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
If useful, here's my attempt to process my feelings about how I feel sadly kinda — or rather very — sick from all this AI fascist nonsense as an academic. 😶🌫️ I'd be pleased if even one person finds something useful because there's something to be said for processing this all together, so, um, enjoy?
Anxiety
Reasoning (and crying) my way through fascist AI-induced anxiety.
olivia.science
🔴 For the past year @lucasamin.bsky.social and I have been investigating Palantir in the UK What we found was a company with unrivalled political access, selling a product many data experts in the NHS don’t use, and don’t rate Please read and share democracyforsale.substack.com/p/its-just-a...
"It's just a waste of time": inside Palantir's £330m NHS failure
Our new investigation reveals the problems with Palantir’s NHS tech - and the unrivalled political access that fuelled the firm’s march into the British state
democracyforsale.substack.com
“'They’re becoming further and further reliant on American tech companies to consolidate and make value out of all these massive data sets... [Palantir will] offer services relatively cheap up front, and then [they] get that organization or government hooked,' Doctor said" theijf.org/article/defe...
Defence department to buy Palantir software for $7.4 million each year
Government says it ‘inadvertently omitted’ to announce contract with controversial American tech company
theijf.org
Jeff Doctor@jeff.doctor · last yr.“We look forward to the opportunities this will unlock for using Palantir software to transform how Canadian Public Sector entities execute their mandates and achieve mission success.” bsky.app/profile/davi...
The fact that J.K. Rowling successfully bullied Amnesty International into taking down a report that accurately called out her attack on trans people, especially trans women, is so repulsive and such a display of the power of her money, and her choice to put her vast fortune behind persecution.
Amnesty removes report that called JK Rowling's centre 'anti-rights'
Amnesty International UK has removed a report which labelled JK Rowling's sexual abuse crisis centre Beira's Place as "anti-rights".
thepinknews.com
The amount of money that the effective altruists can just spend on all their "research labs" and think tanks to influence (tech) policy is really baffling.
I have a foolproof way to make sure that your papers contain absolutely no fake references . . . . . read the papers you cite.
it's all just two sides of the same ol colonial coin bsky.app/profile/core...
Corey Atad@coreyatad.com · 4w agocan't stop laughing at this Poilievre: "We will reinstill a warrior culture, not a woke culture."
"digital colonialism" eh, I wonder where I've heard that before www.mediatechdemocracy.com/all-podcasts...
Big Tech S4E9: The Entrenched Colonialism of Tech, with Jeff Doctor — Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy
mediatechdemocracy.com
New preprint! So honoured to have worked with Ishani Ray on providing vital critique on "AI literacy" & correctives for those interested in understanding why "just use the newest version of an LLM" is nonsense Contra Literacy-Laundering: Mechanistic Critical AI Literacy doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 1/
can I just say again: lol
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · last mo."I don’t mean to be rude, but all Moroccans here who aren’t good enough to play for the Netherlands go on to play for Morocco." - Rafael van der Vaart, March 2026 (former midfielder for the Netherlands national team, now pundit) can I just say: lol www.reuters.com/sports/socce...
"The US, home to Silicon Valley, billion-dollar aid packages to Israel, & lonely but powerful backing against war crime investigatory bodies like the ICC. This week marks both 250 years of US “independence” and 1000 days of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. The latter milestone is more important."
Sarah Kendzior@sarahkendzior.bsky.social · last mo.New article! Where is America going? On Trump's July 4 disaster, the stolen sovereignty of the US, the leftist primary wins, and the plan to merge the US and Israeli militaries. Also, Vanilla Ice: sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/stop-colla...
Can Canadian universities quit pushing this scam industry too? Please
Teresa Heffernan@tjheffernan.bsky.social · last mo.@evansolomon.bsky.social Can the Canadian government please quit pushing this scam industry run by billionaires out to destroy knowledge and the planet? “He seemed to use it more as a digital priest whose primary purpose was to confirm that he was right and everyone else was mistaken.”
@evansolomon.bsky.social Can the Canadian government please quit pushing this scam industry run by billionaires out to destroy knowledge and the planet? “He seemed to use it more as a digital priest whose primary purpose was to confirm that he was right and everyone else was mistaken.”
Futurism@futurism.com · last mo."It's like being in an abusive marriage... I'm sitting here dealing with somebody that isn't living in reality."
Quite fitting actually, the strategy definitely needs a check up. How it jumps from "risks of AI are real" to wanting to supercharge adoption while calling upon the holy trinity of literacy, privacy and transparency to save us from the risks, points to some health issues.
Patiently waiting
Ana Brandusescu@anabrandusescu.bsky.social · last mo.I didn't get to ask my question for the Canadian AI Policy in a Global Context panel at #FAccT2026 so hoping it can be answered on here. Re: @cohere.com's current and/or past partnership with Palantir. What has Cohere learned from choosing to partner with a company complicit in human rights abuses?
For more on Canadian tech complicity w/ ICE & Israel, connected back to Canadian genocide of Indigenous peoples, see this brilliant panel that @kristenthomasen.bsky.social organized earlier this year: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NGr... (And which I livetweeted here: bsky.app/profile/cyn-...) #FAccT2026
Technical Collaborators: Canada's Tech-Facilitated Complicity with ICE and Beyond - Panel Discussion
YouTube video by Windsor Law
youtube.com
Cynthia Khoo@cyn-k.bsky.social · last mo.Now Prof. Suchman focusing on Palantir's role in military AI. Speaking of which, see below. #FAccT2026 Should have mentioned this on the Canadian AI policy panel too. Conflicts of interest and complicity all the way down.
Palantir's collaboration with ICE and Thiel's wannabe Sauron fantasy should be enough to make clear that Canada should have nothing to do with this company. Canadian citizens did not vote for a Trump/Maga/Big Tech/Oil Industry corporate welfare model.
Ana Brandusescu@anabrandusescu.bsky.social · last mo."The opacity around the Palantir contract is typical for business deals involving that company. “No matter what we do on policies around open government, features including more transparency on contracts in the Department of Defence and law enforcement have not come to fruition,” Brandusescu said.
It is profoundly dystopian that Canada's PM and the Minister of AI and Innovation unveiled the new national AI strategy at a hospital.
It's really notable how much the tech sector has just tossed aside any pretense of ethical, environmental, social, or personal responsibility over the past five years. Explicable, but still head-spinning #facct2026 #facct26
Alright all, it's that time: if you've ever taught my work, would you be so kind as to DM me with details? I (and my tenure file) appreciate it!
"What does target generation even mean when the settler-colonial policy is one of elimination? And since Israel has been bombing everything, why hype stories about AI targeting? The focus on target generation minimizes the genocidal intent, painting perpetrators as victims, pawns of the machine."
Cynthia Khoo@cyn-k.bsky.social · last mo.(But see also: mronline.org/2025/05/01/t... — via @anabrandusescu.bsky.social) #FAccT2026
today btw
No AI Vancouver@noaivancouver.bsky.social · last mo.3 days until the Canada-wide protest against AI data centres on June 27th! At least 13 cities will be participating! #canada #cdnpoli #NoAI #BigTech #DataCentres #vancouver #victoria #edmonton #calgary #GrandPrairie #RedDeer #regina #MooseJaw #hamilton #toronto #halifax #lorneville
