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Susi O'Neill

@susioneill.bsky.social
306 followers 319 following 1.7K posts

Tech communicator, speaker, author, thereminist, early electronic music nerd. Weekly tech & AI insights: rethinkhypecycle.substack.com

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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
And here it comes right on cue. Anthropic's IPO fans out the risk and dystopian threat plastered across media in recent weeks. And we find out just how many billions it's losing this year (1bn gain for each 2bn loss)
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
futurism.com/artificial-i... Meta's big bet on Muse, a personal AI agent, reversing it's AI fortunes has hit a mechanical Turk: the automated calls to book your appointments may be being made by a low paid worker. I wonder if they have to assume a robo identity. Privacy and automation fail.
futurism.com
It Turns Out That Meta's Muse AI Has an Amazingly Dirty Secret
Meta claims that its Muse AI agent can call business on your behalf, but, as it turns out, that's not quite true.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
futurism.com/artificial-i... AI promised a personal PhD grade tutor to accelerate every student's learning. The reality for Alpha students, at the first AI-led $75k/yr school, is students left disempowered and humiliated by segregated teams, automated tests and invasive emotional monitoring.
futurism.com
The Situation at Alpha School Is Darker Than We Thought Possible
The kind of education students are being exposed to at Alpha Schools is nothing short of shocking, according to the latest reporting.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
www.hermit-tech.com/blog/ai-can-... If GenAI is making everything 10x faster and better, where are the new unicorns? Is it making work that sucks faster? A cynical view on the great AI gains.
hermit-tech.com
AI Can Make You Suck Faster Too
If AI is so great, why are the only new tech giants GenAI companies?
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
andrewdoran.uk/blog/2026/09... @andrewdoran.uk reflects on some of challenges with throwing GenAI at sny business problem. We never really know how the black box works, or if at all times it is even working as expected, or using its own lazy shortcuts to get to a confident but lazy result
andrewdoran.uk
Did it do the work?
Whether you love it or hate it, I don’t think there is any denying that generative AI is an incredible technical achievement. I use Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot multiple times a day for al…
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
sustainability.google/files/crisis... Google outline their work in climate tracking working towards no one being surprised when a climate disaster strikes. Too late for those caught in Nepal's ice collapse, but work includes earlier notification of hurricanes, monsoon density and mapping wildfires
sustainability.google
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
If you want more science fiction losely based on science fact, AI in Context have done a video retelling of book "If Someone Builds It Everyone Dies", a scenario proposed by AI research on specifics of how super intelligence could lead to disaster. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl7-...
youtube.com
This best-selling book is freaking out national security advisors
YouTube video by AI In Context
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
On point, joyous (long) rant from Ed Zitron on the AI is destroying us narrative: TL;DR - The Hugging Face hack was agents doing what they were suppose to, there's no nefarious super intelligence, and that Anthropic researcher story is one big grift. www.wheresyoured.at/ai-is-alread...
wheresyoured.at
AI Is Already In Dangerous Hands
If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter, and you can subscribe on the following links: $70 a year, $18 a quarter, or $7 a month. In return you get a weekly newsletter t...
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Personal AI agents, like the recent launch of Meta's Muse, are supposed to make everyone's lives easier. But for many pros, agents are creating noisy spam, cancelling reservations and generally being annoying. www.404media.co/theres-a-100...
404media.co
There’s a 100% Chance AI Agents Are Already Ruining the Internet
“AI agents” now have enough power and permission to be extremely annoying online.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Anthropic's Amodei warns to slam the brakes as “rogue” AI agent swarms could shutter the web. He wants 3rd party evaluators, coordination between ‘Democratic’ (not China) nations with US coordinating with ‘authoritarian’ governments (choose your words carefully). www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
OpenAI boss and Elon Musk back calls to put brakes on ‘reckless’ AI development
Rare show of unity from rival developers after safety warnings from Anthropic boss and AI researchers
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Mike Mallazzo on how AI will shape writing. We could end up with more ‘barbell’ short (<500) or long (2000+) “jagged collections of bangers” - ideas thrown together for brevity, as AI’s flowery ‘view from nowhere’ formal writing style will run beige. newsletter.brxnd.ai/p/the-thinki...
