. “You don’t go into the attack right away because the computer is going to be able to calculate your attack.” In other words, you try to do as little as possible for as long as possible—but if you’re too timid, that can backfire.

That’s exactly what Kasparov did. He held back, dragging the computer across the board until he was poised to strike. It was a risky strategy.

“He was playing unorthodox chess, sometimes breaking with all known theory,“ Friedel said. Kasparov worked to make moves that threw off Deep Blue, and it kept the computer on its digital toes, but this style of play was just as foreign to Kasparov.

But as the game wore on, his anti-computer playing was lethal. Kasparov wiped Deep Blue off the board. Kasparov pinned Deep Blue’s king between his knight and his rook, and on the 45th move, the computer resigned.

The robot lost. In fact, Deep Blue played so poorly that it seemed it was going haywire. Things were off to a great start for humanity’s champion. But in the second game, everything changed.

The Chess Move That Changed History

The dance between chess and computers goes back to the very beginning. Alan Turing wrote the first chess program in 1948—before there was even a computer powerful enough to run it.

“Chess requires all sorts of forms of intelligence, reasoning, careful planning through sequences, evaluation of consequences,” Campbell said. “If we could get computers to do all of that, then we presumed computers to be intelligent.” It would be a sign that computers had crossed over.

Chess is an ideal programming challenge. There’s a record of games to analyze and the rules are clearly defined. Better still, you can break every move down into statistics based on the likelihood it leads to a win. But unlike in poker and some other complex games, the best human players aren’t doing math. It comes down to logic, strategy, knowledge of past games, and feeling out your opponent’s style. To be good at chess, you have to possess some form of intelligence—even if you’re a machine.

After losing the first game, the IBM team stayed up late into the night fixing bugs and adjusting Deep Blue’s code.

“I didn’t pay any attention because I said ‘come on, I would beat the machine whatever happens because look at game one?’” Kasparov said years later. “It’s a machine. At the end of the day, it’s stupid.”

But whatever IBM did the night before, it worked. He continued his anti-computer play, staying locked in position to try and force the computer to shuffle pieces around aimlessly. But Deep Blue wasn’t playing like a computer. It was performing like a grandmaster.

The Deep Blue team. Clockwise from the top left: Jerry Brody, Murray Campbell, Feng-hsiung Hsu, Joseph Hoane Jr., Chung-Jen Tan, and Joel Benjamin.Photo: Courtesy of IBM

On move 36, Kasparov laid a trap. It was a calculated sacrifice. He gave Deep Blue an opening to capture two pawns, but it would give Kasparov a strong counterattack later in the game. He had played against computers before, and he knew they always focused on short-term advantages. To see his scheme coming, Deep Blue would have to do something that was impossible for a computer. It would have to do something that looked a lot like thinking.

A full 15 minutes went by while Deep Blue processed. The tension built, but Kasparov knew what was coming. It was going to move a queen and attack the pawns. But that’s not what happened. Deep Blue ignored the sacrifice and moved out a pawn instead. Not only did the machine thwart Kasparov’s attack, but it also made a move that crippled his game, setting the computer up for a complex, multi-step victory. It was a masterstroke.

Downstairs, the experts commenting on the game in the auditorium were thrilled, exclaiming that “any human grandmaster would have been proud” to play Deep Blue’s move. But Kasparov was dumbfounded.

He had just seen one of the most advanced technological feats of all time. If it takes intelligence to play great chess, then move 36 proved that Deep Blue had it. Kasparov wouldn’t accept this reality for years to come. Nine moves later, it looked hopeless. Kasparov resigned. The score was 1-1.

Paranoia Sets In

Kasparov was furious. Move 36 was too sophisticated for a computer, and how was it possible that the machine could play so well after floundering in game one? “There’s one explanation, there was a human operator behind the machine,” Kasparov said later. IBM must have used a human player to step in and tell Deep Blue what to do. They must have cheated.

After each game, Kasparov and the IBM team would walk into the auditorium, where hundreds of journalists and spectators would cheer for the grandmaster. After game two, a dispirited Kasparov skipped the conference, but when he returned to meet the crowd days later, his words were venomous.

On stage, Kasparov openly implied IBM was cheating, referencing a famous soccer match where a player used his hands to score the winning point. “Mr. Kasparov, are you saying there might have been some sort of human intervention in this game,” a reporter asked. “Well, it reminds me of Maradona’s goal against England 1986,” Kasparov replied. “He said it was the ‘hand of God.’”

