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Steve Smith

@stevesmithtech.bsky.social
1.4K followers 26 following 320 posts

Technology leadership | Books leanpub.com/u/stevesmith | Blog stevesmith.tech | Work equalexperts.com | Conf agileonthebeach.com

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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
youtu.be/Kdi0agYs7pk?...
youtu.be
Layoffs
YouTube video by cleverfunteam
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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · 14/09/2026
I wrote a new piece yesterday, called "Confessions of an Unrepentant Slop Snob", about my escalating rage at AI-generated text. It includes a framework for thinking about when AI involvement is fine -- just another tool -- and when it lands as a violation. charity.wtf/p/confession...
charity.wtf
Confessions of an Unrepentant Slop Snob
A framework for thinking about when AI involvement is additive or a violation
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Ask each other questions in the open
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Check out @allspaw.bsky.social
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 27/08/2026
In a short span of time we went from people speculating that companies were listening to their conversations to companies offering listening to your conversations as a feature.
theverge.com
Plaud is launching AI earbuds
An AI wearable, but for your ears.
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor - Desmond Tutu
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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
So the answer to "how did the super spooky all powerful AI go rogue" is that they just let it rip and then went home for the day In a normal world, this would be a story about OpenAI's culture of negligence and half-assery, not how we should all bow down to the AI overlords
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Athena Kugblenu @athenakugblenu.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The Guardian once asked me 'what one change would you make to achieve Black equality in Britain?' and it feels appropriate to share my answer again
Athena Kugblenu: Allow Black people to be mediocre too!
Athena Kugblenu
I would like to replace #blackexcellence with #blackmediocrity. True equality is when our talent:recognition ratio is allowed to be as broad as white people’s. Lewis Hamilton had to win two Formula One titles before he bagged BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2014; Greg Rusedski only had to get battered by Pat Rafter to win his. Kwasi Kwarteng steered the economy towards an iceberg and got sacked. Jeremy Hunt drove the NHS over a cliff, now he’s chancellor. Don’t get me started on how many football clubs get ruined by freshly retired white footballers while very qualified Black managers are overlooked. When the arc of the moral universe bends towards Black people failing upwards as their peers do, we will be in the promised land.
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The Economist @economist.com · 13/09/2025
“A fundamental shift is needed in how we approach the development and deployment of AI agents,” argues Meredith Whittaker. “Basic lessons in privacy and digital security are being discarded,” she warns
econ.st
AI agents are coming for your privacy, warns Meredith Whittaker
The Signal Foundation’s president worries they will also blunt competition and undermine cyber-security
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Modern Software Engineering @modernswe.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
The power of strong, but fair, leadership...
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Modern Software Engineering @modernswe.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
TONIGHT @ 7PM (UK) 😬 @stevesmithtech.bsky.social
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
For many years, people didn’t randomly film others in public—not because we didn’t have the technology, but because the social contract said you didn’t do that. That’s why Meta is going full court press on their PR and celebrity endorsements. They remember how people ran google glass outta town.
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New Flesh 🇵🇸 🏳️‍⚧️ 🏳️‍🌈 @esedia.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Your food processor has a chute that fits your dick. Should you?
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The Odyssey is incredible
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Andreas Kirsch @blackhc.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I work at Google DeepMind. This won't make me popular. But it's all public reporting: 2014: DeepMind reportedly sold to Google on conditions: no military use, independent oversight 2026: a Pentagon contract for "any lawful government purpose" Not one safeguard survived intact
Collage titled "Trust is not Governance — an essay from inside Google DeepMind, written in personal capacity." 

A 2014 memorandum, "Conditions of the Acquisition," lists: military applications of DeepMind technology banned; deployment decisions before an independent ethics board (as reported in Mallaby's The Infinity Machine). 

Red threads lead to a 2026 U.S. Department of Defense agreement for classified networks reading "any lawful government purpose," with safety settings and filters adjusted at the government's request and no contractor veto (reported terms, The Information, Apr. 2026). 

