Publications and Resources

This paper explores the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly Large Language Models (LLMs), as an emerging tool to address the proliferation of online toxic speech. The research focuses on two key applications of LLMs: hate speech classification and detection, and response generation, specifically the use of LLMs for creating counterspeech. While LLMs show significant advances in detecting hate speech through various models, including supervised, unsupervised, and GenAI-based approaches, the paper notes crucial limitations. These include the difficulty in processing the nuance and context of online communication, understanding implicit hate speech, and the significant issue of models learning and amplifying human biases present in training data. The paper reviews efforts to develop AI-powered counterspeech tools, including challenges in generating human-like, constructive responses that adequately engage with specific hateful content. The paper suggests that LLMs show promise in developing counterspeech tools, and closes with a set of recommendations for technology developers and governments to guide the ethical development and deployment of LLMs in addressing online harms.

This policy brief examines the growing instrumentalisation of legal and administrative mechanisms to target and suppress civil society organisations. Drawing on recent developments in the United States and global patterns of democratic backsliding, it explores how national security and counter-terrorism rhetoric are being repurposed to silence dissent and constrict civic space. The brief argues that this systematic abuse of legal frameworks, now increasingly amplified by artificial intelligence (AI) and digital surveillance technologies, represents an accelerating assault on democratic institutions. It concludes with actionable policy recommendations for governments, civil society, technology firms, and international bodies to resist this trend and defend an independent civic sector.

This policy brief documents the framework of agreements and arms control arrangements which have hitherto restrained actions of the nuclear powers. Since the end of the Cold War, political leaders and the public have become complacent about the danger of nuclear war. While the taboo against the use of nuclear weapons has held, the nuclear-armed states have ignored their moral and legal obligation to pursue nuclear arms reductions and disarmament. The policy brief concludes by suggesting actions that could be taken to revitalize and extend nuclear arms controls globally and regionally.

This policy brief aims to assess the likely diplomatic trajectories of Japan in the post-Ishiba era. The outcome of the 4 October LDP leadership election will not only mark a turning point in domestic politics but also significantly impact Japan’s core diplomatic relations with the United States and China. The brief evaluates how the choice of centrist vs. hardline conservative orientations will affect Japan’s relations with China, the United States, and the broader region.