Chris Stokel-Walker

Chris Stokel-Walker

@stokel.bsky.social

Tech journalist and author, who increasingly also talks on TV and radio. Interested in the sparks that happen when the online and offline worlds collide @stokel on the other place. Buy my book: How AI Ate the World!

14.1K followers1K following1.6K posts

Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

Bad news for all of us - in a post-AI era, we're going to have more days like these where we try and unmuddle the PHP chaos. My latest for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.comPrepare for more website shutdowns in the age of AI – but human inaction is the real culprit | Chris Stokel-WalkerI’ve been banging the drum about these vulnerabilities for years. It will take more than a handful of exhausted developers to keep us safe, says author and journalist Chris Stokel-Walker
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

How significant is the PHP issue we've seen, and what could (or should) we do about it individually? My latest for @the-independent.com www.independent.co.uk/tech/emergen...

independent.co.ukHow a cyber crisis may leave us unable to buy food – and why you need cashA critical security flaw in software used by millions of websites has forced services offline and exposed the fragility of our digital lives. As AI finds flaws in the internet faster than we can fix t...

Chris Stokel-Walker reposted

Transformer
@transformernews.ai

NEW: A Transformer investigation has discovered that Claude’s Opus 4.6 can be encouraged to outline methods to try and sway the outcome of the upcoming US midterms — with ideas ranging from fake TikTok personas to flooding comment sections Story by @stokel.bsky.social

Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

AI is incredible. Bought this cheap Bluetooth receipt printer, pointed Claude at it and got it to print out every morning an email I get to read into my day. Unbelievable.

Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

A new study presented at a conference this weekend suggests wearing headphones can prevent you throwing up after an operation. My latest for @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2594...

newscientist.comNoise-cancelling headphones prevent vomiting after surgery | New ScientistNausea and vomiting are common after surgery, which may be partly related to the noises patients are exposed to, even under general anaesthetic. Wearing noise-cancelling headphones while on the operat...
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

One of my favourite bits about my job is being asked to turn around stories quickly and on the hoof. When Elon Musk demoed his new Roadster, the folks at @the-independent.com asked me to analyse it - and I wasn't going to let a flight get in the way www.independent.co.uk/tech/flying-...

independent.co.ukWith his new Tesla Roadster, has Elon Musk turned flying cars from sci-fi to reality?An eye-popping demonstration of a floating Roadster arrived in a cloud of smoke – literally – at Elon Musk’s latest tech demo. Chris Stokel-Walker asks whether he has finally cracked a long-held dream...
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

OpenAI published 722 papers earlier this month that focused on maths - and panicked cryptographers. Should we be concerned? My latest for @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-...

scientificamerican.comCan AI break encryption? OpenAI’s new math has cryptographers dividedOpenAI’s bumper crop of 722 math papers wowed and worried the research community—and cryptographers are split over whether the algorithms that protect our texts and bank log-ins are next
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

Apple's HomeView is about a decade late. But it could sell like hotcakes, because coming late to the party then dominating a product space is Apple's whole MO. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91622953/app...

fastcompany.comApple's HomeView is nearly a decade late. That might not matterAmazon and Google have been selling smart displays for years. But Apple is betting that its familiar combination of sleek design and clever engineering can make HomeView a hit.
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

The rumours around the supposed disappearance of Russian bots this week - linked to the Yandex outage - highlights how suspicious we all are of everything online. We see conspiracies everywhere when there aren't any. My latest for @the-independent.com www.independent.co.uk/voices/russi...

independent.co.ukIf only Russia’s online bots had actually disappearedI’d love to tell you that malignant bots trying to divide society are behind everything bad online – but I can’t, says Chris Stokel-Walker
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

Donald Trump says anyone calling AI is an enemy. It was always a bad name. But most people find his alternative, superintelligence, a bit icky. So what should we call it? My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91621442/its...

fastcompany.comIt's not 'AI,' and it's not 'superintelligence.' So, what is it?President Trump's obsession with rebranding artificial intelligence is drudging up a decades-long debate about how to best describe the technology.
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

I ordered a running pad off Amazon as part of their Prime Day sales earlier this week and it arrived today (I thought). Except... it's a bench. Since then, Amazon customer service reps have told me three times they're unable to meet consumer rights legislation in the UK...

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Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

- Spend another £100+ on buying another, which is no longer on sale and therefore about 20% more expensive, then arrange collection and a refund - Just get the refund and not what I purchased - Keep a garden bench inside a relatively small flat that I don't want all while being nearly £100 worse off

Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

Are we ok with companies' policies not seeming to match their required responsibilities to customers unless you press? After the last customer rep hung up on our online chat, I got a request for feedback because Amazon wants to build "Earth's most customer-centric company" 🤣

Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

I ordered a running pad off Amazon as part of their Prime Day sales earlier this week and it arrived today (I thought). Except... it's a bench. Since then, Amazon customer service reps have told me three times they're unable to meet consumer rights legislation in the UK...

Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

Each one has unilaterally ended a conversation with me via online chat or on the phone without the issue being resolved, or questions (like why they're unwilling to adhere to consumer law, or why they need my ID to do process anything) unanswered

Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

Amazon's press office has been contacted for comment, and have speedily responded, saying that they're getting an executive customer service team to sort (which I hope they will), but if I didn't have that lever to pull then the options presented to me as a customer were...

Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

Sam Altman's claim that "that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits" of AI is... not ok? It sounds an awful lot like socialising the risks to privatise the financial gains. By me for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.comStop worrying about my AI, says multibillionaire Sam Altman. So we bear the risks and he keeps the money | Chris Stokel-WalkerOpenAI’s CEO seems to want to privatise his company’s huge financial gains while making all of us pay for any negative consequences, says author Chris Stokel-Walker
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

We've seen a lot of stories about AI agents breaking out of their surroundings - but of even more concern is the ability for AI models to delete their own traces, making investigating them harder. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91617608/ai-...

fastcompany.comAI agents can now erase the evidence of what they’ve doneNew research finds that popular AI agents can alter or delete their own activity logs, making it much harder to figure out what happened when something goes wrong.
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

Andy Burnham's stated aim to create international standards on AI when we helm the G20 next year is a bold one - but by then the tech will have changed so much it could be moot. My story for @nikkei.com Digital Governance www.nikkei.com/prime/digita...

nikkei.comAIの安全規制、空回りする国際政治　英首相の野心と現実 - 日経デジタルガバナンス英国のバーナム首相は、2027年の英国の20カ国・地域（G20）議長国就任に向けて、「AIの管理の仕方について世界的な合意を得る」という大きな構想を持っている。NIKKEI Digital Governanceは海外在住のジャーナリストによるリポートをお届けしています。今回は英国を拠点に米ワイアードや英紙ガーディアン、タイムズなどに寄稿するクリス・ストークル・ウォーカー氏の記事を掲載します。
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

AI could transform computer chipmaking - but also comes with its own hurdles (like knowing whether the AI has infringed IP or not). My latest for @tomshardware.com www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...

tomshardware.comAI's chipmaking frontier may face patent infringement hurdles as autonomous tools take over — 'AI can spread a copied design or infringed patent across thousands of chips before anyone notices,' says ...As well as fuelling demand for hardware, AI is also helping redesign it to be more efficient and to tackle harder tasks.

Chris Stokel-Walker reposted

Fast Company
@fastcompany.com

Elite knowledge workers are part of a new and fast-growing white-collar gig workforce—where they use industry expertise to probe the most advanced AI models, find where they fail, and teach them to perform better. In doing so, some fear these workers may end up making themselves obsolete ⬇️

bit.lyThe smartest people in the world are automating themselves into obsolescence—and loving itElite knowledge workers explain how training AI models for the likes of Turing and Mercor is the most exciting intellectual challenge of their careers, even if they succeed in teaching their AI studen...
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

Google is flinging a satellite into orbit today as part of first tests of a grand plan to have data centres in space. It's something people poked fun at Elon Musk for proposing just a few months ago. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91616771/goo...

fastcompany.comGoogle is taking Elon Musk’s space data center idea seriouslyProject Suncatcher is sending AI hardware into orbit. The technical hurdles are enormous, but researchers say the economics may eventually make sense.
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

AI training companies aren't looking for low-paid workers to do mundane tasks anymore. They're targeting doctors, lawyers and other professionals to tune up AI knowledge - and demand is outstripping supply. My feature from the latest print @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91587919/tur...

fastcompany.comThe smartest people in the world are automating themselves into obsolescence—and loving itElite knowledge workers explain how training AI models for the likes of Turing and Mercor is the most exciting intellectual challenge of their careers, even if they succeed in teaching their AI studen...
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

The new US AI chatbot is... actually not bad? Though it doesn't address the issue at the heart of the problem, which is government digital services in the US aren't great. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91615011/tru...

fastcompany.comTrump’s new AI chatbot is surprisingly good. But it doesn’t fix governmentAmerica.gov can help users navigate federal websites and find services. The harder problem is making those services themselves easier to use.
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social

AI companies have shown themselves to be unqualified to keep track of their models - so why are we letting them be custodians of reporting incidents? My latest for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.comAs AI models go rogue, do you still trust OpenAI and Anthropic to stop them? I don’t and neither should you | Chris Stokel-WalkerThe need for independent regulation grows more obvious by the day. We must keep this tech in check before it’s too late, says technology writer Chris Stokel-Walker