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blair
@blairaf.com
3.1K followers 240 following 710 posts
Asst. Prof, Amii Fellow, sci-fi creator @ UAlberta

Transfeminist AI ethics, policy, governance: blairaf.com

Gay trans cyborg warriors vs. AI monsters: objecttype3.app
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blairaf.com
They also rely entirely on the Cattel-Horn-Carroll theory without engaging in the many criticisms that have been made of the CTC model. CTC and other psychometric instruments like it are historically rooted in eugenics. Everything leads back to eugenics in AGI! www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-...
Excerpt from a paper called Queering Intelligence
November 27, 2025 at 4:28 AM
blairaf.com
Meme of children swimming with Mom, mom is labelled AI governance and is holding up a child named consumer safety. Child named AI ethics is struggling to swim and a skeleton named political economy of AI sits deep under the water
November 25, 2025 at 11:38 PM
blairaf.com
Saturday mood
Huxley the dog has white black and brown fur and big ears and is cozy laying down on a sofa chair on her side with he legs spread out
November 22, 2025 at 6:39 PM
blairaf.com
Re: using poems to sabotage LLMs, I wrote a short story around this premise last year - it's called Manifesto and it's a chatlog from a world where political violence has been automated.

Read here: blairaf.com/library/crea...
Excerpt from the short story "Manifesto"
November 21, 2025 at 4:38 PM
blairaf.com
If you ever find yourself on the tenure track job market remember to negotiate for a good office view
Photo of the Edmonton skyline at sunset
November 19, 2025 at 11:53 PM
blairaf.com
Ok so resign??
Screenshot of an article from Fortune in which the CEO of Anthropic wants that AI leaders should not be in charge of the technology's future
November 19, 2025 at 3:35 PM
blairaf.com
Happy friday
Huxley the dog has big ears and white brown and black fur and is giving big puppy eyes to the camera
November 14, 2025 at 8:47 PM
blairaf.com
no
Google pop-up ad to "try AI mode"
November 10, 2025 at 9:30 PM
blairaf.com
"we actually don't know if AI will have the positive effects we're claiming but that's ok we are starting a new program to find out & we promise the AI will fix everything"
Screenshot from budget describing the governments new AI measurement program
November 5, 2025 at 2:17 AM
blairaf.com
"a lil bit of austerity is ok we promise the AI will fix it"
Screenshot from Canada budget 2025 detailing the governments strategy for 'spending less to invest more"
November 5, 2025 at 2:10 AM
blairaf.com
Canada's Budget 2025 just dropped. It contains an admission that men and high-income people will benefit the most from the government's new AI funding
Screenshot of a table from the budget indicating that men and high-income individuals will benefit the most from the budget item entitled "Seizing the Full Potential of Artificial Intelligence" Screenshot from the report explaining what the symbols used to indicate beneficiary characteristics mean
November 4, 2025 at 9:49 PM
blairaf.com
From the framework - digital sovereignty is the ability to operate with autonomy, but also digital autonomy is impossible to achieve. Therefore sovereignty is impossible to achieve. So why continue calling it sovereignty if what we're actually talking about is national security and securitization?
Screenshot from website that reads "What is digital sovereignty? For the GC, digital sovereignty is defined as the ability of the GC to exercise autonomy over its digital infrastructure, data and intellectual property. It is the capacity to operate effectively and make independent decisions about digital assets, regardless of where technologies are developed, hosted, or supported. Digital sovereignty relies on the GC’s shared ability to govern, access, and secure its digital systems so that programs and services can continue without interruption. It is a collective responsibility across government to keep those systems reliable, resilient, and available. It is impossible for the GC to obtain a state of complete digital sovereignty, known as digital autonomy, due to the absolute interconnected nature of the digital world."
November 4, 2025 at 9:38 PM
blairaf.com
The framework suggests that it is not possible to on-shore every software component and material component in the government's digital supply chain. By definition, a nation does not have sovereignty over a supply chain if that supply chain is structured transnationally
Screenshot from website that reads "Global Technology Market Dependencies: Most of the digital products and services used by the GC are provided by a small number of major global technology companies. This reliance creates concentration risk and can limit flexibility in choosing or replacing services. Even when engaging Canadian suppliers, many rely on components, platforms, or infrastructure sourced through global supply chains that are subject to foreign jurisdictions and market dynamics, which can include lawful interruption of the flow of goods and services. These global conditions, including export controls, sanction regimes, and other regulatory measures, can also affect access to software, updates, or technical support. Managing these dependencies requires sustained attention to assurance, diversification, and long-term business continuity planning across government systems and services."
November 4, 2025 at 9:24 PM
blairaf.com
