Sarah O'Connor
@sarahoconnorft.ft.com
đ€ 20807
đ„ 439
đ 408
FT columnist, writing about work, technology & economics.
If AI is coming for junior lawyersâ jobs, why does their pay keep going up? Our latest AI Shift newsletter...
www.ft.com/content/1d85...
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The AI Shift: If AI is coming for junior lawyersâ jobs, why does their pay keep going up?
Automation may be freeing up their time to do more valuable work
https://www.ft.com/content/1d859a36-6251-4caa-9f8c-aeb35f1d628e
5 days ago
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Isn't it funny how your brain just knows when you've left one gulp of tea in a cup, somewhere in the house. Like, somehow you just know you're one gulp short of having drunk a whole cup. Is this a uniquely British skill, I wonder?
5 days ago
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Are "Made by Humans" labels going to be the new Fairtrade? On why transparency about how AI is used in creative endeavours is trickier than it sounds, but better than just giving up
www.ft.com/content/bab5..
.
7 days ago
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7 days ago
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reposted by
Sarah O'Connor
Karen Jeffrey
11 days ago
It's so important to read splashy findings about the impact of AI on jobs with a critical eye đ€
@sarahoconnorft.ft.com
and John Burn-Murdoch are spot on here - highlighting issues I see in these studies time and time again.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
#EconSky
3 of the big ones... [1/5]
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The AI Shift: How to read the news
Questions to keep in mind when you come across splashy AI stories
https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/81d87c86-30f8-4cc7-89eb-3119c9b7c737
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Sure, we're the weak and decaying ones...
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14 days ago
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Welcome to Britain, a country so short of dentists that an MP's 87-year-old mum pulled her teeth out with pliers. Also a country with thousands of foreign-qualified dentists who canât work until they pass an exam so oversubscribed itâs like trying to book Glasto tickets.
www.ft.com/content/f4e5...
14 days ago
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In 2016, godfather of AI Geoffrey Hinton said: "People should stop training radiologists now." In this week's The AI Shift newsletter, we ask: why are there still so many radiologists??
www.ft.com/content/f2e0...
19 days ago
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reposted by
Sarah O'Connor
Russell George
19 days ago
This week's FT AI shift newsletter is so far up my street, it's practically parked on my drive - On how, despite AI leaders predictions of doom, there are now growing numbers of radiologists and how those professionals are working with AI
@sarahoconnorft.ft.com
@jburnmurdoch.ft.com
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reposted by
Sarah O'Connor
Harry Wallop
21 days ago
Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in todayâs
@thetimes.com
about Tom Stoppard
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Sarah O'Connor
Tim Bale
25 days ago
If you're lucky enough to be able to read the
@financialtimes.com
these evidence-based conversations between
@jburnmurdoch.ft.com
and
@sarahoconnorft.ft.com
are particularly fascinating. Here's the latest.
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The AI Shift: Is AI about to break polling?
Online surveys are susceptible to bogus respondents and synthetic samples warrant scepticism
https://www.ft.com/content/1298a2cd-5623-480c-b30e-ff81fc5c788d
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Out of interest, I just checked my Facebook feed. I had to scroll through 86 posts before I saw one from someone I know. (shout out to
@groomb.bsky.social
whose post it was!)
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28 days ago
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reposted by
Sarah O'Connor
Dorian Lynskey
about 1 month ago
"What is certain, and felt instinctively by almost everybody, is that things cannot go on in their present way" â The Times, May 1975 âIt is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British lifeâ â Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
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Sarah O'Connor
Dan
about 1 month ago
I was on hiring teams in 2012/13 where we would routinely go from applications closing to making offers within 3 weeks, sometimes 2! Because our team prioritised an efficient process. These days, as an employee, anything faster than 3 months is basically unheard of.
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Another one for you,
@dlknowles.bsky.social
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about 1 month ago
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Is AI making job recruitment less meritocratic? We're getting some v interesting research studies on this question now, and the news is... not good.
@jburnmurdoch.ft.com
& I dive in, in the latest edition of our newsletter The AI Shift
www.ft.com/content/e5b7...
