I just don't think you can learn things about actual people without involving actual people.

And at some point a Starbucks literally actually floats up into the sky. (This is extremely wtf territory. The bit where someone is asking for an almond latte while discussing whether she's "open to the possibility she's going to fall" is 👀.)

Pleased to see this piece. Personally, I find these uses of synthetic data v concerning and I find the traction and endorsements that this work has to be quite baffling, esp given the well-storied role of algorithmic targeting in undermining democracy

Also reading the story about the Palestine Action hunger strikers this morning, I'm struck by the absence of a duty of care, an impatience with people who get in the way. But what exactly is the political mission?

I'm not an academic (who knows what I "am", but that's beside the point) but this rings v true for my work too. Mostly, I'm looking for novel and accessible routes in to complex topics; to get to that simplicity you need a really clear understanding of a domain to spot what is useful and important

While others #here are still grappling with the big issues, I just spent several minutes looking at a yule log and wondering what happened to Swiss rolls. I mean, where have they gone, those slightly flattened dry rolled-up cakes that were an absolute staple of Sunday-night tea in the 1980s?

I read the RUSI paper and then had to talk to my kitten in a stupid voice for 5 minutes to feel better about things. Very much not loving these "interesting times".

It is so lovely to see how much effort the Crystal Palace Park Trust are putting in to restoring the park giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

I am SO CLOSE to finishing work and I just tried to use my finger to copy and paste some text I had written in my notebook into a Google Doc.

Discussion with teenage son who attends an all boys school about the overall lack of Christmas card giving and receiving ends with him asserting that “girls are always giving each other Christmas cards”. Emotional labour starts early, eh?

I have to continue working today until I finish everything on my list so obviously I'm (a) mucking around on the Internet and (b) wondering what the earliest allowable time is for opening the Stilton

But let's turn that around: Anyone who wants to call what they are doing "AI" should be accountable for making clear why their product (or research) isn't in fact slop. That's on them. The rest of us do not need to hold space for that. >>

Actually just thinking about this, it is *wild* that there is no mention of military applications, but guessing that is a whole other level of security clearance

Okay, I've read the AISI paper now and it's interesting www.aisi.gov.uk/frontier-ai-... but I do think it could have been much more interesting if they had applied some sociotechnical thinking (and recruited a sociologist to do the social analysis)

Doesn't seem *hugely* surprising www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I've not read the AISI paper yet but this seems like a big number given IAB usage figures in October this year suggest 22.5m people (about a third of the population) used AI - have they all used it for emotional support?!

I know we all deserve some time off, but Thursday 18 December is very much not "the last day before Christmas".

Most of the paper forms of ID asked for here are also vanishingly rare in a digital-first world and will be an obstacle for almost anyone to come up with. The cynic in me wonders if this is somehow intended to create a demand for digital ID, but the realist knows that nothing is prob that joined up

The McSweeney article is good but I did LOL at the assertion that he "travelled to Camden", given previous-mentioned locations in the article include Lambeth and Millbank. Eg Brixton (where Lambeth Town Hall is) to King's Cross (in Starmer's constituency) is 17 mins on the tube. 9 whole stops!

Going for an eye test today, the Achilles heel of everyone with bad eyesight and the toxic trait of "overperforming on tests".

Very solid question here that was met with a non-answer

Just clocked some Smartphone Free Childhood outdoor ads. Wonder who's paying for those? www.smartphonefreechildhood.org/about-us/our...

Maybe everyone who's still working tomorrow can have a big email party where we do all of our emails and then pull some crackers or something and get a good star to celebrate.

What if AI is not a general purpose technology but is a *generally applied* technology (applied in contexts where it both is and isn't useful) and hence is now an ambient factor, something that gets forced into everything, whether it's needed or not.

Is it me or is the new iPhone iOS absolutely horrible for battery life?

One of the odd cognitive things about parenting is the strange lists of things connected to random hobbies and interests that you barely understand that get filed in the back of your mind. I say this, fielding the second call of the day about Warhammer paints.

