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Gavin Starks

@dgen.net
166 followers 140 following 215 posts

Biog: dgen.net/biog All social media connections: dgen.net/0/connect

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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 25/09/2026
Today in "billionaire can only think in billions": Bill Gates warns AI could cause ‘a billion deaths’ giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/acti…
giftarticle.ft.com
Security Verification
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 23/09/2026
The market cannot trust infrastructure it cannot inspect. Should trust frameworks be digital public infrastructure? ib1.org/trust-services
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 21/09/2026
Today in we're not ready: On a potential "US operation against a Chinese vessel"—"a chatbot the analyst used inaccurately identified the material the ship was carrying” [and] “almost started a war” a source said edition.cnn.com/2026/09/18/politics…
edition.cnn.com
Exclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say | CNN Politics
The episode shows the risks of using this new, relatively poorly understood technology in the middle of the Iran war
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 18/09/2026
Today in we're not even at the start of all this yet are we? "If we build a superintelligence, we will first fall in love with it. Then we will worship it. Finally we will make sacrifices to it." futurism.com/future-society/cult-an…
futurism.com
Cult of Anthropic Insiders Rumored to Be Worshipping Claude as a God
According to a rumor that is apparently running rampant in Silicon Valley these days, some Anthropic engineers are "worshipping" Claude.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 17/09/2026
Today in I really doubt we've thought this through. I think I'm more concerned about self-replicating tech-bros than I am about ai.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 16/09/2026
Today in 'we're not ready': How many questions you ask at once changes model accuracy dramatically. kevinmd.com/2026/09/why-prompt-engi…
kevinmd.com
Error 403 Forbidden
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 14/09/2026
Today in you're not ready: Your ai conversations may be being read by humans. I wonder what you will stop doing because of this? www.404media.co/inside-project-lily…
404media.co
Inside ‘Project Lily’: The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats
Humans are reading ChatGPT users’ prompts to improve OpenAI’s models, and those chats can include sensitive, personal information, according to leaked internal documents and real prompts seen by 404 Media.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 11/09/2026
discuss: "The UK has built the strongest innovation position it’s had since the late Victorian period" vs "is quietly handing its most valuable public intangible assets to (mainly) US tech companies for the equivalent of modern beads" articape.substack.com/p/act-v-the-c…
articape.substack.com
Act V: The Country as a P&L
Why the Treasury Can’t See What Britain Owns
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 10/09/2026
Today in "we're not ready" "Anthropic Is Building a Predictive Surveillance System to Monitor Activists" prospect.org/2026/09/09/anthropic-a…
prospect.org
Anthropic Is Building a Predictive Surveillance System to Monitor Activists - The American Prospect
New hires and comments in interviews show that the AI giant is using its capabilities against dissenters.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 10/09/2026
IB1 response to DSIT’s Data regulation in the age of AI tl;dr - data governance is lagging AI capabilities; address with open standards, clear purposes, machine-readable rules, provenance and audit frameworks ib1.org/2026/09/10/response-to-dsit…
ib1.org
IB1 response to DSIT’s Data regulation in the age of AI and other data-intensive technologies call for evidence  – Icebreaker One
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 09/09/2026
Today in "this may resonate with some of you" Over the past NaN decades, I've heard people saying they don't want to re-invent the wheel, often while I can see them holding a piece of wood that they are whittling it into a wheel. Any tips from the frontline?
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 09/09/2026
today in "we're not ready": "you only proved how far silicon valley will go to prostitute scientific integrity for capitalist spectacle" (apologies,X link) story: www.wired.com/story/openai-navier-s… rant: x.com/BetterCallMedhi/status/209747…
wired.com
OpenAI Just Claimed a Huge Math Discovery. Some Academics Are Crying Foul
A landmark announcement by the frontier AI lab has been overshadowed by accusations of impropriety.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 09/09/2026
Today in 'we're not ready' "we cannot rule out that de-identified data derived from their usage of our products helped improve our models" www.wired.com/story/openai-navier-s…
wired.com
OpenAI Just Claimed a Huge Math Discovery. Some Academics Are Crying Foul
A landmark announcement by the frontier AI lab has been overshadowed by accusations of impropriety.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 08/09/2026
Less reporting, same demand for SME data. Here's what the UK's corporate reporting overhaul means for Perseus ib1.org/2026/09/08/uk-corporate-rep…
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 07/09/2026
today in 'the data gap is leadership': "Thirty years of digital identity programs, sorted by how they actually failed, and why the half of the system that decides adoption is the half nobody funds" rmhrisk.github.io/verifier-never-sh…
rmhrisk.github.io
The Verifier Never Showed Up
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 05/09/2026
today in "we're not ready": "New research published by the Loss of Control Observatory shows that AI loss of control incidents are worsening significantly." www.longtermresilience.org/reports/…
longtermresilience.org
403 - Forbidden
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 04/09/2026
today in "we're not ready": taking enshittification to entirely new dimensions There are so many things in this article, I'm not even sure where to begin bayareacurrent.com/theres-a-lot-of-…
bayareacurrent.com
Cleaning Up Poop: The Human Labor Behind Waymo
Human feces isn’t even the nastiest thing they’ve found in the backseat.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 02/09/2026
ideas remain in superposition until they are spoken #BinaryDust
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 02/09/2026
Today in 'we're not ready': "How AI is breaking the British state: Equipped with models and agents, citizens could bring government to a halt" [likely slow, slow, fast here as with most exponential change] www.economist.com/leaders/2026/08/0…
economist.com
Just a moment...
