Michael Bąk

Are We Each Living in Our Own AI Reality? < Unbounded: 2 Mins Edgewise

Are genAI models giving us what they 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 we want to see?
And if so, what happens when billions of people experience subtly different versions of reality — each one curated for them alone?

My latest 𝐔𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝: 2 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞 (always <2 mins): ⬇︎⬇︎⬇︎
👉 www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/are-we-eac...

Bandung 2.ai Non-Aligned and Sovereign, in the Age of Technocolonialism

Concerned about technocolonialism and the new digital cold war.
I write about Indonesia's Soekarno's 1955 Bandung Asian-African Conference, how the past is prologue, and how we need a Bandung 2.ai now!

Read more here: www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/bandung-2ai

Translating, from the Margins In Thoughts on a Sovereign Southeast Asian Knowledge Ecosystem

🌏 Why does tech knowledge always flow from the North?
Why is the periphery made to be the adopter, never the leader.

Time to translate from the margins in and build a knowledge ecosystem.

✍️ My latest piece: www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/translatin...

#AI #GlobalSouth #TechPolicy #SoutheastAsia

Part 2 is out!! I've unpacked 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄100’𝐬 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐈 2025 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭 and these headline stats tell only part of the story.

👉 Full analysis of TIME's leaders, innovators, shapers, and thinkers (w/charts+graphs): www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/part-2-whe...

#AI #AIethics #Time100 #Tech

I can’t resist a good “Top 100” list. But I wonder — what story do these lists tell us?

They work like algorithms — ranking, sorting, and deciding who gets seen.

TIME100, it turns out, doesn’t look like my world.

👉 Read Part 1 of my report here: www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/part-1-whe...

#AI

What would it look like to write a 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆’𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, as it unfolds, in real time?

The latest 𝐔𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝: 2 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞 is here.

Think of it as a healthy, 2-min snack for the brain!
👉🏽 www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/a-peoples-...

#AI #tech #AIgovernance #civilsociety

Who Capacitates Whom? Considerations on the New Digital Colonialism

While the narrative may imply that we depend on big tech, the reality is they depend on us. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝.

www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/who-capaci...

#AI #AIgovernance #technocolonialism #digitalcolonialism #humanrights #Restofworld

America’s War with ‘Woke’ New AI Harms for the Global Majority

A Dayak activist. A Taiwanese student. A Javanese protester. A Thai man navigating HIV stigma.

Each turns to AI for support — and gets gaslit.

Fictional stories, real risks as US tech panders to the far right.

Read my dispatch:
www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/americas-w...
#AI #Meta #Woke #AIharms

Unbounded: 2 Mins Edgewise Global South: Beware the $1 AI Trap

OpenAI bought the labour of the US federal workforce for a buck to “𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘈𝘐 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥.” 3M federal workers, many accessing and processing sensitive citizen info.

This is how AI technocolonialism begins.

Explained in 2 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞:
www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/unbounded-...
#AI #tech

Indonesia’s draft AI Roadmap (196p!) + Ethics Guidelines: public consult only 8–22 Aug!

10 biz days too short for real participation & allows big tech 2 dominate. AI is political — needs time & inclusion.

Global Majority Govts: do better, lead better, include better.

#AI #AIethics #indonesia

UN experts call for immediate dismantling of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation GENEVA – UN experts* today expressed grave concern over the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) operations, saying Palestinians are paying the ultimate price of the international community’s legal, p...

It was "about that time" a LONG time ago. Better late than never.

www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

#Palestine #EndGazaGenocide

Michael L. Bąk (@heybakky) When was the last time a civil society organisation unleashed a rapidly scaling product that enabled genocide, undermined elections, or dismantled public trust — all while hoovering up personal data a...

substack.com/@heybakky/no...

Unbounded: 2 Mins Edgewise Clause 0: AI ethics Gaza proves we need

My latest 𝐔𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝: 𝟐 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞 is both fiery and hopeful. I make the case for Clause 0 — a vital initiative by Asma Derja and the Ethical AI Alliance that demands a non-negotiable line in AI ethics:

www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/unbounded-...

