Steve Blair (@steveblair) — Bluesky Profile

11 months ago

Thanks Ian! Good to hear from you.

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11 months ago

Missing #Uncanny TV Season 2? If you need a paranormal fix check out my book Into The Uncanny 📚 I investigate 4 cases in it, never seen or heard before! Pick it up at your local bookshop or download the e-book or audio version (read by yours truly!)

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11 months ago

Delighted to have some material on Ep 1 of the new series of #DMsAreOpenBBC on @BBCRadio4 this Wednesday at 11pm.

In fact, you could say I'm buzzing. Tune in to find out why...

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1 year ago

Apparently the correct term is actually school nurse but I think it’s just nit picking really.

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1 year ago

Thanks for the kindness and thanks for looking. Glad I’ve found you here.

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1 year ago

Wil! Thank you for sharing this, much appreciated. I’ve been lazy over here compared to the Hell Site, for some reason. You’ve reminded me to do better. Cheers.

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1 year ago

Dear Ms Stella Creasy,
I am writing to voice my extreme concern at the direction taken by the UK government with regard to artificial intelligence in the creative industries. In particular I am alarmed by the plan, recently outlined in a public consultation, to allow AI companies to access copyright material for training as the default (and to make creatives 'opt-out' if they do not consent).

As a writer, I took part in the public consultation - I have attached my response here, but I also wanted to get in touch with you as you are my local MP, and you have always been receptive to the problems and concerns of your constituents. Moreover, I believe Walthamstow has a relatively high number of people working in the creative industry, and I wanted to impress upon you just how poorly these plans have been received in your constituency specifically.

To be blunt, I believe that giving tech companies the right to train their AI models with copyrighted material will be a terrible mistake which will decimate an already struggling creative industry. It is effectively giving tech companies carte blanche to do what they have done for many years previously - to steal copyrighted material - but this time with the government's blessing.
Moreover, the "opt-out" model is woefully inadequate. On paper it makes sense - and I can see a world in which celebrity writers, artists and musicians use it to their advantage - but in practice, it would be merely a fig-leaf for the continued exploitation of the majority of creatives. This is already an industry where artists are frequently exploited by production companies and made to work well below an appropriate rate for the promise of future jobs or exposure - the reality of the industry means that production companies would fairly quickly pressure artists into abandoning their rights to any "opt-out" (with the threat of taking the job away if they refused). It is staggeringly naive to present this as a workable solution.

$I also have to stress how dispiriting it was to read this consultation and to see just how little the government understands the concerns of the creative industry with regard to artificial intelligence. At every turn, this consultation assumed that we should be accommodating big tech companies and their desire to foist generative AI on us, without acknowledging either the massive copyright infringement they have already committed to build their models, or the devastating effect their product will have on the creative industry. What's more, the consultation assumed that writers and artists are excited about this tool, and they can work with tech companies to use artificial intelligence to enhance their art. I speak with artists and writers on a daily basis and I have found no-one who can see an actual artistic benefit to this technology. I am frequently told by those foisting AI upon us that using generative AI will improve me as a writer - it has been four years and I still have not had an adequate answer as to how. AI can write a script in thirty seconds, but that is not useful from a writing perspective, because it is poorly written nonsense with no understanding of structure, tone or language - it takes much longer to fix than starting from scratch. It is a product that creates bad, careless art quickly. That is not something that benefits artists - that is a tool that benefits people who don't care about art, who just want to flood the market with slop and denigrate the very concept of art. Generative AI is not a tool - it is a weapon, used by exploitative production companies who don't want to pay for artists an appropriate amount to write something good, but instead use a machine to write a bad version of it and then pay artists a fraction of the fee they should be paid to punch it up. Generative AI will never write anything a fraction as well as a human - but it doesn't need to, to destroy their livelihood.$ $I also must say how frustrating it is to see multiple government announcements extolling the virtues on AI while this public consultation is still active. The Prime Minister told a select committee a few weeks ago that "AI is going to be transformative for the better in art, culture, industry, government, public services", and just today the government has announced they are "unleashing" AI (whatever that actually means) in an attempt to "boost growth". This announcement had actually very little qualitative detail in it (apart from a mention of using AI to find potholes), and sadly reminded me a lot of the bluster and boosterism of the previous Tory governments - but it also seems to me that by announcing these things before the end of the consultation, the government has made up its mind already. Just last week the UK Labour Tik Tok account posted a video that used (truly ugly) AI art (and was later taken down not because of the AI art but because of an inappropriate music choice) - I was distressed by the complete lack of respect for UK artists and animators who could have made a much better video (for a fraction of the environmental cost, I should add), and it really doesn't inspire confidence that this government will actually listen to any criticism of generative AI that comes out of this consultation. I do hope that I am wrong, and that this government can be convinced of the folly of this specific plan. I hope that, given your constituency's high number of people involved in the creative industries, you could be a voice that warns against this - and to stop a policy which threatens to torpedo an already struggling creative industry. Thanks very much, Jack Bernhardt$

