16 free resources on this topic. Everything here is free and hand-picked. You can also search within this topic.
Frode Weierud's long-running research site on the history of cryptography and cipher machines, including Enigma, with original documents, machine simulations and codebreaking material.
The December 2020 open letter from Google Walkout for Real Change supporting Timnit Gebru after her departure from Google's Ethical AI team, with its list of signatories. An advocacy document written by her supporters.
An Internet Archive copy of Eliezer Yudkowsky's autobiographical page from his sysopmind.com site, describing himself as of August 2000, when he had become a research fellow at the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (now MIRI). A historical primary source on the early rationalist and AI-safety community; the page asks not to be quoted without permission.
Pope Leo XIV's 15 May 2026 encyclical on safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence, including a section on the need to "disarm words".
Why I recommend it: A primary source from the Catholic Church. Long, but worth reading directly rather than through summaries.
Ben Thompson's 4 September 2026 Stratechery interview with OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman, recorded before the Astra model announcement. Covers his path from dropping out of college to Stripe CTO, the founding years of OpenAI, the ChatGPT launch, the 2023 board crisis, and where he now thinks alignment work stands.
Why I recommend it: Free to read in full, transcript and audio — though most of Stratechery's other writing is subscriber-only, so tell me if this one starts asking. Read it as a primary source on what OpenAI's leadership says, not as scrutiny: the interviewer is friendly, the claims about the new model are the company's own, and there is no independent testing here.
Press release from the Norwegian Prime Minister's office, dated 21 September 2026, announcing a joint international appeal by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre for stronger oversight of frontier AI models, backed by 22 world leaders and pressed further at the UN General Assembly.
Why I recommend it: Filed as a primary document so you can quote the actual wording instead of a headline about it. Keep the distinction clear: this is a call, not a law. It commits no country to anything, creates no regulator and sets no deadline — its value is in showing which heads of government are now willing to say it publicly.
The manufacturer's own pages for the humanoid and four-legged robots you keep seeing in viral videos — H2, G1, R1, A2, B2, Go2 and the L2 lidar unit. Each model page lists the specifications, dimensions, sensors and intended uses, and the news section posts the demonstration videos. This is the clearest free way to see what commercially available 'physical AI' hardware actually is, rather than what a clip implies.
Why I recommend it: Free to browse, and useful as a reality check when someone tells you robots are about to take every job — read the specifications, the battery life and the intended use. Two flags: this is a company selling its own products, so the videos are marketing and not independent testing, and the robots are expensive hardware, not something you can try. The site itself warns users not to modify the robots or use them in dangerous ways.
The original home of SHAttered — the February 2017 research by Google and CWI Amsterdam that produced the first practical public SHA-1 collision, two different PDFs with the same hash. The paper and both colliding files are still downloadable, so you can check the hashes yourself. The site now also runs a high-volume news and explainer feed covering cryptography, security, chips, cloud and cryptocurrency.
Why I recommend it: Free, no paywall. Two halves, and they deserve different levels of trust. The 2017 SHA-1 collision material is genuine, checkable primary research and still the best way to see a broken hash function with your own eyes. The current news feed is a different thing: posts appear every few minutes, carry no named author, and the site also covers 'provably fair' crypto gambling, which sits close to affiliate territory. I have deliberately not wired it into the headlines here — use the archive, and confirm any breaking claim against a named outlet before you repeat it.
An independent group of nine mathematicians — including Timothy Gowers, Martin Hairer, Edward Witten, Ravi Vakil and Melanie Matchett Wood — formed to advise AI companies on how mathematical results produced by AI models should be presented and released. The site states its purpose, its members, and its current task: advising OpenAI on how to release a large batch of mathematical results the company says its internal model produced. There is an open form for anyone in the mathematical community to send input.
Why I recommend it: Free, and short enough to read in five minutes — a good example of what independent oversight looks like when it is written down. Read their own two caveats rather than mine: members take no payment and the group is independent of any AI company, but they also say plainly that they hold no decision-making power, so the companies remain free to ignore them. The group formed after OpenAI approached some members about an in-house advisory board and they chose to sit outside it instead.
Company site of the defence technology maker behind the Lattice software platform and autonomous air, land, sea and space systems, with a free news and insights section covering its contracts and products.
Why I recommend it: This is marketing from an arms manufacturer, not independent reporting. It is worth reading because military autonomy is now a major employer of AI engineers — but every capability claim here is the company's own.
Palantir's own investor-relations page listing its executive team — Alex Karp, Stephen Cohen, Shyam Sankar and colleagues — with official titles and start dates.
Why I recommend it: A primary source, not commentary: use it to get names, titles and dates right before quoting anyone. It says what the company chooses to say about itself.
Free public documentation explaining how an autonomous AI software engineer plans, runs and reviews coding work, including its limits and where human review is required.
From the site: Devin is the AI software engineer, built to help ambitious engineering teams crush their backlogs.
Why I recommend it: The product costs money but the docs are free — read them to understand what "AI engineer" tools actually do and do not do before anyone tells you your job is gone.
Mike Masnick's influential free essay arguing that open protocols, rather than centrally moderated platforms, are the durable answer to online speech problems.
Why I recommend it: One of the most cited pieces on platform power — read it before joining any debate about content moderation.
Independent, free benchmarks testing leading AI models on real-world finance, software, science and safety tasks, with cost and latency alongside accuracy.
From the site: Private, domain-specific benchmarks in legal, tax, and finance.
Why I recommend it: When someone claims a model is "the best," check here — these are independent evaluations, not vendor marketing.
Every post by Google's CEO in one feed — product announcements, AI strategy and company positioning, straight from the source.
Why I recommend it: Primary source material — worth reading before commentary about Google, not after.
Long-form essays from Anthropic's CEO on AI capability, safety, economics and policy, published free in full.
Why I recommend it: Read these directly rather than through summaries — they are the source most AI-safety coverage is quoting.
