Ana Brandusescu
@anabrandusescu.bsky.social
Researcher, policy analyst, social scientist. PhD-ing on political power and privatization in the scale of AI governance.
she/her | Montreal | anabrandusescu.com
she/her | Montreal | anabrandusescu.com
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Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
Is infrastructure sabotage always a destructive act led by seditious individuals? no
my new article in Human Geography studies Colombian public sector workers ‘breaking’ infrastructure to oppose privatization in 1992, and argues sabotage can reshape policies, politicize society & more
my new article in Human Geography studies Colombian public sector workers ‘breaking’ infrastructure to oppose privatization in 1992, and argues sabotage can reshape policies, politicize society & more
December 15, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Is infrastructure sabotage always a destructive act led by seditious individuals? no
my new article in Human Geography studies Colombian public sector workers ‘breaking’ infrastructure to oppose privatization in 1992, and argues sabotage can reshape policies, politicize society & more
my new article in Human Geography studies Colombian public sector workers ‘breaking’ infrastructure to oppose privatization in 1992, and argues sabotage can reshape policies, politicize society & more
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
Finally updated my Research page for the first time since April so you can peruse all my latest rants all in one place www.blairaf.com/research/
Research - Blair Attard-Frost
My research is qualitative and interdisciplinary. I combine theories and methods from social sciences, humanities, management, and engineering to produce unique frameworks and actionable insights.
www.blairaf.com
December 19, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Finally updated my Research page for the first time since April so you can peruse all my latest rants all in one place www.blairaf.com/research/
Instead of calling Big Tech companies for what they are -- fascist -- we have abstracted the language about them to "hyperscalers"? I see.
December 19, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Instead of calling Big Tech companies for what they are -- fascist -- we have abstracted the language about them to "hyperscalers"? I see.
OpenAI has been grantwashing for a long time. Hope we take it more seriously now.
December 18, 2025 at 5:47 PM
OpenAI has been grantwashing for a long time. Hope we take it more seriously now.
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
Tech companies are actually pretty explicit about this: The point is to have a device that you can’t escape, one that always has access to you and makes you a constant source of data beyond what a phone does. Surveillance-first devices.
In 2025, wearables made a hard pivot to AI
If you want to put AI on someone 24/7, wearables are the best bet.
www.theverge.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Tech companies are actually pretty explicit about this: The point is to have a device that you can’t escape, one that always has access to you and makes you a constant source of data beyond what a phone does. Surveillance-first devices.
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
Is it racist to bar visas for international adoption *only* for Black/brown children?
Yes.
Is it racist for an industry to move children from the global south to mostly white homes, stripping them of their family, culture, language and even the right to know who they are?
Also Yes.
Yes.
Is it racist for an industry to move children from the global south to mostly white homes, stripping them of their family, culture, language and even the right to know who they are?
Also Yes.
December 17, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Is it racist to bar visas for international adoption *only* for Black/brown children?
Yes.
Is it racist for an industry to move children from the global south to mostly white homes, stripping them of their family, culture, language and even the right to know who they are?
Also Yes.
Yes.
Is it racist for an industry to move children from the global south to mostly white homes, stripping them of their family, culture, language and even the right to know who they are?
Also Yes.
The Canada Revenue Agency's chatbot mostly generates wrong answers and is expensive.
"The agency says the bulk of cost is salaries ($13.67 million), though that doesn’t include costs related to employee benefits and travel. Another $3.21 million was spent on IT consultants for the project."
"The agency says the bulk of cost is salaries ($13.67 million), though that doesn’t include costs related to employee benefits and travel. Another $3.21 million was spent on IT consultants for the project."
The CRA spent $18M on 'Charlie,' a new tax information chatbot that is wrong most of the time
The Canada Revenue Agency paid $18 million for a chatbot the auditor general says give her team the wrong answer 66 per cent of the time.
nationalpost.com
December 13, 2025 at 3:28 PM
The Canada Revenue Agency's chatbot mostly generates wrong answers and is expensive.
"The agency says the bulk of cost is salaries ($13.67 million), though that doesn’t include costs related to employee benefits and travel. Another $3.21 million was spent on IT consultants for the project."
"The agency says the bulk of cost is salaries ($13.67 million), though that doesn’t include costs related to employee benefits and travel. Another $3.21 million was spent on IT consultants for the project."
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
people who think they're being discreet by saying nothing (and quietly policing those who do speak up) will come out of the woodwork in due time. they'll make us all sick with their rancid morality.
December 11, 2025 at 8:43 PM
people who think they're being discreet by saying nothing (and quietly policing those who do speak up) will come out of the woodwork in due time. they'll make us all sick with their rancid morality.
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
in 10 or 15 years, when it requires no courage whatsoever (indeed, when styling oneself as "human-centered" and avoiding speaking out about it are incompatible), they'll cite dead palestinians and lament the genocide and say zionism is bad.
Imagine if all the tech critics actively spoke out against zionism.
December 11, 2025 at 8:41 PM
in 10 or 15 years, when it requires no courage whatsoever (indeed, when styling oneself as "human-centered" and avoiding speaking out about it are incompatible), they'll cite dead palestinians and lament the genocide and say zionism is bad.
