Pedro de las Heras Quirós

Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras Anger over ICE connections and privacy violations is fueling the sabotage. PLUS: 10,000 drivers call on Uber to repay stolen wages, a man is arrested at a public hearing about a data center and more.

Across the US, people fed up with Flock cameras surveilling their communities, and with local governments that are often unwilling to listen to concerns over privacy violations and ICE data sharing practices, are taking matters into their own hands—and tearing them down.

Emily Bender y Alex Hanna: “Cuando leemos un texto escrito por una IA, pensamos que hay una mente detrás, pero solo hay números” La lingüista Emily M. Bender y la socióloga Alex Hanna argumentan en su libro ‘La estafa de la IA’ por qué esta tecnología es “un engaño que nos están vendiendo para llenar los bolsillos de determinad...

@elpais.com has an interview with me & @alexhanna.bsky.social , coinciding with the publication of the Spanish edition of The AI Con:

elpais.com/tecnologia/2...

Amazon’s cloud ‘hit by two outages caused by AI tools last year’ Reported issues at Amazon Web Services raise questions about firm’s use of artificial intelligence as it cuts staff

AI tools causing outages

The case of Amazon

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

The unauthorized tool call problem – Answer.AI Would you trust an LLM to handle access control? Major AI labs (Anthropic, xAI, Gemini) seem to do exactly that with tool calling.

"The unauthorized tool call problem

Would you trust an LLM to handle access control? Major AI labs (Anthropic, xAI, Gemini) seem to do exactly that with tool calling."

www.answer.ai/posts/2026-0...

The political effects of X's feed algorithm https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10098-2 Received: 16 December 2024 Accepted: 4 January 2026 Published online: 18 February 2026 Open access • Check for updates Germain Gauthier,5, Roland Hodler?5, Philine Widmer35 & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya3,4,5 m Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects'. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk's platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users' feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X's algorithm has persistent effects on users' current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship.

A new paper shows that less than 2 months of exposure to Twitter’s algorithmic feed significantly shifts people’s political views to the right.

Moving from chronological feed to the algorithmic feed also increases engagement.

This is one of the most concerning papers I’ve read in awhile.

'Not genociders': Macron defends French citizens fighting for Israel in Gaza The president's remarks come after judges charged two French-Israeli women with ‘complicity in genocide’ for blocking Gaza aid convoys

"'Not genociders' [...]

The president's remarks come after judges charged two French-Israeli women with ‘complicity in genocide’ for blocking Gaza aid convoys"

Machiavellian
Amoral
Cynical
Relativistic
Opportunistic
Nihilistic

thecradle.co/articles/not...

Mos Def - Auditorium (featuring Slick Rick) [Audio]

As the U.S. prepared a new massacre in Western Asia, kids in Iran learned about American culture by listening to its music:

'And lookin at me curious, a young Iraqi kid
Carryin' laundry, "What's wrong, G? Hungry?"
"No, gimme my oil or get fuck out my country" '

open.spotify.com/episode/0kEW...

The Night When Miles Davis Opened for the Grateful Dead (1970) What’s that, you ask? Did Miles Davis open for the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore West? In what world could such a thing happen? In the world of the late sixties/early seventies, when jazz fused with a...

The Night When Miles Davis Opened for the Grateful Dead (1970)

'Work produced with AI should be understood, validated, and owned just as deeply as work written by hand. Reputation is still built on outcomes, not prompts."

Chris Lattner, creator of the LLVM compiler
.https://www.modular.com/blog/the-claude-c-compiler-what-it-reveals-about-the-future-of-software

Modular: The Claude C Compiler: What It Reveals About the Future of Software Compilers occupy a special place in computer science. They're a canonical course in computer science education. Building one is a rite of passage. It forces you to confront how software actually works...

'Work produced with AI should be understood, validated, and owned just as deeply as work written by hand. Reputation is still built on outcomes, not prompts."