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Sarah O'Connor
Antony Carpen
about 1 month ago
Via
@sarahoconnorft.ft.com
Am seeing similar in so many other settings. Eg planning applications: -> Firms now offering 'AI' solutions to opponents of big developments. So expect similar to emerge for those in favour, and even more for 'assessing' docs targeted at under-resourced
#Localgov
.
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reposted by
Sarah O'Connor
Hugh Pemberton
about 1 month ago
Depressing
@jburnmurdoch.ft.com
and
@sarahoconnorft.ft.com
newsletter today - general use of AI in crafting job applications now makes it impossible to identify the best candidates. So a probable return to "it's not what you know, it's who you know" recruitment? Top work everyone!
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reposted by
Sarah O'Connor
Katy Morris
about 1 month ago
From the always interesting AI Shift newsletter by
@jburnmurdoch.ft.com
and
@sarahoconnorft.ft.com
: AI is maximising job applications and word counts, in vicious circle of doom kind of ways
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"If a country as rich as Norway canât afford to stick to principles, who can?" Great edition of the Free Lunch newsletter today by
@martinsandbu.ft.com
on Norway suspending its $2.1 trillion oil fund's ethics rules.
www.ft.com/content/f6b3...
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How Norway jeopardised its integrity overnight
Oslo abruptly changed the ethics rules for the worldâs largest sovereign wealth fund
https://www.ft.com/content/f6b34e71-2b3e-43ad-99a9-558a34f56853
about 1 month ago
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2nd edition of our The AI Shift newsletter is out. The question today: could AI be making us LESS productive?
@jburnmurdoch.ft.com
www.ft.com/content/2480...
At the individual level, it's clear we're not reliable witnesses on this Q. At an organisational level, it gets even more interesting...
about 2 months ago
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reposted by
Sarah O'Connor
Ben Ansell
about 2 months ago
Somebody at HMRC needs to be canned for this idiotic âfraud-detectionâ idea. And I fear future use of AI in welfare cases might well produce this kind of story regularly (as they have in Nevada for example).
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UK woman who booked Oslo flight but did not fly loses child benefit âbecause she emigratedâ
Exclusive: HMRC told Lisa Morris-Almond there was no record of her return to UK, but she did not take the trip
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/30/uk-woman-who-booked-oslo-flight-but-did-not-fly-loses-child-benefit-because-she-emigrated
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In news that will surprise no-one...
www.404media.co/metas-ray-ba...
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Meta's Ray-Ban Glasses Users Film and Harass Massage Parlor Workers
âThe shameless use of covert recording technology at massage parlours to gain likes, attention, and online notoriety is both disgusting and dangerous.â
https://www.404media.co/metas-ray-ban-glasses-users-film-and-harass-massage-parlor-workers/
about 2 months ago
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Does this description come from 2025, or 2006? Unnerving piece by
@brookeamasters.ft.com
www.ft.com/content/fddb...
about 2 months ago
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Beautiful paragraph juxtaposition!
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/t...
about 2 months ago
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reposted by
Sarah O'Connor
Tim Bale
2 months ago
'Itâs worth raising an eyebrow when companies announcing lay-offs link them in vague terms to becoming âAI readyâ, but without any corroborating detail. Letâs face it, it sounds a lot more dynamic than just saying the business isnât doing very well.' đ
@sarahoconnorft.ft.com
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The AI Shift: where are all the job losses?
A macroeconomic change isnât clear yet but payroll data shows some types of work are already being displaced
https://www.ft.com/content/3d2669e3-c05e-48c9-8bb3-893c1d66de2e
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reposted by
Sarah O'Connor
Joseph Cox
2 months ago
New: a $60 mod to Meta's Ray-Ban glasses disables the privacy LED light. This is supposed to light when people are filming with the glasses. We bought the mod, verified it works. Now you can never be sure whether someone wearing Meta Ray-Bans is filming you or not
www.404media.co/how-to-disab...
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A $60 Mod to Metaâs Ray-Bans Disables Its Privacy-Protecting Recording Light
Metaâs Ray-Ban glasses usually include an LED that lights up when the user is recording other people. One hobbyist is charging a small fee to disable that light, and has a growing list of customers ar...
https://www.404media.co/how-to-disable-meta-rayban-led-light/
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Sarah O'Connor
Financial Times
2 months ago
Read the headlines and youâll see wildly different conclusions about whether AI is taking jobs or not.
