Shaza Arif

Research Associate

Shaza Arif

Shaza Arif

Professional Experience

Shaza Arif serves as a Research Associate at the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS) in Islamabad. She is also pursuing an MPhil in Public Management at Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, after having graduated with distinction in BSc (Hons) Defence and Diplomatic Studies from the same university.

Ms Arif’s expertise spans National Security & Strategy, Defence Modernisation, Nuclear Security, and Artificial Intelligence. She has made her mark by participating in various international conferences and workshops, including those at Durban University of Technology in South Africa, Tsinghua University in China, and the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan. Furthermore, she has collaborated with the British American Security Information Council (BASIC) on the Nuclear Responsibilities Project and currently serves as a Board Member for BASIC’s Emerging Voices Network (EVN). Her insights are frequently featured in both domestic and international newspapers and journals, underlining her contributions to her fields of study.

Publications

Layoffs in the Global Tech Industry

Contrary to general perception, in recent years, the tech sector has entered a rather turbulent phase, marked by massive layoffs. 2022 witnessed a staggering  649% increase in layoffs, which continued to manifest itself in the subsequent year. The first quarter of 2023 witnessed a peak in layoffs and the tech industry underwent its most significant contraction in the last ten years, with the loss of more than 240,000 jobs.
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Boycotts: Moral Choices in Turbulent Times

Resistance has many forms. At its core, it reflects how inaction towards injustice is synonymous to complicity. In this regard, the Armed Conflict Location & Events Data project has recently analysed the Israel-Palestine conflict, offering insightful data. According to their report, mass mobilisations have been observed, with approximately 7,283 pro-Palestine protests, from 7th October to 24th November, in 118 countries and territories.
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ChatGPT

Stephen Wolfram, What Is ChatGPT Doing … and Why Does It Work?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) models such as ChatGPT have become increasingly popular owing to their impressive human-like responses generated in an unexpectedly short time. Individuals from all age groups continue to explore such models with great excitement, given their captivating potential in different fields from content writing to coding.

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OpenAI’s Leadership Crisis: Lessons to be Learnt

OpenAI has emerged as an important entity in the tech world, gaining immense popularity for its groundbreaking advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI). The company surfaced to the pinnacle of its popularity following the launch of ChatGPT, an advanced AI tool that impressed users with its human-like writing style. In the form of ChatGPT, OpenAI has made AI tangible, bringing it to everyone’s palm – quite literally.
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Pakistan in 2023: A Reflection

Each year in our life marks a significant milestone, serving not only as a measure of time but as an important chapter at individual and collective levels. No episode occurs in isolation; each leaves a profound impact and steers the future course of events.
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Israel-Palestine Conflict in an Age of Information and Disinformation

Israel-Palestine conflict has been the lynchpin of Middle Eastern dynamics for more than several decades. While tensions never truly subsided between the warring sides, the protracted conflict has often taken a back seat, overshadowed by other global crises such as the invasion of Crimea, onset of the Pandemic, and the Russian-Ukraine war, etc. However, the recent heartbreaking hostilities that have transpired since 7th October have made it global headline news.
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