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Dr Alex Bowyer

@alexbfree.bsky.social
858 followers 1.4K following 216 posts

Passionate about improving people’s lives through healthier relationships with technology & data. PhD #MyData. Also: indie films, board games, improv, nature walks, travel, photography, local life/community & a little politics. #forevereuropean #ND

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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Argentina play football like they are experienced gamers who found all the exploits and cheat codes so they don’t have to play properly any more and just occasionally go ‘oh ok fine will do this bit properly then’. Somewhere along the way they forgot this is ‘the beautiful game’. #worldcup2026
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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 18/06/2026
Look at me; listen to me: It is exactly as structurally impossible to remove all "jailbreaks" (cleverly constructed workarounds) from a "generative AI" system as it is to prevent all "hallucinations" (instances of bullshit), and for exactly the same reasons.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Great insight about AI from Michaela Reaney speaking at #CyberLeaderSummit With gen AI “We’re building the largest consensus engine in history & calling it our edge.” Means that the more businesses adopt AI, the less they differentiate & the more homogeneous society becomes #cybernorth #technext
Michaela Reaney on stage, with a slide that says “If every organisation is running on the same intelligence.. What makes yours different?”
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Some of these switches are easier than others, but this is well worth a read - how to find ethical European alternatives to American big tech platforms.. www.theguardian.com/technology/2... #mydata #ethicalcomputing
theguardian.com
Leave big tech behind! How to replace Amazon, Google, X, Meta, Apple – and more
A handful of companies monopolise the web, with unprecedented access to our data. But there are many more ethical – and often distinctively European – alternatives
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
This seems like a bad idea to me - distorting the game designer's and graphic artists original intentions www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...
bbc.co.uk
Gamers divided over Nvidia's AI graphics update
A new feature from chip-maker Nvidia that promises cinematic-quality graphics using AI has prompted a backlash online, despite the company claiming it would
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
#MyData has updated their Declaration! To help build a fair and transparent digital world where you can use your data independently, assert your rights, stay protected from data abuse, and understand and control how your data is used, please sign: mydata.org/participate/... #DigitalRights
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
A familiar and concerning pattern of the #surveillanceeconomy that we explored in the #digipower study too.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Excellent post by @dan.m.danq.me.ap.brid.gy on an example of just how ubiquitous surveillance capitalism and pixel tracking has become. Keep fighting the good fight, Dan! danq.me/2026/01/28/h... #surveillancecapitalism #humandatarelations
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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Zack Polanski, "If I was working with other politicians I'd want some obvious demands" "A wealth tax on multimillionaires and billionaires" "Proper action on the climate crisis" "Proportional Representation where people's votes actually count"
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Great to see the EU's interoperability laws starting to come into actual visible real world impact - There is now at least one chat service interoperating with WhatsApp.
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AlgorithmWatch @algorithmwatch.org · 27/11/2025
We have no idea what content is most viral on YouTube, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, or X – because they refuse to share basic data. Join us in demanding platform transparency: www.mozillafoundation.org/en/campaigns...
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European Commission @ec.europa.eu · 22/12/2025
Santa can keep the toys… What we really want for Christmas: people before algorithms.
Blue textured background with white starburst snowflake shapes scattered across it. Centered white text reads: “All I want for Christmas is no more addictive algorithms.” The European Commission logo appears in the bottom right corner.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
An excellent post on the conflict between expressing creativity online and the work of marketing your creativity… www.jdmoyer.com/2025/12/21/i...
jdmoyer.com
I'm Giving You Permission to NOT Make Short Form Videos - J.D. Moyer
Short-form videos (including TikTok, YouTube shorts, etc.) are the new ultra-processed food of the attention space. Bite-sized, super-engaging, effortless to consume, short-form videos melt your brain...
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Sarah Myers West @smw.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
This week Open AI walked back a call for the govt to backstop financing for its trillion dollar investments in data centers. This was only the tip of the iceberg; a slow bailout for AI firms is already underway. Read more from @ambakak.bsky.social and I in @wsj.com: www.wsj.com/opinion/you-...
wsj.com
Opinion | You May Already Be Bailing Out the AI Business
Washington is treating the industry as if it’s too big to fail, even as the market sends lukewarm signals.
