Society

One AI: The case for ending the race and building one AI for humanity (Part 1 of 3)

by

For the past few years we’ve been told that the future of artificial intelligence depends on competition. Build bigger models. Raise more money. Buy more GPUs. Hire more researchers. Beat everyone else. The assumption has been that if enough companies compete, humanity will somehow end up with the best possible AI. But what if the … Read more

One AI: How it would actually work (Part 2 of 3)

by

If AI is becoming humanity’s most important technology, why are we building it like a smartphone app? When I suggested that the world should stop building competing frontier AI models and instead create One AI – a single open-weight, open-source foundation model developed for humanity – I received the response I expected. “It’s a nice … Read more

One AI: Building humanity’s AI (Part 3 of 3)

by

Throughout history there have been moments when humanity realised that competition alone wasn’t enough. Sometimes the stakes become so high that cooperation becomes the only rational strategy. Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming one of those moments. Today, the world’s most valuable companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars trying to build increasingly capable AI … Read more

Introducing WordFone: A domain name system for phone numbers

by

Quick test: how many phone numbers can you actually recite from memory right now, without opening your contacts app? If you’re like most people, the honest answer is somewhere between “my own” and “maybe one or two others.” And that’s not a failure of memory – it’s just what happens when a device remembers everything … Read more

Politics or Evidence? UK government’s case for banning under-16s from social media

by

I don’t understand why the UK government has decided to press ahead with a ban on social media for under-16s when the government’s own research briefing appears far more cautious. In the House of Commons Library briefing, Proposals to ban social media for children (pages 17–19), the evidence presented does not appear to support a … Read more

In Britain, the technology we depend on is mostly owned by other countries. Why are we not talking about this?

by

Most people understand why Britain imports food, energy, and manufactured goods. We cannot produce everything ourselves. But there is another form of dependence that receives far less attention. Increasingly, the technologies that power our economy, our communications, our defence, our scientific research, and even our government services are owned and controlled by companies based in … Read more

Beyond Ethnicity: Judging people by their contribution, not their ancestry

by

In recent years, ethnicity and heritage have become increasingly prominent in public discourse. Questions of identity, belonging, and ancestry dominate political debates, social media arguments, and even discussions within families. While understanding our heritage can be valuable, there is a growing danger in placing too much emphasis on ethnicity as a defining feature of who … Read more

Some messages are too important to lose: a better way to collect and preserve memories

by

Some of the most meaningful gifts are not things at all. They are the words people share with us during life’s most important moments. A heartfelt message from a friend. A cherished memory from a family member. Words of encouragement from someone who believes in us. Unfortunately, these messages are often scattered across text messages, … Read more