Search Results » @author Res Publica

They’re encouraged to put up reasonable thoughts. But there’s no expectation that the rest of us respectfully accept every argument someone makes and treat it like gospel. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask someone to provide some evidence for a claim. …

I have a three-year-old toddler at home, and even she has a considerably more sophisticated understanding of foreign policy than “this country has done more bad things, therefore that country is better.”

You mean China, the state that sent tanks against pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing? The China that invaded Vietnam in 1979 and fought a bloody border conflict with it for much of the following decade? The China whose Great Leap Forward contributed to …

How? Because simply existing online isn’t the same thing as having a trusted identity. An AI can’t just decide to access funds, open a bank account, incorporate a company, or hire employees. Those systems require identities, credentials, permissions and, …

I think that’s a much more realistic and cogent view. AI is powerful, but it isn’t uniquely ungovernable. And the main failure mode isn’t the machines suddenly deciding to destroy us; it’s humans using them to make bad or stupid choices faster, cheaper and …

I don’t know anything about a polycrisis, but within the industry the biggest concerns I see are around governance, regulation and pacing. It’s fairly obvious that many governments have only the vaguest idea how to regulate AI, what it actually does, where …

Apology accepted 😀

I think that’s a slightly too absolute account of ministerial responsibility. For the operational failure itself? Sure. Upston isn’t responsible for managing MSD’s workflows, staffing, communications or IT systems. That’s the CE’s job. But that doesn’t …

I think you’re collapsing two different kinds of responsibility. Yes, technically, most of what you’ve described is operational responsibility. Ministers aren’t supposed to personally manage MSD’s workflows, call-centre capacity or IT systems. That’s what …

Yes, I am. And I don’t think those concerns should be dismissed. I’m probably less alarmed than you are, but that’s not because I think AI is inherently benign. It’s an extraordinarily powerful technology, and powerful technologies create risks as well as …

This is a cost of living issue. Labour’s waffly AI/DC policy launched yesterday does not cut the mustard. From someone who works in Data and AI inside the Electricity industry: It was actually pretty good.

Still gunning for Chippie, I see. I’m sure there are plenty of people who are now retroactively really angry with Labour over the COVID response. Although some of the reasons for that anger make rather less sense five or six years later than they …

I think before reaching for the tinfoil hats (somewhat ironically) there are some much simpler explanations. I suspect most people understand perfectly well what the accusation is referring to: COVID vaccines and the associated anti-vax conspiracy theories …

So, you aren’t antisemitic, you’re just peddling Jewish conspiracy and divided-loyalty tropes? Criticising Israel is not antisemitic. I have absolutely no difficulty describing the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza as war crimes. The problem is …

Oh, come on. I am no defender of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, and there is plenty about the former Starmer government’s policy towards Israel that deserves serious criticism. But attributing Starmer’s position to the fact that his wife is Jewish and his …