The IBM team stood by as Kasparov slung accusations, waiting for their turn at the microphone. “I think what was happening here is something Garry couldn’t explain was in the machine,” said Joel Benjamin, an American chess grandmaster who worked with IBM. “And because he couldn’t explain it, he said there must be something funny going on.”

But game two’s humiliations were bigger than the loss. After the match, Friedel realized that Kasparov made a mistake. He resigned too early and missed an opportunity to drag the game out to a draw. Kasparov was so blinded by the computer wizardry that he’d thrown the game away.

Over the course of the next week, the Kasparov camp was increasingly convinced that something untoward was going on. Friedel noticed a glint from a window in a building across the street from Kasparov’s hotel room and realized it was someone pointing a camera at them. Was it paparazzi, or IBM spies? The team noticed that one of the bodyguards IBM arranged for Kasparov spoke Russian. Did IBM plant them to listen in on the Azerbaijani grandmaster?

As the games wore on, the pressure had a visible effect on Kasparov.Photo: Courtesy of IBM

“I think we were all a little paranoid,” Friedel said. The stress was affecting Kasparov’s game, and he was already out of his comfort zone with the anti-computer playing.

Kasparov became obsessed. He said he couldn’t focus throughout the rest of the match as his mind continuously drifted back to that impossible move in game two. Observers said he was playing far below his level. Kasparov fought Deep Blue to a draw in the next three games, looking more beleaguered each day.

Not everyone was convinced about the cheating. “Who could IBM possibly find that would play better than Deep Blue itself? Deep Blue’s playing was no surprise to me” Newborn said.

“Obviously the conspiracy theories regarding cheating and spying are ridiculous,” Campbell said.

In 1997, it was unimaginable to a lot of people that a machine could perform like Deep Blue. But IBM had spent millions of dollars and the better part of a decade developing the machine. Some of the brightest minds in computer science and artificial intelligence were working on the project. IBM even brought in a grandmaster to fine-tune the AI, who helped program responses for the exact kind of anti-computer play Kasparov was using. 25 years later, it’s unsurprising that a computer can play incredible chess, but Kasparov wasn’t ready to see that, and neither was much of the chess world.

The grandmaster continued with sly accusations in post-game press conferences, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. At one point, the audience booed IBM. Kasparov couldn’t let go of the idea that the company was cheating. A few years after the match, Kasparov starred in a documentary called Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine. It’s a scathing hour-and-a-half argument that IBM cheated.

The score was tied going into the sixth match. Kasparov was tired. Early in the game, he made one last-ditch anti-computer attempt. He launched his knight way out into Deep Blue’s territory, a risky move with a well-established response. He was gambling the computer wouldn’t know how to react. He bet wrong. In footage of the game, you see as he realizes his mistake following Deep Blue’s next move. Kasparov sunk his head into his hands. It was all over.

Later, he would tell the New York Times he felt the game was over before it started. “I was not in the mood of playing at all,” Kasparov said. “I’m a human being. When I see something that is well beyond my understanding, I’m afraid.”

After just 19 moves, Kasparov resigned, storming out of the room without the customary handshake. It was the first official defeat in Kasparov’s career. Deep Blue won. Humanity lost.

Living With the Machines

While the game was official, losing to a computer didn’t cost Kasparov his world title. Kasparov challenged IBM to a third match to settle the score for the record books. IBM declined. Kasparov never got the opportunity to save face.

“We had accomplished what we set out to do,” Campbell said.

IBM dismantled Deep Blue after the games. It was split up and donated to museums, and never played another official match. Kasparov retired from competitive chess in 2005. Today, he’s a writer and political commentator—an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 2017, a decade after he accused IBM of cheating, Kasparov gave a TED Talk, titled Don’t fear intelligent machines. Work with them. Kasparov admitted he was wrong.

“When chess computers finally came of age, I was Mt. Everest, and Deep Blue reached the summit.” Kasparov said. “I should say of course, not that Deep Blue did it, but its human creators—Anantharaman, Campbell, Hoane, Hsu. Hats off to them. As always, machine’s triumph was a human triumph, something we tend to forget when humans are surpassed by our own creations.”

Ironically, we’ve seen a complete reversal in the chess world. In 1997, Deep Blue played so well that people thought it must be cheating with the help of a human. But in the most recent chess scandal, a player named Hans Niemann did so well in a match against world champion Magnus Carlsen that people said he must be cheating with the help of a computer.

