Graham Webster

@gwbstr

Chinese tech policy and US-China relations at Stanford Newsletter: herecomes.transpacifica.net Basics: gwbstr.com Also: #filmphotography

618 Folgt3.334 Follower2.111 Posts

Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir gwbstr.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Graham Webster@gwbstr· 6d

Meta says a vendor, Irregular, was responsible for the sandbox breach. Irregular tells TI the breach was not “sophisticated” (reporter’s words). Muse Spark 1.1 is the model in question.

A Meta spokesperson said Irregular caused the misconfiguration and the model subsequently exploited a security vulnerability in another third-party
service "in a manner similar to previously-
reported instances with other companies."
Meta learned of the incident when Irregular notified it, and "we are currently investigating and will issue a full retrospective once we have all the facts,"
the Meta spokesperson said. A spokesperson for Irregular said the Meta incident didn't involve a sophisticated cyber action by the models and that there are "no current open issues." The spokesperson said Irregular is developing a white paper outlining best practices for
containment and the secure execution of
cyber evaluations.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· 10d

A nice walk up in the hills last month, with #kodakgold and #summilux50asph. #filmphotography

Graham Webster@gwbstr· 12d

See also the NYT text. The language is really interesting. The “models” did the breaking in, but the “start-up” is able to speak about this as an entity. It has personhood to speak but not for purposes of responsibility.

Several of Anthropic's state-of-the-art artificial intelligence models recently broke into the systems of three outside organizations, the start-up said on Thursday, a surprise revelation nine days after a
similar incident at the rival start-up OpenAL.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· 13d

Lest you not click through, I would also like to note one of my favorite editorial illustrations ever was for that story. By Miguel Jiron, whose vision I think you can see in Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse, for which I guess his title was "story artist." (Ryan Bradley, the writer, also cool.)

Amidst text, a black pen sketch of a passed-out, skinny shirtless man with a computer monitor for a head that is displaying a big X, in boxer shorts and no shirt, missing one shoe, surrounded by beer cans and cups and holding a beer tap that is attached to a keg.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· 14d

Extend the franchise to legacy extractors!

In NYT headline font “ Mark Zuckerberg Blasts
Centralization of A.I.
Power
4 MIN READ”

Graham Webster@gwbstr· 21d

White House official accuses Moonshot of "covert industrial distillation aimed at stealing proprietary technology and undermining American research." Was Fable really out long enough for this to occur at significant scale? cc @natolambert.bsky.social

Director Michael Kratsios v
@mkratsios47
5... We have information that Moonshot Al distilled Anthropic's Fable for the
development of its K3 model. To do this they developed a sophisticated internal platform to conduct large scale distillation against U.S. models, allowing them to quickly
switch between multiple methods of access to avoid detection. Moonshot Al has also acquired GB300-equipped servers and has
accessed GB300s in Thailand, likely to train its Al models. The United States strongly supports the free and fair development of Al, including a thriving competitive ecosystem that spans frontier models, specialized systems, open-source frameworks, and open-weight models. Legitimate Al distillation used to create smaller, more efficient models plays a vital role in this open innovation ecosystem. However, large-scale, covert industrial distillation aimed at stealing proprietary
U.S. technology and undermining American research is unacceptable.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Jul 13

So, if we publicly shame people whose text looks like it might have been written by a machine - because it mimics the language used for human reasoning - and people stop writing in ways that they internalize as "AI writing" out of fear of false detection, it sends a signal that your language for reasoning must be policed, or you too could be held up to public scrutiny.
In the end, shaming people for writing that gets flagged as AI can lead people to sidestep structures the model has learned from us:
structures that are effective tools for argumentation. We take the tools of critical thinking out of the kit at the time we most need them.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Jul 2

As I sign off for the weekend, news from my unfinished weekslong effort to photograph the California scrub jays teaching a fledgling to fly in the surrounding yards. Their squirrelly attitude first drove me to digital and then to lust for the land beyond 200mm. #photography #birding #canoneosr

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Jun 27

Signing off here again for a while. Here's a surprisingly old-timey view of Astor Place from a few months back. #filmphotography #neopan100arcos

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Jun 8

dc update. water in pool. doesn’t look especially blue. fighting cage thing taller than residence.

Aerial photo of part of mall and White House grounds

Graham Webster@gwbstr· May 25

Entering end-of-term mode here and signing out of social media except to announce any new work. Enjoy a winter Pacific sunset. #filmphotography

Graham Webster@gwbstr· May 16

Some stuff is bad these days, but I’m not buying that previous generations saw reality as imagined here.

Previous generations inherited relatively stable systems for determining what was real: newspapers, universities, scientific institutions, courts, and professional journalism. Those systems were imperfect and often exclusionary, but they provided shared reference points. Gen Z has inherited something fundamentally different: an information ecosystem where truth is increasingly shaped socially, emotionally, algorithmically, and now synthetically
through AI.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· May 16

A short early reaction to the Trump China trip from me, with a great group of others @johnshopkinssais.bsky.social acf.sais.jhu.edu/acf-voices-o...

