Navneet Gidda

‘You have a personal shopper, you have a butler, you have a personal assistant, you have your home manager.’

Surveillance and mental offloading aside, why are these people so obsessed with servants? Oh right.

Tech elites are starting their own for-profit cities They want to escape from regulation and ‘failing’ democracy — but are they more opportunistic than libertarian?

Grateful to Hannah Murphy at the FT for covering the Network State movement. Quotes from yours truly. Shoutout @shanley.com for the assist and doggedly pushing this story. www.ft.com/content/b127...

Impact of Generative AI on the Novel A report examining how literary creatives being affected by GenAI and what measures they want see implemented by the government to protect the UK’s literary scene.

New research by @mctd.bsky.social shows the impact of generative AI on authors in the UK. They found over a third of novelists report their income has already been negatively impacted by AI and 85% expect their future income will be negatively impacted.

www.mctd.ac.uk/impact-of-ge...

How AGI became the most consequential conspiracy theory of our time The idea that machines will be as smart as—or smarter than—humans has hijacked an entire industry. But look closely and you’ll see it’s a myth that persists for many of the same reasons conspiracies d...

Today, as part of our New Conspiracy Age package, we have @willdouglasheaven.bsky.social ruffling some feathers to lay out his argument for why AGI is the biggest conspiracy of all. 👀
www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/30/1...

UPCOMING 📚 The Impact of GenAI on the Novel

Join us for the (online) launch of a new report from Dr @clemicollett.bsky.social @braiduk.bsky.social (in assoc with @ifow.org) on how generative AI is impacting novelists and the publishing industry.

Book your spot ➡️ www.mctd.ac.uk/events/gener...

Who gets to be an artist? Are you from a professional family, went to private school, have a postgraduate degree, and live in London with a load of cash in the bank?

'Are you from a professional family, went to private school, have a postgraduate degree, and live in London with a load of cash in the bank?
If so, congrats – you’re three times more likely to become an artist than anyone else.' 1/2

🇪🇺💰How ‘independent’ can Brussels-based think tanks really be when one third of their funding comes from the U.S?

🔗 Read what this means for Europe:
www.ftm.eu/articles/a-t...

Freedom or Fear? The Lib Dems’ Digital Divide Our Head of Strategic Communications, Navneet Gidda, reflects on the Liberal Democrats Conference 2025 in Bournemouth.

Freedom or Fear? The Lib Dems’ Digital Divide 💭

@ngidda.bsky.social reflects on the @libdems.org.uk Conference, observing that tech for the Lib Dems isn't just a policy debate, but a palpable anxiety about how to shield future generations from the modern internet.

➡️ www.mctd.ac.uk/freedom-or-f...

Seated nobleman in profile, wearing a striped robe and turban, reading a small open book against a tan ground (miniature painting, ca. 1750–1775).

October is #NationalBookMonth, the perfect time to discover what scholars are reading on JSTOR. 📚

A recent blog post highlights top-read frontlist ebooks and editor picks across disciplines.

See our picks: https://bit.ly/3WftTij

Getting tech right is vital in Labour’s quest for “national renewal” Our Policy and Impact Manager, Tom Lacy, reflects on his time at Labour Conference 2025.

Getting tech right is vital in Labour’s quest for “national renewal” 💭

@tomlacy.bsky.social reflects on last week's @teamlabouruk.bsky.social Conference. He reacts to announcements on tech policy, shares insights from the panels, and considers tech hype vs reality.

➡️ www.mctd.ac.uk/getting-tech...

'WHAT WILL JESUS SAY?' TONY BLAIR, BIG TECH AND THE ISRAEL CONNECTION As Trump announces the former British PM as his choice to help govern Gaza, Carole Cadwalladr investigates the opaque workings of Blair's institute, its funding from friends of Israel – including bill...

REVEALED: Donald Trump has picked Tony Blair for central role in Gaza ‘peace plan’…

…but in our inaugural investigation for @thenerve_news, we reveal extensive previously unreported links to Israeli defence, media & tech. 🧵
1/

www.thenerve.news/p/tony-blair...

What do you do when your media org is captured? You start your own.

Introducing....The Nerve!!! @thenerve-news.bsky.social

We're all-female, journalist-owned & launching next week.

