I finished my Computer Science degree last year, studying through a period where GenAI transitioned from being non-existent, to a strange novelty, to an everyday tool. In less than five years, it fundamentally reshaped how many of us thought about work, creativity, knowledge and our future. While I was always fascinated by the technology, I kept finding myself drawn to the messier questions it brings: tech ethics, humane technology and how to best live with these tools. I’ll be using this space to map out what better defaults could look like, and developing the prototypes to move us closer towards them.
At the same time, public perception of AI has become deeply fractured. It’s not hard to see why. People are watching the internet fill with AI slop, misinformation, and synthetic content they never asked for. They read headlines about job losses, rising energy demand, climate impacts, mass surveillance, inequality, and existential risk. The whole thing can start to feel less like humanity moving forward, and more like the beginning of whatever dystopia they fear most.
That reaction is completely valid. I feel it too, often.
But I want to challenge the idea that the ethical response is to opt-out entirely. Because when a technology moves this fast, passive resistance or choosing to look away doesn’t stop its momentum; it just leaves the work of shaping it to people, companies, and institutions who may not share our concerns. If bad actors are using AI for cyberattacks, we need our top cybersecurity professionals wielding it for defence. If it’s used to find legal loopholes, we need AI to patch them just as fast. Generative AI is already becoming part of so many areas of life whether we want to admit it or not, and we have to be prepared to use the technology to respond to the very challenges which it creates.
This isn’t a blind endorsement of AI, nor is it a dismissive wave at those trying to slow it down; I can get behind that. It’s just an acknowledgment of reality: as long as this technology exists, we cannot afford to put our heads in the sand. We have to understand these tools deeply if we want any say in making them better.
It’s an uncomfortable and conflicted space to sit in, but that’s the point. This tension — being critical of where a technology might lead, while learning how to best steer towards its benefits — is exactly the posture we need if we want to shape it humanely.
That’s essentially why I’m building projects and writing here. I want to build tools that show what responsible AI could look like, limit the downsides, and hopefully inspire others to do the same.
Where I’m starting: Higher Ed & Humane Tech
Right now, a lot of my focus is on higher education. Universities are in a weird spot with AI. Just banning it doesn’t work — students use it either way. But letting them use it blindly risks weakening the habits of thinking universities are meant to help them develop. I’m focused on developing practical tools and frameworks that help both students and educators figure out where these tools actually help, and where they just get in the way.
This focus on healthier technology use goes beyond AI. I see strong parallels between AI and social media: another fast-moving technology that became deeply embedded in daily life before we had properly adapted to it. Years later, we are still trying to untangle the consequences.
Australia’s recent social media ban shows that governments are taking steps to recognise that something is wrong, even if the response has been too slow and incomplete.1 Still, it gives us something to work with: a public acknowledgement that the current defaults are not good enough.
Whether it’s an AI interface or an app feed, I’m much more interested in the full-picture solution: how we design better defaults for everyone. That means things like healthier interfaces and systems that respect your time and space. It means nudging cultural norms to take these issues more seriously than we already do. And a big part of this as well is the underlying policy which shifts the incentives in play.
Even if Australia isn’t the place building the biggest platforms or frontier AI models, we aren’t powerless. We have a real opportunity to lead on public policy, ethical implementation, and better cultural defaults.1
From Spreading Awareness to Building Prototypes
Ultimately, this needs to be a bigger part of our politics, education, and everyday lives. But awareness is just a starting point. It’s one thing to analyse a problem; it’s another to prototype a solution, test it in the wild, and use those insights to shape better public policy or create a product for market.
This is one of the reasons this moment feels different, and most exciting, to me. AI lowers the barrier between noticing a problem and building a prototype. A prototype isn’t a silver bullet, of course—it still requires vision and deep problem understanding. But you no longer need a massive team or a year of runway to start testing an idea. And when the cost of building a prototype comes down, so does the cost of putting a useful tool in people’s hands. It opens up space that used to be dictated almost entirely by money, institutional backing, and technical gatekeeping. This gives more people the chance to experiment, contribute, and show what better alternatives could look like.
I believe this is a meaningful opportunity for many more people, especially with the right guidance, context, and support. But I don’t think we are making that pathway clear enough yet. There is a lot of practical work to be done — tools to develop, defaults to redesign, ideas to test, and policies to think through. That potential genuinely excites me. It’s why I want to see more people building in this space — not just personal hobby projects, but work that is thought through, supported, tested, and shared.
What this site is for
This site is a sandbox for me to figure this out. I’ll be putting essays, project notes, and whatever prototypes I’m messing around with here.
The main goal is to work on technology that gives people more control over their lives. And, hopefully, to invite others to help shape what comes next.
If you’re also trying to navigate this shift — or you want technology to become a bit more humane — I’d love to connect. I’m especially interested in helping people make sense of AI, learn how to use it well, and explore small projects or experiments that point toward better alternatives.