Why did these companies make these claims? Because their *customers* were making the claims. How could you hope to sell to a company that had 100x'ed its productivity with AI unless you, too had 100x'ed your productivity? 51/
Si Williams
@siwilliams.bsky.social
Generating award-winning text, in London
AI's pitch to bosses is that they can fire most of their workers in order to terrorize the remainder into tolerating a working life wherein they are made to mark the AI's homework, at superhuman speed, and to assume the blame when it goes wrong. 12/
I am genuinely excited about a PM who will be serious about devolution. If done right it could give people more sense of control about their locality; free up Whitehall to focus on big strategic issues; and make it harder for a future national govt to burn everything down.
"The question is not whether AI can create AD. The question is WHAT we want these ADs to achieve."
AI can do a Michael Caine impression now? Is there really nothing that loads of people enjoy doing and can do fairly easily that these machines can’t automate the joy out of. NOBODY WANTED THE DRUDGERY OF DOING MICHAEL CAINE IMPRESSIONS TAKEN AWAY.
@noscoredraws.com Is there a good angle of that Egypt celebration where Ashour gets knocked flat on his face?
We did it with the post-war settlement, the 30 glorious years when we built the welfare state, regulated polluters and bosses, and kicked off the civil rights movement. We did it then, and we can do it again. We must. All things serve the beams. eof/
If I was Lee Dixon I would simply get a job where I don't have to watch football matches
“I mean, your society’s broken… Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No let’s blame the people with no power & no money & these immigrants who don’t even have the vote, yeah it must be their fucking fault.” —Iain Banks died #OTD, 9 June, 2013 www.theguardian.com/books/2013/j...
Iain Banks: the final interview
Iain Banks died last Sunday, just before the publication of his final novel The Quarry. Last month he talked to Stuart Kelly about writing, politics and all the things still left to do . . .
theguardian.com
“It’s two or three times harder than pure translation work, and they have the barefaced cheek to pay you half as much.” - fascinating on how AI has changed translators' work @sarahoconnorft.ft.com and @jburnmurdoch.ft.com:
How AI has de-skilled translation
A specialist knowledge-work job has become fragmented and routine
ft.com
Spurs fans, shaking hands emoji, etc etc
George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 3mo agoNo one expected Keir Starmer to solve our pressing problems overnight. But what we did expect – and had every right to expect – was that he would lay out a clear vision and roadmap for doing so. Instead, we’ve had drift, appeasement and a startling absence of ideas, values and ambition. 🧵1/6
“I am not really scared of AI, because I know it cannot do what I can do. What I am afraid of is the people who think that AI can do my job." THIS!! 💯 #HumansNotMachines
‘Being human helps’: despite rise of AI is there still hope for Europe’s translators?
A booming tech sector has disrupted translation jobs in publishing – but they could be needed for a while longer yet
theguardian.com
Really hit me last night that the Home Office plan to deport my girlfriend in 6 months time by retroactively changing the rules she’s painstakingly followed for over 9 years. I’m carrying a lot of pain and heartbreak over that.
Hooray, our World Cup 2026 Wall Chart is FINISHED 🥳 It's our biggest wall chart ever, an A1-sized shambles sullied by SIXTY wonky doodles. Dunno if competitions fly on Bluesky, but if you share this we'll send a couple of freebies out to some (un)lucky RTers x 🛒 noscoredraws.com/products/wor...
World Cup 2026 Wall Chart - No Score Draws A1 WC2026 Poster Print - Ex
Our biggest ever wonky World Cup Wall Chart for the biggest ever World Cup! Yes it's the 2026 World Cup, so to keep track of all the ins and outs, the kick-of times, scores and tables, here's a HUGE A...
noscoredraws.com
Overnight in the UK it was Frasier Event Horizon which means about 10:15am will be one of the best moments of the whole 11-year run: ordering a martini at the Timber Mill #FEH
“If you don’t embrace AI you’ll be left in the dust” like yes that sounds lovely one dust please
This has the strong feeling of truth about it. I don't believe all the CEO hype for AI replacing jobs, they're not idiots and they know the tech isn't remotely up to snuff, and this seems like a far more plausible reason for the enthusiasm.
Paris Marx@parismarx.com · 4mo agoPerplexity’s CEO is just the latest tech leader to tell the public their jobs will be sacrificed on the altar of the glorious AI future. It’s a compelling narrative, but it distracts us from the real impact of AI: not to take the human out of the loop, but to take away their power and cut their pay
"Voice actors fight to save their livelihoods and local cultures from Hollywood’s AI push" #HumansNotMachines
Voice actors fight to save their livelihoods and local cultures from Hollywood’s AI push
Voice AI tools are quickly replacing voice-over and dubbing artists, raising concerns not only about jobs but also loss of cultural relevance in non-English-speaking nations.
restofworld.org
On Saturday, I experienced a live game as a blind supporter does. It was one of the most fascinating days I've had in football. These are the things I learned, and some of them are important. inews.co.uk/sport/footba...
I experienced football as a blind fan - it was harder than I ever imagined
Glasses, telescopes, and the power of crowd noise - my day at Wigan Athletic taught me how technology holds the key for fans registered blind, and proved football must do better
inews.co.uk
Tomorrow I'm at Wigan for a piece with a difference. Am accompanying a registered blind supporter for the day. I'll have glasses that replicate his experience and use audio equipment to tell the story of live football for the blind and understand how technology is improving.
La IA es el futuro, no se puede hacer nada, la vas a usar quieras o no.
The Verge@theverge.com · 4mo agoMicrosoft starts removing Copilot buttons from Windows 11 apps
"Translation is not solving a puzzle with a single, correct answer [...] each time translation plays out, a translator has to make countless interpretive decisions about style, atmosphere, voice, symbolism, metaphor, allusion and more." #HumansNotMachines #LoveYourTranslator
The Japan Times@japantimes.co.jp · 5mo agoCommentary: AI translation of literature should be questioned because literary translation requires human interpretation and cultural understanding that machines cannot provide.
"Sin talento humano, la IA es solo código" Gracias por admitir que es la IA la que necesita traductores y que los traductores no necesitan IA.
Having to fix AI/machine translation is more work than just translating from scratch.
the british government not only hates me because I'm foreign, but also it wants to give away my stuff for free to billionaires
Ed Newton-Rex@ednewtonrex.bsky.social · 5mo ago🚨 It looks like the UK government is gearing up to upend copyright law in favour of AI companies, legalising the theft of their work. This is despite creatives' huge protests, and despite previous proposals being roundly rejected by the public. Please spread the word. 🧵 1/4
And the people "checking" AI slop are paid less than for translating, while it is usually just as much work, and often a lot more work, to "check" and rewrite slop than to translate from scratch.
barleybap@barleybap.bsky.social · 5mo agoIf you feel that use of AI art assets at any stage of the process is an automatic out, but ChatGPT translations are fine if they're "checked" by people, it might be worth asking yourself why that is. Because it sounds a whole lot like valuing the work of translators less than other creatives to me.