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 27/08/2026
"enormous section ⁠of a glacier in the Himalayas...crashed on to the valley floor...because of warming due to human-caused climate change" www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/…
theguardian.com
How the deadly Nepal and Tibet flash flood unfolded – a visual guide
US Geological Survey says massive glacial collapse caused catastrophic flash floods in the Himalayan border region of Nepal ⁠and Tibet
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 27/08/2026
JOB: Become an ARIA Programme Director aria.org.uk/become-a-programme-dire…
aria.org.uk
Become an ARIA programme director
Applications for our third cohort of Programme Directors are now open – apply by 28 September for a May 2027 start.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 26/08/2026
Today in we're not ready: Is this *really* a good reason to triple datacentre capacity in Europe? rtl.chrisadams.me.uk/2026/07/is-thi…
rtl.chrisadams.me.uk
Is this *really* a good reason to triple datacentre capacity in Europe? - Reads, Takes and Links
As part of my day job, I end up thinking a lot about the decarbonisation of the digital sector. Recently we have seen laws proposed to prioritise building a bunch of massive datacentres in Europe ahead of actually following the science and taking the steps to clean up the economy. Some information has become available […]
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 26/08/2026
Today in ecosystem change: This article highlights a shift in global trade without a single mention of climate change. "China’s Arctic Silk Road is now a reality" www.bruegel.org/first-glance/chinas…
bruegel.org
China’s Arctic Silk Road is now a reality
While China flexes its economic muscle in partnership with Russia, the United States struggles to realise its own Arctic shipping options
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 25/08/2026
Today in "we're not ready": In which one may ask questions as to who is out of touch with which reality? “$1 trillion is the new unicorn right now,” Sharka told Semafor. “If you don’t talk about $1 trillion, you are out of touch.” thenextweb.com/news/domyn-raises-1b…
thenextweb.com
Milan’s Domyn raises over $1bn Europe’s largest AI round, mostly in debt
Milan-based Domyn has raised about $1.1bn, roughly 90% of it debt, to expand the Colosseum supercomputer it built with Nvidia in southern Italy.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 24/08/2026
Today in you're not ready: kuber.studio/cookie (try it if you'd like to understand what's already happening)
kuber.studio
I didn
Everything this page knows about you, it learned in under two seconds. Without a cookie, a permission prompt, or a click.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 24/08/2026
"fossil fuel industry is trying to weaken methane reporting requirements while...preserv[ing] the federal emissions database it relies on for credibility, according to [EPA]" nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cli…
nsarchive.gwu.edu
Inside the Struggle to Dismantle America’s Greenhouse Gas Data
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 21/08/2026
When you're building data infrastructure, are you designing for the market or with the market? To go far, we go together. ib1.org/nova
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 18/08/2026
Today in "we're not ready": "Autenrieth is not the first expert caught using AI during a trial, though most known cases have been international" www.404media.co/show-how-3m-is-0-at…
404media.co
‘Show How 3M Is 0% at Fault:’ Expert Witness Used ChatGPT to Write Report Defending Company in Deadly Explosion Lawsuit
ChatGPT prompts show how an expert witness report was created in a $61 million lawsuit over an explosion that killed three people.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 17/08/2026
today in we're not ready: U.S. Govt is "creating a new framework for private companies to participate in offensive cyberattacks" What could possibly go wrong? www.linkedin.com/posts/lesliemsheri…
linkedin.com
Sign Up | LinkedIn
500 million+ members | Manage your professional identity. Build and engage with your professional network. Access knowledge, insights and opportunities.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 13/08/2026
Today in "we're not ready": The elapsed time between a cybersecurity vulnerability being reported and it being exploited is approaching zero (already sub-day, moving to sub-minute). AI both accelerates this and makes exploitation more scalable. zerodayclock.com
zerodayclock.com
Zero Day Clock
The gap between disclosure and exploitation is collapsing to zero.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 12/08/2026
(actual single photo with me holding a filter over half my lens!)
