Maria Ressa

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Appointed to Independent International Scientific Panel on AI

For the first time, the world has an independent scientific body dedicated to artificial intelligence. On February 13, 2026, the UN General Assembly voted 117-2 to create a three-year panel of 40 experts assessing AI's economic and social impacts. Only the United States and Paraguay opposed—splitting from traditional allies in Europe and Asia.

Updated May 29

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Featured speaker at 2026 announcement

On January 27, 2026, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds to midnight—the closest it has ever been to symbolic annihilation in its 78-year history. The four-second advance from 2025's 89-second setting reflects what the Board called a year of escalating dangers: the expiration of the New START treaty on February 5, 2026 (ending 54 years of legally binding nuclear limits), aggressive nuclear modernization by the United States, Russia, and China, artificial intelligence supercharging disinformation that Nobel laureate Maria Ressa described as "informational armageddon," and the global rise of autocratic governments less accountable to their citizens.

Updated May 23

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: One remaining case pending before Supreme Court

Frenchie Mae Cumpio was 20 years old when police kicked down her door at 2 a.m. and claimed to find a grenade on her bed. Six years later, she remains in prison—now convicted of terrorism financing and facing up to 18 more years. The regional court acquitted her of the weapons charges that justified her original arrest but found her guilty of funneling money to communist insurgents, based largely on testimony from witnesses who gave contradictory statements about meeting a nine-year-old terrorist financier.

Updated May 22