BBC News - Billion-plus people, three million officials, 33 questions - India begins huge census www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Premium Newsletter: How much of the AI bubble is real? In an analysis of every major AI data center project, the majority are theoretical or behind schedule. Their customers (AI startups) burn $3+ per dollar of revenue, with no possible path to profitability. www.wheresyoured.at/premium-how-...

BBC News - Educated and employed but still struggling: India's middle class under strain. Middle classes v. Bots www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

💡 New publication alert! “On the Controversiality of AI: The Controversy Is Not the Situation” by @noortjem.bsky.social , @ckatzenbach.bsky.social , @anderskristianm.bsky.social, and @annajobin.bsky.social is out now. 📖 Read it open access here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

It also inspired us to develop a way to automatically identify the types of communication frames advertisers use to craft ads that touch on sensitive issues such as migration and immigration. This is in beta, but you can check it out here: migration.polidashboard.org/frames

🇦🇹 Le gouvernement autrichien va interdire les réseaux sociaux aux enfants jusqu'à 14 ans, selon un accord conclu après de longues tractations au sein de la coalition, qu'a pu consulter l'agence de presse autrichienne APA.

Hacking of opt-in online survey panels. Even ai bots can join.... www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

BREAKING: Fannie Mae says it will start accepting crypto-backed mortgages. The mortgage-finance giant will let home buyers pledge their crypto holdings when getting a mortgage. Fannie is backed by the government and overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. www.wsj.com/real-estate/...

The rise of China’s hottest new commodity: AI tokens - www.ft.com/content/2567... via @financialtimes.com

Once more, for the weekday crowd.

BBC News - Peers defy government by pushing for UK social media ban for under-16s www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is a big deal. Court finds Meta and Google liable for kids’ social media addiction under product liability theories. This strategy gets around Section 230 protections because the focus is on the platforms’ product designs, not the content posted by users. www.latimes.com/california/s...

NEW: Will Google's AI hype man kill the BBC? I've written about Matt Brittin because the coverage of his time at Google is shockingly naive. The BBC's next DG is a corporate yes man at a rapacious AI monopoly that preys on journalism in order to destroy it. 1/ www.thenerve.news/p/matt-britt...

What is marketed as AI “innovation” is, in practice, a consolidation of global labor hierarchies and a commodification of African knowledge, write Marché Arends and Kathryn Cleary, drawing on their year-long investigation supported by the Pulitzer Center and published by Africa Uncensored.

This Thursday!

BBC News - US bans new foreign-made consumer internet routers www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Why Alphabet’s VC arm has doubled down on Europe - www.ft.com/content/f6df... via @financialtimes.com

This might be good, and anyway I'd like any event involving "aligning" AI (barf) flooded with people who like my ideas :-) Munich 19-20 May 2026 responsibleaiforum.com

There is a real chance to choose something better for the NHS and drop Palantir. @foxglovelegal.bsky.social have campaigned tirelessly on this since 2020 - follow them for the latest. We can win this one. www.theregister.com/2026/03/20/u...

AI hallucinations haunt users more than job losses - www.ft.com/content/e074... via @financialtimes.com

“This book is a warning about how the rise of sensor-driven digital technology can be weaponized against democratic values and personal freedoms.” From the great new book by @profferguson.bsky.social YOUR DATA WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU amzn.to/4dCcfPC Essential reading!

I don't know how 'new' this is, there was a lot of it with Syria. The new seems more the gen AI side of it.

“From Cape Town to Chicago, thousands of people are now micro-licensing their biometric identities and intimate data to train the next generation of AI.”

BBC News - AI videos of sexualised black women removed from TikTok after BBC investigation www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It explicitly opposes Congressional efforts to create a new federal rulemaking body to regulate AI broadly, and instead supports the “development and deployment of sector-specific AI applications through existing regulatory bodies” & “through industry-led standards" techpolicy.press/trump-and-go...

The EU is pushing ahead with AI Act changes that weaken protections for high-risk systems and leave no meaningful path to redress, even as evidence of harm mounts, write CDT Europe’s Laura Lazaro Cabrera and Magdalena Maier.

NEW: When a Wisconsin mayor ended his city's contract with Flock (the AI surveillance company), he was stunned to see Flock refused to remove cameras. So he covered them with plastic bags. Now local activists are taking their fight to Madison & the Dane County sheriff, wanting more cameras gone.

A clever preprint by @pwarren.bsky.social and colleagues describes Community Notes as having a "lazy rater" problem. Harder claims that are harder to fact-check may get fewer ratings than obvious fakes, leaving the most important misinfo with notes invisible to users. arxiv.org/pdf/2603.11120

FT Exclusive: The US bank has started to scrutinise whether the hours junior investment bankers claim to work match up against activity logged by its IT systems. What does this mean for the industry? ft.trib.al/jx2Qoi8

The psychological manipulator's process: 1. Get their attention 2. Hold their attention 3. Influence their decisions 4. Shape their identity and habits --Diane Benscoter, Founder and Exec Dir of Antidote