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Led By Donkeys @ledbydonkeys.org · 19/11/2025
The real BBC bias story, narrated by Anna Ford
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Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
"The BBC isn’t perfect – but it’s ours. If we don’t defend it now, we may lose a cornerstone of British democracy"
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
Defend the BBC before it’s gone – an open letter
The BBC isn’t perfect – but it’s ours. If we don’t defend it now, we may lose a cornerstone of British democracy
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NPR @npr.org · 27/10/2025
The NPR Network is your trusted source for reliable, accessible and fact-checked information. And now you can make sure we show up in your Google results.
n.pr
How to make NPR and your local station your preferred news source on Google
The NPR Network is your trusted source for reliable, accessible and fact-checked information. And now you can make sure we show up in your Google results.
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Meredith Whittaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
📣THREAD: It’s surprising to me that so many people were surprised to learn that Signal runs partly on AWS (something we can do because we use encryption to make sure no one but you–not AWS, not Signal, not anyone–can access your comms). It’s also concerning. 1/
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
There can only be one reason they are doing this IMHO - to spy on you and collect more data for insight gathering, profiling and targeting. #surveillanceeconomy www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI releases web browser to rival Google
ChatGPT Atlas was unveiled as the company seeks new ways to corral users to its online offerings.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
It's disturbing how much of an integral part of internet life / infrastructure Amazon AWS is becoming... www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c5...
bbc.co.uk
Snapchat and Duolingo among major apps down in Amazon Web Services outage - live updates
Many of the world's biggest apps including Snapchat, Duolingo and Roblox have gone down, in what appears to be an issue affecting Amazon Web Services.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Can't decide if i love or hate this idea.. "Shake to summarise" - shake your phone to use LLMs to summarise the current website handy tool? gimmick? dumbing down of society? 🤔 www.neowin.net/news/mozilla... blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/s...
neowin.net
Mozilla Firefox feature gets special mention in TIME's Best Inventions of 2025
Firefox has landed a spot in TIME Magazine's Best Inventions of 2025, thanks to a new feature that remains exclusive to iOS users.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
First video killed the radio star, and then YouTube and TikTok killed the music video star... I know there are other music video channels, but it's kind of sad to see this dying out. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
MTV to axe its music TV channels in the UK
The broadcaster will stop showing music videos in December, but its main channel will remain on air.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Bit of a disturbing trend, I really hope it's not a canary in the coal mine for other countries, God help the world if so - was kind of hoping the younger generation would be the ones to save us from the rise of the far right #politics www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
In Spain, what once seemed impossible is now widespread: the young are turning to the far right | María Ramírez
Migration is barely mentioned – instead, failed policies on housing, wages and employment are driving young voters into the arms of Vox, says María Ramírez, deputy managing editor of elDiario.es
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Not a huge surprise that Snapchat is going to start charging for storage. I wonder if users are aware they do have an option to request copies of their data under #gdpr if they don’t want to pay? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Snapchat to start charging users for Memories storage
It has not said how much the storage plans will cost UK users, only that they were part of a
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Inspiring words from James Felton Keith at #mydata2025 Employers (and the public should start fighting for the fact that) personal data is labour, it is work that deserves recompense. People understand that companies owe them something for proving their data but can’t receive it.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Fascinating workshop on death and digital legacy by @cubicgarden.com at #mydata2025.. letters of wishes can be machine readable and even automated according to #mydata principles - but you have to keep a human in the process as an approver.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
A call to arms from Malik Lakoubay at @radxchange.bsky.social - independent news media are at existential risk from AI. Trusted data intermediaries such as Syft offer a solution. #mydata2025 (1/2)
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
A couple of great insights from ex-MP, ex-chair DCMS select committee Damian Collins at #mydata2025 “Powered by data shouldn’t mean working in the interests of the platform against the interests of the individual citizen or gig worker” “AI must not become a scapegoat to remove company liabilities”
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Excellent overview of the opportunity and risk of personal agents by Jogi Poikola at #mydata2025 Great set of principles too, drawn from the history of #mydata and #VRM thinking #personalagents #ai (1/2)
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
#mydata2025 founder Jogi reminding us of 1999 prediction by John Hagel III & Marc Singer “Buyers are losing patience, and you’re losing their trust. It’s only a matter of time before they hire agents to represent them in many of their commercial transactions.” That time is now. #personalagents
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Eric Pol opening the #mydata2025 conference at Aalto University in Finland: “We are not here to tweak the status quo, we are here to leap past it and shape the human-centric future” #mydata
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Just arrived in Helsinki for the international #MyData2025 conference - about 14 hours later than planned due to flight delays ✈️ Looking forward to 3.5 days of discussions with cool people on the future of human-centric data! conference.mydata.org @mydataorg.bsky.social
conference.mydata.org
MyData 2025 conference
The world's premier conference on people and data.