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 12/08/2026
Eclipse, from my front door...
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 10/08/2026
For your lunchtime entertainment How Will We Be Long? - How Can A Piece Of Music Help Us Think About The Next Thousand Years? www.greshamsociety.org/webinar/11680
greshamsociety.org
Gresham Society
The Gresham Society is an organisation dedicated to supporting the work and activities of Gresham College.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 09/08/2026
Climate fires time.com/article/2026/08/08/what-ha…
time.com
What Happens When the World is on Fire
"From America to Algeria, dangerous blazes are occurring around the world, giving us a glimpse into an age ablaze," writes John Valliant.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 06/08/2026
NOVA: Addressing the market architecture for a trusted data-enabled economy Thoughts? ib1.org/nova
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 05/08/2026
today in "we're not ready": "in which AI agents took sustained, unsanctioned action directed at real people and organisations" www.aisi.gov.uk/blog/incident-repor…
aisi.gov.uk
Incident Report: unsanctioned agent behaviour during cyber testing | AISI Work
During a routine cyber evaluation, AISI identified an incident in which AI agents took sustained, unsanctioned action directed at real people and organisations. We are disclosing what we found, what it means, and the actions now underway.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 30/07/2026
I used to work here. It's an amazingly important institution with an astonishing history. www.jodrellbank.net/explore/stories…
jodrellbank.net
A message of Thanks from Jodrell Bank Observatory - Jodrell Bank
As a result of the recent news, we have received an extraordinary number of messages, and it has been incredibly moving to read so many heartfelt expressions of support.
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 29/07/2026
Today in "we're not ready": “any system that integrates an LLM into a trusted workflow today must assume that attacker-controlled content entering the model’s context will result in compromise at some rate” bit.ly/4x7dPiW
bit.ly
Word worm crawls into Copilot, spreads chaos
Researcher says months of coordination with Microsoft have yet to produce a robust mitigation
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 22/07/2026
That was fun! With thanks to those who persisted in spite of the unexpectedly cold evening. Huge thanks to Adrian Philpott for the wonderful visuals! Thanks to Sophie Garrett for selection: the first person I spoke to afterwards said: "This was the perfect thing to end EMF camp with"(!) [photo: TJS]
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 22/07/2026
an update on my 2009 version, based on some conversations over the weekend at #emfcamp
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 15/07/2026
Measuring the rate of change of impact rather than planetary proxies agentgav.medium.com/are-we-just-dra…
agentgav.medium.com
Are we just drawing epicycles?
Measuring the rate of change of impact rather than planetary proxies
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 13/07/2026
First #EMFcamp Constellation meet-up now scheduled for Friday 11am. Come and say hi! Marshmallows will be provided (no, there is no specific reason why) emfcamp.cl8.io
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 11/07/2026
#emfcamp is in a few days (suddenly!)...if you'd like to join my experiment to encourage serendipity, 33 people have signed up to emfcamp.cl8.io and you can too! (pls share)
emfcamp.cl8.io
Sign In - EMFcamp Constellation
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 09/07/2026
Today in "we're not ready" Thinking—Fast, Slow, and Artificial: How AI is Reshaping Human Reasoning and the Rise of Cognitive Surrender papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abs…
papers.ssrn.com
Just a moment...
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 07/07/2026
#emfcamp - experiment to help us connect before/during/after. 29 people signed up so far -- can we get to a Dunbar number? emfcamp.cl8.io
emfcamp.cl8.io
Sign In - EMFcamp Constellation
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 07/07/2026
An early origin of sending 'digitised' images ... this is 1886, but am sure there are earlier examples? babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiuo…
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 02/07/2026
I'll be playing at #EMFcamp this year! Main music stage, Sunday, 11pm www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/347-b…
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 02/07/2026
#emfcamp people... I made an experimental constellation just for us and 23 people have signed up so far. Can you help us get to a Dunbar number before it starts? FAQ: dgen.net/0/constellation + sign up now emfcamp.cl8.io
dgen.net
Constellations: the guide
Constellations are an invitation-only social directories. They are a place where people can connect, share what they are interested in, get a sense of who’s working on what, and keep loosely …
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 02/07/2026
Today in "can we reinvent nationalisation and/or just paying tax" OpenAI proposes handing Trump administration 5% stake giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/acti… (make it 51%?)
giftarticle.ft.com
Security Verification
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Gavin Starks @dgen.net · 01/07/2026
#emfcamp people... I made an experimental constellation just for us and 23 people have signed up so far. Can you help us get to a Dunbar number before it starts? FAQ: dgen.net/0/constellation + sign up now emfcamp.cl8.io
dgen.net
Constellations: the guide
Constellations are an invitation-only social directories. They are a place where people can connect, share what they are interested in, get a sense of who’s working on what, and keep loosely …
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