A Novel About How AI Could Work
A former algorithm designer. A jazz-teaching philosopher. A movement that refuses to let AI work against the people it's supposed to serve.
Felix Canis designed algorithms that optimized for efficiency. He told himself the metrics were neutral. Then he saw what "optimization" really meant for the workers on the other end of the screen—impossible routes, denied breaks, and injured bodies treated as acceptable variance.
Now he's trying to build something different. In a converted candy factory in Pittsburgh, an unlikely coalition is creating a logistics network governed by democratic AI. Every stakeholder—drivers, dispatchers, union reps, community members—has a cryptographically verified vote. The goal: an algorithm that serves people as well as it serves efficiency. But someone doesn't want this experiment to succeed. When the system comes under attack, the very rules meant to protect it become vulnerabilities. Parameter weights shift toward speed over safety. Poisoned data undermines trust. And the people who depend on the system most are the ones most at risk.
The Human Signal doesn't just entertain—it reveals the messy, high-stakes reality of AI in the real world.
How governance frameworks succeed—and fail—under pressure. Why transparency and trust matter as much as technical precision. The hidden fault lines between efficiency, safety, and human dignityA practical vocabulary for discussing AI governance in your own contextThe recognition that democratic AI governance delivers superior outcomes not despite its constraints, but because of them