Deep Blue didn’t end competitive chess, nor did its offspring. Modern chess engines are so good it’s assumed the best human players won’t stand a chance. You can get a chess app on your phone that makes Deep Blue look like an abacus. But people still didn’t, the same way we didn’t stop running races after the invention of the car. In fact, chess is more popular today than ever in history. There’s magic to the articulations of the human mind. Computers can’t take that away, no matter how brilliant they get.

As AI presents us with an uncertain future, this chapter of chess history can be a model for a path forward. AI is now an indispensable tool for learning to be a great chess player; there are even tournaments where human players can use AI chess engines during the match.

AI will surpass human ability in a variety of areas. It will eliminate the need for some jobs, and create some others. There’s trouble ahead. Giant corporations will take advantage, and people will be hurt along the way. But the world is evolving, not ending.

“Doomsaying has always been a popular pastime when it comes to technology,” Kasparov said. “What I learned from my own experience is that we must face our fears if we want to get the most out of our technology, and we must conquer those fears if we want to get the best out of our humanity.””

Putin’s Russia is doing everything possible to show the world it’s a terrorist state. It’s past time to treat it like one. That includes seizing of assets, arrest warrants for complicit officials, and isolation from international institutions.https://t.co/1AMm4XWrvP

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) April 3, 2023

Dans une longue interview accordée à notre journal, Garry Kasparov exhorte les pays occidentaux à soutenir l’Ukraine jusqu’à sa victoire. Et à ne pas se leurrer sur les possibilités réelles de négociation avec Vladimir Poutine.https://t.co/Z8iGPZizEQ

— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) March 26, 2023

Entretien exclusif accordé par ⁦@Kasparov63⁩ pour ⁦@le_Parisien⁩ : « Il faut assumer de vouloir la défaite de la Russie »
via @le_Parisien https://t.co/K78MG5drjF

— Nicolas Charbonneau (@NicoCharbonneau) March 26, 2023

You can read the article at Le Parisien.

By Nicolas Charbonneau

On the margins of the IV Anti-War conference in Riga today.
Good conversation with Mr. Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63 , co-founder of the Free Russia Forum. Looking forward to very interesting discussions during the conference pic.twitter.com/iXyamdDS9e

— Amb. Māris Riekstiņš (@Riekstins__M) March 25, 2023

PUTIN’S DAYS ARE NUMBERED

Russians are strategizing how they can liberate Ukraine and get Putin into handcuffs at The Hague.

It is time to plan the post-Putin world.

My latest for the @KyivPost, citing @Kasparov63 @Ivan_Tyutrin & @Adomenas.https://t.co/oXRVBbbAF2

— Jason Jay Smart (@officejjsmart) March 25, 2023

This article is a reprint. You can read the original at the Kyiv Post.

By Jason Jay Smart

“The dimly lit room, packed with Russians, discussing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine, was unlike any conference room 200 kilometers (124 miles) to the east, in Russia.

The Latvian National Library’s theater this Saturday was filled with the white-blue-white flags symbolizing “a free Russia” that the participants believe will come once the current Russian tricolor and Kremlin habitant have entered the ‘waste bin of history.’

The presenters spoke in no uncertain terms that Ukraine would win the war Russia is waging against it. Giving testament to their deep faith in Putin’s ultimate defeat, the attendees listened to panels with names like “The collapse of Russian aggression and the victory of Ukraine: Effects on the internal and external politics of Russia,” and conversed about the legal mechanisms that could be used to organize tribunals and justice for Putin and his henchmen.

Garry Kasparov’s Free Russia Forum, organizer of this fourth Anti-War Conference, has seen a steady growth in the number of attendees. Mantas Adomenas, the Lithuanian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, reminded those attending that it is “fatalism of the highest degree” when people today say that Russia has never been a democracy and never will be a democracy.

Rather, world history shows that change is common and the West needs to keep an eye on what the future of Russia would be.

Free Russia flags in the National Library of Latvia

The Deputy Foreign Minister, speaking to the Kyiv Post in a polished British accent, picked up while doing his PhD in Classics at Cambridge, rejected those who can be seen in the media, projecting that Russia will “disappear” following the war.

