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Anna Dent

@annadent.bsky.social
6.2K followers 2.1K following 4K posts

Research and policy adviser www.abdconsultancy.co.uk Futures of work, digital welfare state, tech ethics, public sector innovation Also cats, telly, general silliness Now with added newsletter! www.abdconsultancy.co.uk/digital-we…

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Reposted by Anna Dent
gquaggiotto.bsky.social @gquaggiotto.bsky.social · 20h
“We call those ‘slop grenades’ that people toss at each other" futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
"Slop Grenades": Shopify CEO Who Pushed Staff to Use AI Is Now Horrified by What He's Wrought
Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke is getting a first-hand look at the AI-workplace revolution, and it isn't a pretty sight.
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Cynical companies sell over-priced crap to women? This is unheard of
theguardian.com
Menopause supplements costing more than £400 a year ‘no better than cheap multivitamin’
Many products aimed at women over 45 lack meaningful quantities of key nutrients, consumer watchdog Which? found
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Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Freedom of information request finds six-month trial cost £320,000, used almost 100 police hours and led to just one – incorrect – alert www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Trial of live facial recognition in London stations leads to a false positive and no arrests
Freedom of information request finds six-month trial cost £320,000, used almost 100 police hours and led to just one – incorrect – alert
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Finishing @sathnam.bsky.social's brilliant book about George Michael in Greece feels appropriate
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
when you work at the BPAF but you’re beginning to realize there’s not going to be a successful IPO
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree What a miserable place to have to work
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Enjoyed the Greek border force clearly saying 'absolutely no' to the stupid fingerprint machines and sending us to the cheerful guard instead
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Used to have to go to the Odeon in central Birmingham to buy tickets for gigs and festivals
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
God some institutions are going to regret their actions
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Oh no, sad little fascist facing some consequences (can there be some more please)
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Thank Cat It's Friday
Percy the white and black cat asleep on my lap, his face resting on his paw, tilted at a silly angle
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
David Byrne looking a bit rough there
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Intrusive investigations hit millions of people on Universal Credit, now being rolled out to Pension Credit as well - great new report Massive amounts of paperwork required on short timescales, people getting multiple reviews within months, and only 20% of reviews find anything wrong
independent.co.uk
Millions of benefit claimants face ‘intrusive’ investigations, experts warn
Hundreds of thousands of pensioners will soon be affected by the scheme
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 24/09/2026
I read this story and can’t help think of the breathless coverage media has given these delusional fantasies about superintelligent AI killing humanity in ten years, when companies are releasing tools coaching mass shooters and helping people kill themselves. People need to wake the fuck up.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 24/09/2026
Just when I think I can’t hate OpenAI and Sam Altman any more, new details come out about how ChatGPT helped a shooter plan one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history in Tumbler Ridge, BC. OpenAI made an explicit decision not to report the user to authorities.
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Pages of DSIT ministers and governance are still live and have no indication on them that DSIT no longer exists
static.klipy.com
Johnny Test: Dukey's Annoyed Facepalm
ALT: Johnny Test: Dukey's Annoyed Facepalm
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I worked in a West London local authority ten (10) years ago and this was in detailed discussion back then. Not saying we're slow at infrastructure in this country but... (Waits for train experts to tell me all the reasons it's taken a long time)
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
For the lunchtime crowd - are you interested in how the welfare state is mainly robots and algorithms now* Read my newsletter! *possible exaggeration
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Arieh Kovler @ariehkovler.com · 24/09/2026
Yeah this is just trying to copy SNAP benefits from the US with their restrictions on what you can use them for. But that requires a huge bureaucracy that administers physical credit cards to benefit-holders and requires shops to enroll in the SNAP programme and impose the restrictions at the till.
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ugh. Not only are you surviving on below-poverty levels of UC, but we're also going to monitor what you spend it on (if you think they won't analyse the spending you're naïve) and we won't let you decide what you want to do with it. Way to infantilise people 😫
independent.co.uk
Tories would ban long-term benefit claimants from buying alcohol and cigarettes
Full rate of Universal Credit would be given only to people who have worked for years
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Emma Yeomans @yeomans.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Hampshire police say man was arrested on suspicion of destroying ships or endangering their safety under the Aviation & Maritime Security Act 1990, criminal damage, criminal damage with intent to endanger life, & conduct endangering ships, structures or individuals under Merchant Shipping Act 1995
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It's September. There's lots of news about the digital welfare state. Some excellent reports, a bit of book news from me, and many, many things to read. I am spoiling you, I really am
abdconsultancy.co.uk
Edition 14 of the Digital Welfare State newsletter — ABD Consultancy
The 14th edition of the Digital Welfare State newsletter, written by Anna Dent
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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
FOURTH REPORT: Former Alpha School students speak out I have just posted my latest report on what student life is *really* like at Alpha School, based on interviews with several student sources. They describe anti-patterns, rocket ships & pirate ships, and "getting nuked." Here's a short summary.
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com
FOURTH REPORT: Former Alpha School students speak out
“A science experiment that’s been framed as a school” - “pretty much a concentration camp” - “cool the first few months and then it just becomes shit”
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Interested to see which influencers take a gamble on this - lots of people hate AI, will the influencers risk their following?
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 23/09/2026
