→→ Writer, Artist, Human Rights Advocate
Trained in law at McGill University, I’m a writer and an artist. My work is grounded in a commitment to human rights.
I work towards a world where the brave are more lucid. I work towards a world where we are free from self-delusion.
My work advocates for radical authenticity — along with deep-seated care — as key elements for what it means to build resilient, robust, and empathic communities.
In a previous life, I worked as an advisor in technology and human rights. I used on-the-ground legal, policy, and academic research to help the world use disruptive technologies in ways that are less scary and egregious.
In 2023, I worked as a Legal and Policy Advisor at Amnesty International in London, UK, focused on the fascinating and pressing issue of children’s digital rights.
My hot and reasoned take: I truly believe the kids will be alright — and that creative solutions are essential to navigate the necessary process of ever-finding the delicate balance for the tug of war between our societal interests in freedom of exploration and expression, as well as protecting children from the tragic exploitation and harm that at times invariably occurs (online).
In 2022, I helped explore the serious human rights risks of using intrusive face recognition technology on Canada’s Parliament Hill, which I hope helped halt the use of this risky tech in a place where our right to privacy — and our rights to protest and freedom of expression — ought to be protected the most.
Between 2018 to 2022, my collaborative work with Prof. Ryan Ellis for Data & Society Research Institute explored how hackers engage in essential even if piecemeal cybersecurity work, and how these brilliant hackers navigate — and fight back against — exploitative labour practices that put their livelihoods at risk.
From mid-2015 to early 2025, my work with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet for Society at Harvard University, McGill University, University of Ottawa, Toronto Metropolitan University, Université de Montréal, as well as with Concordia University all explored the moral quandaries and dimensions of the famed artificial intelligence (ol’ AI). My work explored what makes this invention so exciting and scary, as well as the stories that we tell ourselves about such ~technologies.
Soft launching the tl;dr of my work here for you: While AI is fun to write about, and it certainly gets the money, citations 🤓 and the clicks, it is my belief that AI will neither transform everything and neither will it destroy humanity. Guardrails always help.
My work as a writer, artist, and human rights advocate is a continuation of this incredible work. I’m simply pivoting, as they say in modern-day capitalistic LinkedIn parlance, and, in fact, I’m simply going back to my roots. Read more on a site I love — www.write.as — about how, when I was a kid, I wanted to be an artist and a teacher. At my core, that’s always been me, and always will be me ❤️
And I’m still lowkey a bit unsure about what I want to be when I grow up. Perhaps the most uncertain of us are vulnerable, and this vulnerability — and self-awareness — help us be attuned to the various possibilities 🌟
I’m grateful you stopped by ☺️ Find me on the interwebs at @yuanomie.