I graduated this year with a PhD from the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, where my dissertation explored how language, power, and identity shape polarization and the ways the words we use can open up or shut down conversations. One of the most meaningful moments of graduation came when I met fellow PhD graduate Farhan Samir while we were lining up for the procession. Farhan studies how artificial intelligence systems inherit the cultural assumptions embedded in their design, and our conversation revealed unexpected intersections between our work—especially around meaning-making, interpretation, and the social consequences of technology and humans.

That impromptu exchange has since grown into a deeper collaboration. Farhan and I are continuing our conversation in an upcoming episode of The Conversation Lab, the program I host on community and campus radio stations across Canada. Our hope is to bring his research—and others like it—into broader public dialogue, where it can help shape how people think about technology, responsibility, and the stories we tell about our world.