I've sent this email to my MP after doing the public consultation on AI, not sure it will do much but I would encourage anyone else in a similar situation to do the same

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1 year ago

Christmas Card Banksy: An interview with the man who drew Christmas Whilst the cards themselves were extremely popular, very little was known about the artist behind the distinctive designs, a man known to many simply as “Rich”. After years of searching…

After YEARS of searching, I finally tracked down the artist behind the greatest Christmas cards ever.

thecomedyloser.com/2020/12/12/c...

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1 year ago

Which one is the evil Henrik!? 😱. Halloween movie covered.

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1 year ago

First time I’ve ever roasted chestnuts on an open fire. Not euphemism. Has everyone else done this already?

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1 year ago

I’m not sure I can watch this if the ‘puddle-squeal’ drama is included. Can you issue a warning if so? I think we should be told, Danny.

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1 year ago

👇👇👇👻👻👻

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1 year ago

That doesn’t mean she can speak English, Bethany. 😜

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1 year ago

‼️😱👻SPECIAL PODCAST ANNOUNCEMENT 👻😱‼️
Tomorrow, for Friday the 13th, I have a spooky Christmas treat for you…a BRAND NEW episode of Uncanny, where I’ll be taking Phil from our classic case ‘Don’t Sleep In This House’ back to where it all happened…LUIBEILT😱😱😱
Who’s excited? 😱👻

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1 year ago

Cheese! By the superb @thisisdouch.bsky.social OUT TODAY! Grab yourself a copy!

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1 year ago

All surprisingly fresh faced! Have you each put a Fisher Price Chatter Telephone in your attics? 😱

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1 year ago

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie - Episode 1 - BBC Sounds Grace Bernard begins the story of her murderous past.

Have just found an audio of @bellamackie.bsky.social ‘s wonderful How to Kill Your Family on @bbcsounds.bsky.social get it in your ears! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

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1 year ago

Breaking the News - Jay Lafferty, Scott Agnew, Athena Kugblenu and Ian Smith - BBC Sounds Des Clarke hosts Scotland's award-winning satirical news quiz.

Something funny what I wrote on BBC Radio Scotland’s Breaking the News. On BBC Sounds now and repeated tomorrow on air. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

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1 year ago

Someone quoting my tweet about Indiana Jones with a photo of Ronnie Corbett by saying 'Looks like Ronnie Corbet'.

Two years ago. One day this place will have the same magic.

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1 year ago

The young lad (10) and I have decided to do a Sitcom Christmas Episode Advent calendar this year. We began with Dad’s Army 1971 today.

Any suggestions for lesser known eps gratefully received.

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1 year ago

As much as it’s in my nature to mock, photos never do justice to muscles - and this looks solid. Nice work Kempner.

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1 year ago

Immediate follow.

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1 year ago

Cover of my latest book, The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective

Here I am on the blue planet. Looking for fellow writers, artists, eco-worriers in my circle (& those I don’t know yet) who made it out alive when the Twittership combusted.

I’ve never felt as supported by a creative community as I did before the Xplosion. Let’s regroup hug & continue the party.

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1 year ago

This is going to piss a lot of men off, but ignore them, too!

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1 year ago

That sounds class! Yeah, she’s having an absolute ball.

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1 year ago

It was Ardroy at the top of Loch Goil. Daughter up by Gare Loch at the minute for a Scotland Team camp. They’ve had snow storm, power cut, thunderstorms, and flooding in amongst their sailing in -2. I’ve been by the fire watching the rugby 😂

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1 year ago

10 year old son back from a week at outdoor centre with school. Harsh winter conditions, learning new skills, and longest time away from him alone. But his proudest moment was for his teamwork in securing the award for “Smelliest Dorm”.

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1 year ago

My daughter is in north west Scotland at a Scotland sailing team training camp. They had a snow storm, a power cut, a fitness session and several hours on the water. 🥶. I thought about that and turned on the electric blanket.

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1 year ago

I can’t believe I’ve so few followers compared to Twitter when I’m posting stuff on the forward bow of the good ship Zeitgeist like this.

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1 year ago

Probably the only time I was grateful for a MTG tweet.

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