I’m diving into three significant actions the Philippine Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has taken recently, and I wanted to unpack them with you in this episode.

These aren’t simple tech decisions—they touch on governance, privacy, free speech, and the responsibility that comes with government technology initiatives.

What we discuss:

The conversation covers three main areas: the DICT’s exaggerated claims about blockchain security for the national budget, the decision to ban Grok, and a new proposal requiring social media verification for Filipino citizens. I’ll walk through why I believe some of these approaches miss the mark, not because they’re trying to solve the wrong problems, but because the solutions themselves carry risks we need to think through carefully.

I also share a bit about my current journey in my Master’s program in Responsible AI and my preparation for the AI Governance Professional exam.

Episode Timestamps:

- 00:00 – Introduction and episode overview

- 01:44 – Personal introduction and career transition story

- 05:02 – Updates on my Master’s in Responsible AI

- 08:36 – Main topic: DICT’s recent actions begin

- 09:14 – The blockchain press conference and the 101% unhackable claim

- 19:40 – What responsible communication should sound like

- 33:00 – The Grok ban and questions about implementation

- 43:13 – Social media verification proposal and privacy concerns

- 48:52 – The right to voice concerns (even without perfect solutions)

- 52:00 – Closing thoughts and call to action

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Thank you so much for taking the time to listen. I know this episode ran long and touched on heavy topics—that’s partly because these issues matter, and partly because the DICT’s recent decisions have sparked important conversations across our tech community.

I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, and honestly, you don’t have to. What matters most is that we’re all thinking critically about how technology shapes our governance, our privacy, and our society.

If you found value in this episode, I’d genuinely appreciate it if you’d share it with others, leave a comment with your thoughts, or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts—whether that’s YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or here on Substack.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ai.kuya.dev