Best Of

Evening from Spoons. I may be an AI luddite. I am utterly sick of having it rammed down my throat. A few examples:

1) Accounting platforms where it gives you suggestions for what the transaction may be which are almost always wrong. Takes longer to delete what Quickbooks / Sage / Revolut / Tide have autocompleted than to just do it directly
2) YouTube Studio. I am offered "comment reply suggestions" to most comments left on my channel. Can't switch this feature off, uses screen space, especially on mobile
3) Have just completed a trial of Monday.com for my business. Spent c. 8 hours on it, plus a few more doing planning etc. Trial about to expire so lets set our subscription. Not only do they force you to pay for users you don't have, you must buy AI tokens for those people you don't have. And in 2 weeks the number of AI tokens we have used on trial is zero. A cost increase of 50%. And of course you can't opt out. Other than binning the entire platform which we have now done
4) Microsoft won't let you remove Copilot. Endless intrusion on apps like Powerpoint, even down to the minor irritation of having to dock the logo thing so its not on the slides I am working on. WhatsApp won't even let you do that - the Meta AI symbol takes up screen space and you can't remove it

I'm being driven mad by AI. Please make it go away.

That's the big issue, AI is good at some things but it's being forced into areas where it's just a pain in the arse and adds no value. Microsoft at least has started to reverse this and is steadily removing most of the pointless Copilot integration.

As for it going away, well OpenAI lost $34bn last year, $20bn of that just on general operations. They are a financial basket case, and Anthropic is little better.

The hunt for a legacy goes on.

https://x.com/steven_swinford/status/2067319015895388403

Exclusive from @benclatworthy

The expansion of Heathrow is set to move a step closer as Sir Keir Starmer plans to publish the blueprint for a third runway within days

I think it's too late for this, and also I appreciate that I 'would' say this, but Starmer should really tack right to combat Burnham. The big centrepiece of which would be to dump Milliband and challenge Burnham to say whether he'd reinstate him. Burnham's 'clean air zone' in Manchester is a black spot on his reputation. Make Burnham the standard bearer for Millibandism and Net Zero, while statesmanlike Starmer realises we must go slower for the good of our national security. Burnham also dumps Milliband he pisses off activists and members and looks weak. Or he embraces Milliband and picks the wrong side of the argument.

It would work well politically, but it's probably too late now as any big moves, including Milliband being forced out, would probably bring the whole house of cards down.

https://x.com/lewis_goodall/status/2067276954324140095

"I've told you I'm voting for you — but if you knock on my door again I might fucking think twice."

A Labour activist's story from Makerfield today.

Much of Westminster thinks Burnham has already won. I'm not so convinced.
Piece from me on why.

We're all rooting for your boy, the misogynist.

The comedy value from a Burnham loss would be immense.

Hopefully SKS doesn't die laughing if Burnham loses, though I expect him to win

If Burnham loses and SKS dies laughing, that solves both problems at once - a vacancy is created in No10, and the largest ego in the known world remains unable to fill it. Win - win I suppose.

England are playing Croatia in an air-conditioned stadium - will the still have advert hydration breaks?

Yep, like all the previous matches in AC venues in the last week.

Stadiums can have air conditioning? Outside?

It has a roof.

Why though

Why does the millennium stadium in Wales have a roof? Because they can, and because it means perfect conditions for playing sport.

In the case of Texas, high heat combined with high humidity are common. A roof, apart from keeping the sun off, enables air conditioning, as noted.

Air conditioning can be used to massively reduce humidity,