iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

We won’t get to AGI by scaling alone. We’ll need new AI algorithms & approaches to make the next big leap in capabilities. In the end, predicting when/if we’ll get to AGI is pretty useless. Why? Because no one really knows. We’re all guessing! 3/3

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

For the past 30 years I’ve been saying that machines that match human intelligence are between 50-100 years away. Today, I say that timeline is still 50-100 years. Why? Because there’s still so much to figure out. 2/3

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

For the past 10 years, big tech have been telling everyone that AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) is less than 10 years away. The current popular message is that AGI is less than 10 years away. See the game? 1/3

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AiLab (Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) @ailab.world · 18/07/2025

CONGRATULATIONS to our @drjohnflackett@bsky.social on receiving an Honorary Doctor of Science for his significant contributions to Artificial Intelligence & education, we’re so proud of you!♥️ Your dedication to AI over 30yrs & passion for helping everyone learn about AI is an inspiration.🏆

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Honoured to receive an Honorary Doctor of Science from @solentuniversity.bsky.social for my work in Artificial Intelligence & education. From an undergrad, to academic, to PhD in AI, to co-founding @ailab.world; this recognition means the world. Thank you to all who have supported my journey. 😀

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AiLab (Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) @ailab.world · 19/03/2025

AiLab are excited to partner with Business South & Lester Aldridge for this event tomorrow, where our @drjohnflackett.bsky.social will be giving a briefing on the UK Government's 'AI Opportunities Action Plan' & what it means for businesses. Only few tickets left: businesssouth.org/events/busin...

businesssouth.org

Business South AI Breakfast Briefing – What you need to know | Business South

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 15/03/2025

friends, I am preparing an application for Assistant Professor in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) position. if you taught any of my papers in class or used my work to support AI policy/regulation, please let me know or direct me to some sources 🙏🏾🙏🏾

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Looked like a complete setup. When Zelensky remained calm, JD went nuclear, which in turn allowed Trump to berate Z and lie (no thanks & Kremlin talking points). The Q about Z not wearing a suit (er, Musk and his attire?) allows republicans to scream ‘disrespect’ to cover withdrawal of support.

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Donald Fagen’s 1982 debut solo album ‘The Nightfly’ is a musical masterpiece 🎵. I always imagine I’m in a late night, dimly lit whisky bar chilling out to it live 🥃.

Album cover of Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly. Man sat behind desk with microphone and turntable

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

I swapped to FastMail last year (great Australian company). Not quite as secure as Proton with its encryption at rest (but obviously much more than GMail) - this does allow you to search for content in emails which you can’t do in Proton. Not a single regret in the move.

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

It’s clear then - at least to me - that the ‘wide range of tasks’ has to be evaluated against the capabilities of a wide range of human experts. AGI requires learning, reasoning, understanding & adapting as humanS do…we’re not there yet. We also use computing machinery to minimise mistakes. 4/4

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

If you think the bar setting is too high because it’s 1 machine vs billions of humans, AI research has always had the lofty goal of matching human intelligence (where AI = AGI) because if achieved we would have a ‘general purpose’ machine capable across a wide range of tasks. 3/4

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

So when I hear arguments about how mistakes current cutting edge AI systems make are ok because humans also make mistakes (eg illegal chess moves), this doesn’t make sense to me because collective human capabilities excel (eg chess experts make legal moves). 2/4

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

A really important point about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is that the benchmark of equivalence to human intelligence, means the cognitive capabilities of a majority of humans not just 1 or a few. Couched in these terms it’s easy to see how far away we still are from achieving it. 1/4

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AiLab (Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) @ailab.world · 07/02/2025

Thank you to Business South for inviting our @drjohnflackett.bsky.social to give a presentation on the UK’s new ‘AI Opportunities Action Plan’ at the People South Action Group last week. John also spoke about AI Skills Development, AI in HR & how AiLab are helping organisations learn about #AI.

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Looking forward to 2025 - so many possibilities. Hope everyone has a fantastic year!

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Just logged in and my notifications say I’ve reposted ALL of my own posts (which seems to be true). Only problem is I didn’t do it. Anyone else had the same thing happen?

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

Seems like every time a new OpenAI model is announced (this time o3), there’s a chorus of “AGI is here”, “programmers no longer needed”, etc, etc. Yes o3 seems impressive, but it’s not been put through its paces in the real-world. With no underlying understanding, AGI is still a long way away!

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Rhea Liang @handle.invalid · 30/11/2024

The NINETY SECOND woman lost to violence this year in Australia and the 18th Indigenous woman. #DomesticViolence is a scourge and will continue unless we adress systemic misogyny. 💔💔💔 (🙏 @sherelemoody.bsky.social for keeping the heartbreaking running count) www.9news.com.au/national/ger...