Please help us build a truly independent, progressive new media!👊👊👊

Think it's time to rewatch Castlevania

Kind of ironic that my Critique of Linguistic Capitalism was stolen to train a Large Language Model 🤯

The forum created an opportunity for people to listen & be in dialogue with each other to discuss the challenges, opportunities, and the path ahead.

Delighted to share the read-out authored by Alexis Harrell, Christian Neubacher, @ngidda.bsky.social & @clemicollett.bsky.social

bit.ly/46yaX2W

Discussions focused on 7 key themes:

1. Transparency for Readers
2. Impact on Future Generations
3. Definition of Creativity
4. AI Training Rights
5. Copyright Considerations
6. Inclusivity and Exclusivity
7. Resistance in the Age of AI

This summer, a ‘Forum on Generative AI and the Novel’ brought together 33 participants including novelists, publishers, literary agents, representatives from writers’ & publishers’ societies, trade unions, government, law, & academia.

George Monbiot on Blair, Starmer and the capture of democracy I spoke with the celebrated journalist and activist about ‘junk tanks’, dark money - and how we can fight back

"Like so many of these so-called think tanks, the Tony Blair Institute dances to the tune of its funders"

Was so great to talk about Blair, Larry Ellison, Keir Stamer and corporate capture with @georgemonbiot.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/george-mon...

Today is International Day of Sign Languages, a day commemorating the establishment of the World Federation of the Deaf and spotlighting the issues Deaf people face in their everyday lives.

This year's theme is: No Human Rights Without Sign Language Rights❗

In Britain, every time you...

— turn on a tap
— flip a light switch
— board a train or bus
— post a letter
— drop your child at nursery

... you take part in a system designed to extract wealth & concentrate power.

🧵 From cradle to grave, this is how a failed experiment has shaped your life.

Tech companies are stealing our books, music and films for AI. It’s brazen theft and must be stopped | Anna Funder and Julia Powles If we don’t refuse and resist, not just our culture but our democracy will be irrevocably diminished

Under the banner of progress, innovation and, most recently, productivity, the tech industry’s defence distils to ‘we stole because we could, but also because we had to’”

We've got a new report out over at @mctd.bsky.social!

This time on how sign language AI in education, justice, and healthcare could worsen existing inequalities for Deaf communities – unless we improve the procurement process with Deaf-led governance.

Summary below...💡

Wall Street Journal headline and deck: "New York Shooting Puts Mamdani on the Spot Over Policing Views: The killing of four people in a Midtown office building rattled a city where mass attacks are rare and violent crime has declined."

It's really weird to demand accountability from a NYC mayoral candidate for a deadly NYC shooting rather than the current NYC mayor, an ex-cop who campaigned on a "tough on crime" platform and promptly got indicted for crimes

Swimwear safety illustration showing how different colors of swimwear appear in freshwater and in swimming pools. Some colors are visible in both, like orange, and other colors, like light blue or white are barely detectable in either.

Choose your swimwear colors carefully, too.

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect.

Thanks for the reminder @janemunday.bsky.social. Every summer, I repost this article DROWNING DOES NOT LOOK LIKE DROWNING. To date, I know of FOUR kids who were saved after someone who'd clicked on the link learnt how to spot actual drowning. Take time to read and pass on.

slate.com/technology/2...

#booksky

they want fascist "AI"

‘If I switch it off, my girlfriend might think I’m cheating’: inside the rise of couples location sharing Many apps like Find My allow us to follow our loved ones at all times. But just because we can, does it mean we should?

“The official X account for Life360, incidentally, feels very much geared towards younger generations, with posts such as, ‘i love it when someone says they checked my location. like thx for checking on me’ and ‘She follows you on Instagram and me on Life360 … we are not the same.’” 🥴

How Much Energy Does AI Use? The People Who Know Aren’t Saying A growing body of research attempts to put a number on energy use and AI—even as the companies behind the most popular models keep their carbon emissions a secret.

AI this, AI that, what about how much energy AI actually uses?

“It blows my mind that you can buy a car and know how many miles per gallon it consumes, yet we use all these AI tools every day and we have absolutely no efficiency metrics, emissions factors, nothing." From the experts:

Whaaaat, didn’t know this! *Big defeated sigh* :/