Melissa Heikkilä

A quote on a beige background reads: “Everybody’s running manically towards… this extreme version of AI superintelligence. The Hugging Face guys … have a much, much more pragmatic view of this technology.” — John Borthwick, Hugging Face’s first investor.

A quote on a beige background reads: “[Open models] contribute to democratising AI, to fighting concentration of power which is, in my opinion, the biggest risk in AI.” — Clem Delangue, Hugging Face co-founder and chief executive.

It’s the AI start-up dream. After years of slog, Nvidia offers a $500mn investment. No-brainer? Not if you’re Hugging Face. The FT reveals today the group rejected the offer in a sign of the growing divide over what, exactly, AI should be.

An #FTEdit 🧵 on the “anti Silicon Valley” AI company 👇

A cool use of AI in newsgathering, this. US companies are talking more and more about the risks rather than the benefits of AI in their SEC filings (while still being super-optimistic in earnings calls). By @melissahei.bsky.social @chriscook.news & @claradoodle.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/e93e...

America’s top companies keep talking about AI — but can’t explain the upsides [FREE TO READ] FT analysis of hundreds of filings suggest the S&P 500 businesses are clearer about the risks than benefits

Is AI revolutionising the workplace? Maybe not (yet).

“When we spoke to executives, they would often say the internal tool was very successful... But when we spoke to employees, we found zero usage.” @melissahei.bsky.social @chriscook.news @claradoodle.bsky.social

on.ft.com/4pBm97R

AI medical tools downplay symptoms in women and ethnic minorities Large language models reflect biases that can lead to inferior healthcare advice to female, Black and Asian patients

Good FT article (£) by @melissahei.bsky.social on bias in medical AI tools

on.ft.com/3IuZ5qz

President Alexander Stubb on stage with Melissa Heikkilä.

President Alexander Stubb in Helsinki Security Forum 2025.

At #HSF2025 opening session, President Alexander Stubb emphasized the need for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, in an interview with @melissahei.bsky.social.

First should come a ceasefire—then a lasting peace, built with global support.

Why is AI struggling to discover new drugs? A generation of start-ups have failed to live up to the hype. Executives are now betting that more powerful tools will crack the complexities of human biology

Biology is not easy, by @hannahkuchler.bsky.social and @melissahei.bsky.social

Why is AI struggling to discover new drugs? A generation of start-ups have failed to live up to the hype. Executives are now betting that more powerful tools will crack the complexities of human biology

Why is AI struggling to discover new drugs?

"We know surprisingly little about our own biology" and so there isn't really enough data to train models.

Insightful from @melissahei.bsky.social & @hannahkuchler.bsky.social

www.ft.com/content/9a8a...

Why AI labs struggle to stop chatbots talking to teenagers about suicide on.ft.com/46kogVY

📊 Tell us what you think in today's FT Edit poll: on.ft.com/41Yrg87

Margaret Mitchell: artificial general intelligence is ‘just vibes and snake oil’ One of the pioneers of AI ethics explains why human needs should be the central driver in the development of the technology

🙀Have we reached AGI?? 🙀
💛 Really grateful to @financialtimes.com and the incredible journalist @melissahei.bsky.social, who gave me space to talk about “AGI” (vs AI, vs ML) and where we’re headed.
Link here!!
www.ft.com/content/7089...

Thank you! And hah, well 🥲

Fascinating discussion in the FT btw @mmitchell.bsky.social and @melissahei.bsky.social about AGI: "AGI as a whole is just a super problematic concept that provides an air of objectivity and positivity, when, in fact, it’s opening the door for technologists to just do whatever they want."

Why Big Tech cannot agree on artificial general intelligence It has been tipped as the next big breakthrough out of Silicon Valley, but is it a scientific goal — or a marketing buzzword?

This is a very clear, balanced article on the future of so-called AGI by @melissahei.bsky.social‬ - marketing trick or scientific goal? www.ft.com/content/d20e...

Thank you Charlie!

Why Big Tech cannot agree on artificial general intelligence It has been tipped as the next big breakthrough out of Silicon Valley, but is it a scientific goal — or a marketing buzzword?

