A Prayer for the Feast of St. Francis, with Fr. Sean Manchester and his dog, Mailee. 🐾 St. Francis is the patron saint of animals, nature, and ecology. 2026 marks the 800th year since his death. Fr. Sean serves as priest-in-charge at the Church of St. Francis in Coventry, Rhode Island, which worships together on Sundays at 10 AM. All are welcome! https://www.stfrancisri.org/ “Interludes” is a prayer series from within "Dear Rhode Island Church," a larger initiative that tells personal and community stories that affirm the love of Jesus Christ and the dignity of all human persons. For more, subscribe on YouTube or Substack: https://dearrichurch.substack.com/.

I am beginning this week's sermon post with an explanation, and then an apology. I've not posted a sermon here in a few months. Originally it was because I was on vacation this past August, and then that vacation transitioned into a month of frantic activity that meant I just didn't have time or resources to film a sermon. (House of Bishops, AI Theology Task Force, diocesan events and conferences etc.)

Microsoft today began disabling Exchange Web Services (EWS) by default in Exchange Online, which will cut off the protocol that Apple's Mail and Calendar apps on Mac still rely on to sync Microsoft 36...

Its food isn't the only thing leaving a bad taste in customers' mouths.

There is a world of difference between asking a robot, “Help me do this,” and asking, “What should I do?” AI can be remarkably good at the first question but lead you astray with the second. New users often learn that distinction the expensive way. I’ve taught thousands of people how to use agentic AI,... Continue reading →

OpenAI’s software didn’t just attack HuggingFace.

Health insurers are deploying AI to deny claims — and putting people’s health at risk.

It has been half a month since I started a new role at a big company. Nobody knows anything here. The specs, code, tests, PRDs, tickets, resolution of those tickets, …

Stanford Health Care delivers the highest levels of care and compassion. SHC treats cancer, heart disease, brain disorders, primary care issues, and many more.

A study at MIT has found that Generative AI tools are having a significant impact on the way students are learning. That's not terribly surprising in of itself, but the report presents data and results that support the assertion and makes suggestions about what to do about it. Skipping to the end of the report, in summary: Adapt educational processes for an AI-aware world (Section 3.1)

Today has been heavy, hard for many of my friends; weighty for the rest of us. We’re remembering a moment when this nation changed, when the world order changed and neither for the better - at least not that we can see with the light given us today. We took a long moment of silence and reflection in Morning Prayer as we gathered around the altar in diocesan house.

I believe the time has come

This is probably the most important thing to have happened in A.I. this year.

As its population has become more ethnically and culturally diverse, Salve Regina University researcher Colin Woodard says Rhode Island continues to prioritize the principles of its founder, Roger Williams

Quite simply, they can no longer be trusted.

Many of the tech billionaires who built our world have taken the wrong lessons from their favorite science fiction.

The actual prevalence, researchers said, may be much higher.

A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it

A wave of disinformation online contributed to a surge of migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta who were trying to reach Europe, resulting in about 90 deaths.

YouTube video by Barrington Public Library

It'll be both a debate and a weapon.

Om Malik died recently. He was a keen observer of the tech industry, insightful and thoughtful. He was also an insider in that area; maybe that's what gives his writing such power. In his last published essay, on the meaning of the name "Mythos" that Anthropic has bestowed upon its best frontier model, he reflects on the ways that the company and its president Dario Amodei are using a constructive narrative to legitimize Generative AI.

It's August and that means the best part of the summer is upon us. (I'm a big fan of the latter part of summer.) I'm going to be off for much of this month, and otherwise occupied with some weekend events for the rest. Rather than recycle some old sermons, I'm going to just ask your forbearance for the next four weeks or so. I hope wherever you are, you're going to get a chance to savor these days too. Blessings! +Nicholas

Separating the chaff from the wheat in Anthropic results is hard. We take a stab anyway.

Anglican Communion News Service

Bishop W. Nicholas Knisely Tells the Story of His Call to Ordained Ministry

We're continuing our series on the people and the communities of the Episcopal Diocese. This latest one features my own story, and how I made the journey from one way to seeking God to another. You can find the full post here (and it includes our new Diocesan Vision Statement.) And here's the video which is linked in the post above (hosted on Youtube):