Participating in the dumbest and most violent timeline.
It is such a dumb and violent time to do a PhD.
December 11, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Participating in the dumbest and most violent timeline.
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
Imagine if all the tech critics actively spoke out against zionism.
October 16, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Imagine if all the tech critics actively spoke out against zionism.
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
If Copilot is what innovation looks like, I don't want it.
November 12, 2025 at 3:13 AM
If Copilot is what innovation looks like, I don't want it.
Frankly, I'm not sure why anyone in the Canadian tech policy space is surprised at Microsoft's latest $7.5 billion investment in data centre expansion, premising "Canadian sovereignty."
How are we taking digital sovereignty seriously?
How are we taking digital sovereignty seriously?
December 11, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Frankly, I'm not sure why anyone in the Canadian tech policy space is surprised at Microsoft's latest $7.5 billion investment in data centre expansion, premising "Canadian sovereignty."
How are we taking digital sovereignty seriously?
How are we taking digital sovereignty seriously?
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
lol we wrote this a year ago and things have just gotten more ridiculous ever since.
A thread on me losing my mind trying to buy basic stuff on the internet 🧵
A thread on me losing my mind trying to buy basic stuff on the internet 🧵
so I said we'd write something about "AI", well, here it is -
#DataBack Vol 2: Truth Before “Indigenous AI”. Understanding and Resisting Generative AI animikii.com/databack/und...
#DataBack Vol 2: Truth Before “Indigenous AI”. Understanding and Resisting Generative AI animikii.com/databack/und...
Understanding and Resisting Generative AI
— Animikii Indigenous Technology
Animikii empowers Indigenous communities with culturally informed technology solutions like Niiwin—our groundbreaking tool for Indigenous data sovereignty and community empowerment.
animikii.com
December 8, 2025 at 8:45 PM
lol we wrote this a year ago and things have just gotten more ridiculous ever since.
A thread on me losing my mind trying to buy basic stuff on the internet 🧵
A thread on me losing my mind trying to buy basic stuff on the internet 🧵
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
You gotta be kidding me
www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-est...
www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-est...
U of T establishes new Hinton Chair in Artificial Intelligence with support from Google
The University of Toronto has established the Hinton Chair in Artificial Intelligence with $10 million in funding from Google. This new chair will honour the extraordinary legacy of University Profess...
www.utoronto.ca
December 7, 2025 at 4:39 PM
You gotta be kidding me
www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-est...
www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-est...
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
The biggest challenge in AI governance rn is leaders who are scared of regulation and scared of Trump
Once again pointing at my giant neon "don't rely on governments to regulate AI" sign
December 9, 2025 at 1:25 AM
The biggest challenge in AI governance rn is leaders who are scared of regulation and scared of Trump
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
Even if this was true--and I question the premise that there are a lot of Jewish Americans who don't know what the Jordan River is--this kind of condescending "if you think murder is wrong name five of their albums" stuff is exactly why they lost the kids
Hillary Clinton sassing off "young Jewish Americans who don't know their own history" in a way that is disgustingly antisemitic. "They say from the river to the sea...they don't even know which river and which sea!" Fuck off.
December 4, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Even if this was true--and I question the premise that there are a lot of Jewish Americans who don't know what the Jordan River is--this kind of condescending "if you think murder is wrong name five of their albums" stuff is exactly why they lost the kids
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
Must read:
Queering intelligence: A theory of intelligence as performance and a critique of individual and artificial intelligence by @blairaf.com
Queering intelligence: A theory of intelligence as performance and a critique of individual and artificial intelligence by @blairaf.com
Queering intelligence | 3 | A theory of intelligence as performance an
How intelligence is defined has a cascading effect on how artificial intelligence (AI) is defined, developed, managed, and governed. Intelligence is an
www.taylorfrancis.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Must read:
Queering intelligence: A theory of intelligence as performance and a critique of individual and artificial intelligence by @blairaf.com
Queering intelligence: A theory of intelligence as performance and a critique of individual and artificial intelligence by @blairaf.com
Reposted by Ana Brandusescu
Must-reads:
The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of utopia through artificial general intelligence by @timnitgebru.bsky.social and @xriskology.bsky.social
Disabling Intelligences: Legacies of Eugenics and How We are Wrong about AI by Rua M Williams
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of utopia through artificial general intelligence by @timnitgebru.bsky.social and @xriskology.bsky.social
Disabling Intelligences: Legacies of Eugenics and How We are Wrong about AI by Rua M Williams
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of utopia through artificial general intelligence
| First Monday
firstmonday.org
December 4, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Must-reads:
The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of utopia through artificial general intelligence by @timnitgebru.bsky.social and @xriskology.bsky.social
Disabling Intelligences: Legacies of Eugenics and How We are Wrong about AI by Rua M Williams
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of utopia through artificial general intelligence by @timnitgebru.bsky.social and @xriskology.bsky.social
Disabling Intelligences: Legacies of Eugenics and How We are Wrong about AI by Rua M Williams
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...