Rachel Coldicutt
@rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
Hopeful technologist.
Community tech, careful innovation, socially progressive tech policy.
https://www.careful.industries
https://hopeful.technology
https://buttondown.email/justenoughinternet
DMs don't work but [email protected] will find me
Community tech, careful innovation, socially progressive tech policy.
https://www.careful.industries
https://hopeful.technology
https://buttondown.email/justenoughinternet
DMs don't work but [email protected] will find me
Pinned
FOMO is not a strategy
End of year reflections on how people are using genAI at work
buttondown.com
Anyway, yes, #FOMOisnotastrategy and here I am making it a hash tag like it's 2010 buttondown.com/justenoughin...
As a special accessibility measure for people over - idk - 45? all short videos should come with a skimmable single paragraph of information that can, ideally, be half-read in the preview window of an email while completing another task.
September 23, 2026 at 2:14 PM
As a special accessibility measure for people over - idk - 45? all short videos should come with a skimmable single paragraph of information that can, ideally, be half-read in the preview window of an email while completing another task.
I might write a little song about how standards don't fix anything without legal enforcement and routine safety inspections.
September 23, 2026 at 7:02 AM
I might write a little song about how standards don't fix anything without legal enforcement and routine safety inspections.
Everything in technology news continues to be fine
September 22, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Everything in technology news continues to be fine
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... counting down in 3, 2, 1 to someone invoking the UK's totally non-colonial history as standards
setters, while the PM wonders where exactly he put the technology department
setters, while the PM wonders where exactly he put the technology department
September 21, 2026 at 9:49 PM
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... counting down in 3, 2, 1 to someone invoking the UK's totally non-colonial history as standards
setters, while the PM wonders where exactly he put the technology department
setters, while the PM wonders where exactly he put the technology department
I'm really going to get in trouble when AI-generated prose starts to sprinkle "As such," and "Moreover," at the start of the final sentence in overly long paragraphs that otherwise have absolutely no escape route.
September 21, 2026 at 4:13 PM
I'm really going to get in trouble when AI-generated prose starts to sprinkle "As such," and "Moreover," at the start of the final sentence in overly long paragraphs that otherwise have absolutely no escape route.
When working from home, it's very important to stay very still and extremely quiet so that no one in my family (human or feline) remembers I'm at home and asks me for food.
September 21, 2026 at 2:59 PM
When working from home, it's very important to stay very still and extremely quiet so that no one in my family (human or feline) remembers I'm at home and asks me for food.
Packing away some books, and what do I find but this, nestled away at the back of a shelf
September 20, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Packing away some books, and what do I find but this, nestled away at the back of a shelf
This is a fun time to work in AI if you are on multiple people's list of "emergency women to invite to an event when you remember that not everyone in the world is a man under 40"
September 20, 2026 at 1:10 PM
This is a fun time to work in AI if you are on multiple people's list of "emergency women to invite to an event when you remember that not everyone in the world is a man under 40"
Hang on, they buried the lede here. Faculty are going to be Anthropic's "safety by design" partner? 🧐
September 19, 2026 at 8:15 AM
Hang on, they buried the lede here. Faculty are going to be Anthropic's "safety by design" partner? 🧐
Reposted by Rachel Coldicutt
I was travelling to Hitchin for a memorial on Sunday, all trains to London were cancelled, and so it was somewhat annoying that on that day I was getting over 2 million bot hits to my little server, from over 1.3 million different IP addresses, slowing down or timing out traintimes.org.uk
September 19, 2026 at 7:17 AM
I was travelling to Hitchin for a memorial on Sunday, all trains to London were cancelled, and so it was somewhat annoying that on that day I was getting over 2 million bot hits to my little server, from over 1.3 million different IP addresses, slowing down or timing out traintimes.org.uk
As proof it is possible to make yourself like anything, I bought a multipack of pickle-flavour sparkling water and it turns out it's quite nice once you've forced yourself to drink several cans.
September 18, 2026 at 7:32 PM
As proof it is possible to make yourself like anything, I bought a multipack of pickle-flavour sparkling water and it turns out it's quite nice once you've forced yourself to drink several cans.
Very much suspect the mini fan is in strong contention to the "the object of 2026"
September 17, 2026 at 12:57 PM
Very much suspect the mini fan is in strong contention to the "the object of 2026"
I've already written the glossary for this paper so if we could all stop referring to "super intelligence" as ASI for a minute, I'd be extremely grateful. kthxbai
September 17, 2026 at 11:52 AM
I've already written the glossary for this paper so if we could all stop referring to "super intelligence" as ASI for a minute, I'd be extremely grateful. kthxbai
I know British Bluesky loves a bit of emergency alert banter, so here's one I received earlier this evening in Barcelona. Quite impressed by the 3 languages in one alert.
September 16, 2026 at 8:19 PM
I know British Bluesky loves a bit of emergency alert banter, so here's one I received earlier this evening in Barcelona. Quite impressed by the 3 languages in one alert.