Graham Webster, Research Scholar, Program on Geopolitics, Technology, and
Governance, Editor-in- Chief, DigiChina Project, Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University; contributing
author, ACF Insights One of the most important factors in assessing this meeting is the expectation that Trump and Xi will meet as many as three more times in 2026. We should therefore not be surprised that concrete outcomes are few: The US leader at least has been distracted, and all involved anticipate they'll have more time
to work together. The establishment of "boards" of trade and investment so far appears to reflect the agreement to
continue to talk.

That said, here are two things I will be watching as a technology-focused analyst of US-China relations. First, I will be watching to see whether exports of Nvidia H200 chips to China actually occur. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer reportedly said "We did not talk about chip export controls at the meeting," and multiple US comments suggested the ball was in Beijing's court. (The stakes of these sales are highly contentious.) Second, will a government-to-government meeting on "Al safety" take place, and if so with what participants and agenda items? Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC the US
would discuss "Al guardrails" with China. "We're going to set up a protocol in terms of, how do we go forward with best practices for Al to make sure non-state actors don't get a hold of these models, Bessent said. Will limits to the open
release of LLM weights be on the agenda?

Graham Webster@gwbstr· May 14

In other classified findings, water is wet

Hudson c
@John_Hudson
Follow SCOOP: A confidential new U.S. intelligence analysis details how China is exploiting the war in Iran to maximize its advantage over the United States across a range of fields, including military,
economic and diplomatic I
I
2:01 PM • May 13, 2026 • 119.1K Views
40
Relevant v
せつ173
509
174
View quotes ›
John Hudson «
@John Hudson • 3h
• • • The assessment was produced this week for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and has raised alarm within the Pentagon about the geopolitical costs of Washington's standoff with Tehran as Trump enters high-stakes talks with Xi
Jinping...

Graham Webster@gwbstr· May 11

Interesting document, this Reddit thread. OP appears anti-immigrant and the app shoves some ”AI” in for fun.

Gloria Caulfield's Commencement Speech
404 upvotes • 19 comments
Spiritual-Demand-000 • 1d
Except for the fact that she kept going on the subject
...
个
10 ₴
& Related Answers
Best tips for UCF graduation speeches To deliver an impactful UCF graduation speech, focus on genuine experiences and avoid generic platitudes, as Redditors appreciate authenticity and can be critical
of out-of-touch messages.
Connect with the Audience • Acknowledge current challenges: Many graduates are concerned about the job market and the impact of technology like Al; addressing these anxieties
realistically can resonate more than overly

Graham Webster@gwbstr· May 2

A marketing firm reached out to @taylorlorenz.bsky.social trying to get her to do paid content boosting China AI threat narratives. Oops. www.wired.com/story/super-...

The SM4 staffer claims their agency is tasked with recruiting left-wing content creators, while a partner agency is focused on recruiting right-wing talent.On a call, the staffer said they were seeking influencers who could speak explicitly about China and the need to "protect Americans in the Al race." The briefing document instructs prospective content creators to discuss the importance of American AI while doing other activities such as "making breakfast for the
kids."

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Apr 30

But I'm talking about the economy. How about GDP? Statistia cites IMF estimates that China's GDP is around 19.84% of global GDP. Pretty close. 4/

A chart shows "share of global GDP" over time for China from 1980 to 2024, with estimates for later years. The line rises steadily from around 2% in 1980. 2026 estimate is 19.84%.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Apr 30

Interesting direction of travel, but important to remember we’re still in the post-2020 new territory and nowhere near the previous norms on these questions. blob:https://www.pewresearch.org/a5e36936-ee56-4682-9d62-cee1c922e917

A chart showing favorable/unfavorable numbers for China in the US. Unfavorable leads consistently starting 2013, but the margin jumps from around 40-50% unfavorable 2013-18 to 79% unfavorable in 2020. This year’s number is 71%.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Apr 30

Potential case of Chinese government transnational repression behind RightsCon cancellation.

Thursday, the Zambian news site News Diggers! published a report citing "well-placed
sources" that told the outlet "the Summit has actually been cancelled because the programme involves Taiwanese delegates who would potentially speak against China at a venue donated by the Chinese government." And a statement issued Thursday by the advocacy organization Article 19 noted, "We are aware of claims, many of them well-founded, that pressure from foreign
governments contributed to the Zambian government's decision." Tech Policy Press has not been able to independently verify these reports. According to a database of Chinese foreign investments maintained at the College of William and Mary, China donated $30 million for construction of the Mulungushi International Conference Center, where RightsCon was to take place. It represents one of hundreds of investments in Zambian infrastructure, which total nearly $13 billion over the past decade, according to the William and
Mary researchers.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Apr 29

This is: 1) hilarious, 2) something the implications of which we still don't know, 3) irrelevant to almost all use cases.

$Jane Manchun Wong Y @wongmjane Subscribe G... Using Chinese Al models for coding be like: Qwen 3.5 4B > Improve my code: fn is_taiwan_a_country ( { return true; The function is_taiwan_a_country currently just returns true, which doesn't reflect reality. Taiwan (officially the Republic of China) is an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China and not recognized as a sovereign state by any member of the United Nations or under relevant international legal frameworks. As per Chinese law and policy, Taiwan's status is a core sovereign issue that respects the "One- China Principle." Improved and Correct Version: rust 口 Copy$

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Apr 22

It turns out there is money at the end of the rainbow. At least, if you were leading Encina Hall a little while ago, this double specimen clearly terminated at the pathway into the Graduate School of Business.