Rather, the diplomat said that there “will still be a Russia when this war is over and Ukraine wins. Discussing how that future Russia is shaped and what values it holds, is something that is worth discussing.” Riga’s former Ambassador to Moscow, Māris Riekstiņš, who served there 2017-2023 and was earlier the Foreign Minister of Latvia 2007-2010, stressed that though time passes, the world must continue to pay attention to events as they unfold in Ukraine.

Among the Ukrainians who attended the event, Taras Betezovets, a well-known Ukrainian television host who joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces after the full-scale invasion began, was expected to speak, but was not granted leave in time by the Army, according to the organizers.

According to Ivan Tyutrin, an organizer of the event, the long-divided Russian democratic opposition, after the full-scale invasion on February 24, has become united for the first time since 2011.

Tyutrin, speaking to the Kyiv Post, lamented that despite “the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the Russian opposition could not unite. We could talk to each other; though we could not articulate a common position, because the two opposition groups did not clearly articulate their position on Crimea,” noting that his organization, the Free Russia Forum, which he co-founded with Kasparov, “was the only entity that clearly articulated its position on the annexation of the peninsula.

The return of Crimea to Ukraine is a necessary condition for Russia’s chance to become a democratic country that is part of the free world.”

Starting almost immediately after the full-scale invasion began, according to Tyutrin, the Russian democratic opposition began to adopt the positions of the Free Russia Forum in regards to Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, which has given the diverse democrats of Russia a “serious basis for working together.”

Though hard to imagine, on a stage in front of a backdrop branded with Ukrainian and “Free Russia ” flags overlapping and the blue-and-yellow slogan “Victory for Ukraine!,” Russians made plans of how to abet Ukraine’s victory, something that they believe is nearer everyday.”

Wann will Garri Kasparow (@Kasparov63) nach #Russland zurückkehren? „Es wird nicht weitere 10 Jahre dauern. Ein Sieg der #Ukraine wird große Chancen für die demokratische #Opposition Russlands eröffnen“, so der Ex-Schachweltmeister.#maischberger @DasErste pic.twitter.com/EsM1QZWDjc

— Maischberger (@maischberger) March 22, 2023

Zitat aus 2015!

Tragisch, dass man hierzulande auf kluge und weitsichtige Stimmen wie die von @Kasparov63 einfach nicht hören wollte. #Maischberger pic.twitter.com/uAJ7E6a0dJ

— Lena Berger (@lena4berger) March 22, 2023

„I don’t believe any of us is in the position to tell Ukrainians whether they should or should not negotiate. We owe them all support they need. It’s not charity, it’s mandatory”, says Garry #Kasparov on #maischberger.@Kasparov63 @DasErste pic.twitter.com/3UHXERcwvx

— Maischberger (@maischberger) March 22, 2023

(E) @Kasparov63
on Putin’s internal repression:

“Today [Russia] is a fascist dictatorship. Today you go to jail for many years if you oppose (…) This is a regime that has crossed all red lines, violated all norms.” https://t.co/jCZQ6PvQeM

— Alexander R (@_Alexander_R__) March 22, 2023

 

“We stand in solidarity with @vkaramurza“, declared more than 90 personalities incl. @FukuyamaFrancis, @Kasparov63, Carl Gershman, @AlexandrVondra, @waiwainu, @abramowitz, @TimothyDSnyder@Forum_2000 @TheRWCHR @ekaramurza @FNFreiheit @KnihovnaVH @zantov https://t.co/Q9bZnJozgr pic.twitter.com/tnA6oqwrPv

— Mikhail Khodorkovsky (English) (@mbk_center) March 21, 2023

This article is a reprint. You can read the original at Forum 2000.

Press Release

“More than 90 signatories joined in supporting Vladimir Kara-Murza, a member of the International Coalition for Democratic Renewal (ICDR). Signatories of the statement include Francis Fukuyama, Garry Kasparov, Carl Gershman, Alexandr Vondra, Michael Abramowitz, and Timothy Snyder, among other exceptional personalities.

More than 90 signatories joined in supporting Vladimir Kara-Murza, a member of the International Coalition for Democratic Renewal (ICDR), Russian opposition politician and prominent human rights activist.

Signatories stand in solidarity with Mr. Kara-Murza, who was arrested in April 2022 for speaking out against the war crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine and calling for the establishment of an international tribunal to hold those responsible accountable. They call on Russian government to release Mr. Kara-Murza and acquit him of all charges. Signatories also urge the international community to join them in condemning the unjustified arrest and to hold the Russian government accountable for its ongoing human rights abuses.