Went back to Nancy Leveson's brilliant Engineering a Safer World this morning. This is a massively simplified process diagram, but every software/digital person who's worked on a big "transformation" project and suddenly feels out of their depth knows this feeling direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
September 16, 2026 at 6:19 AM
Went back to Nancy Leveson's brilliant Engineering a Safer World this morning. This is a massively simplified process diagram, but every software/digital person who's worked on a big "transformation" project and suddenly feels out of their depth knows this feeling direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
The poise and physical coordination of people who wear all white outfits to travel on planes and then take part in daring activities like drinking tomato juice is truly extraordinary. If I wear a white t-shirt, I mostly can't even make it into the kitchen before I've spilt something on myself.
September 15, 2026 at 10:53 AM
The poise and physical coordination of people who wear all white outfits to travel on planes and then take part in daring activities like drinking tomato juice is truly extraordinary. If I wear a white t-shirt, I mostly can't even make it into the kitchen before I've spilt something on myself.
As I've mentioned ad nauseum, I've spent my summer writing up the foresight review on safe adoption of AI in engineering that I've been working on for the past year (will be published in December). At the heart of it are some observations about AI safety culture (which is the hottest of hot messes)
September 15, 2026 at 7:58 AM
As I've mentioned ad nauseum, I've spent my summer writing up the foresight review on safe adoption of AI in engineering that I've been working on for the past year (will be published in December). At the heart of it are some observations about AI safety culture (which is the hottest of hot messes)
Reposted by Rachel Coldicutt
I've been checking the source of quotes for my forthcoming book, and the performance of Gemini is extraordinary. I paste the quote into Google, and Gemini will barge in with the wrong answer over and over again. It's not an occasional thing - it's reliably wrong. Very odd.
Twice in the last week I've pasted a quotation into Google to check the source, and Gemini has barged in with the wrong answer. CS Lewis quote from The Seeing Eye (1967) was placed in The Screwtape Letters (1942). Alfred Loftus quote (1857) attributed to Austen Layard (1849). Gemini 0/2.
September 13, 2026 at 12:56 PM
I've been checking the source of quotes for my forthcoming book, and the performance of Gemini is extraordinary. I paste the quote into Google, and Gemini will barge in with the wrong answer over and over again. It's not an occasional thing - it's reliably wrong. Very odd.
For household applicants and utility bills, it would be so useful if the norm was to have a household account rather than having an item/warranty/monthly payment be tied to one person in a household. Similar to when you leave parent/carer details for a child and there are spaces for multiple ppl
September 15, 2026 at 7:18 AM
For household applicants and utility bills, it would be so useful if the norm was to have a household account rather than having an item/warranty/monthly payment be tied to one person in a household. Similar to when you leave parent/carer details for a child and there are spaces for multiple ppl
Sometimes in life you make the bed because the bed needs to be made and other times it's because you want to have a sneaky lie down.
September 14, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Sometimes in life you make the bed because the bed needs to be made and other times it's because you want to have a sneaky lie down.
I've spent the last year working on a review of the safe adoption of AI in safety critical systems, and I think one of the hardest things to communicate is that probably Sam Altman's biggest flex has not been in any invention but in disrupting the "traditional" model of innovation diffusion
September 14, 2026 at 8:39 AM
I've spent the last year working on a review of the safe adoption of AI in safety critical systems, and I think one of the hardest things to communicate is that probably Sam Altman's biggest flex has not been in any invention but in disrupting the "traditional" model of innovation diffusion
What is about brains that means sitting down at my desk with a clear day for writing means that I immediately experience a harrowing long, dark night of the soul, but starting to write something on my phone while standing up on the train then finishing it in a coffee shop is fine?
September 14, 2026 at 8:28 AM
What is about brains that means sitting down at my desk with a clear day for writing means that I immediately experience a harrowing long, dark night of the soul, but starting to write something on my phone while standing up on the train then finishing it in a coffee shop is fine?
Listening to the Today programme which leads a segment on AI with "whoever wins AI wins" and then some very uncritical discussion of a Bill being pushed through by a lobby group.
September 14, 2026 at 6:17 AM
Listening to the Today programme which leads a segment on AI with "whoever wins AI wins" and then some very uncritical discussion of a Bill being pushed through by a lobby group.
Somehow I missed this which seems like quite a big deal? (Sent to me by a friend in the US) www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...
September 13, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Somehow I missed this which seems like quite a big deal? (Sent to me by a friend in the US) www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...
If you don't usually read Dario Amodei's blog post, you might not be aware that at least once a year he drops a very confident one that says something like, "super intelligence is coming at the end of this year, everything will be different". He frequently over-estimates the rate of breakthrough
September 13, 2026 at 10:02 AM
If you don't usually read Dario Amodei's blog post, you might not be aware that at least once a year he drops a very confident one that says something like, "super intelligence is coming at the end of this year, everything will be different". He frequently over-estimates the rate of breakthrough