Part of their problem will continue to be that OpenAI is trying to convince people that they need a layer of (wonky) enterprise software between them and things like raising kids, cultivating relationships, and exploring hobbies.
businessinsider.com
OpenAI is enlisting an influencer army to make it look 'good for the world'
OpenAI is hiring influencers to create content that portrays AI as cool and helpful, not scary. Here's an inside look at its marketing strategy.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 23/09/2026
Haven't seen a better AI explainer than this one (even if it somewhat overstates the AI safety stuff) www.instagram.com/reel/Ddlt1kR...
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Toast for everybody ☺️
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Roel Maalderink @roelmaalderink.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Hoe vinden Meta-medewerkers hun eigen Meta-bril? (Samen met @bitsoffreedom.eurosky.social)
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Bake Off lineup is delightful (including @nigella.bsky.social of course). Very good contestant casting. A proper antidote to the idiots who want to stamp out the brilliant, mad, diversity of this daft nation.
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This idiot dicking around in boats will get himself into trouble and either will get rescued by the RNLI and look like a twat when they are gracious and brave, or he'll drown because his gang of twats have shut down the lifeboat station with their threats and violence
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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
ICYMI: In Jan 26, Jess Phillips and Peter Kyle, then ministers, filmed an endorsement for a phone running the child safety software of a company that's central to the government's plans to prevent kids being exposed to porn. A detailed review shows the phone doesn't work and is dangerously insecure.
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Well colour me shocked
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Mid afternoon slump
static.klipy.com
Panda Sliding Off Bench
ALT: Panda Sliding Off Bench
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Had to read the headline about 3 times before it made any sense. Even then 🤷 What a world we live in www.404media.co/people-train...
404media.co
People Training OpenAI’s AI Fired for Using AI to Train the AI
OpenAI has thousands and thousands of contractors helping improve the company's AI models. Multiple contractors have been fired for using AI to train the AI.
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James Plunkett @jamestplunkett.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Read the report online here: menders.kinship.works With thanks to the brilliant policy team working on community @jrf-uk.bsky.social for supporting the work.
menders.kinship.works
Meet the menders: If our social fabric is frayed, who’s fixing it?
A Discussion Paper by Kinship Works for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on the fifteen disciplines of civic renewal and the architecture that supports them.
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James Plunkett @jamestplunkett.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Our social fabric is frayed, so who’s fixing it? Big launch @kinship.works today! We are publishing a major new report, Meet the Menders, in which we map the disciplines of civic renewal. I’ve shared all the info here: lnkd.in/p/erATC_n9
lnkd.in
🔔 Launch day! 🔔 This is a big one and we hope people find it useful... Our social fabric is frayed, so who's fixing it? Today we're launching a major new report from Kinship Works, Meet th...
🔔 Launch day! 🔔 This is a big one and we hope people find it useful... Our social fabric is frayed, so who's fixing it? Today we're launching a major new report from Kinship Works, Meet the Mender...
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TW @twesq.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
this is fantastic and I learned something new
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Beans
Close up of toe beans on the feet of Percy the white and black cat
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
"George Osborne has said he thought no one would find out about a private viewing of the Bayeux tapestry he organised for the tech billionaire Peter Thiel at the British Museum" Today's least surprising news
theguardian.com
George Osborne ‘thought Peter Thiel’s Bayeux tapestry visit would be secret’
British Museum chair tells Big Brue festival he thought no one would find out about the private viewing
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Or, Karp says the public might need to bail out unprofitable AI firms
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I feel like she's going to wonder why he never leaves home after uni, can't find a girlfriend or get a job, and will have no idea that she is to blame
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Tits McGee @scientits.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
NEW CAT JUST DROPPED
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This should have been said on day 1. It's been left too long, giving them more confidence and space to push their agenda and actions even further. This message needs to come from the PM, repeatedly.
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Not sure this is what the villagers hoped would happen. Oops.
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computerweekly.bsky.social @computerweekly.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
A Computer Weekly data analysis reveals a steady revolving door between Whitehall and major technology suppliers, mapping 63 moves by senior officials to AI and IT suppliers since 2010... 👉 [read]
Data dive: The revolving door between Whitehall and big tech
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Human workers are reviewing real chatgpt content. I'll bet a lot of money that 99% of people that use chatgpt have NO idea anyone might read their chats. Also yet another example of hidden human labour behind ostensibly automated 'intelligent' AI
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Claire Cullingworth @ccullingworth.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This made me smile, attached to an ordinary cast iron drainpipe on a house in Durham. #TinyJoys
A cast iron drain pipe going down the side of a white-painted house.  A crest of red feathers and a bright orange beak made from something solid have been attached around it.  It looks remarkably like "Feathers McGraw", the evil criminal penguin from The Wrong Trousers.
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Robyn Byers @jrobynbyers.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
THIS is why I bother shopping at the mall down the hill from my apartment. THIS is why I avoid buying from Amazon or online retailers as much as I can. THIS is why I enjoy working as a manager at a shoe store. It is a genuine JOY to get to shop, and to help people shop, and we need to preserve it
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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Men invent stalking device. Part 51.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 11/09/2026
Rogue AI didn’t breach Hugging Face, human decisions did thebulletin.org/2026/09/rogu... (by @eryk.bsky.social)
thebulletin.org
Rogue AI didn’t breach Hugging Face, human decisions did
At the core of the Hugging Face hacking incident were a series of human choices that traded security for speed.
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