Silicon Valley is obsessed with AGI. But depending on who you ask, AGI is either a scientific goal, a religion or "vibes and snake oil." So I wanted to know—what exactly is AGI? And why we're unlikely to see it anytime soon. on.ft.com/3TwogLi

The sycophancy problem in one line, courtesy of @giadapistilli.com

Really interesting piece by @melissahei.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/72aa...

Ada Lovelace Institute’s Gaia Marcus: regulation would increase people’s comfort with AI The head of the UK-based think-tank talks about her hopes and fears for future oversight of AI

“What futures are being created through these technologies—and are these the futures you want?”

Such a pleasure to speak with @financialtimes.com @melissahei.bsky.social about AI, power, and keeping grounded and evidence based amongst hype, hope and fear.

www.ft.com/content/c572...

🧵

Scoop: In the race to dominate the burgeoning AI industry, DeepMind has made publishing papers on generative AI "almost impossible" and "cares more about product and less about getting research results out for the general public good,” according to current and former employees. on.ft.com/4l8Tepk

DeepMind slows down research releases to keep competitive edge in AI race [FREE TO READ] Google’s AI arm led by Demis Hassabis makes it harder for its researchers to publish studies in major change in approach

“I cannot imagine us putting out the transformer papers for general use now,” said one current researcher.

Great reporting by @melissahei.bsky.social & Stephen Morris

Thanks Janosch!

EU lawmakers warn against ‘dangerous’ moves to water down AI rules European Commission considers softening parts of law that could spare Big Tech from key elements

Architects of the EU’s landmark artificial intelligence act have urged Brussels in a letter to halt “dangerous” moves to water down the upcoming AI code of practice.

With @melissahei.bsky.social

www.ft.com/content/9051...

DeepSeek’s ‘aha moment’ creates new way to build powerful AI with less money [FREE TO READ] Chinese artificial intelligence group’s use of ‘reinforcement learning’ and ‘small language models’ leads to breakthroughs

On my first day as the @financialtimes.com new AI reporter, the stock market crashed and Silicon Valley freaked out about DeepSeek's AI model. 😅 But what exactly was DeepSeek's breakthrough? I read their research paper. Here's why it's a big deal: enterprise-sharing.ft.com/redeem/94db9...

Thanks Felix!!

Thanks so much Meredith!

Thanks Alex!

Got some personal news! Last week was my last one at @technologyreview.com. I've adored the team and my nearly three years there, but it's time for a new adventure. 

I'm very excited to announce that on January 27, I’ll be joining the @financialtimes.com as their new AI Correspondent. Can't wait!

This is where the data to build AI comes from New findings show how the sources of data are concentrating power in the hands of the most powerful tech companies.

Data is not a "naturally occurring resource", but "something that is created through particular processes” S. Myers West. These processes are dominated by Big Tech -> AI models are very asymmetrical in terms of access & representation. @melissahei.bsky.social www.technologyreview.com/2024/12/18/1...

Digital twins of human organs are here. They’re set to transform medical treatment. The models can be used to plan surgeries and in the future could be used to help trial new drugs.

Stories like this make me love science even more. Fascinating story by @jesshamzelou.bsky.social about how digital twins of our bodies could be our own personal guinea pigs for testing out medicines before we subject our real bodies to them. www.technologyreview.com/2024/12/19/1...

Just shared my thoughts with @technologyreview.com on AI's data problem. With most training data coming from English-language sources, we're building AI systems that perpetuate a Western-centric worldview. Data diversity isn't a checkbox: it determines how AI systems represent daily life globally.

Thank you @melissahei.bsky.social for covering the Data Provenance Initiative's new study on 🌟 Multimodal data 🌟.

Our study finds:
- A concentration of data power
- Western-centricity isn't improving for 10+ years

Read more! www.dataprovenance.org/Multimodal_D...

Data isn’t a naturally occurring resource; it’s shaped by the intentions and design of those collecting it - this means that tech firms’ advantage in data collection reshapes infrastructures in their own interests. Read more in this really critical piece by @melissahei.bsky.social: