Having been knocking around thoughts on AI companions for the past couple of years, I've finally put something out there. I'd love to know what you all think. 🫣 It's under review at a journal, but a pre-pub version can be found here: lnkd.in/eAceZtqt

This…

I've seen this shared with quite a lot of optimism this week giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... and my unsolicited advice is that, given we are not a tech super power, the best approach is to design UK tech and AI policy so that it plays a role in delivering the society Burnham wants to shape

There are many advantages to digital, not least considerations of space. But all else being equal, I think many of us prefer the free-&-clear ownership of physical objects over the tenuous possession of tethered, redactable software.

If you're in the UK and looking at this, thinking "This doesn't look like a very good thing", please do head to pavementoverload.com and support the campaign (you can send a letter to your MP).

Humans should not be forced off pavements by delivery robots, but that's exactly what's happening. The people who pay the price are those with the least room to give it up.

US court sanctions lawyers in case where both sides relied on judgments hallucinated by AI www.linkedin.com/posts/seancg...

Hey @andyburnham.bsky.social I know you’ll have a lot on your plate I the coming weeks but could you take a look at what’s going on in one of the UK’s most successful sectors? UK universities are world leading, a major source of overseas funding as well as crucial to local economies nationwide.

If rumours are to be believed I'll be living with a seventh different Prime Minister shortly. If it carries on like this I'm going to stop making the effort to learn their names.

Aaah the live broadcast from Cape Verde being interrupted by the goal

"If we don't adopt AI, we'll get left behind! China is adopting AI on a wide scale, we can't afford to lose out." New research done on Chinese students using AI found that in the short term, scores go up, then long term, students do on average 20% worse on exams.

Every single Prime Minister since 1974 has either taken office or left office mid-term, between general elections. Sometimes even both. Starmer being replaced mid-term is not constitutionally unusual. What would be unusual is if he fought and then lost a general election having been elected at one.

In partnership with the AI Now Institute, a new series on Tech Policy Press examines the dependencies embedded in Europe's application-layer AI market and why they make sovereignty harder to achieve than policymakers assume. This weekend's Anthropic news underscores the importance:

Forget Cruyff, Gullit and Van Basten this is the best ever moment in Dutch football.

Strong concur. Saw them in Bristol last night, tremendous. 🤘

very unfortunate product naming

Ted Chiang on AI: www.theatlantic.com/philosophy/2...

It turns out that the Bristol’s infrastructure & public services, from bridges to bin collections, are designed for a different climate to the one the last few days have given us a taste of. Climate adaptation is not an issue for the future, it is urgently needed today.

We need to see the law changed, so that employers and workers know when action must be taken to keep workers cooler and safer. Add your name. www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/we...

I love World Cups, and I generally find non-financial 'boycotts' a bit pointless, in a nose-cutting/ face-spiting sense. Plus, Scotland have qualified! But this festival of the farcical really is doing it's best to put me right off.

Uber’s COO has said that it’s getting “harder to justify” its AI costs because there was no way to show a link between AI spend and any meaningful increase in useful features. This is the first time I’ve seen a company say this directly. www.businessinsider.com/uber-coo-and...

'Millions have been saved by replacing a Palantir IT system with one built by govt experts. The govt's chief commercial officer informed Palantir of his concern about the firm's practice of offering a zero- or nominal-cost initial offer to gain a commercial foothold.' www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Well, it happened. A client disregarded my advice about using generative AI and guess what? It gave them bad advice AND the judge ruled that by using it, Client waived confidentiality and ordered us to turn a bunch of private stuff over. STOP USING GENERATIVE AI FOR LEGAL THINGS. I BEG YOU.

Did you know? In the Victorian era, “Acme” became one of the most popular company names in the English-speaking world. It eventually inspired the absurd cartoon corporation that supplied Wile E. Coyote with his disastrous inventions. #Victorian #history

I think it's worth people knowing that Enfield has a Labour MP and a Conservative councillor who are *both* called Bambos Charalambous.

Every three minutes on Bluesky today: oh that's a delightful name for a town! Dudly-on-Friendton. I see they have voted for the Murdering Orphans party.

Exactly. Views on immigration (like crime) are extremely vibes-responsive and facts-resistant, which is why those issues are so appealing to populists. Stats and evidence barely make a dent, the only hope is to lower the heat under those topics.

@thenewworldmag.bsky.social: nice issue this week, but is the Codeword really only supposed to have one letter with 2 appearances for a clue? Is it actually a secret audition for MI5 (or Slough House)?

flat earth is one of those things where if the conspiracy is true you should just let them win. *every* government with a space programs is in on it as well as *all* astronomers ? what do you think could prompt that level of cooperation? they've got reasons. leave 'em alone.

On this day in history: TVNZ run an expose on 'New Zealand's biggest (?) freelance sperm donor', and accompanied the link with this picture.

The Asimov act “would ban the New York Police Department from deploying armed robots while assisting officers.”

No therapist should be working online for a company that saves those transcripts to a model ; if they do they should be at least suspended from any professional association they belong to. www.proofnews.org/womans-talks...

🎶 you know the day destroys the night night divides the day tried to run tried to hide BREAK ON THROUGH TO THE

My latest pre-print is out: "Pareidolic Illusions of Meaning: ChatGPT, Pseudolaw and the Triumph of Form over Substance" I really enjoyed this one, where I juxtapose LLMs & pseudolaw to argue both create illusions of meaning that trick users. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The Trump administration used tariff threats to pressure countries into gutting their own tech regulations. From Indonesia to Brazil, Big Tech's wish list became US trade policy, according to an investigation led by Agência Pública as part of the series The Invisible Hand of Big Tech.

NEW: Palantir’s revolving door. A new investigation by @thenerve.news has found Palantir has recruited more than 30 senior officials from UK govt, a strategy transparency experts say poses an ‘acute risk’ of corruption. 1/ Link ⬇️

The crowdfund trailer now exists... youtu.be/cou28XeCpyk

“Workers at companies that adopted AI tools over the past year are reporting, in anonymous surveys and in the growing genre of unsigned workplace confessions, that the tools have made them slower. Not marginally. Measurably.” thecritic.co.uk/the-emperors...

Man Finally Good Enough At New Hobby To Understand How Bad He Is At It

Seven peers tabled over 800 amendments between them in a deliberate strategy to cause the assisted dying bill to run out of time. They are: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff Baroness Grey-Thompson Lord Carlile of Berriew Baroness Coffey Lord Goodman of Wycombe Lord Moylan Lord Sandhurst Shameful.

“The UK government vastly underestimated the climate impact of artificial intelligence, it has emerged, after officials raised their estimate of carbon emissions from AI by a factor of more than 100” 🤯 www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

The Trump administration used tariff threats to pressure countries into gutting their own tech regulations. From Indonesia to Brazil, Big Tech's wish list became US trade policy, according to an investigation led by Agência Pública as part of the series The Invisible Hand of Big Tech.

This morning I’ve seen Olly Robbins’s appearance before the select committee described as ‘box office’, while a commentator flagged up another key political moment with the words ‘bring the popcorn’. That’s one of our main problems right there.

Things I will not be embracing: - massive environmental damage - mental ill-health exacerbated by weird AI interactions - taking my work without consent or remuneration because these are not huggable things.

I find this bizarre. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

I don't recall any previous transformative technologies that had to be sold to the public so hard. No one in 1999 was going, "Guys. Cell phone? It's coming, whether we like it or not. I think it's important, FOR WOMEN ESPECIALLY, to learn about cell phone. So that we're not left behind!!"

This thread is required reading...

A critical moment for the #AssistedDyingBill. Join our protest at 09:00–12:00, Parliament Square, 22 April, and send a clear message to peers: stop using delay tactics to block one of the most important pieces of legislation to pass through the Commons in a generation. humanists.uk/events/prote...