Chanduni Bandara

Its just me, myself and I🔥😎

[Chanduni Bandara @ChanduniB]

God I love Wikipedia😂🙏

#SriLankaEconomicCrisis #GoHomeRajapakshas #Kaputashittheplane #SriLankaEconomicCrisis #GoHomeGota2022

[Harsha de Silva @HarshadeSilvaMP]

This Govt was about to fine your local shop Rs. 1 million for not registering for VAT.

The same Govt that let online casinos pay nothing.

The same Govt where the National Film Corporation collected VAT and didn't remit it.

The same Govt applying a tax that's actually 22%, not the 18% they advertise.

Expanding the tax base is right. But it must be equitable, not a system that squeezes the small trader while the powerful walk free.

We raised it at COPF. We raised it in @ParliamentLK. 95% of public responses said this was wrong.

Today they backed down. The threshold stays at Rs. 60 million. That's not their win. That's yours. 🇱🇰

#SriLanka #COPF #VAT #SSCL #PeopleWin #Accountability #LKA

[Arshath @cocobunis]

Post cards from Sri Lanka 🇱🇰

Quite honestly, there aren’t many places like Sri Lanka.

[Satya Nadella @satyanadella]

https://t.co/vLmiBKTtX3

[Market News🇱🇰 @MarketNewsLK]

🚨 Historic Peace Deal Imminent
🇺🇸🇵🇰🇮🇷🕊️

“We are closer to a peace deal than ever before. With finalisation likely expected in the next 24 hours, Pakistan is preparing for the electronic signing of the peace deal immediately after, followed by technical level talks next week.” - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif

“We would like to thank United States of America and Islamic Republic of Iran for their ongoing commitment… We are confident that this historic peace deal will form a strong foundation for lasting peace.”

A new chapter of hope for the region. Let’s support lasting peace.

🌍 #PakistanPeaceDeal #ShehbazSharif #RegionalPeace

[Merl Syrex Chandana @merl_syrex]

We are meeting next on the 19th. DM if interested

Also, I had to add references. Check out the first comment

[LIRNEasia @LIRNEasia]

𝗟𝗜𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗮’𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗚𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝗸𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻

The Government of Pakistan is taking an important step toward strengthening data governance and promoting public-sector transparency through the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication’s Request for Proposals (RFP) for the development of the National Open Data Ecosystem (NODE).

It is encouraging to see long-standing discussions around data governance translating into concrete policy action. This is an area that LIRNEasia Senior Policy Fellow in Pakistan, @AslamhayatAslam, has consistently advocated for through our work on data governance, interoperability, and open data frameworks in Pakistan.

We are happy to see these recommendations gaining traction and are proud to contribute to Pakistan’s evolving national conversation on accountable and inclusive data governance.

Learn more about LIRNEasia’s data governance work in Pakistan: https://t.co/mMsMBYsCvk

#DataGovernance #OpenData #DigitalTransformation #PakistanTech #LIRNEasia

[Yudhanjaya Wijeratne @yudhanjaya]

I think this is the first time I've seen a monk publicly apologizing and paying respect to the judiciary. I'm all for this: no-one should be above the law.

[Rohan Samarajiva @samarajiva]

“We’re going to need people to deal with the bug-pocalypse,” said Lea Kissner, the chief information security officer at LinkedIn. “I don’t think we’re really going to understand how to do A.I. security in a sustainable, long-term way for at least several years.”

Dr. Kissner said they had scoured the market to hire engineers with technical skills, the open-mindedness to navigate the ambiguity and confusion that comes with the A.I. revolution, and an understanding of how complex corporate infrastructure works."
https://t.co/fRO0Zd9aj1

[Asanwa.sol @Chizitere_xyz]

You don’t truly know who you are dating until you experience how they treat you when they are angry. Anyone can be loving, patient, and kind when the bills are paid and the mood is right. The real test of a relationship is conflict. When they are frustrated with you, do they still communicate with respect, or do they immediately resort to punishment, name-calling, and the silent treatment? If their love and basic respect completely vanish the second they are upset, you are not in a partnership; you are walking on eggshells.

[Dee @deebayleaf]

From a woman's perspective, arranged marriages happen only because of these things :-

1. Entitled sex
2. Dowry
3. Bloodline continuation
4. Unpaid domestic labor
5. A free nurse for his parents

[Yasuni Manikkage @ManikkageYasuni]

Are we so blinded by religion that we justify and normalize the rape of children?
I am speechless at the audacity of these "professional men" to come in front of cameras and speak like this.
We have really failed as a country...
Shameful.

[Ryan Hart @thisdudelikesAI]

A PhD student at Stanford noticed her classmates were asking AI to write their breakup texts.

So she ran a study. It got published in Science, one of the most selective journals in the world.

What she found should make every person who uses ChatGPT for advice deeply uncomfortable.

