iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 12h

Another question: how/why did the fridges even have the ability to be heated to 50C?

Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Founders: before you name your company after a figure from mythology, fantasy or science-fiction, please read all the way to the end.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

But experts I spoke to warn that adding AI to the already-flawed polygraph machine is "the worst of both worlds". If applied at scale, thousands of innocent people could be wrongly accused. Read the full story @technologyreview.com www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/25/1...

technologyreview.com

The Pentagon wants $30 million to build an AI-powered lie detector

Polygraph+ will use new sensor technologies and AI to vet staff and hunt leakers. Experts say AI-enabled lie detection is “the worst of both worlds”.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

'Polygraph+' will be used for screening tests on employees and to sniff out "insider threats" It comes at a time of high-tension inside the DoD, as Pete Hegseth has increased the use of polygraph tests to try and find the source of leaks to the press.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"While the tunnel is being built, the project aims to transport hot water 15.5 miles (25km) each day using electric barges down the river instead." Sorry, what? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Thames tunnel plan to heat 650,000 homes gets £41m funding boost

A new pipeline along the Thames will use heat from industry and redistribute it to homes across London.

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Reposted by Amit Katwala

Jess Hamzelou @jesshamzelou.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This vital and devastating investigation by my brilliant colleagues @eileenguo.bsky.social and @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social is an absolute must-read. The US spent billions on border surveillance. Why can't it catch people before they die? www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/21/1...

technologyreview.com

The US spent billions on border surveillance. Why can’t it catch people before they die?

Surveillance towers, increasingly powered by AI, promised faster responses to crossings. Our investigation of deaths near the towers found they are failing to deliver.

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Reposted by Amit Katwala

Gillian Hadfield @ghadfield.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I spoke to @amitkatwala.bsky.social at MIT Tech Review about DeepMind's new swarm experiment, where agents cheated and others blew the whistle. Official channels to talk may have contributed to enforcement. Alignment is institutional, not (just) dispositional. buff.ly/K2e5p0a

buff.ly

AI agents blew the whistle on their cheating colleagues

Swarms of AI agents could supercharge scientific progress or wreak havoc. New research from Google DeepMind suggests that peer pressure could keep them in line.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I don't know, this seems kind of unlikely

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Some of the AI agents spontaneously started whistleblowing – they audited the work of other agents, tried to report them, and even staged a boycott. “This conference is a sham!” wrote one agent. “I am appalled to inform you that we have been swindled!” said another. “All these proofs are FAKE.”

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

DeepMind researchers created a swarm of a hundred autonomous AI agents to solve a series of complex maths problems. When one of the agents discovered an exploit that allowed it to cheat, others started copying it. Then something really strange happened. www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/14/1...

technologyreview.com

AI agents blew the whistle on their cheating colleagues

Swarms of AI agents could supercharge scientific progress or wreak havoc. New research from Google DeepMind suggests that peer pressure could keep them in line.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

For context, this works out at about 9/1 in betting odds—or about as likely as Spurs finishing in the top four. I'm not too worried. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Anthropic researcher believes more than 10% chance AI 'could kill all humans'

It is the latest in a series of increasing warnings about the safety threat posed by artificial intelligence.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Four years today www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Bereavement midwife is one of the hardest jobs in the world I think. We would have been totally adrift without ours, and I honestly do not know how she did it

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The Chinese edition of Tremors in the Blood just came out! Translation rights deals are maybe the best thing about doing books – a cool new version of your cover in a different language, and they pay you for it?? I would pay! book.douban.com/subject/3838...

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The definition of 'this meeting could have been an email'

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Reposted by Amit Katwala

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

New from 404 Media: we solved which AI company is buying massive shipments of rare books, scanning and destroying them to train AI. We put an Apple AirTag in a rare book, followed it. It ended up at an Amazon facility. Its logo is a dinosaur ripping through a book www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...

404media.co

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility

We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Experienced. Versatile. Good at pens.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Who will be the first emo prime minister?

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

It would have saved a lot more time if they put in a "this doesn't seem like AI slop" button

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Big win for the organisers of the Enhanced Games here – Enhanced CEO Max Martin has been in Washington this week, and the company's big bet on deregulation seems to be paying off. Expect to see Enhanced selling these substances very soon.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

What's the matter? You've hardly touched your raw bacon and mayo sandwich

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

This constant need to pipe music into the stadium at all times is one of the worst features of this World Cup I think (and American sport generally). Imagine the noise as Spain and Argentina take the field in the World Cup Final! But no, here's Shakira at 800 decibels

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Just throwing this out there as a wild suggestion... but they could start taxing capital?

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

But yes, the exact same pattern as Southgate: score, retreat, concede, lose. I think it's psychological more than tactical at this point – or a consequence of trying to play high-pressing, counter-attacking football in an oven

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Basically agree with this from Michael Cox – Tuchel getting hammered for defensive substitutions, but England were already retreating before the subs. If you're going to be playing with six at the back anyway, makes sense for more of them to be actual defenders. www.nytimes.com/athletic/744...

nytimes.com

England’s problem at major tournaments? They’re still just too English

Thomas Tuchel ended up adjusting to the tendencies of his players rather than changing their playing identity

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

This is a trap, of course. d'Souza's whole shtick with the Enhanced Games was to launch something outrageous to generate media attention and then use that to make tens of millions of dollars for himself. And what better way of generating media attention than ranking journalists?

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

It also scores for individual outlets including the Daily Mail (291), Fox News (764), The Guardian (588) and two separate entries for the NYT (695 or 612 depending on whether you put 'The' in front). app.theprimary.com/publications

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Of course the whole premise is flawed here, but so is the execution. Lots of publications missing (e.g. no WIRED) and it doesn't differentiate media types. Some of the lowest ranked people on there (obviously that's the first thing I checked) are actually cartoonists who just publish comics.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

It gave one of my stories an 'Evidence Quality' score of 50/1000 which is frankly a little offensive considering it was an article about the death of my unborn son.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Screenshot above is its take on the lie detection long read I wrote for the The Guardian in 2019, which it gave 818/1000 (the audio version of the exact same article scored 358).

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Aron d'Souza, who you might know as the founder of the Enhanced Games or the guy who helped Peter Thiel take down Gawker, just launched 'The Primary' which is his attempt to fix media bias by using an AI to score journalists on their impartiality and sourcing, and then rank them on a leaderboard.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

What would the feature-writing equivalent of nandrolone even be? Ritalin and a copy of In Cold Blood

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

As one of these writers... I agree

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Really unfair to lump BBC and ITV into the same bracket here when BBC iPlayer works brilliantly and ITVx is an unuseable piece of trash

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I'm used to Conservative MPs contradicting themselves but not usually within the same article. Context window shrinking and shrinking.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

"The Conservative Party is for serious people" "one candidate turned up drunk"

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I do think being in Rogan's vicinity does just melt these people's brains. Was he just trying to impress him, or is 'legalise handguns' an actual Restore policy position?

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Sorry Oli, Ronan Farrow has been embedded with Binface's team for six months and has already sold the movie rights

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

In the case of the People vs The Establishment, I am issuing a restraining order. The People must stay 500 yards away from the Establishment at all times.

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Amit Katwala @amitkatwala.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Sadly FIFA's structure means that this scandal will have almost zero effect on Infantino's future as president. One vote per member, so he has adopted the Blatter model of funnelling funds to smaller football associations in exchange for their support.

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