The Wire with Caeden

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about the government’s move to scrap same-day election enrolments, the Climate Change Commission’s recent annual monitoring report on emissions reductions and the Greens petition to reinstate passenger rail services across the country.

And for this week’s Get Action! He spoke with Brandon Johnstone, a BDS coordinator at Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa about a petition calling on retailers and stockists to swap out SodaStream for more ethical alternatives.

Max spoke with Dr Catherine Morgan from the University of Auckland, to talk about the new project to develop an AI tool that can predict dementia risk.

Tuesday Wire Host Sara spoke with Sadie Mills the invertebrate collection manager at Earth Sciences New Zealand about a study looking into deep sea species in Aotearoa’s waters

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chats with us about an astronomical discovery, the passing of the great Tom Lehrer, and the latest estimate on your required daily step count

In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, I ask about the government’s recent electoral reforms, and the latest Homelessness Insights report
In light of this homelessness report, I also speak with Manaaki Rangatahi spokesperson Brooke Stanley about her views on addressing homelessness in Aotearoa, as well as Dr Madeline Shelling from Ihi Research about the health impacts of housing insecurity for Māori and Pacific populations 

Finally, Faith spoke to commercial law Professor Alex Sims from the University of Auckland about the ongoing problems caused by AI deepfakes, and what Denmark is doing to tackle them.

On Friday, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced various changes to the electoral system in New Zealand which he says seek to make the process of voting more efficient and effective for future elections.
These include the closing of enrolment 13 days before the official election day, prohibiting the provision of food and drink at polling booths, and a reinstatement of a total prisoner voting ban.

A number of Labour and Greens party politicians have been among those to criticise the changes as a disenfranchisement of voters which will make democratic engagement in New Zealand more difficult.

As well, last week the Ministry for Housing and Urban Development released the latest iteration of the Homelessness Insights Report which reveals that there has been a quantifiable rise in homelessness across Aotearoa.

The growing usage of AI deepfakes has been for a number of different reasons… Whether it’s just for fun, or to jeopardise someone’s career, these AI-generated images, videos, and voice recordings have become more accessible and easy to make.

Deepfakes have been used for financial fraud, during election campaigns to taint the reputations of mostly female candidates, and also to spread propaganda and misinformation.

However, Denmark has proposed a law to grant individuals copyright over their own face, body, and voice. Although the move has been hailed as world-leading, and a step forward to address the harms of AI deepfakes, it has drawn criticism for not being effective enough. It has also provoked concerns about the act of copyrighting one’s likeness to the same degree as intellectual/artistic property. Producer Faith spoke to Professor Alex Sims from the University of Auckland’s commercial law department about the proposition, and its effectiveness.