9news.com.au

Man charged over alleged murder of his mother in Geraldton

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Michelle Chom 🇦🇺🦢 (she/her) @mrschom.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

For new followers, I have a website to help teachers new to teaching Digital Technologies in Australia (WA Curric), to help you get started. Some bits haven't been updated in a while, but it'll at least be a start that you can then build on. #EduSky #CSEducation sites.google.com/view/mrschom/

sites.google.com

Mrs Chom's DigiTech Resources

Welcome to Mrs Chom's Digital Technologies Resources!

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

I predict the social media ban for U16s in Australia (that was just passed & becomes law in 12 months) will be a total disaster. The backlash once online ID for everyone is poorly rolled out should be enough to sink it. VPNs will bypass guardrails. In the meantime millions of $ wasted! 🤦‍♂️😞

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Massive thanks to you @emmaberry.bsky.social 👏 @ailab.world wouldn’t be possible without your hard work & leadership. Looking forward to the next 7 years! #AI #education #AIbusiness

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Phil Bildner @philbildner.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Books. When buying books for gifts this holiday season, please don't buy from Amazon. Please shop at your local independent bookstore/bookseller. Ask for recommendations. If they don't have a particular book in stock, ask them to order it. Support creatives, local businesses, and your community.

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Dr Linda McIver @lindamciver.adsei.org · 25/11/2024

If you make a hybrid event it is essential to make an online chat that links remote and in person attendees. I don't care what tech you use, but make that connection.

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

We define AGI as: “Getting a computer to do all the stuff that we humans are really good at!” I like this because it’s easy to understand & when you think about all the things humans are good at (language, reasoning, planning, identifying, world models, etc) it shows how hard building AGI is

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Les Carr @lescarr.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Southampton Science Comedy on Dec 19th with @drjanegregory.bsky.social and Steve Hall. She’s a clinical psychologist with #misophonia who can't stand the sound of eating; he’s a comedian with no table manners. Come and enjoy the science comedy of their marriage! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/southampto...

eventbrite.co.uk

Southampton Science Comedy

An evening of science-themed stand-up comedy, stories, and silliness from some of Southampton’s funniest and nerdiest people!

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Not sure what the % boost is, but yes, there’s so much untapped potential in concentrating on using the right type of data that adequately covers the problem domain (rather than hit & hope) - which is why I still think the current approaches still have legs & are useful.

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

I agree, synthetic data is very useful in specific domains (eg training AVs) but not as much as real-world data. It still remains though that even if there was more data, I don’t think data & scaling alone is going to get us much further. DL has a fundamental generalisation problem.

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Multi-agent systems are trying to cover-up the fact that we don’t yet have AI-based software systems that meet the definition of an ‘agent’. A proper agent should be able to do everything current ‘multi-agent’ systems do + more i.e. reason autonomously. In other words, just 1 real agent is enough.

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

I think that’s only a small part of the problem (new data is being generated all the time, & there’s lots of useful synthetic data). The bigger issue is people are noticing the errors which make GenAI unreliable because there’s no real reasoning in the systems. Which is why we need new approaches.

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Is deep learning hitting a wall? I’ve more to say later, but I think progress will slow because scaling isn’t all you need. There’s still lots of applicable problems DL-based systems are useful for, but the next big jump in #AI capabilities will come via new algorithm development, not just more data

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Yes please Graham 😃 bsky.app/profile/drjo...

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Do you have Geese? I love Geese! (as well as ducks)

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Hi Ben. Very useful. Any chance you could add me and my company @ailab.world?

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Thank you! Really enjoy your content BTW. Well done on all your hard work & achievements 👏

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

…and it’s paid off again - contract signed! 😃 My one piece of advice around proposal writing (& we have a very high success rate), is make sure you fully understand what the customer pain point is (problem), solve it (address it), & then go beyond (something unexpected). Giving value is not lower $$

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Nice! Any chance you could add me?

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Yep, it’s a massive red flag. Also, any type of push back on deposit. Avoid if at all possible.

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Dr Linda McIver @lindamciver.adsei.org · 21/11/2024

my Aussie educators starter pack is growing nicely. Welcome to bluesky, education friends! let me know who I've missed! go.bsky.app/CWpFnns

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Dr John Flackett @drjohnflackett.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Watermarking #AI generated outputs is key. Eg., use a visible watermark to highlight AI generated content, or an invisible watermark to track provenance (amongst other things). 👇 Gradio by @mmitchell.bsky.social (@huggingface.bsky.social) makes watermarking easy! huggingface.co/spaces/meg/w...

huggingface.co

Watermark Demo - a Hugging Face Space by meg

Demo of watermarking with gradio

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Glenn Williams @glennhasabeard.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

I use AI to process my struggle with mental health. I find it hard to express myself in complete thoughts and sentences, prompting helps me compartmentalize and express myself in a meaningful way.

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