Sarah O'Connor

Are you tired of the non-stop utopian/dystopian AI predictions from CEOs? Do you want to hear what's ACTUALLY happening, from the people it's actually happening TO? If so, I have good news: I felt the same, so I have worn out my shoe-leather & written this book! www.penguin.co.uk/books/462159...

This book brings together cutting edge tech with the human stories that don't often make it into the AI-baron-led narrative. A great read. Also good to see that when she wants to get her shoes dirty, @sarahoconnorft.ft.com picks a pair of Blundstones - very on-trend! #AI #tech #GenAI #fashion #boots

I'll be doing a reading and having a chat about my book We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work at the Bookmarks bookshop, 1 Bloomsbury St, on Friday at 6:30pm. Come along! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/authorsboo...

Gorgeous piece on what you learn when you learn Japanese, by @caitlinallen.bsky.social in @engelsbergideas.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/notebook/why...

An absolute masterclass in short-form writing this, from @timharford.ft.com It even has a twist! www.ft.com/content/f5d0...

Excellent chart-filled exploration of why govt bond yields have risen this year, from @chrisgiles.ft.com www.ft.com/content/a616...

Fascinating conversation between @sarahoconnorft.ft.com and David Runciman on @ppfideas.bsky.social: pca.st/episode/8a0a...

Please excuse me while I scream into a cushion at the thought of ALL the articles I had to write on the "UK productivity puzzle" in the 2010s www.ft.com/content/c819...

Great charts from an ace "Stop calling Europeans welfare-loving slackers" piece from @chrisgiles.ft.com www.ft.com/content/362b...

My column this week asks if we're developing a distaste for effort. www.ft.com/content/b30e... Fair play to this most-recommended reader comment...

I endorse this activity. Plus: perfect colour combo!

hmmm institute.deepmind.com/essays/econo...

There's a lot of focus right now on employers’ plans for AI. But if you're worried about your job being automated, the more proximate threat could be that colleague of yours with a Claude subscription and a manic glint in their eye. www.ft.com/content/ed21...

Really looking forward to discussing my book with Georgetown's Sam Potolicchio this evening at 5pm - you can register here if you want to join georgetown.zoom.us/meeting/regi... (although you will have to imagine the fireside alas!)

One thing about publishing a book is that you realise how many AI-assisted scams and grifts there are, sending fulsome praise for your book before trying to wheedle into some deal. Especially enjoyed this one, which seems to think I've written the (wonderful sounding) Horses and Ponies of Ireland!

Oh man, this might be my favourite review yet! If you, too, would like to stare at a wall after reading my book, you can buy it here :) www.penguin.co.uk/books/462159...

“What emerges is not a ledger of winners and losers but a set of skilfully drawn portraits of power, self-awareness, hard choices and collective contestation.” Frances Flanagan reviews @sarahoconnorft.ft.com's ‘We Are Not Machines.’

"...and this is a book about a very Marxian concept: alienation. In particular, the phrase that recurred in my head, the dystopian spectre that haunts the book, is Marx’s metaphor of the worker as “an appendage of the machine” On @sarahoconnorft.ft.com

Anyone seen any decent studies of impact of AVs so far on employment/wages of taxi/ride-share drivers in the cities in which they’ve been deployed in US/China?

"What I propose, therefore, is very simple: it is nothing more than to think what we are doing." (Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, 1958)

Very much enjoyed this conversation with the great Michael Goldfarb frdhfirstroughdraftofhistory.substack.com/p/ai-apocaly...

My review of my summer holiday reading, @sarahoconnorft.ft.com's "We are not Machines". Strong recommend. constantinides.net/2026/07/16/w...

Listen to the pod, then buy the book - not only wise and humane but full of surprising details based on old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting

I think you have a new fan @sarahoconnorft.ft.com

I had a lot of fun recording this podcast about my book We Are Not Machines with @timharford.ft.com live at the Bristol economics festival - watching Tim with an audience in the palm of his hand was truly watching a master at work. timharford.com/2026/07/caut...

Err, well this was really cool. I joined @sarahoconnorft.ft.com & @jburnmurdoch.ft.com on the @financialtimes.com's The AI Shift. Featuring my call for the economic research teams currently being built out within Anthropic, OpenAI & DeepMind to actually hire some development economists & much more!

Already banned at nursery!

My latest piece for the @heraldscotland.bsky.social is essentially a plea for everyone to read @sarahoconnorft.ft.com 's brilliant book www.heraldscotland.com/news/2625048...

"Sarah O’Connor’s examination of technological change is an engrossing discourse on power, politics and humanity" 📚 @yuanfenyang.bsky.social reviews @sarahoconnorft.ft.com's 'We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work' bit.ly/4y346vw

AI-guys, can we not use the word "meat" when we mean "human"? Like, can we just...not? Human is only one more character to type...

Just finished @sarahoconnorft.ft.com excellent We Are Not Machines. Great stories of how tech is changing work, how this depends on institutions & choices, and what this means for the choices (and there are choices) we now make. Strong recommend.

I'll be discussing my book We Are Not Machines with the brilliant Cosmina Dorobantu at the LSE on Tuesday 21st July at 6pm! Tickets are free if you would like to come along :) www.eventbrite.com/e/sarah-ocon...

Terrific piece from @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social about Andy Burnham, who she’s been covering for a decade. www.ft.com/content/9949...

Very strong recommendation for Sarah O'Connor's new book, We Are Not Machines - full of compelling original reporting about the real effects of automation on human beings www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...

Wish I was the sort of person who thought “screw it, I’m going to drop £50 on a massive box of flakes”

My dad’s been a reader of the New Scientist for as long as I can remember, so I’m mega chuffed with this! Can’t wait for him to see it in the magazine. www.newscientist.com/article/mg27... @newscientist.com