I appreciated Chris Ashworth's TikTok thoughts on Claude Code. As someone who works in the arts he's a a natural generative AI skeptic - he builds QLab, the theater sound/lighting automation software www.tiktok.com/@chris_ashwo... More of my notes here: simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/30/...

I’m long LLM’s helping with a lot of things but as a boss let me tell you, I am EXHAUSTED by AI meeting notes getting shoved at everything. A good manager wants your opinion not a CVS receipt. #ai #productivity #llms #granola #gemini #chatgpt #claude

Absolute coffee. #london #espresso #morningcoffee

I think about this a lot "things are tough in tech right now, I don't know what to do about job security" "have you tried developing your skill with the highest leverage new tech" "no because I have rebuilt my entire personality around believing it is uniquely evil compared to previous computing"

What’s happening in Minneapolis really drives home the absolute fakery of “brave stands against wokism” brand building pundits have been doing for the past decade

In the midst of multiple international and national crises how reassuring it is that Labour has decided to focus on Leadership games just like the previous idiots who ran the country into the ground. #westminster #labour #partypolitics

“Why am I so sad today?” I ask myself after staring at my little handheld sadness machine and clicking all the sad little things that will definitely make me sad

Pilot Captures Amazing Aurora Photos During Flight. “This was the most incredible display of aurora I’ve ever seen in my 20 years of flying!” [kottke.org]

we're getting all the downsides of cyberpunk (social alienation, ruthless hyper capitalism, digital mass surveillance state) but none of the promised upsides (cheap street food, cool jackets, super drugs that make you really fast and strong before they kill you)

Watchman Robert Davidson ~ Haida 2009

Beginning to appreciate six prime ministers in ten years is a feature of the UK system and not a fault.

Well we’re not talking about Ukraine or Epstein are we?

Another day, another four coffees. Jet lag I stab at thee! #espresso #coffee #tokyo

PERSON IN 1967 WHO HAS JUST WATCHED AN EPISODE OF STAR TREK: wow that was a great episode. i wonder if ill ever see it again, ever, for the rest of my life

Thanks to @spavel.bsky.social , at productpicnic.beehiiv.com/p/the-incred... , I saw an intriguing claim: "the more someone uses AI, the lower quality their outputs become" I am super interested in metacognition so I was hoping it was a metacognition paper and it is! So I read it

This hotels version of 25 degrees and mine are decidedly different. Nothing is real.

Admiring how hard @netflix.com has worked to make hotel TV login effortless. What was a two-minute hassle a few years ago is now a less than 10 second flow. One software maker to another, I’m impressed by that kind of continuous UX refinement. #ProductDesign #UX #Netflix #Tokyo #TheResidence

The sunset last night in Tokyo, just wow. Quick walk around Roppongi Hills. #tokyo #roppongi #sunset

Honestly Mos Burger might be the world’s perfect fast food. #tokyo #japan #fastfood #burger

The most worrying moment of Donald Trump’s start to 2026, the head of a foreign-policy think tank in Britain said, is the President’s “casual acquisitiveness” when it came to Greenland. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/n38D3Z

Very long travel day yesterday. I never fail to appreciate how lucky I am to see the world though.

One of the better pieces of advice I got when I was younger is that if you’re having a bad day, go to bed.

I hate to say this but I’m using Starlink on a flight and it’s astonishingly good. 😐 ✈️

I still think that the mental model of different apps=different places=different personas is the most familiar to people because it also maps to real world experience and spatial separation.

A network of social media accounts posing as Scottish independence supporters has fallen silent once again, closely mirroring a fresh shutdown of internet access inside Iran.

RIP to programmers with social anxiety who now have to talk to their computer to accomplish things

Placentia Bay Boat in Winter Christopher Pratt 1995

Solid #bluesky #winterinlondon

People say that Labour need to talk more about their achievements. Well here is a short clip (shared by Labour on Instagram) of the PM listing many achievements during his interview broadcast on the BBC this morning. As they get more work done, it will become easier and easier to do this.

LLM's provide a simulacrum of what it looks like to "know" something. ChatGPT can not "know," only humans can "know." And "knowing" is a mysterious, precious, unfolding thing...and it used to be the reason why many people went to college, because they wanted to experience "knowing" new things.

Happy #NationalScienceFictionDay everyone. Go read some science fiction #books!

To blue skies in 2026. Happy new year! #chelseabarracks #kingsroad #chelsea #london #winterinlondon

The Stillness of Winter Emily Kewageshig ~ Anishinaabe 2025

Whirlwind 72 hours in Singapore and Hong Kong. Great to catch up with collaborators, colleagues and customers as well check out the new Singapore office in a classic building there. #ceolife #maritime #venture #singapore #hongkong

Geneva, I am in you.🇨🇭

One customer in Norway and the other in Denmark have what I think are among the loveliest offices I visit. I appreciate the range of choices that went into making it beautiful.

On this work trip I’m accompanied by a 22 year-old marketing colleague (shooting some video). We were checking into the third hotel of the trip and she pulls all the business cards people have been giving her and in the most genuine way she looked at them and said to me… what are these for?

"History shows us that all progress comes from the meeting of diverse people, with different ideas, and different backgrounds." The web is no different. werd.io/the-web-runs...

The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow

My favourite tradition this time of year. My mom loved a wreath, and this reminds me of her every Christmas. We go and pick one out at the start of the season. Bring on December! #christmas #wreath #chelsea #london​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

We are attempting to dial down the amount of (healthy freeze dried chicken/shrimp) treats we are giving the cats. There’s the air of Bastille Day about.

Is this cheese grater conscious? Many users feel they're talking to a real person. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.

If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?

A 24 hour break we really needed, and of course for me a very indulgent #espresso ☕️ :).

Rhythm of the Northern Lights Daphne Odjig ~ Anishinaabe 1983

LNER train back to Kings Cross as the sunsets this evening. #trains #london #LNER #britishrail

You really need to subscribe to this account so you get his random wildlife videos from hidden cameras in the Canadian wild. Always a timeline cleanse.