Category: Culture

  • Honey, you look thirsty

    Interesting piece in The Conversation this week about relationships with AI chat-bots… and the market models that they are using that invariably tap into human desires. The idea of an AI partner was well explored in the film HER. But what’s missing from that is any dimension of value-extraction. This is not how things are…

  • Process This – AI Series with me, Tripp Fuller… and leading global thinkers on AI

    As you may have picked up, top US podcaster Tripp Fuller and I have been co-hosting a series of expert conversations with leading thinkers on AI, inspired by my book, God-Like: a 500-Year History of AI. The list of interviewees is PHENOMENAL! From Lord Tim Clement-Jones – lead on AI regulation in the House of…

  • ‘No god in the machine’

    Really good edition of The Guardian’s ‘long read’ released as an audio piece last week: ‘No god in the machine,’ written by Navneet Alang and read by Narinder Samra, based on an article published in August. It’s a very well crafted overview of the AI space, and the ‘tech solutionism’ that I’ve been talking about…

  • ‘Good’ Grief?

    An interesting piece of video journalism here, taking a look at ‘Grief Tech’ and the hope that some bros in Silicon Valley are holding out that they can ‘solve’ the problem of grief and loss. It’s interesting for many reasons, not least because it presents AI (again) as a god-like force that we should turn…

  • BlueSky

    Not going to lie, it took a long time building a strong presence on Twitter, getting verified etc. But in Musk’s hands the place has become pretty awful, so I’ve started rebuilding on BlueSky. You can find my profile here: https://bsky.app/profile/kesterbrewin.bsky.social Been reflecting on making those tough tech choices, and it feels increasingly wrong to…

  • A Continental AI Strategy for Africa

    Very interesting discussion this morning with Rachel Adams from the African AI Observatory. Rachel is based in South Africa and has been a leading figure in putting together the Continential AI Strategy published just last month by the African Union. She’s written a paper about it with Ayantola Alayande here. You’ll be able to watch…