How can we address algorithmic justice challenges when we are faced with unreliable and malicious governments? My new article "Algorithmic Justice vs. State Power" confronts this question. Read here: montrealethics.ai/state-of-ai-...
Screenshot from an article entitled "Algorithmic Justice vs. State Power"
November 4, 2025 at 3:59 PM
blairaf.com
Morning nap was a huge success now she is gearing up for the afternoon nap
Huxley the dog is sitting on a fuzzy green blanket and yawning a very big yawn
November 2, 2025 at 9:56 PM
blairaf.com
How she's spending her extra hour
Huxley the dog has black brown and white fur and big ears and is curled up sleeping on a big fuzzy pink bean bag chair
November 2, 2025 at 5:43 PM
blairaf.com
stopping work and starting the weekend early so I can hang out with this critter
Huxley the dog has white brown and black fur and big ears and is looking at you with big eyes and some trees out the window in the background
October 17, 2025 at 8:57 PM
blairaf.com
Once again pointing at my "don't rely on government to regulate AI" sign
Excerpt from an article that reads: Future AI governance research, practices, and systems have much to learn from trans ways of thinking, feeling, and doing governance. It is not sufficient for us to do nothing more than wait for alliances of state and industry power to reach accords on legal frameworks for AI, even if we are granted a seat at the table of their discussions. It is not sufficient for us to hope that those laws will be effectively and justly enforced to protect trans lives, especially in the present context of intensifying anti-trans violence led and sanctioned by state actors. A transfeminist future for AI governance begins within our communities and outside of the state. As Stryker noted in concluding her account of the history of trans liberation movements [12]: “We can do more than cross our fingers and hope for the best if we ourselves work together to bend our little corner of the universe.”
October 17, 2025 at 7:57 PM
blairaf.com
every AI policy person upon hearing this news
Image of bugs bunny drinking a glass of carrot juice at a bar in a white tuexdo looking really tired
October 14, 2025 at 10:12 PM
blairaf.com
"how's Alberta are you settled in now?"
"the milkmen are watching me"
LinkedIn screenshot showing someone at Alberta Milk has viewed my profile
October 10, 2025 at 12:48 AM
blairaf.com
The OpenAI for Countries initiative is part of the Stargate project backed by the US government, OpenAI is very clear on their own website that their For Countries infrastructure partnerships are supported by and coordinated with the US government
Excerpt from OpenAI website that reads: Today, we’re introducing OpenAI for Countries, a new initiative within the Stargate project. This is a moment when we need to act to support countries around the world that would prefer to build on democratic AI rails, and provide a clear alternative to authoritarian versions of AI that would deploy it to consolidate power. In response to these interested governments, OpenAI is offering a new kind of partnership for the Intelligence Age. Through formalized infrastructure collaborations, and in coordination with the US government, OpenAI will: Partner with countries to help build in-country data center capacity. These secure data centers will help support the sovereignty of a country’s data, build new local industries, and make it easy to customize AI and leverage their data in a private and compliant way. Provide customized ChatGPT to citizens. This will help deliver improved healthcare and education, more efficient public services, and more. This will be AI of, by, and for the needs of each particular country, localized in their language and for their culture and respecting future global standards.
October 9, 2025 at 3:57 PM
blairaf.com
Looks like Canada's approach to "sovereign AI" will involve creating structural dependencies on large US tech companies
Excerpt from an article that reads: Lehane met with AI Minister Evan Solomon on Monday. Solomon told The Logic in June that his mission is to “create sovereign AI.” But “sovereignty is not solitude,” Solomon said, noting that Canada still needs technology and capital from other countries. OpenAI is participating in similar initiatives in other advanced economies. In May, the firm launched OpenAI for Countries, a new program that localizes ChatGPT and its underlying models for a nation’s particular customs and the requirements of its public sector. It is also offering to build data centres for countries that help pay for the infrastructure. Countries are turning to OpenAI because of its “cutting-edge technology,” which can be used to build homegrown tools and applications, and because the firm can help stimulate their domestic AI ecosystems by building or buying compute capacity, Lehane said.
October 9, 2025 at 3:44 PM
blairaf.com
beautiful, poised, & in her zone (big bird outside the window)
Huxley the dog has big ears and brown black and white fur and brown eyes and is staring out a window on a sunny day
September 28, 2025 at 8:22 PM
blairaf.com
Doing my best to keep a straight face while turning it into a teachable moment
Screenshot from a lecture slide entitled "Trump Executive Order on AI" that poses a question: "How does this EO compare with the Biden EO, or with legislation in Canada & the EU? What similarities or differences are there in the purpose & principles of this EO?"
September 16, 2025 at 8:15 PM
blairaf.com
The "teaching about digital policy" experience
Edited photo of a Captain Crunch cereal box that reads "Oops! all policy mess"
September 16, 2025 at 1:35 AM