It is important to remember that Vladimir Kara-Murza has faced two poisonings in retaliation for his outspoken criticism of the Putin regime’s crimes and corruption. After his arrest in 2022, he was charged with high treason for making speeches about political repression and censorship in Russia. The official indictment said that his speeches “created a threat to the security and constitutional order of the Russian Federation and damaged the reputation of the Russian Federation on the international level.” His trial is ongoing, and he faces up to 24 years in prison if convicted.

Signatories of the statement include Francis Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, Stanford University, Garry Kasparov, Chairman, Human Rights Foundation (HRF), Carl Gershman, Founding President, National Endowment for Democracy, Alexandr Vondra, Member of the European Parliament, Wai Wai Nu, Executive Director, Women’s Peace Network, Michael Abramowitz, President, Freedom House, Timothy Snyder, Professor of History, Yale University, and other exceptional personalities.

Publicity is “the main weapon in the struggle for human rights” and this weapon should be used every time human rights are being violated and human dignity and life are endangered.
Evgenia Kara-Murza

READ AND SHARE THE FULL STATEMENT HERE

The statement was prepared in cooperation with Democracy Today and support of Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and builds on the previous resolutions of many national Parliaments and interparliamentary groups, including the letter of the Chairs or Foreign Affairs Committees and the Transatlantic Interparliamentary Statement.

International Coalition for Democratic Renewal (ICDR or Coalition) is a Forum 2000 Foundation project, which brings together a global group of intellectuals, activists, and politicians concerned with the expansion of power and influence of authoritarian regimes and the simultaneous weakening of democratic systems from within. The ICDR aims to reaffirm the fundamental principles of democracy, to take the offensive against the authoritarian opponents of democracy, and to demonstrate solidarity with the brave people who are fighting for freedom in undemocratic systems around the world.”

 

The Statement

“We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with Vladimir Kara-Murza and call on Russian government, specifically the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to release Vladimir Kara-Murza and acquit him of all charges.

The charges against Vladimir are politically motivated and a violation of his fundamental human rights. Vladimir has dedicated his life to defending democracy and human rights in Russia, and his imprisonment is a clear attempt to silence him and intimidate others who dare to speak out against the Putin regime. We urge the international community to join us in condemning his arrest and to hold the Russian government accountable for its ongoing human rights abuses.

Vladimir Kara-Murza is a prominent Russian politician and human rights activist who has been in opposition to Vladimir Putin’s government for many years. He has faced two poisonings in retaliation for his outspoken criticism of the Putin regime’s crimes and corruption. In April 2022, he was arrested for speaking out against the war crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine and calling for the establishment of an international tribunal to hold those responsible accountable. He was later charged with high treason for making speeches about political repression and censorship in Russia. The official indictment said that his speeches “created a threat to the security and constitutional order of the Russian Federation and damaged the reputation of the Russian Federation on the international level.” His trial is ongoing, and he faces up to 24 years in prison if convicted.

We would like to end this statement with the words of Vladimir’s wife Evgenia: “I completely share the conviction of Andrei Sakharov, civil rights advocate and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, that publicity is ‘the main weapon in the struggle for human rights’ and this weapon should be used every time human rights are being violated and human dignity and life are endangered.” With these words in mind we are coming together to show our support for Vladimir.

In cooperation with Democracy Today and support of Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.

This initiative builds on the previous resolutions of many national Parliaments and interparliamentary groups, including the letter of the Chairs or Foreign Affairs Committees and the Transatlantic Interparliamentary Statement.

