  We test the physical viability of a recent proposal for an asymptotically
safe modification of quantum electrodynamics (QED), whose ultraviolet physics
is dominated by a non-perturbative Pauli spin-field coupling. We focus in
particular on its compatibility with the absence of dynamical generation of
fermion mass in QED. Studying the renormalization group flow of chiral
four-fermion operators and their fixed points, we discover a distinct class of
behavior compared to the standard picture of fixed-point annihilation at large
gauge couplings and the ensuing formation of chiral condensates. Instead,
transcritical bifurcations, where the fixed points merely exchange infrared
stability, are observed. Provided that non-chiral operators remain irrelevant,
our theory accommodates a universality class of light fermions for
$N_{\text{f}} > 1$ irreducible Dirac flavors. On the contrary, in the special
case of $N_{\text{f}} = 1$ flavor, this comes only at the expense of
introducing one additional relevant parameter.
