E156: Greta Buschhaus on AI, War & What We Can Still Trust | Recorded at Bits & Pretzels

Hi, everyone. Welcome back to Perception Paradox. My name is Givile, and I'm your host. And today's episode is a special Perception Paradox collaboration episode, brought to you in partnership with Bits and Pretzels, and co-hosted by my industry friend, Gabriele Potelunite, who recently launched her Red Room Conversations. I couldn't join them in person, so Gabriele stepped in to speak with Greta Thunberg, an investigative journalist and documentary maker covering AI, deepfakes, bioweapons, and hybrid warfare. And together they explore how technology is changing warfare, propaganda, and our ability to tell what's real, and what's the biggest risk might actually look like. So I really hope you enjoy, and for the ones who have never heard of Bits and Pretzels, so it's a large entrepreneurial event happening in Munich. Uh, it's a three-day event. It's been happening since 2014, and I think one of the reasons also it's famous, because it's happening right next to the famous Oktoberfest. I hear always very good things about the event, and we've just spoke with Gabriele. She second that, that it's an incredible place to be for founders, investors, and executives. And yeah, I really hope you enjoy th- her conversation with Greta and our different type of partnership here at Perception Paradox. So let's dive in. [upbeat music] Real people, real stories, and real challenges that break the status quo. I'm your host, Givile, and welcome to Perception Paradox. [upbeat music]

Greta, it's a pleasure to have you here, um, joining the podcast. Uh, I've been, I've been following your work a little bit over the past, well, weeks and months actually-

[laughs]

... uh, since I've learned about you. And I think, uh, yeah, so for those who are not familiar with Greta, so you're an investigative journalist. You made quite a lot of different documentaries from covering AI, to deepfakes, to bioweapons. Now you're also getting a little bit more into the warfare and defense, which is actually one of the areas where I'm also, uh, investing and looking into. So I think, um, yeah, I could tell many things about you, but I think it's always best when it comes from the person themselves. So Greta, please do the honor and tell us a little bit more about your work, because I know you started covering climate, then you kinda went into AI, and now the warfare. How did it all come together?

Yeah. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here.

Mm-hmm.

Thank you also for the nice introduction. I think it's, as you said, like, it's been quite a range of topics, so from climate to, well, mostly AI in the recent years, and then also security politics, including hybrid warfare. Now we're covering, covering a lot of, like, defense, um, how AI is changing the defense sector-

Mm

... the, also warfare in general. And I think it's just, like, for me, I started covering climate things five years ago, maybe. I think it's just always, it has been the big current political issue-

Mm

... of the time.

Mm-hmm.

And, uh, it's the same with AI, and I, I found a different approach. Like, we had a different approach to covering climate, because it was quite a constructive one, where we looked at how we can solve