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Adam Sharp @adamcsharp.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
What the seeker shouts at the start of hide & seek in five languages... *Ready or not, here I come (English) *I’m searching (Polish) *Whoever didn't hide is a donkey (Croatian) *Who’s ready, good, who isn’t, I don't care (Italian) *The one who isn't ready, I will take him with the shovel (Romanian)
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Does anyone else feel a disproportionate pang of sadness at the WHSmith name disappearing from UK high streets? (I think it’s because I have many fond memories of browsing for magazines and CD singles here and Woolworths as a young teen)
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
How does a designer make a mistake like this? I'm thinking they must have used AI... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Great North Run medals show Sunderland instead of Newcastle
Medals given to participants use an image of Sunderland, which has no connection to the event.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Nice to see some practical advice on how businesses can break down silos... princetheba.com/breaking-dow...
princetheba.com
Breaking Down Silos: The Importance of Cross-Functional Analysis - Prince the BA
"Discover the power of cross-functional analysis in breaking down silos & fostering collaboration within your organization. Don't miss this must-read blog post!"
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Speaking of #enshittification (last repost) am I right in understanding that the new #Spotify T&Cs forbid you from using the service while travelling or holidaying overseas?!?!?
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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 04/09/2025
Slang & Trending: 'Enshittification' - When a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits www.merriam-webster.com/slang/enshit...
merriam-webster.com
enshittification
Enshittification is an informal word used to criticize the degradation in the quality and experience of online platforms over time, due to an increase in advertisements, costs, or features. It can als...
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Thought provoking quote from Louise Ankers and Tom de Bruin at #bbcdevelop2025 “Feelings are data. Surface them early.” Can be applied to lots of things - staff morale, user satisfaction, web science…
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Funny and memorable talk by Rose Mullan of @northcoders.com using the power of cinema storytelling (Labyrinth, Star Wars, Face/Off, Space Jam) to explain programming concepts. “There’s nothing you can’t explain to someone if you are prepared to meet them on the level they are at.” #bbcdevelop2025
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
quote from one of the talks at #bbcdevelop2025 today: “Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife” - John Dewey Shows why it’s so important to fix the broken information landscape and get a handle on how #ai is influencing people’s learning.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Hadn’t heard of either Dia or Arc, but it could be an interesting new presence in the AI / agent space and it will be good to see Atlassian, a company a lot of people and companies trust daily, join the big leagues.. #ai
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The Verge @theverge.com · 03/09/2025
Switzerland releases its own AI model trained on public data
buff.ly
Switzerland releases an open-weight AI model
The model’s training data, model weights, and source code are open to the public.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Love this. So disappointed in the search engines for promoting unreliable and dangerous AI ‘answers’ about deterministic and reliably obtained results…
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
At first skim of this headline, I imagined a team of judges with clipboards and hard hats going down manholes and observing underground sewage flows.... 🤦‍♂️😂
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
I'm starting an exciting new chapter today! This is day 1 of my new role as Senior Software Engineer in Content Metadata at the BBC!
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Taylor Lorenz @taylorlorenz.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Join the fight!! 👇👇👇👇👇
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Love this! Scientists make 'superfood' that could save honeybees www.bbc.com/news/article... #savethebees
bbc.com
Scientists make 'superfood' that could save honeybees
We rely on honeybees to pollinate our crops and a new food could protect them from growing threats.
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
Fascinating piece of research looking at how social media dynamics produce damaging social trends and are harmful to people - can social media be fixed? arstechnica.com/science/2025...
arstechnica.com
Study: Social media probably can’t be fixed
“The [structural] mechanism producing these problematic outcomes is really robust and hard to resolve.”…
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Dr Alex Bowyer @alexbfree.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
In the final post in our "Who's holding the remote control?" series, @iainh1.bsky.social and I identify dangerous trends and offer ethical AI guidelines. We also examine personal agents, which could be key to a better world where technology serves *us*, not big tech. medium.com/@alexbfree/r...
medium.com
Reclaiming the Remote Control [9/9]
Will personal agents let us keep hold of our choices and our future?
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