@jburnmurdoch.ft.com
and
@sarahoconnorft.ft.com
break down what the data actually shows in their new newsletter The AI Shift. It's free to read here:
on.ft.com/4niHdxo
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Exciting day: one of my fave colleagues
@jburnmurdoch.ft.com
and I are teaming up on a weekly newsletter to track what's really happening with AI & the labour market. No hype, just spreadsheets & shoe-leather. You can sign up here to get the first edition at lunchtime today!
ft.com/AIshift
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https://ft.com/AIshift
2 months ago
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This is going to be v v good
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2 months ago
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Have Your Say!
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2 months ago
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reposted by
Sarah O'Connor
FT Edit
2 months ago
Why canât I buy a small smartphone?
on.ft.com/4nzyCqB
Are phones too big? Tell us what you think in today's
#FTEdit
poll đ
on.ft.com/47n8eKt
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Bring back small phones! This is my iphone 13 mini. It is a perfectly-sized phone. But it's going to die - in a few years, Apple will stop supporting it w/updates. Yet there are now NO new smartphones to buy on the market that fit the human hand.
www.ft.com/content/6332...
2 months ago
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This piece is so funny and also so good
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2 months ago
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This is such a good corrective by
@chrisgiles.ft.com
to the "working-age welfare spending is exploding/out-of-control" narrative that more & more people seem to see as an incontrovertible fact
www.ft.com/content/ee67...
2 months ago
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In which
@sheilahayman.bsky.social
enjoyably skewers Geoff Hinton's suggestion that we should engineer AI to be like a "mother" to us.
sheila-hayman.medium.com/mummy-knows-...
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Mummy Knows Best
Recently, the FT took Geoff Hinton to lunch, giving the event an entire page on September 5th. In it, he reveals that heâs had an epiphanyâŠ
https://sheila-hayman.medium.com/mummy-knows-best-2a30df505641
2 months ago
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In which
@stephenkb.bsky.social
absolutely nails the way the Tories are performing a "never-ending lobotomy" on themselves by requiring everyone to believe (or at least pretend) Brexit was a good idea.
www.ft.com/content/a65f...
2 months ago
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Investors are betting big bucks on the idea that AI will create an explosion of leisure time...e.g. it was a key part of the public rationale for the massive $55bn takeover of video games maker Electronic Arts. But are they right?? (short thread linked to my column today
www.ft.com/content/4011...
)
2 months ago
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Great piece from
@emmavj.bsky.social
who is calling Peak Vibe
www.ft.com/content/14ef...
3 months ago
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Those tall stools on that tiny raised platform are making me nervous... do you really want to be adding pints into the mix?
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3 months ago
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No.
3 months ago
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Even Jane Austen had to put up with Those Guys
www.ft.com/content/bdcd...
3 months ago
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I know there are the ICE raids etc, but this is pretty weird given everything we're hearing about the scale of the data centre construction boom, no?
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3 months ago
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Brutal and enjoyable piece from
@willdunn.bsky.social
on Clegg's return from Silicon Valley with Views to Share on standing up to the US and how to save the internet (errr)
www.newstatesman.com/comment/2025...
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3 months ago
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Great piece by
@georginaq.bsky.social
on the cottage industry that's grown up around UK universities, which are paying agents to recruit international students for them
www.ft.com/content/3f49...
3 months ago
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A cool use of AI in newsgathering, this. US companies are talking more and more about the risks rather than the benefits of AI in their SEC filings (while still being super-optimistic in earnings calls). By
@melissahei.bsky.social
@chriscook.news
&
@claradoodle.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/e93e...
3 months ago
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Cool cool, all sounds very normal in a very normal competitive market-based economy
www.ft.com/content/be8d...
3 months ago
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I donât know if itâs the tone or the frequency of these messages from Microsoft, but whenever they pop up I hear Regina George in my head saying âstop trying to make âfetchâ happenâ
3 months ago
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Why do some names get "second winds" like Sarah in the 80s? Why are the most popular names today waaay less popular than the most popular names of the past? I "fell into the onomastic rabbit hole" (as one academic researcher I spoke to so charmingly put it)
www.ft.com/content/f929...
3 months ago
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