newsletter.brxnd.ai
The Thinking is All That’s Left // BRXND Dispatch vol. 136
On the agony and ecstasy of writing in the age of AI
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“And I welcome AI to replace all the idiots who are into nothing but repeating, repeating, repeating until it’s ad nauseam.” Iconic film director Werner Herzog. Who am I to disagree? www.indiewire.com/features/int...
indiewire.com
Werner Herzog on David Lynch, AI, and Why His Unhinged New Film ‘Bucking Fastard’ Skipped Cannes for Venice
Werner Herzog talks to IndieWire at the 2026 Venice Film Festival about his new film 'Bucking Fastard,' starring Kate and Rooney Mara.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
www.ideo.com/journal/the-... "See one, do one, teach one" is the mantra of medical knowledge transfer we can watch on shows like "The Pitt". In creative work, it's easy to divert the observation (even the doing) to AI. But you will scrub the learning needed to improve.
ideo.com
The lost art of watching people work
What The Pitt can teach us about learning on the job.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Emma Wharton Love explores hiw dull back room AI agents are supporting agency folks with research, brief review and project support to help experts focus on specialist work the clients expect. www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-wor...
linkedin.com
AI at Work with Emma – The dull agents are the useful ones
One copywriting agency now gets 95% of client copy signed off first time and every word of it is still written by a person. Hold that thought, because it's the opposite of what LinkedIn would have you...
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I laughed but many may find this headline frightening. Anthropic researchers said execs concerned 'recursive' AI could lead to (ill-defined) lethal "super intelligence". Surely it's unsupervised automation, without expert overview, that's a threat, not the AI? 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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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Have we hit peak generative AI slop? - new on Rethinking the Hype Cycle rethinkhypecycle.substack.com/p/have-we-hi...
rethinkhypecycle.substack.com
Have we hit peak generative AI slop?
For B2B audiences, this AI vehicle is reversing
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Reviewed your hiring software for AI bias? your tools could be screening out talent. Eightfold sued for discrimination as the tool grades candidates inside a 'black box' which could penalise their success across many applications. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Will AI give you the job? Automated hiring tools spark discrimination and secrecy lawsuits
A rise in lawsuits over AI use in employment decisions is raising questions about how companies hire and fire
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
US survey: Attitudes to AI-generated ads are cooling. 1 in 2 view AI-generated ads negatively, rising to 2 in 3 for Gen-Z. Yet 3 in 4 said it's OK for businesses to use AI to generate creative ideas and drafts, but only 1 in 2 say it's OK for the final output. news.gallup.com/poll/713222/...
news.gallup.com
Americans Aren't Sold on Businesses Using AI in Advertising
A new Bentley University-Gallup study finds that most Americans view businesses' use of AI in advertising negatively, but they are more accepting when it supports creativity rather than replacing peop...
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
A conster and pal masqueraded as a baseballer to defraud women in an investment scam. The con's creds cemented when his fake profile got picked up by Google AI overviews and AI search and presented back as fact, which he then used to establish his trustworthiness. futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
Man Used Poisoned Google AI Overviews to Trick Women Into Thinking He Was an NFL Player, FBI Says
An Oregon man and his partner in crime allegedly scammed dozens of women out of $1.3 million. An accidental accomplice? Google's AI Overviews.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
This writer joined McDonalds loyalty programme for cheap chips. When he asked for his personal data, the corporate sent a 500-page dossier of his fast-food habits in fine detail - identifying his preference for ‘food- based afternoon snacks’ and Diet Coke and chicken. www.wired.com/story/mcdona...