Buying books for the undergraduates in the family and here's a question: what's the tech ethics book of the year you'd get for a computer scientist? My pick would be Karen Hao's magisterial Empire of AI, but have been asked to perhaps go with "something a bit shorter" (LOL). What would you choose?

⚡ While we wind down the year – and draw our ten year celebrations to a close – we’re spotlighting innovative thinkers in our 10 year essay collection. Today take inspiration from @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social, who is working for a world where tech works for 8 billion people not eight billionaires

Was Nick Clegg busy?

So, this is an opportunity to do something a bit different www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

I am a terrible shopkeeper, but on the off-chance you're still looking for that special present for the responsible nerd in your life, then I haz @carefultrouble.bsky.social swag carefulindustries.teemill.com

My name is Rachel and I'm addicted to taking screenshots. Also, yes, I know that's a screenshot.

Lads: if you start to say the words "explain it in a way my mum can understand" coming EVEN CLOSE to being verbalised, just stop for a minute and think how sad and disappointed your brilliant mother would be. Do you really think your mum's a bit dim? Would you be prepared to say that to her face?

Good luck to everyone attempting to get young people out of the door (well, let's face it, out of bed) at the end of term, at the start of the darkest week of the school year

Just setting up a new air purifier and not totally sure about "Air Vitamins"

The absolute mystery of what makes a Bluesky post do numbers

Kitten has just stopped swinging from the top of the curtains in order to climb up the inside of the chimney. How's your morning going?

Needs to be stressed that continued exponential progress isn't just a rarity in history of technology, it has never happened Exponential increases in computer power (Moore's law) were spectacular while they lasted, but that period is over: we're now seeing exponential increases in demand, not supply

Per my last re-post, twice this year I've been commissioned to write reviews of harms that can arise from the use of LLMs and then, as we surface the harms, told it's not appropriate to be political. But LLMs are a deeply extractive technology, they are political by design.

this piece is really interesting. i have some thoughts but i want to read to the end. i do feel obliged to say about this > Masley emphasized that he’s not an expert, but “just some guy” interested in how the media was handling this topic... this is just wild. he's the director of a DC think tank!

Just got emailed this - unbidden - as part of an automated summary of a big group meeting that I didn't end up going to, and didn't ask for update on, and honestly this can get in the bin

The thing about this is that it might well be true, but nearly everyone seems to be feeling the financial squeeze just now, and it is really difficult for people to think things are going okay if they don't have any money.

I love seeing people on the tube on the way to Christmas parties. The flash of sparkle under the everyday work coat, the occasional sharp-looking dinner jacket, the serious-looking person in a Christmas jumper. Londoners are, by and large, excellent at getting dressed.

Okay, hive mind! I'm doing a foresight review on the safe adoption of AI in engineering - am planning a research trip to the Bay Area in Feb, and am looking to speak to folk working on - transparent approaches to the full AI supply chain, inc data, labour practices, environmental footprint (1/2)

It is an odd specific of UK govt migration policies that someone, somewhere, seems to think that families fleeing in fear of their lives are diligently keeping up with every new announcement about specific changes to the hostile environment.

For 2026, I'm considering only speaking at conferences that start after 9:30am.

I'm headachy and grumpy today because I've been vaccinated against diphtheria, polio, tetanus, hep A and typhoid, but I should probably be actively celebrating the fat that I was able to do that for free at my GP surgery and the whole thing took about 20 mins.

I mean the real reason to read this article is to find out which three people the Tories have decided to put in the Lords 👀👀👀

I love love love love love the fact that whoever decorated this house obviously *really* lives in a glorious alternate magical dimension and I really hope they wear brocade every day and that these interiors gave never been sullied by sweatpants. (That said, the doll is creepy af.)

I live in the borough of Bromley (in Liam Conlon's constituency) and we had a very long letter from Reform in the post yesterday - something about the London Mayoral elections. Went straight in the bin, but looks like we're probably a target constituency.