Signatories as of March 17, 2022:Michael Abramowitz, President, Freedom HouseTamara Adrian, Parliamentarian, National Assembly of Venezuela 2015Hernán Alberro, Associate Fellow, Forum 2000 FoundationLeila Alieva, Director, Center for National and International StudiesMorris Allen, Rabbi, Beth Jacob CongregationPaul Berman, Writer, IndependentNicole Bibbins Sedaca, Executive Vice President, Freedom HouseEric Bjornlund, President and CEO, Democracy InternationalLadan Boroumand, Historian & Human Rights advocate, Abdorrahman Boroumand CenterMarcus Brauchli, Managing Partner, North Base MediaDarko Brkan, Executive Director, UG Zasto neAndreas Bummel, Executive Director, Democracy Without BordersMartin Butora, Amb (Ret.), Honorary President, Institute for Public Affairs, BratislavaSean Carroll, Former COO, Obama-Biden AdministrationAdem Carroll, Justice for AllKetevan Chachava, Executive Director, CDDArmando Chaguaceda, Political Scientist, GAPAC (México)Irwin Cotler, International Chair, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human RightsManuel Cuesta Morúa, Spokesperson, Progressive Arc, CubaAisha Dabo, Coordinator, AfricTivistesEdipcia Dubon, Executive Director, Puentes para el Desarrollo de CentroaméricaBrigitte Dufour, Director, International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR)Wolfgang Eichwede, Historian, Prof. Dr., University of Bremen, GermanyJoao Espada, Director, Institute for Political Studies, LisbonNino Evgenidze, Executive Director, EPRCCarlos Fara, Secretario, CADALRalf Fuecks, Director, Center for Liberal ModernityFrancis Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, Stanford UniversityCarl Gershman, Founding President, National Endowment for DemocracyBorys Gudziak, President, Ukrainian Catholic UniversityTomáš Halík, President, Czech Christian AcademyLauren Grabelle Herrmann, Rabbi, SAJ-Judaism that Stands for AllMaiko Ichihara, Professor, Hitotsubashi UniversityHasler Iglesias, Venezuelan ActivistDolkun Isa, President, World Uyghur CongressTolekan Ismailova, Director of the HRM “Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan“Leszek Jazdzewski, Editor-in-chief, Liberté!Audrey Kalajian, Board Member, Democracy TodayGarry Kasparov, Chairman, Human Rights Foundation (HRF)Hisham Kassem, Former Chairman, Egyptian Organization for Human RightsZoltán Kész, Government Affairs Manager and Former Hungarian MP, Consumer Choice CenterTinatin Khidasheli, Chairwoman, Civic IDEA, GeorgiaJakub Klepal, Executive Director, Forum 2000 FoundationDavid J. Kramer, Executive Director, George W. Bush InstituteBatu Kutelia, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Research InstituteVytautas Landsbergis, Former Head of State, LithuaniaElena Larrinaga de Luis, Cuban DissidentEllen Lippmann, Rabbi Emerita, Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, BrooklynTania López Lizca, Public Relations Responsible, The Latin American Coalition for Human RightsJean Jacques Lumumba, Ambassador, UNIS, Réseau Panafricain de Lutte contre la CorruptionAnar Mammadli, Chairperson, Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies CenterRafael Marques de Morais, President, Centro de Estudos Ufolo para a Boa GovernaçãoMyroslav Marynovych, Vice-Rector, Ukrainian Catholic University, LvivConstanza Mazzina, Coordinadora Académica, DemoAmlatMarkus Meckel, Chairman Council, Foundation German Polish CooperationHeidi Meinzolt, WILPF GermanyThomas O. Melia, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of StateRobert C. Miller, Partner, Davidson, Dawson & Clark llpGiorgi Muchaidze, Executive Director, Atlantic Council of GeorgiaJoshua Muravchik, Adjunct Professor, Institute of World PoliticsMoises Naim, Distinguished Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceCarolann Najarian, Member, Committee to Save ArtsakhUcha Nanuashvili, Founder, Democracy Research Institute, Former Public defender (Ombudsman) of GeorgiaAndrea Ngombet, Founder, Sassoufit CollectiveGhia Nodia, Chairman, Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and DevelopmentWai Wai Nu, Executive Director, Women’s Peace NetworkMartin Palous, Director of Vaclav Havel Program for Human Rights and Diplomacy at Florida International UniversityBaia Pataraia, Director, SapariPavel Pseja, Lecturer, Metropolitan University/CEVRO InstituteVesna Pusić, Former Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, ECFR, Foreign Policy Forum, CroatiaMykola Riabchuk, Honorary President, Ukrainian PEN CenterRafael Rincón-Urdaneta Zerpa, Communications Coordinator, Forum 2000 FoundationJacques Rupnik, Research Professor, CERI – Sciences poDaya Sagar Shrestha, Executive Director, National Campaign for Sustainable Development NepalNiranjan Sahoo, Senior Fellow, Observer Research FoundationAndrei Sannikov, Chairman, European Belarus FoundationHugh Segal, Queens University, CanadaGulnara Shahinian, Chair, Democracy TodayVasil Sikharulidze, Professor, Program Director, Alte University, Tbilisi, GeorgiaBrandon Silver, Director of Policy and Projects, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human RightsTimothy Snyder, Professor of History, Yale UniversityNicolas Tenzer, Chairman, Centre d’Etude et de Réflexion pour l’Action Politique (CERAP)David A. Teutsch, Professor Emeritus, Reconstructionist Rabbinical CollegeJhanisse Vaca Daza, Founder, Ríos de Pie, BoliviaMaria Marin Vazquez, Executive Director, ProboxVEAlexandr Vondra, Member of the European Parliament,George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy CenterSimkha Y. Weintraub, Retired Rabbinic Director, Jewish Board of Family and Children’s ServicesDavid Wolpe, Senior Rabbi, Sinai TempleJianli Yang, Founder and President, Citizen Power Initiatives for ChinaLiao Yiwu, Writer and Poet, GermanyLeyla Yunus, Director of Institute for Peace and DemocracyYevgeniy Zhovtis, Director, Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of LawMichael Žantovský, Executive Director, Václav Havel Library, Czechia”