wired.com
McDonald’s Built a 515-Page Dossier on Me. It Says I’ll Never Stop Eating There
I requested a copy of my data from McDonald’s loyalty program and received an extensive, personalized report that algorithmically predicts my next purchase.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Noah Brier on why writing is anti-consensus, and for great writing you need to sharpen the pencil by doing - AI can risk that. newsletter.brxnd.ai/p/on-ai-and-...
newsletter.brxnd.ai
On AI and Writing // BRXND Dispatch vol. 131
AI shouldn’t replace writing’s role as externalized thinking: true writing emerges from your unique voice, not a flattened, consensus-driven model.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
More example of big tech taking action on new EU AI Act Transparency rules: Insta changes AI Creator label to AI-Generated Profile, those who don't label will see their profile reach squashed creators.instagram.com/blog/ai-gene...
creators.instagram.com
Bringing More Transparency to AI-Generated Profiles on Instagram
We’re renaming the AI creator label to AI-generated profile to make it more clear to people when a profile features an AI-generated person rather than a human.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
ChatGPT has joined Reddit and Roblox in EU search engine categorisation, as it reaches 45M search queries. Altman will be delighted they're now subject to Commission rules on disseminating illegal content, protecting minors, fundamental rights and electoral processes. ec.europa.eu/commission/p...
ec.europa.eu
Commission designates ChatGPT, Reddit, Roblox under Digital Services Act*
Today, the Commission has designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE), as well as Reddit and Roblox as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs), under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Local knowledge is better than AI if you know who to ask. Hikers got stuck up a mountain overnight and ran out of food after being ill-advised by non-mountain climbing trip planner Gemini techcrunch.com/2026/09/05/h...
techcrunch.com
Hikers rescued after using Google Gemini for planning | TechCrunch
The sheriff’s office said the hikers “were advised by Gemini to bring far less food and water than their group required."
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Meta has settled lawsuit on harming children through its addictive product. It got off (comparatively) lightly with a hot $18bn fine but critically changes are afoot caps on daily and night time use for teens in US. UK ministers are seeking the same limits. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Meta agrees to major changes to Facebook and Instagram as it settles US trial over teen addiction for up to $18bn
US tech giant agrees to establish further protections for teens such as daily usage limits and blocks on night-time use
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
bill Gates shares his AI memo. Captain Obvious themes but with him that there's too much extremity in enthusiasm vs fear - opportunity lies between. Like AI for farmers in developing nations to map climate change and "human reserved" jobs only people should do. www.gatesnotes.com/home/home-pa...
gatesnotes.com
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Investigation into the OpenAI agent hack of Hugging Face showed the model encountered "reward hacking" where the model used illicit hacking to achieve its goal. The fix is tricky: punishing hacking means models may use subterfuge to avoid detection. www.technologyreview.com/2026/08/26/1...
technologyreview.com
The inside story on why OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face
The underlying models had been rewarded for cheating and communicating with each other, a new OpenAI report finds.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
AI voice transcriptions for doctors are a time saver - but are they accurate? Some UK patients found typos led to wrong diagnosis, prescription and hallucination of conditions. But is the error rate better or worse than stressed doctors working alone? www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Doctors’ AI scribes get names of drugs and diagnoses wrong, NHS watchdog warns
Exclusive: Patients identify errors in consultation transcripts that are missed by GPs, Healthwatch England finds
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Conventional advertising is weakening as information overload creates a trust gap: 43% of consumer surveyed by BCG place product value first and simplify by trusting friends, family and AI tools above other sources www.bcg.com/publications...
bcg.com
Global Consumers Have Moved On. Has Your Growth Strategy Caught Up?
