Canada's draft AI strategy sets ambitious goals but can public trust be built through adoption alone? The Starling Centre contributed to a recent @thewalrus.ca discussion on AI governance, accountability, and public trust 👇 starlingcentre.ca/canadas-ai-s...

Deadline is tomorrow!! Looking forward to reading all the proposals ❤️

Five days left to apply!

If you live in Toronto and work on or care about critical approaches to AI, and want to connect with others who do too, @savasavasava.myatproto.social and I have organized an upcoming event that you're invited to! RSVP here: cryptpad.fr/form/#/3/for... More details in next post >>

New piece with the @starlingcentre.bsky.social on #Yondr pouches: Locking devices away doesn’t solve the problem—it reveals it. We’ve built a culture where being present means proving it. So why respond to a cultural issue with a tech fix? starlingcentre.ca/this-is-a-no... #dataharms #tech

C4P for the @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto this October! Starling invites papers for our panel: "Critical AI Literacy: Power, Governance, and Social Futures". Deadline April 30 More info on submitting an abstract can be found here: starlingcentre.ca/event/call-f...

Check out the trailer for GHOST IN THE MACHINE, coming soon to PBS and your screen! This feature documentary features 40 generous and brilliant AI experts, historians, philosophers, sociologists, journalists and thinkers discussing their work with @valerieveatch.bsky.social.

The @starlingcentre.bsky.social @westernufims.bsky.social is delighted to co-sponsor an online lecture by @danmcquillan.bsky.social next Friday, March 20 at 1pm ET. Registration is free, and you can tune in from anywhere on Al Gore's Internet! Register here: westernuniversity.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

📚🤖 Just published my second post with @starlingcentre.bsky.social AI in libraries might sound niche — but it raises bigger questions about who controls visibility, how discovery is shaped, and what gets amplified (or erased) in digital systems. #AIethics #ResponsibleData #PublicLibraries

In her latest post, @meghanvoll.bsky.social explores the backlash to AI features on @libbyapp.com from #inspireme recommendations to AI-assisted texts. It's a thoughtful deep-dive into AI, autonomy, and the future of public libraries. Read more here👇 starlingcentre.ca/an-inventory...

What we see operating through AI is an attempt to re-legitimise centralised power despite a polycrisis of its own making, & to do so by invoking the aura of high tech and the material force of energy politics. Decomputing advocates instead the infrastructuring of the common good.

Check out my first blog post as a researcher and contributor at @starlingcentre.bsky.social! In this blog post, I talk about why Smartphone Nation by Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr is a must read for anyone curious about how to protect their data, well-being, and learn more about their digital health!

@meghanvoll.bsky.social explores redress in digital life, and why Smartphone Nation is a must-read for families & anyone curious about digital well-being, in a new Starling Centre blog post. Protect your data, your time, and your peace of mind: starlingcentre.ca/what-smartph...

Belatedly sharing this longer 'Resisting AI' interview with McMaster Uni which ranges across the politics of AI, the failure of the usual remedies, forms of self-organised resistance, moves towards decomputing, and a focus on the role of universities. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nva...

As these teens describe, AI can diminish human relationships; devalue art; threaten the environment; lead to laziness; give unreliable results; pose privacy concerns; and be misused. So, please, stop with the narratives of inevitability and let's embrace a pedagogy and politics of refusal.

‪ Only four more days until @oddletters.bsky.social comes to @westernu.ca to speak @westernufims.bsky.social on the right wing history of venture capital! Register here: uwo.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

if you will be in london, ontario next week, i will also be in london, ontario next week!

We're delighted to announce that we're co-hosting M.R. Sauter @oddletters.bsky.social, who will speak @westernu.ca next week on the right wing origins of venture capital. If you're interested in the the political economy of innovation, financial law, & democratic governance -- this one's for you!

AI companies are playing a game wherein these computer programs are presented to the public as autonomous individuals capable of issuing a meaningful apology. The machine is just a machine. Human beings owe the apology for building the machine irresponsibly and unleashing it on the world.

The only New Year's Eve countdown that matters!

(Re)introducing the "Homework Machine," a 1981 poem by Shel Silverstein that turned out to be strikingly prescient about AI

"...universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically" www.ru.nl/en/research/...

The AI Bubble in a nutshell: WSJ installed an AI-powered vending machine in their office and journalists, via Slack, convinced it to start ordering and giving away anything and everything, including a PS5, wine, cigarettes, and a live fish. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...

Increasingly, I've been interested in understanding the ideas and beliefs that have shaped Silicon Valley and its technologies. "Engagement" is one of them. Far from merely a base economic impulse, the concept did--and continues to do--important ideological work for the high-tech industry

This is deeply distressing. futurism.com/future-socie...

Only two more weeks to go 👀 web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicd...

Planning your week? Add this #booktalk to your list! 📖 THE PUBLIC DOMAIN explores how we can protect the “commons of the mind” & why it’s as vital as intellectual property. 📆 Thurs Dec 18 🕙 10 AM – 11 AM PT 📍 Online 🎟️ www.eventbrite.com/e/1839697527... @dukelaw.bsky.social @mollysvh.bsky.social

The University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public is looking to bring on new postdoctoral scholars to join our research community starting in 2026-2027. Come collaborate w/ our amazing, interdisciplinary team working to understand & help people navigate our complex information ecosystem!

Enshittification has reached academia.

Analysis: New supersized data centers sprouting across the country are starting to transform landscapes and communities, sparking debates about what our energy systems and environment can sustain.

This is so well done. Hilarious, if it weren't so devastating. “1,705,947 seconds meditated. Together we’re making no difference." oilwell.app

Okay #AcademicSky, #HistorySky, etc: There's a lot of chatter abt how we're moving forward with assignments in the "Age of AI." Especially for those of us in writing disciplines. I also want to hear what YOU'RE doing. Let's create a master resource thread-list here!

Australia has banned under-16s from major social platforms in a world-first move to curb algorithmic harm. Can blunt restrictions really fix a system designed for addiction? lfpress.com/opinion/colu...

There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom

The war on disinformation is being dismantled on purpose. This piece from @theverge.com shows how fact-checking and accountability are reframed as “censorship,” then systematically targeted until the guardrails crack. A must read. www.theverge.com/features/839...