Swansea University Funding Supports Another Publication on Malicious Use of AI by Daniel E. Levenson and Dr. Kevin Blasiak

June 30, 2026

In June of 2024 Daniel and Kevin Blasiak, PhD, won funding in a sandpit competition held at the Swansea University Terrorism and Social Media Conference. With this critical support they were able to hold a workshop at Newcastle University in the summer of 2025, which allowed for a robust conversation among a diverse set of stakeholders on the topic of the various ways that Artificial Intelligence may be used by bad actors to engage in terrorism and other criminal activity. This project has also yielded two publications to date, including a conference paper entitled "Shifting the Conversation on Malicious Use of AI: A value sensitive approach for stakeholder consensus." The abstract and link to the full paper are pasted below.

Abstract

AI technologies are increasingly integrated into society, driving innovation while

introducing risks of malicious use, including disinformation, cyberattacks, and extremism. These threats are socio-technical, emerging at the intersection of technology, governance, and collaborative work. Addressing them requires recognizing that malicious AI use extends

beyond standalone algorithms to the broader ecosystems that shape deployment, regulation, and mitigation strategies. This workshop brings together practitioners from industry, government, civil society, and academia to co-develop multi-stakeholder strategies for AI governance and security. Using a value-sensitive design (VSD) framework, it integrates ethical, organizational, and policy considerations into AI security efforts. Through expert dialogue and collaborative activities, participants will explore actionable pathways that bridge design, policy, and workplace adaptation to counter AI-enabled threats, fostering a comprehensive and adaptive approach to AI security in an era of rapid technological transformation

To read the full paper, please click here.