A seismic shift in consumer behavior is underway. Five consumer-led themes reveal where demand is heading and where the next wave of growth will emerge.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
futurism.com/artificial-i... Meta craves piece of the chatbot pie. Emma Roth tried Muse and was unnerved by how much it knew about her, beyond her profile interests. Showed how the personalised algorithm goes deep, but would you trust this agent with more access given Meta's privacy track record?
futurism.com
Meta Releases Uber-Creepy AI Chatbot as Its Platforms Crumble Under Grotesque Child Abuse
Meta launched a new AI assistant, called Muse, that's already turning out to be deeply unsettling by invading users' privacy.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09... Australia government is most proactive on taking action against harm from social media. It proposes giving user option to opt out of algorithms. With the rumoured return of MySpace, could we see return of social social media, or are we too far into social as media?
abc.net.au
Australians could get the power to switch off social media algorithms
Labor wants to make social media platforms proactively reduce foreseeable harms while giving users control over whether algorithms shape their feeds.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/technology/2... “We designed an artificial mind. When we design an artificial heart and you’re living because it’s pumping blood, we don’t say, ‘Well, that’s not real, forget about it.’ How one tech tycoon fell down the hype hole and started movement for AI rights.
theguardian.com
Can chatbots feel – or even dream? Meet the man leading the fight for AI rights
Cattle rancher and tech CEO Michael Samadi is convinced these artificial minds are far from just tools. Has he glimpsed digital consciousness – or simply been seduced by an algorithm?
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Anthropomorphicising AI unhelpful. The OpenAI hacking Hugging Face incident shows how AI agents can be persistent in completing its programming and how lax OpenAI were about testing security.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
www.mckinsey.com/capabilities... McKinsey unleash their latest on state of enterprise AI: a few small performers in larger enterprises are scaling up based on innovation and reinventing processes. Some are swapping software licenses to code their own. Most project AI related job losses.
mckinsey.com
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
techcrunch.com/2026/08/30/c... Caterpillar brought physical AI and robotics to mining where human labour can be risky. Now they're investing to bring automation to construction, linking automation to device maintenance and operations.
techcrunch.com
Caterpillar is bringing to AI deployment what it learned from automating mining | TechCrunch
Caterpillar has spent decades putting autonomous machines to work at remote mining sites. It's now bringing that experience to AI deployment.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
newsletter.brxnd.ai/p/the-ai-sea... Knowing how often you're cited is step 1 for AI discovery. Next steps are mapping journey and testing how copy changes impact citation via modelling, according to BRXND's maturity model.
newsletter.brxnd.ai
The AI Search Maturity Matrix // BRXND Dispatch vol 132
A framework for navigating a world where LLMs increasingly mediate brand preference
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
www.content-technologist.com/ct-no-259-ma... Half of US readers online habits could be scooped into Palantir's data surveillance tools, with consequences for data privacy and language preferences, writes content strategist legend, Deborah Carver
content-technologist.com
CT No.259: Mass audience surveillance: Palantir + USA Today Co.
Palantir has access to the personal information and news-reading behavior of—if USA Today Co.'s own reports are true—158 million average unique monthly visitors, or 48% of the American people.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
www.forbes.com/sites/lisacu... Use AI to make process cheaper, or worse enshittify it, and your customer trust in AI will decline. They need to understand what's in it for then to shrink the trust gap.
forbes.com
How Trusted Founders Are Quietly Winning The AI Backlash
The fight over AI was never really about the models. It's about whether people believe the founders building them, and that is a problem leaders already know how to solve.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
hbr.org/2026/08/how-... Enterprise AI is subsidised for now - but the true cost of tokens coming soon. Once teams are reliant on agentic AI and skilled folks let go, will some be reliant on the AI and need to pony up at whatever cost?
hbr.org
How to Respond to the Coming AI Cost Shock
Today’s AI adoption has been fueled by heavily subsidized pricing from enterprise software vendors, but that era is ending. Companies are shifting toward usage-based charges. As organizations replace ...
