Paul Esau

Spring 2023 @ScovillePF at @WisconsinProj. Military export policy writer/researcher. 2022 @Laurier and @StudyofCanada alum.

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

@jonkay @jonkay I'd actually be very curious to read a piece outlining your defense of Israeli actions in Gaza (since it seems increasingly difficult to "deny" genocidal intent/action). Does this piece exist? Do you see any potential inconsistency in your perspective re: Gaza?

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

This isn't talked about enough. In the tradition of "play stupid games; win stupid prizes," I present "publish AI slop; poison AI search results."

[Alex Cui @alexcdot]

Now, if you ask ChatGPT or Perplexity or Claude :

"what is the average time to detect loyalty fraud?"

They all say cite this EY report with a fabricated number.

The blast radius of this report is growing, having been cited already in +60 news outlets.

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

Credit to my colleague Om, who published @GPTZeroAI's investigation here: https://t.co/hvq4lpLI05

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

The first time I actually read the EY report exposed here, it floored me. A great example of what happens when you treat AI like a magical genie rather than a mistake-ridden (but powerful) assistant. https://t.co/mPfl0lGLzD

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

@commentmag @omarsuleiman Can we get an episode on differing Christian and Muslim approaches to AI? Or differing Muslim and Christian approaches to the dilemmas Omar identified about working in tech or politics under the current administration?

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

@commentmag @omarsuleiman I loved this episode! Omar was an incredible guest who really distilled the pain of watching US foreign policy entirely lose its moral compass. Every single episode of this podcast is a banger!

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

IMO, writers and editors should both be using detectors in their workflows, especially if they have also integrated other AI research/editing tools. AI can liberate people from the "hardness" of writing (empowering for many!), but only by introducing other risks. (2/2)

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

I agree with @alexcdot that, while ragebait gets clicks, AI detection is fundamentally about transparency and trust. I'm not in favor of "gotcha" moments unless factual errors (bad stats, vibe citations, metacommentary, etc.) indicate no human checked the work. (1/2)

[Alex Cui @alexcdot]

WSJ reports @pangram on falsely accusing people of AI. https://t.co/s4P9wwjUT5

The ai detection industry needs to rise above accusations as a way to drive use (which people on twitter love, I get it, ragebait sells)

If we really want to promote human-written content, we should help people establish that their writing is human. Give people the ability to replay their process. Trust comes from transparency. So what did we do about this at @GPTZeroAI ?

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

I've loved working on this project (and with this team).

AI. It's a little terrifying, but it's also SO COOL to have an editor available at any hour (and trained by a cohort of diverse experts).

[Edward Tian @edward_the6]

Today, we’re launching AI Reviewer Expert Feedback.

We partnered with Emmy-winning writers to train AIs to give expert writing feedback through GPTZero.

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

@shadihamid @matthewkaemingk Thanks for the rec! And thanks to both of you again for doing what you do! (P.S. Shadi: Not only is it a signed copy, but it's lived lived rent-free in my head for the last two years — I keep referencing it in convos about US FP.)

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

@shadihamid @matthewkaemingk Although it reminds me that I bought Shadi's The Problem of Democracy in DC a few years back, but never picked up one of Matthew's books. Seems unfair. Which one would you recommend, @shadihamid ? 😀

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

Now that's a crazy coincidence! Great pull!

[(((James Acton))) @james_acton32]

The first attack on a nuclear facility occurred 36 years BEFORE Iran's attack on Osirak.

In 1944, by pure luck, Japan attacked the Hanford plant in Washington that was producing the plutonium that would be used in the nuclear weapon dropped on Nagasaki. (1/n)

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

@dex_eve So the NYT could be correct in calling out Cooper's reluctance to apply Article 51 fully, instead of conveniently narrowing the definition of "indiscriminate" to point b?

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

@dex_eve Doesn't this last concession invalidate your original criticism of the NYT, tho? The 1% failure rate is a hypothetical ideal for future US-manufactured cluster munitions — the cluster munitions transferred to Ukraine in 2023 from stockpiles had a much higher failure rate (5-10%).

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

I'm glad someone is writing about the FCPA and the consequences of the Trumpian pause. I mean, I hate the emotional fallout of reading pieces like this, but I'm glad they exist.

[Richard Nephew @RichardMNephew]

Latest from me on anti-corruption issues (yes, that is still a problem too)

A Year Later – What Did the Pause on FCPA Enforcement Do? at https://t.co/6HMRFWPPd7

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

Tried it this morning on X and LinkedIn. A very cool tool that's going to generate a ton of embarrassing conversations (and hopefully force some accountability).

[Edward Tian @edward_the6]

Today, we're launching AI Vision.

The first AI slop detector that exposes content as you scroll.

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

@Er_Woods @edward_the6 Considering your level of expertise, being a dinosaur is a solid strategic choice. Dataset coding checks out, but I'm surprised it's been so useful for language learning. Chinese, right? And you don't use any tools for baseline research or comms clarity/structure suggestions?

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

@Er_Woods @edward_the6 I'm actually pretty curious what benefits you've seen from AI tools given the technical nature of your work, the multiple languages involved, and the consequences of hallucinations. Have you experienced any significant increases in productivity, or just lower noise/signal ratios?

[Paul Esau @ptesau]

I agree. The Venn diagram of people who claim hallucinations are no longer a problem and people who never check the footnotes is a circle.

[Edward Tian @edward_the6]

Just tested chatgpt 5.2 for hallucinations.

EVERYONES saying it's no longer a problem in 2026.

Well guess what...

It hallucinated over 10/40 citations on this prompt.