References
References
Press, blogs and information sites that are good reference works on the topics of WELT AM DRAHT.
Places where we do our own reading: media, blogs and institutions that work reliably on the topics of this magazine. Each entry comes with a short rationale. A recommendation does not mean we endorse everything published there.
Press and Investigative Newsrooms
netzpolitik.org
Topics: Ethics & Society · Artificial Intelligence
netzpolitik.org is a non-profit, donation-funded outlet that, by its own account, has reported on digitalization, surveillance and digital civil liberties since 2004. It explicitly does not claim to be neutral, which, for our questions about data and power, is a disclosed and therefore easy-to-place perspective. Quarterly transparency reports make its funding traceable.
ProPublica
Topics: Artificial Intelligence · Ethics & Society
ProPublica is a non-profit investigative newsroom that, by its own account, exposes abuses of power in government, business and other institutions, and it is funded mainly by donations. It states that it has won nine Pulitzer Prizes and covers technology, democracy and the justice system, among other subjects. We rely on it because its careful reporting on the DOGE tool at the Veterans Affairs department carries the example in our essay.
Carbon Brief
Topics: Ecology
Carbon Brief is an English-language specialist publication of the UK's Carbon Brief Ltd on climate science and climate policy, publishing data-driven analysis, explainers, fact checks and reports from conferences and negotiations. By its own account it is funded by the European Climate Foundation and the Meliore Foundation and discloses the funding total for 2025. On scientific questions it is advised by academics who are not paid for it and do not endorse the content.
Blogs and Debate Forums
Verfassungsblog
Topics: Ethics & Society · The New Fascism
Verfassungsblog is a debate forum for constitutional and public law in which academics assess current rulings and developments, mostly in English, with German-language contributions. For our topics it is especially strong where technology, power and the rule of law meet, for example in court rulings on the AfD or in pieces on Mühlhoff's thesis of a new fascism. The texts are expert-grounded, and the site is sustained by donations and institutional memberships.
Captain Futura
Topics: Ecology · Ethics & Society
Captain Futura is a German-language blog whose posts are signed "Euer Captain F." ("Your Captain F.") and which, by its own description, works with design and researched facts for a "more beautiful world." Its topics range from the energy transition, climate and nature to politics and democracy, often with original graphics, and the site is supported through Patreon and donations. It is a personal voice whose author is not named on the front page, so numbers and claims should be checked against the linked sources.
Information Sites and Institutions
abgeordnetenwatch.de
Topics: Ethics & Society
abgeordnetenwatch.de is a platform where citizens can publicly put questions to members of parliament and candidates, with coverage of the Bundestag, the European Parliament and the state parliaments. Particularly useful are its research on side income, lobbying and party donations and its overview of roll-call votes in the Bundestag, for instance to check how members voted on digital policy. The site asks for donations to fund its research; details about the operator are in its legal notice.
AlgorithmWatch
Topics: Artificial Intelligence · Ethics & Society · Ecology
AlgorithmWatch is a non-profit organization based in Berlin and Zurich that investigates and politically accompanies algorithmic decision-making systems of social relevance, such as face recognition, algorithmic discrimination, the AI Act and the resource consumption of AI. By its own account it is funded by foundations, several German federal ministries and supporting memberships, which is worth keeping in mind when weighing its positions. It is especially useful to us because it looks at democracy, human rights and resource consumption in AI together.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Topics: Consciousness · Ethics & Society
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a freely accessible online encyclopedia that has existed since 1995. Its articles are written by experts, updated continuously, and go through a peer review similar to academic journals for new entries and major revisions. It is a dependable starting point for questions about consciousness, mind and ethics.
Öko-Institut
Topics: Ecology
The Öko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology) is a non-profit association founded in 1977, with sites in Freiburg, Darmstadt and Berlin, which researches and advises on energy, climate protection, mobility, raw materials and environmental law, among other fields. It is financed mostly by project funds from ministries, companies, non-governmental organizations and the EU, supplemented by membership fees and donations. It describes itself as independent and open-ended in its results, but for individual studies it is still worth looking at who commissioned them.
Chaos Computer Club
Topics: Ethics & Society · Artificial Intelligence
The Chaos Computer Club sees itself as Europe's largest hacker association and, by its own description, has campaigned for freedom of information and technology assessment for over forty years. It speaks on IT security, surveillance and fundamental rights, publishes statements, and runs media.ccc.de, a portal for media and talks, for example from its Congress. It is not a neutral observer but represents a hacker ethic and political positions, and on legal form and funding its front page only points to a transparency page.
Primary Sources and Data
The AI Act in the Official Journal (EUR-Lex)
Topics: Artificial Intelligence · Ethics & Society
This is Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence, adopted on 13 June 2024, in the EU's official legal database. Anyone who wants to check what the law actually regulates, rather than rely on summaries, finds the original text here. Later amendments, such as postponed deadlines, have to be checked separately.
artificialintelligenceact.eu with the AI Act Explorer
Topics: Artificial Intelligence · Ethics & Society
The site is a thematic portal on the AI Act run by the EU policy team of the Future of Life Institute, with the legal text, analyses, news, an AI Act Explorer and a compliance checker. It is not an official EU site but the offering of a private organization, so for binding statements the text on EUR-Lex prevails. The Explorer is still helpful for finding your way through the long law.