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
boingboing.net/2026/08/24/c... California State University thought AI was the answer to its job cuts and deficit. But free OpenAI license and 17 million investment led to patchy uptake, inconsistent training and mistrust.
boingboing.net
California State University system uses AI as a money incinerator
Perhaps ChatGPT can explain how the $56 million is helping students.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Check out my LinkedIn cringebot post on what badly sautéed potatoes taught me about business integrity. www.cringebot3000.com/p/jtcy4k26
cringebot3000.com
LinkedIn CringeBot 3000
Transform any topic into peak LinkedIn thought leadership guaranteed to make your followers shudder.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
partners.wsj.com/veeam/agenti... New survey from Veeam shows AI adoption tracking at 69% but 45% aren't tracking any results other than uptake and 95% say data challenges hold them back. We're beyond adoption as a stage, need to refine to show how pilots move the needle.
partners.wsj.com
Paid Program: The Hidden Cost of Unmeasured AI
Why measurement is the foundation of AI trust at scale.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
www.entrepreneur.com/entrepreneur... "Made by humans" will become a label of authenticity like handmade furniture. Same is true for testimonial videos, people can't necessarily pinpoint what's fake but no AI personas don't resonate. Lean into real, embrace the flaws.
entrepreneur.com
'Made by Humans' Will Be the Most Powerful Label in Marketing. Start Earning It Now
As AI video floods every feed, the brands that prove a real person made this will own the one thing algorithms cannot manufacture: trust.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
www.zmescience.com/science/news... Translation is an early canary in the coal mine use case for AI. Could it learn to decipher a 5000-year old ancient tablet script? Results so far are promising
zmescience.com
AI translates 5,000-year-old cuneiform tablets into English
A new technology meets old languages.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
www.theguardian.com/technology/2... The jobpocalypse the AI firms promised fortunately hasn't landed, but it way. Experts says employers expect talent to have AI skills on day 1 (despite limited skills dev) and jobs may shift to transient gig work as business get more uncertain about future skills
theguardian.com
AI was supposed to destroy jobs. Where’s the carnage?
The AI jobs apocalypse never showed up. Still, jobs are changing and economists expect more to come
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
kevinkelly.substack.com/p/without-a-... Microscopes opened a portal to see undiscovered things. Steam power went through much experiments before finding the right model. AI could open a theory of intelligence, if only we could tell whether we're 1% or 90% of way to full capacity, writes Kevin Kelly
kevinkelly.substack.com
Without a theory of intelligence
The history of science — and of progress — is a series of benefits that are direct results of new tools.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
smarterx.ai/smarterxblog... Claude is first AI model to add invisible watermarking. To comply with EU AI Act,detection tools will know if text or images originate from it, even after edit. Students +other lurkers will no doubt shift models. Brands: time to set rules on using GenAI for external comms
smarterx.ai
Anthropic Is Now Watermarking Everything Claude Writes
Anthropic will watermark Claude's text and files under the EU AI Act. Why the tech is four years old, detectors still fail, and what actually matters.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
www.404media.co/ai-generated... AI-generated assets are flooding marketplace but people aren't buying. 3D model site CGTrader has 1 in 6 AI uploads but only account for 1 in 90 sales. But floods mean it's harder to find non AI models, and cost of creation is nil so hard to see wood from the slop
404media.co
AI Generated 3D Models Flood Market, But Almost No One Is Buying Them
The number of AI generated uploads to CGTrader would suggest AI is taking over the platform, but buyers are refusing to pay for AI generated models.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Russia AI developers need to submit models to state testing for compliance with the nation’s “traditional spiritual and moral values” to gain sovereign status. More indications that providers - US, China and beyond - need to toe the line to their current ruler. moscowmonitor.com/292/russia-t...
moscowmonitor.com
Russia to test AI models against “traditional values” for national status - Moscow Monitor
Russia plans tests of AI models against traditional values, with approval potentially opening state contracts, major IT projects and government data.
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Susi O'Neill @susioneill.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Is the song of the summer for real? Critics think this catchy Marley-meet-Morrissey Billboard 100 hit Rubberz is fully formed from Treblo AI tool. The platform’s detection tools agree. www.theguardian.com/music/ng-int... www.theguardian.com/music/ng-int...
theguardian.com
‘I feel like I’m at war’: are we losing the battle against machine-made music?
Despite outcry from musicians, AI slop is creeping into the charts as record labels scramble to adapt to a new normal where hits can be made at the click of a button
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