Emily Bell

Celebrating the good where one can find it , which is mostly in communal celebration and good writing - the World Cup has both. Here are two outstanding pieces first - @bcmerchant.bsky.social on why VAR is such a good metaphor/mirror of AI open.substack.com/pub/bloodint...

What VAR tells us about AI - by Brian Merchant open.substack.com

Three weeks ago AI founders were all over the press making vague but portentous comments about the existential risks and power of their models. This week their models are part of a widespread security failure around critical systems such as your bank account..a more immediate and serious risk 1/

I saw @astra.bsky.social interviewed on Democracy Now about the absurd current PR geyser erupting around AI , she said ‘they are causing the flood and building the arks’ . What a great metaphor. End Times Fascism is next on my reading list (right after Nerd Reich)

extremely conflicted feelings arising from my discovery in the course of using AI agents for work / research purposes, that it can do expenses in Concur

Also getting my research AI agent to cancel subs to newsletters where the writer announced they were leaving Twitter/X only to return at a later date. They clearly don’t need my $8

Nigel Farage claiming ‘it was the AI what did it’ about @channel4news.bsky.social ‘s film showing him and his advisers apparently breaking the law, encouraging covert donations from the US to Reform, is a classic case of ‘the liar’s dividend’

Great to be in conversation with @juliaangwin.com and @noupside.bsky.social today at our @towcenter.bsky.social conference on AI and Digital Influence in Elections …what should journalists and researchers be doing now ? Learning to use agentic systems, and going out and talking to people

The King Charles AI Summit /EA sex cult regulatory intersection is now living in my head ( @faineg.com , and @mariabustillos.com , holding you responsible) . In hours of Chatham House/ Ditchley /UNGA / etc symposia on ‘AI safety’ , the sex cult angle is under represented imo

Listening to @mazzucatom.bsky.social list the ways public interest / government supported cool science and no longer does. Her suggestion for public investment in AI - make a CERN for AI - internationally based . So many opportunities (BBC reimagining / arts etc) …