#Gaza #AIethics #Clause0 #HumanRights

Displaced and Datafied Biometrics and the contested politics of humanitarian tech

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝.
From refugee camps to border zones, biometric tech is sold as efficient — but imposed without real consent. With real harms.
These aren’t neutral tools. They’re political.
New post: www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/displaced-...

#DataJustice #Refugees #AI #AIethics #UNHCR

AI labs’ all-or-nothing race leaves no time to fuss about safety They have ideas about how to restrain wayward models, but worry that doing so will disadvantage them

New tech often sparks moral panic: Victorians that the telegraph would lead to social isolation or Socrates that writing would erode brain power. BUT it is unusual for innovators to panic, never mind pressing on despite their misgivings.

www.economist.com/briefing/202...

#AI #EthicalAI #Tech

Musk ordered shutdown of Starlink satellite service as Ukraine retook territory from Russia Soldiers panicked and drones surveilling Russian forces went dark.

Another deadly example of too much power in the hands of rich tech bros ...

www.reuters.com/investigatio...

#Starlink #SpaceX #techbro #Ukraine

Citizen, Consumer, Person, User Language matters in talking about technology, power, and responsibility

“𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 – 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐧𝐬," a reader wrote me recently abt my approach to tech.

❌ We are not users, metrics or data points to be optimised.
✅ We are citizens, with agency, rights and claims.

Read the piece she inspired: www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/citizen-co...

#AI #Tech #HR

Let’s Be Inefficient (Seriously!) Tech, Culture and the Risks of Optimising Everything

Ever felt uneasy watching the joy, friction, and serendipity of daily life get engineered away? Tech crowding out culture? This one’s for you.

👉 Read my latest newsletter article: “Let’s be Inefficient!”
www.margin-notes-squared.com/p/lets-be-in...

#AIethics #Tech #Governance #SDGs #Culture

My new piece in Asia Times: Trump is killing civic participation in global tech governance.

AI: geopolitical flashpoint
USAID: gone
CSOs: defunded

📰 asiatimes.com/2025/07/trum...
🧠 Subscribe to www.margin-notes-squared.com for more deep dives

#AI #TechGovernance #CivicTech #USAID #AIethics

Will speech for visa access become a global phenomenon?  - Asia Times Last week, the US Embassy in Bangkok posted an image to its official Twitter/X and Facebook accounts instructing people who wish to apply for visas to set

🇺🇸 US demands visa applicants make social media profiles public. This is ideological profiling.

By normalizing digital surveillance, US undermines rights and chills dissent.

I explain in my latest opinion piece:
🔗 asiatimes.com/2025/07/will...

#techpolicy #digitalsafety #humanrights #visas

Thank you for shout out!

Great work from @yaeleisenstat.bsky.social and team! Keep it up.

My latest in @techpolicypress.bsky.social :
Drawing on examples as diverse as Malaysia, Aotearoa New Zealand, & Indigenous North America, I consider the moral lighthouse: a values-based guide to policymaking that centers justice, dignity, and human flourishing.
#AI #technology #AIethics

Another sad indicator of the the new regime's shift toward white, pseudo-christian nationalism. Its painful to watch unfold as truly deserving people forcibly on the move are rejected. Imagine France might want to take the Statue of Liberty back now.

New Pope Leo XIV says he chose his name inspired by Leo XIII's landmark encyclical addressing the social question of the Industrial Revolution. Now he aims to tackle today's AI-driven revolution, defending human dignity, justice, and labor rights.
www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
#AI #Pope #Vatican

ASML Fellow Launches CLR:SKY I am grateful to have been part of the first cohort of fellows at the Applied Social Media Lab at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. Over the past six months, my fellowship has f...

Interesting new research from Berkman Klein Center Fellow Fay Johnson that has produced a new AI-powered civility overlay for Bluesky ... called CLR:SKY!

Definitely a tool to help nudge more people to engage online with kindness and respect.

More here: cyber.harvard.edu/story/2025-0...