Recent years have brought extraordinary advances in the technical domains of machine learning and AI. Auto­nomous systems are already deployed in our most crucial social institutions, from healthcare and education to criminal justice and law enforcement. But as recent investigations have shown, there are hard problems of bias, discrimination and privacy when we deploy these systems with human populations. Just as we are reaching a crucial inflection point in the deployment of AI into everyday life, we are seeing the rise of white nationalism and right-wing authoritarianism in Europe, the US and beyond. How do we protect our communities – and particularly already vulnerable and marginalized groups - from the potential uses of these systems for surveillance, harassment, detainment or deportation? In this talk, Kate Crawford will look at the potential uses of AI and machine learning in dark times, and how we might protect ourselves and those most at risk.