blairaf.com - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

“Alberta’s technology minister has said the province hopes to see $100 billion worth of artificial intelligence data centres under construction in the next five years. The massive operations require an immense amount of electricity to run and cool off computer servers.”

submitted 2 hours ago • 0 comments

"Once again, the AI victory rings hollow when we consider that the humans in this game had to leave their best talents behind – in this case, their collaborative relationships."

submitted 1 hour ago • 0 comments

I've been warning for years about Tech's interest in Nuclear and how the investment in Nuclear will not feasibly satisfy or meet AI's energy needs, and thus will ultimately lead to threats and compromise to Nuclear safety. And here we are. thebulletin.org/2025/02/trum...

submitted 6 hours ago • 2 comments

I’m sorry, I missed the announcement that McGill University is talking about cutting 500 jobs in the next three years. Canadian higher ed is entering a full-blown cataclysm. www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7455165

submitted 20 hours ago • 13 comments

Woke up today feeling deeply tired & burnt out but had a wonderful roundtable chat about trans AI policy with some very lovely people and now my soul feels full again

submitted 20 hours ago • 0 comments

The NSA has historically been an instrument the US government uses to attack people's civil rights and this is a reminder that none of us should work for them Also, these purges will not stay contained at NSA and that's one reason this story matters. www.aclu.org/news/nationa...

submitted 1 day ago • 7 comments

Once again pointing to my giant neon "don't rely on governments to regulate AI" sign www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Trans folks have been fighting against misgendering in computational ID systems since the 1960s. Shout out to my transcestors <3 @histoftech.bsky.social Hicks, (2019). Hacking the Cis-tem: in IEEE History of Computing, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 20-33, 1 Jan.-March 2019, marhicks.com/writing/hick...

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

1. Major exclusive breaking news: Marco Rubio may have just banned trans foreigners seeking visas with correct gender markers from US Entry. A new cable, effective immediately, says visas must contain assigned sex at birth and should be rejected if they don't. Subscribe to support our journalism.

submitted 1 day ago • 132 comments

New Research Alert! The report “Trans digital rights: Improving data visibility, privacy and belonging for gender-diverse communities” ✨ 💫🌈 Our research asks: If we could reimagine digital rights that center the needs of gender-diverse communities, what would they look like?

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

ball!

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Seems like a good time to repost this old IBM slide

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Once again pointing to my giant neon "don't rely on governments to regulate AI" sign www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Got invited to exhibit my bizarre sci-fi web game/glitch art project in a studio space for the first time ahhhh now I have to figure out a fun setup for the exhibit

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

Google, Microsoft, and Meta's increasing use of data centers has resulted in increased air pollution from extensive fossil fuel energy consumption and associated public health costs related to treating cancers, asthma, and other similar issues, valued at over $5.4 billion in the past five years.

submitted 3 days ago • 25 comments

sunday

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

these are the kind of moves that'll eventually move the needle towards shifting power away from tech oligarchs

submitted 4 days ago • 16 comments

The attacks on DEI are a pretext for a much more radical agenda of reversing the gains of the civil rights movement, an objective the Trump administration is pursuing with zeal. A Great Resegregation. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

submitted 5 days ago • 138 comments

New executive order imposing tariffs on countries that regulate US tech companies: "My Administration will act, imposing tariffs and taking such other responsive actions necessary to mitigate the harm to the United States and to repair any resulting imbalance" www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Spending my Friday night writing a strongly worded letter to Reviewer 2 what are you all up to?

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

I've obtained 328 pages of government records about the drafting of Canada's AI & Data Act through an access to information request. Breakdown of what's in the release package: docs.google.com/spreadsheets... Link to read & download the full release package in the replies 👇

submitted 7 days ago • 2 comments

Final assignment for one of my classes is students imagine a catastrophic scenario where AI goes horribly wrong and explore the policy implications of it, last term one group worked on a scenario where Canada Post gets sold to Amazon and a string of horrible incidents occurs anyways happy friday

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Our takeaway from the Paris AI Action Summit: It's time to start thinking about how we can work against "AI governance" when it fails to include impacted communities Our new essay in @techpolicypress.bsky.social with @anabrandusescu.bsky.social @davidthewid.bsky.social & @christelle.bsky.social

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

I feel so sick. Enough with the lies, enough with the games. They know exactly what they're doing. This is a neo-Nazi movement. Proudly so. The only reason they've kept it coded up until now was to take advantage of those who didn't want to believe it. No more looking away. Face up to what it is.

submitted 6 days ago • 235 comments

In 2025 you can just say things like "open-source ethical free range democratized enterprise SaaS AI platform" and people will throw money at you

submitted 6 days ago • 3 comments

Big tech waiting for the AI regs to roll out

submitted 107 days ago • 1 comment

👀

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

JD Vance is proclaiming to the world that the US's AI industry will dominate, Elon Musk and DOGE are hollowing out the government with an AI-first strategy, and Silicon Valley's is stuck on a growth-at-all-costs AI approach. As @katecrawford.bsky.social put it: 'AI is in its empire era'

submitted 6 days ago • 12 comments

Countergovernance = a process of citizen opposition against state power. AI countergovernance = a process through which communities and workers resist government and industry AI governance initiatives that do not serve their interests.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Got two accept with minor revisions decisions in less than 24 hours, there are decades where nothing happens and days where decades happen

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Our takeaway from the Paris AI Action Summit: It's time to start thinking about how we can work against "AI governance" when it fails to include impacted communities Our new essay in @techpolicypress.bsky.social with @anabrandusescu.bsky.social @davidthewid.bsky.social & @christelle.bsky.social

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

AI Countergovernance: Lessons Learned from Canada and Paris "We learned three lessons from Canada’s failure to pass national AI legislation. These lessons can be applied to oppose unaccountable state-led AI governance around the world."

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

OK look: automated decision-making ("AI") tools are tools -- they will not produce "efficiency" in and of themselves. They are, however, outstanding mechanisms for evading accountability and enacting service cuts in the name of "objective" analysis.

submitted 7 days ago • 2 comments