AI Incident Database
Topics: Artificial Intelligence · Ethics & Society
The AI Incident Database is an archive of real-world AI failures run by the Responsible AI Collaborative; it started with more than 1,000 reports and records cases such as accidents involving autonomous vehicles or wrongful arrests caused by face recognition. Anyone can submit incidents, and editors review the submissions. It is useful to us for testing general statements about risk against concrete, documented cases.
Stanford AI Index
Topics: Artificial Intelligence
The AI Index from the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI collects data on AI in nine chapters, from research and technical performance through economy and policy to public opinion. The 2026 report is linked as a PDF, and the underlying data is available through a folder. It comes from an institute that itself conducts AI research, and it works as a data source whose methodology can be checked in the report.
IPCC: Synthesis Report of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)
Topics: Ecology
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), founded in 1988, summarizes the state of climate science in assessment reports and does not conduct research itself. The Synthesis Report of the sixth assessment was finalized in March 2023 and gives a coherent overview based on the three Working Group reports and three Special Reports, with a Summary for Policymakers and a longer report. The summary is the best entry point.
Our World in Data
Topics: Ecology · Humanity
Our World in Data is a non-profit scientific online publication launched by Max Roser in 2013 that prepares data on global problems such as climate change, health and poverty. It is run by the Global Change Data Lab, a registered charity in England and Wales whose research team is based at the University of Oxford, and it is funded by foundations, sponsors and donations. Its content is under an open license (CC BY), so charts and data can be reused with attribution.
IEA: Energy and AI
Topics: Ecology · Artificial Intelligence
The report by the International Energy Agency, published in 2025, examines the growing electricity demand of data centres driven by AI and, conversely, the use of AI in the energy sector. According to media reports on the study, data centre electricity demand is likely to more than double by 2030, while the IEA itself names uncertainties such as the pace of AI adoption and efficiency gains. We could not retrieve the IEA's own page and therefore rely on reports about it, so the figures should be checked in the original.
Direct Action and Initiatives
Zentrum für Politische Schönheit
Topics: Ethics & Society · The New Fascism
The Zentrum für Politische Schönheit (Center for Political Beauty) sees itself as an action-art collective and runs provocative campaigns meant to trigger public debate. It is not a neutral information service but a political actor whose actions and self-presentation are contested, and its website names no legal form. We link to it as an example of how parts of civil society respond to antidemocratic developments, not as a source of facts.
Radio and Podcasts
WDR 5 Das philosophische Radio
Topics: Consciousness · Ethics & Society · Artificial Intelligence
Das philosophische Radio ("The Philosophical Radio") is a weekly talk programme on WDR 5 in which Jürgen Wiebicke talks with philosophers and other experts, in German. Episodes run about 50 minutes and range from justice and democracy to artificial intelligence, most recently "Wisdom and AI" on 26 October 2026. Our essay draws on the episode with Rainer Mühlhoff of 1 September 2025.
Jung & Naiv
Topics: Ethics & Society · The New Fascism
Jung & Naiv is a political interview format by Tilo Jung, in German, in which politicians, journalists and other guests are questioned in long, uncut interviews. The length helps with checking, because you hear statements in context and not just as excerpts. We draw on episode 818 with Rainer Mühlhoff of 2 April 2026.
Logbuch:Netzpolitik
Topics: Ethics & Society
Logbuch:Netzpolitik is a German-language podcast by Tim Pritlove and Linus Neumann that, according to netzpolitik.org, has discussed the week's most important digital policy topics almost every week since 2011, with a focus on civil liberties, a free internet and IT security. According to the same 2019 source, it runs without advertising, paywall or sponsorship, and the hosts are close to the Chaos Computer Club. We have not checked whether rhythm and funding are still the same today.
Computer und Kommunikation (Deutschlandfunk)
Topics: Artificial Intelligence · Ethics & Society
"Computer und Kommunikation" is the German public radio station Deutschlandfunk's technology magazine, hosted by Manfred Kloiber and Michael Gessat, with segments on IT security, data protection, IT policy and computer science. Episodes are about 30 minutes long and recently also take up AI topics, such as European AI models and risk prevention for AI. The release rhythm is given as weekly or biweekly depending on the source.
Tech Won't Save Us
Topics: Ecology · Ethics & Society · Artificial Intelligence
Paris Marx's podcast comes out weekly and talks with guests about the tech industry, its promises and the people behind them. Recently it covered data centers, the infrastructure behind AI, fossil fuels and police surveillance, which also touches our Ecology topic. It deliberately questions the power of Silicon Valley and is clearly not neutral.
Your Undivided Attention
Topics: Artificial Intelligence · Ethics & Society
The podcast of the Center for Humane Technology, hosted by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin, asks how new technologies shape work, thinking and living together. It comes out every two weeks, belongs to the TED Audio Collective, and recently covered AI safety, AI-supported policing and the effects of AI on jobs. It is produced by an organization that explicitly advocates for humane technology and is therefore not a neutral observer.
Hard Fork
Topics: Artificial Intelligence
Hard Fork is a weekly New York Times podcast in which Kevin Roose and Casey Newton talk about technology and the future every Friday. We include it so that, next to more critical sources, the list also reflects general-audience technology reporting. As with every entry here: anyone listening should check claims for themselves.
Mindscape
Topics: Consciousness
Mindscape is a conversation podcast by the physicist Sean Carroll in which people from different fields talk about interesting ideas. Besides physics it covers philosophy, neuroscience, biology and politics, and every episode comes with show notes and a full transcript that makes statements easy to check. Not every episode concerns our topics, as the range is wide.