speculations

https://digiday.com/marketing/theres-no-room-for-purists-generative-ai-is-altering-the-agency-junior-talent-search It was down to the last two teams. The final part of the interview was watching the teams work. The smart building’s sensors had been configured. The room was watching them. The differences between the teams soon became clear. Sam and their Agent worked seamlessly. They passed tasks backwards… Read the rest

https://www.ft.com/content/ef2d6887-ac75-4fe2-a85a-ba77ee3618c7 There had been one a day, every day for a year. 365 stories. Each one exactly 100 words long. Each written in one go on a phone. Each inspired by a news story. Some had been read by others, many not. Bottles cast out into the Stream and filed… Read the rest

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/30/the-phone-is-dead-long-live-what-exactly/ It was a companion, a distraction, a fidget toy, a security blanket. People looked at him strangely. Standing on a transit platform among the crowds: silent, still, looks that were somewhere between blank and deeply enhanced. They’d glance at him before returning to their state; puzzled. His hands moved… Read the rest

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26835752-400-new-years-resolutions-work-better-if-you-know-what-to-measure/ The house was nagging. The reminders were coming thick and fast. Time to choose. The fridge made its polite suggestions, the living room screens had their ideas and of course the door had a parting shot, “just to think about”. Each suggestion was backed up with the data from… Read the rest

https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-is-hiring-a-new-head-of-preparedness-to-try-to-predict-and-mitigate-ais-harms-220330486.html Those members of the board that had them, rolled their eyes when the Head of Preparedness spoke. The Agents on the board already knew what was going to be raised. They had the data, had run the models themselves and already had “solutions” ready: detailed arguments about the data… Read the rest

https://www.ft.com/content/f3658db4-0bd5-4a0e-af9f-8f7a14f05603 They tried to be good parents. Relaxed, supportive, cool even. They’d subscribed to all the parenting Agents, updating each year as he grew and the models improved. They’d paid for the best nannying Agents and when he went to school, they’d found the best, even if they had problems… Read the rest

https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-says-hes-removing-sustainable-from-teslas-mission-2000703528 The new boss was a human. And as a human new to the job, he had ideas he wanted implemented… now. He was outspoken politically, a close friend of The Party. He was determined that The Company and The Party should “align”. His first step was to “strip the… Read the rest

https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/how-to-set-up-a-ps5-for-a-child-160039866.html He wanted it set up immediately of course. He knew he was getting one and had been rehearsing in his mind for weeks what he’d do first. None of his friends had the latest model so he wanted to get it all set up before they came round. He… Read the rest

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2025/12/songs-christmas-nostalgia/685428 The table was set, each meal was cooking and the family were surrounded by gifts. They always made sure to buy at least one material present for each other. So the tree didn’t look bare. They obviously couldn’t afford a “real” tree, even if they’d agreed with buying from… Read the rest

https://www.ft.com/content/b2ebb99a-cfea-465f-93ff-0ea8ed6bfac5 It was a print card and letter. It had to be couriered of course. “I remember our postman,” he would say “you can’t chat to a drone, you can’t wish them a happy Christmas”. The letter was always the same, news of the family, family snaps, a year in… Read the rest