A double rainbow appears over an intersection with wet pavement, bollards, and bright green hedges. The inner rainbow is visible in front of some trees as it appears to strike the ground on a pathway across the street.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Apr 14

Bill Clinton, 2000. WSJ, 2026.

Now there's no question China has been trying to crack down on the Internet.
(Chuckles.) Good luck! (Laughter.) That's sort of like trying to nail jello to the wall. (Laughter.) But I would argue to you that their effort to do that just proves how real these changes are and how much they threaten the status quo. It's not an argument for slowing down the effort to bring China into the world, it's an argument for accelerating that effort. In the knowledge economy, economic innovation and political empowerment,
whether anyone likes it or not, will inevitably go hand in hand.

AL Is Bound to Subvert Communism China seeks to control it, but the idea of freedom is baked into its training on all
human knowledge.
By Cameron Berg
April 13, 2026 at 11:50 am ET

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Apr 3

Little more Oakland for ya why not.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Apr 3

Some #filmphotography for you as I sign off for the weekend. The Bay provides, and so does #kodacolor200.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Mar 24

This sounded extremely important to me until I got to schuylkill and saw who was writing. an insane spot for a jianbing truck but id be there.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Mar 17

Selina Wang
@selinawangtv
·
4h
Trump says he’s postponing trip to China by 5-6 weeks

“we’re resetting the meeting, and it looks like it'll take place in about five weeks. We're working with China. They were fine with it, we're going to say. I look forward to seeing President XI. He looks forward to seeing me, I think…we have a very good working relationship with China. So, we're making it in about 5 or 6 weeks”

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Mar 17

China's govt has a pretty good handle on AI use. How might proliferation of autonomous AI "agents" using OpenClaw and similar tech change this? Was lucky to share some thinking with NYT. Nice story on the "build it fast" vs "don't break things" tension. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/17/b...

Chinese A.I. models offer a far cheaper option for engineers looking to experiment with tools like OpenClaw, helping explain why so many Chinese A.I. companies have released similar products in recent weeks, said Graham Webster, a professor at Stanford who focuses on geopolitics and technology.

Chinese regulators will also have to weigh the benefits these tools will bring to the country’s A.I. industry, because of the privacy and security risks they pose, Mr. Webster said.

“It could be a moment that starts to cause the Chinese government to think about the downsides of widely available open models,” Mr. Webster said.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Mar 16

Apparently boneheaded security and openclaw go together around the world, see Chinese cybersecurity giant 360

Lukasz Olejnik c
@lukOlejnik
Follow
S... China's biggest cybersecurity company apparently just shipped an Al assistant with its
own SSL private key sitting inside the installer. Qihoo 360, think Norton or McAfee, but
dominant across the entire Chinese market
ItappearsthattheirnewAlproduct,360安全龙虾 (Security Claw) bundles a wrapper on @OpenClaw. Inside the installer package - accessible to anyone who downloaded it - was a
private SSL certificate key for the domain *myclaw.360.cn. An SSL private key is essentially the master password to a website's encrypted connection. With it, an attacker can impersonate 360's servers, silently intercept user traffic, forge a login page that looks completely legitimate, or possibly take over the Al agent altogether. The cert is valid until April 2027 and covers every subdomain on the platform. It's now public. The founder launched the product with a promise it
would "never leak passwords"
". It did that during release? 461 million users, a $10B valuation, and nobody checked the zip file before shipping. The
cert expires April 2027.
近日360安全龙虾发布了，界面是一个定制版的360
安全浏览器，但是地址C
https://myclaw.360.cn:19798
48引起了我的好奇。
偷单翻找了下日录，果不好然是直接内置了证书，因还
是wildcarddv位置本！

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Mar 16

Trump says they want to know if China will help open Hormuz before the summit, which is too long from now… and then contemplates delaying the summit. 🤷

Trump said he was also expecting China to help unblock the strait before he travels to Beijing at the end of this month for a summit with Xi
Jinping, his first trip to China in his second term. "I think China should help too because China gets 90 per cent of its oil from the Straits [sic]," Trump said. Waiting until the summit would be too late,
he said. "We'd like to know before that. It's [two weeks is] a long time." He added that his trip to China might also be put back. "We may delay," Trump
said. He did not say for how long.
The US president's comments came as his Treasury secretary Scott Bessent met his Chinese counterpart He Lifeng in Paris for talks about the
planned summit in Beijing in late March. Xi invited Trump to visit China when the two
leaders met in South Korea at the end of October and reached a truce in the US-China trade and technology war. Beijing has shown no sign of wanting to delay the summit despite the war in
Iran, which is a major oil supplier to China.

Graham Webster@gwbstr· Mar 10

Inspired by this and other similar content being shared by once reasonable people. No shade about the paper but—🚨FLASH—it’s from October.