Edward Snowden on Palestine and Sam Altman

Speaking Up Against Falsehoods

Edward Snowden argues that societies can collectively sustain obvious falsehoods when people fear being judged or losing their positions. Drawing on “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” he says moral responsibility sometimes requires speaking up, even when institutions and social norms encourage silence.

Gaza and International Law

Snowden asserts that a genocide is taking place in Gaza and that Israeli officials have openly expressed exterminationist intent. In his view, Western democracies’ continued arms support, given the evidence, is unethical and may be criminal.

He argues that criticizing these actions is not inherently antisemitic or anti-Israeli. Countries, he says, should uphold the international laws they helped establish.

Whistleblowing and Information Control

Snowden connects the need to speak up with his own decision to disclose classified information. He describes feeling torn between his secrecy agreement and his oath to defend the U.S. Constitution, and says he gave greater weight to the Constitution.

He rejects being treated as a hero. Portraying whistleblowers as exceptional, he argues, can make their actions seem beyond the reach of ordinary people. He also warns that government efforts to control information threaten open societies—especially when journalists go along with official claims in the name of social responsibility.

AI, Accountability, and User Control

Snowden warns that large language models are concentrating power as people increasingly rely on them instead of tools such as search engines. He questions who is responsible when governments use AI systems or when those systems cause harm.

Companies, governments, and users should not be able to shift liability onto one another, he argues. AI errors ultimately reflect human decisions about how systems are designed, instructed, and deployed. He provocatively suggests putting Sam Altman in jail as a warning to the industry.

Snowden favors open models that people can run and inspect themselves, rather than systems controlled by companies that intercept and modify users’ prompts. More broadly, he argues that devices should serve their owners and operators: people should be able to control and inspect the technology they rely on.

A device should not act against its operator’s interests.

Snowden warns that technologies embedded in daily life can become dangerous sources of power when users do not control them.

Law, Information, and Collective Action

Snowden closes by stressing that law and information alone do not produce justice or change. Laws depend on people to uphold and revise them, and information can even leave people passive. Meaningful power, he argues, comes from organization, collective will, and action—even when people make mistakes and progress is slow.

Presenter/contributor: Edward Snowden