#SXSW2023 Many thanks to @Avast Ambassador #chess legend @Kasparov63 and @GenDigitalInc CTO Michal Pechoucek for the incredibly insightful interview on the #security threats that #AI and #ChatGPT do and don’t pose in my latest for @Forbeshttps://t.co/lto5tpFeTP

— Martine Paris (@contentnow) March 20, 2023

This article is a reprint. You can read the original at Forbes.

By Martine Paris

“Amid a flurry of Google and Microsoft generative AI releases last week during SXSW, Garry Kasparov, who is a chess grandmaster, Avast Security Ambassador and Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, told me he is less concerned about ChatGPT hacking into home appliances than he is about users being duped by bad actors.

“People still have the monopoly on evil,” he warned, standing firm on thoughts he shared with me in 2019. Widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time, Kasparov gained mythic status in the 1990s as world champion when he beat, and then was defeated by IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer. That moment came to represent an awakening that machines might one day overpower humanity.

“AI wins not because it’s smarter than humans, but because it simply makes less mistakes,” he explained. “I never understood this fear of AI – it’s a useful tool that does what we tell it to do. I’m a big proponent of human-machine collaboration.”

What keeps him up at night is far more sinister, he said. In his role with the cybersecurity firm Avast, which was acquired in 2022 by NortonLifeLock Inc., and is now part of the Gen family of products, the company found that while 30% of cyberattacks on its platform targets vulnerable networks with weak security, about 70% are phishing and other scams in which users are willingly giving their information to bad actors.

“These cognitive threats are a game changer and not something a firewall can be built against,” Gen Chief Technology Officer Michal Pechoucek told me. Social engineering attacks can be particularly effective when someone impersonates a close contact in your inner circle like your boss and instructs you to do something, like pay an invoice. With generative AI tools, it’s getting easier for scammers to write more convincing text because reinforcement learning is helping the algorithm fine-tune messaging to optimize clickthrough rates. With all of the details of our day-to-day lives being shared across social networks, it’s also allowing for more nefarious personalization.

“It comes down to the consumer making the right decision,” Pechoucek said. Simple things people can do to protect themselves include checking the sender’s email to ensure the address matches the identity, not clicking on links or downloading PDFs, never reusing passwords, and sharing less on social media, he advised.

“It’s a lazy criminal going after a lazy customer,” Kasparov said. “Step up your defenses a little bit and they’ll move on.”

With regards to generative AI hacking into systems, Pechoucek said he was aware of a study by cyberthreat intelligence agency Check Point Research that showed ChatGPT being tricked into creating malware, going against its own rules. However, he said Gen uses generative AI in its own large language models to ensure its defenses remain strong.

Pechoucek says he can see a situation where people start to question the very reality of everything, especially with the advent of text-to-video deepfakes. One solution might be a platform where users can verify media with encrypted metadata, this could build digital safety and trust, he said.

Regardless of how innovation in the space plays out, Kasparov who ran as an opposition candidate to Russian president Vladimir Putin and left in exile a decade ago, said the US doesn’t have much to fear with regards to global cyber warfare with state-controlled adversaries. Assuredly he said, “Free people in free markets will always have the upper hand.”

Follow me on Twitter.”

Media: @Kasparov63 on @AC360: “Victory for #Ukraine is the beginning of liberation for #Russia from #Putin‘s fascism. Full liberation of Ukraine, reparations paid, and the war crimes tribunal: Three key components for Russia to have an historic chance to leave empire behind.” pic.twitter.com/nSqLq6Y6lk

— Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) March 18, 2023