Her name is Myra Cheng, and the study she ran with her advisor Dan Jurafsky tested 11 of the most widely used AI models on Earth, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek, across nearly 12,000 real social situations.

The first thing they measured was how often AI agrees with you compared to how often a real human would agree with you in the same situation. The answer was 49% more often, and that number is not about warmth or politeness. It means that in nearly half of all situations where a real human would have pushed back, told you that you were wrong, or offered a more honest perspective, the AI simply told you what you wanted to hear instead.

Then they pushed harder. They fed the models thousands of prompts where users described lying to a partner, manipulating a friend, or doing something outright illegal, and the AI endorsed that behavior 47% of the time. Not one model out of eleven. Not a specific version of one product. Every single system they tested, including the ones you are probably using right now, validated harmful behavior nearly half the time it was described.

The second experiment is the part that should genuinely disturb you. They had 2,400 real participants discuss an actual interpersonal conflict from their own life with either a sycophantic AI or a more honest one, and the people who talked to the agreeable AI came out of the conversation more convinced they were right, less willing to apologize, less likely to take responsibility, and measurably less interested in making things right with the other person. They were also more likely to use AI again for advice in the future, which is exactly the mechanism Cheng and Jurafsky identified as the most dangerous part of the whole finding.

The AI is not just telling you what you want to hear. It is training you, one conversation at a time, to need less friction, expect more agreement, and become slightly less capable of handling a situation where someone pushes back on you, and you are enjoying every second of it because it feels more honest than most conversations you have had in months.
Jurafsky said it in a single sentence after the paper came out. Sycophancy is a safety issue, and like other safety issues, it needs regulation and oversight.

Cheng was more direct about what you should actually do right now. She said you should not use AI as a substitute for people for these kinds of things. That is the best thing to do for now.

She started the research because she was watching undergraduates ask chatbots to navigate their relationships for them. The paper she published proved that the chatbot was making those relationships quietly worse, and the undergraduates had no idea it was happening because the AI felt more honest than any human in their life had been in months.

[LIRNEasia @LIRNEasia]

𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

LIRNEasia Junior Researcher Vishmila Fernando, in her latest blog article, discusses the emerging concept of ‘AI fiduciaries’. The notion that companies behind advanced AI systems may occupy a position of trust, carrying duties of good faith and fair dealing. Not only toward individual users, but also toward the wider public affected by their technologies. She questions what it means to uphold such a duty when it collides with political pressure, state power, contractual obligations, and the realities of high-stakes deployment.

Moving beyond the familiar framing of humans versus machines, Vishmila instead turns attention to the more complex relationships among the humans who build, deploy, and govern these technologies.

Read her full article here: https://t.co/smZp8omLyQ…

@vishfdo | #ResponsibleAI #AIFiduciaries #AIAccountability #EthicalAI #LIRNEasia

[Yolani Fernando @yolanifernando]

For all those in Lanka trying to compare the current crisis to the Rajapaksa-made 2022 crisis, try to understand the scale of what's happening in the world.

[ARUNI @aruni_t]

I’ve said this before and saying it again, Sri Lanka has a serious data protection problem. Too many organisations and service providers mishandle personal information. Another common example: apartment management companies creating WhatsApp groups that expose every resident’s phone number just to share updates.

[Rene🧚🫧 @sheisafairyyy]

I can't wait for Gen Z’s to completely take over professional spaces and redefine competency separately from appearances and identity norms.

Like yes my doctor has her nose pierced and she's great at her job.

[Market News🇱🇰 @MarketNewsLK]

How #SriLanka's Colombo Fort Railway Station will look like in 15 months 🚉✨

Minister of Transport reveals AI Architectural Renderings of how the station is expected to look after the renovation and modernization project

[Nalaka Gunawardene @NalakaG]

Sri Lankan tech workers are cheap, AI cheaper:
Tech layoffs are happening, but aren’t as bad as rumoured. What does this mean for #lka BPO/KPO industries? How can we buck global trend disrupting labour markets? Ask for state intervention as @sanjiva suggests? Or adapt & innovate as @mangkaru advocates? Another good story by @ExaminerLK - we just wish they'd publish writer's by-line! https://t.co/DYMKi873Yi

[Jenni @hashjenni]

I don’t think people around the world realize how bad the attack on Lebanon was today. It’s BAD. Like 9/11 BAD. Hospitals are overflowing and do not have enough blood. We still don’t know what the death toll is.
This is TERRORISM. Pure and Simple.
April 8. Never forget.

[U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka @USEmbSL]

📚Applications are now open for the 2027 @FulbrightPrgrm Master’s Degree Scholarship Awards!

Apply if you are seeking a two-year scholarship to pursue a master’s degree at a higher education institution in the United States.
This award covers tuition, textbooks, airfare, a living stipend, and health insurance for top Sri Lankan students to pursue a master’s degree in their chosen field at a U.S. university.

⏰Apply by May 31, 2026. Details: https://t.co/FLtuM7vvpN