Below: a 2018 AI Principles strip ("no weapons, no surveillance") stamped DROPPED 2025, and a Project Mario 2016–2021 tag stamped ABANDONED.
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Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Meta has launched a new AI image generator that allows anyone to create AI images with your Instagram photos. And if you have a public Instagram account, Meta automatically opted you in. Here’s how to opt out: wapo.st/4ymzOnN
wapo.st
How to stop Meta from using your Instagram photos to create AI images
Here's how to opt out.
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Drew Curtis @drewcurtis.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Buried lede: Meta sends all your nudes to Kenya where humans annotate it and feed it to AI
appleinsider.com
What privacy? Meta's smart glasses are filming unwitting naked people
Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses are a privacy nightmare, with footage of naked people, sensitive information, and violent acts captured and seen by Meta's AI and an army of employees.
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Trunk-Based Thierry (they/them) @tdpauw.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Non-Blocking Code Reviews at #AgileOnTheBeach2026 The slides are available online. Thank you all for the lovely feedback. It’s been delightful ☺️ thinkinglabs.io/talks/2024/0...
thinkinglabs.io
Non-Blocking Continuous Code Reviews - a Case Study
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Gerald Benischke @beny23.github.io · 02/07/2026
Brigitte from @thoughtworks.com keynotes about the state of AI at #AgileOnTheBeach2026 1/n
Brigitte in front of a slide showing ancient history of AI coding (past 2 years)Context engineering slideSlide difference between supervised and unsupervised
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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
NEW: Boris Johnson failed to declare to parliament a gift of private jet flights from the same cryptobillionaire, Christopher Harborne who gave £5m to Nigel Farage, leaked documents reveal. New #HarborneReceipts investigation from @thenerve.news. 🔗 below 1/
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
@abeba.blacksky.app I'd have liked to give a better reason though than mine * we don't need to make justice harder for under-represented minority groups * if you've ever done jury service, you'll know the answer isn't AI
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Mine too
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Just another day where I try to summon @abeba.blacksky.app Today was: if you're on trial in court, would you prefer a human or an algorithm as the judge
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Micah @rincewind.run · 22/06/2026
nobody in British politics seems to want to say it but the single biggest driver of their inability to keep a prime minister for any length of time is that Brexit was stupid and ruinous and made everyone’s lives worse
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Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Signal’s Meredith Whittaker: The Push for Online Safety Risks Mass Surveillance Interview by Mishal Hussain The president of the encrypted messaging app says autonomous AI agents, device scanning and digital advertising are converging into a new architecture of surveillance.
bloomberg.com
Signal's Meredith Whittaker: The Push for Online Safety Risks Mass Surveillance
The president of the encrypted messaging app says autonomous AI agents, device scanning and digital advertising are converging into a new architecture of surveillance.
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Maybe it's that a high performing team doesn't a jumbo backlog, of any kind... 🤔
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
My experience of the past few years is it's lost meaning. It's become a name for a backlog of doom. Back in the day, as an intentional choice, it made sense. Now I see high performing teams just getting on with stuff
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 19/06/2026
“We can’t live a full dignified life — with the ability to question authority, have different relationships with people, test ideas [and] blow off steam — if we don’t have private communication.”
bloomberg.com
Signal's Meredith Whittaker: The Push for Online Safety Risks Mass Surveillance
The president of the encrypted messaging app says autonomous AI agents, device scanning and digital advertising are converging into a new architecture of surveillance.
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Ever. There's just stuff to make better and when needed there's time and space to do it
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Unafraid to say we can't do X just yet, because we're busy finishing Y and Z
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Nobody says the words technical debt
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Curiosity about upstream and downstream
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Jenna Constantine PhD @kaplanikids.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
#ObamaAppreciationDay
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Congratulations Jason, on all the people you've helped over the years
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
You can't escape Goodhart's Law Amazon scraps AI leaderboard to stop workers chasing usage scores - www.ft.com/content/b1a6... via @FT
ft.com
Amazon scraps AI leaderboard to stop workers chasing usage scores
Senior executive Dave Treadwell tells staff ‘don’t use AI just for the sake of using AI’ as costs rise
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Andy Burnham is right to say inequality is the root of populism observer.co.uk/news/politic...
observer.co.uk
Andy Burnham slams Tony Blair for ignoring inequality in ...
Former prime minister’s intervention shows he ‘does not understand what’s going on’ in people’s lives, Burnham tells The Observer
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Thank you @teamcherry.bsky.social for Silksong. I completed 99% in 81 hours, it was a joy from start to finish 🕷🪲❤️
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Tony Blair really does need to shut the fuck up
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 26/05/2026
Uber’s COO has said that it’s getting “harder to justify” its AI costs because there was no way to show a link between AI spend and any meaningful increase in useful features. This is the first time I’ve seen a company say this directly. www.businessinsider.com/uber-coo-and...
"That link is not there yet, right?" he said. think maybe implicitly there is more that is getting shipped, but it's very hard to draw a line between one of those stats and, 'Okay, now we're actually producing 25% more useful consumer features."
He said that the trade-off costs from Al are harder to justify because he can't draw a direct link. Earlier this month, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in an earnings call that Uber was slowing hiring to counter its investments in AI.The comment led to what he described as a
"head-exploding moment," sparking discussions about AI token consumption within the company and the trade-offs it creates, such as on head count.
He said that, based on talks with Uber's senior engineering leaders, he realized higher token usage did not translate into a proportional increase in useful consumer features.
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
There's something strange about seeing Meta employees complain about their employer imposing surveillance capitalism on them
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Modern Software Engineering @modernswe.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
A Radical Approach To Long Term Software Ownership | @stevesmithtech.bsky.social 📅 TONIGHT @ 7PM (UK) Subscribe & turn on notifications so you NEVER miss an upload! 🔔 youtube.com/@ModernSoftw...
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Is CAB an engineering problem?
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Kent Beck @kentbeck.com · 01/05/2026
AI tools don't muddle along with us. They fall below muddling, plausible deniability disguised as code. Low features, low flexibility, complexity stacking until even the genie gives up.
tidyfirst.substack.com
Genie Tarpit
Genies give you code that’s a degraded facsimile of the mediocre code it trained on.
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
I feel seen, @martinfowler.com
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Is it Tuesday already
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
'It's just a chat' is never a chat
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Modern Software Engineering @modernswe.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Top AI Trends From 100 Interviews | AI Briefings: nWave | @davefarley77.bsky.social 📽️ AVAILABLE NOW, from our NEW SERIES! Watch HERE ➡️ youtu.be/8WJ1XVBh8NA
youtu.be
Top AI Trends From 100 Interviews | AI Briefings: nWave
YouTube video by Modern Software Engineering
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
"The rise of extreme wealth is one of the clearest signs of this imbalance. In 1987, billionaires held wealth equal to 3% of global GDP. Today this tiny elite, just 0.0001% of the world population, owns the equivalent of *16%* of world GDP in wealth."
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Steve Smith @stevesmithtech.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
I worked on an XP team once where we genuinely had 100% test coverage. It was awesome, we could make changes so fast, and yes we still had the occasional live defect
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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Orbán's electoral crushing is a far greater achievement than most people outside Hungary realise. He systemically consolidated power for 16 years, fixed the electoral map, abused govt power for political purposes & censored media. The hurdles that Hungarians overcame for this moment were immense.
Opposition leader Péter Magyar at a rally.
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