Chris Lattner creator of the LLVM compiler.
.https://www.modular.com/blog/the-claude-c-compiler-what-it-reveals-about-the-future-of-software

Los estudiantes de los institutos del sur de Madrid van a la huelga: “No basta con cesar a Viciana, tiene que haber un cambio real” Alumnos de 36 centros públicos ubicados en Leganés, Móstoles, Fuenlabrada, Getafe, Parla, Alcorcón, Pinto, Humanes, Ciempozuelos y El Álamo protestan este jueves contra la falta de personal, el deterioro de las infraestructuras y los problemas de aislamiento

“Escasez de personal no docente, calefacciones que no funcionan, techos que se caen, goteras y hongos”. Los estudiantes de los institutos del sur de Madrid van a la huelga

Accenture combats AI refuseniks by linking promotions to log-ins Consulting firms use ‘carrot and stick’ with some senior staff less willing to use technology than junior colleagues

'Accenture has begun monitoring staff use of its AI tools as part of how it decides top-level promotions, as consultancies push reluctant employees to adopt the technology. 
[...]
promotion to leadership positions would require “regular adoption” of AI'

www.ft.com/content/ac67...

Context Engineering for Coding Agents Notes from my Thoughtworks colleagues on AI-assisted software delivery

Prompt Engineering, Context Engineering: towards Spell Engineering.

'In spite of the name, ultimately this is not really engineering [...]
people talk about these features with phrases like “ensure it does X”[...]. But [...] we can never be certain of anything'

martinfowler.com/articles/exp...

Open-source game engine Godot is drowning in 'AI slop' code contributions: 'I don't know how long we can keep it up' Projects like Godot are being swamped by contributors who may not even understand the code they're submitting.

"Open-source game engine Godot is drowning in 'AI slop' code contributions: 'I don't know how long we can keep it up'

Projects like Godot are being swamped by contributors who may not even understand the code they're submitting."

www.pcgamer.com/software/pla...

El origen de ‘los pocholos’, el equipo inexperto que gestionaba la Consejería de Educación madrileña: “Nos llamaban la secta” Los jóvenes que aterrizaron sin preparación en puestos de responsabilidad fueron adiestrados en una ideología ultraconservadora años antes de desembarcar en las listas del partido

En España, en la Comunidad de Madrid, la gestión política de la educación, universitaria y no universitaria, es puro teatro. Hasta ayer ha estado en manos de "Los Pocholos":

elpais.com/educacion/20...

US towns resist Trump plans to jail immigrants in warehouses Residents in a leafy, conservative New Jersey suburb have erupted in protest against plans to convert a vast warehouse into an immigration detention center as part of President Donald Trump's mass dep...

USA, Q1 2026:

Giant warehouses designed to house packages are being repurposed as detention camps where detained human beings on the basis of race are concentrated.

www.yahoo.com/news/article...

ICE tripled its reliance on Microsoft in last six months, files reveal Documents show the U.S. agency is storing large amounts of data on Microsoft's cloud while making use of its AI tools to analyze videos and images.

"ICE tripled its reliance on Microsoft in last six months, leaked files reveal.

Documents show the U.S. agency is storing large amounts of data on Microsoft's cloud while making use of its AI tools to analyze videos and images."

www.972mag.com/ice-microsof...

Effects of international sanctions on age-specific mortality: a cross-national panel data analysis Sanctions have substantial adverse effects on public health, with a death toll similar to that of wars. Our findings underscore the need to rethink sanctions as a foreign-policy tool, highlighting the...

The Lancet Global Health

Effects of US and EU international sanctions on age-specific mortality: a cross-national panel data analysis: 38 million deaths since 1970.

In 2021, the most recent year of data, sanctions caused more than 800,000 deaths.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

🤖 AI Can Now Rent Humans — And 289,000 People Already Signed Up A new platform lets AI agents hire humans for real-world tasks through API calls. With almost 4 million visits and thousands of bounties…

Humans will be divided between those exploited directly by other humans and those exploited through AI intermediaries.

OpenClaw + Mechanical Turk = tomaszs2.medium.com/ai-can-now-r...

Mistral AI buys Koyeb in first acquisition to back its cloud ambitions | TechCrunch Mistral AI has agreed to buy Koyeb, a Paris-based startup that simplifies AI app deployment at scale and manages the infrastructure behind it.

"Mistral has been primarily known for developing large language models (LLMs), but this deal confirms its ambitions to position itself as a full-stack player" techcrunch.com/2026/02/17/m...

YouTube video by AI Revolution Unitree New Robot Goes Superhuman on Camera (Snaps Into Attack State)

Paradox 1: While worrying about overpopulation, humans made the problem worse by adding dexterous humanoid robots.

Paradox 2: The loudest voices warning of the ‘Great Replacement’ were leading the AI replacement themselves.

Paradox 3: Exciting yet worrying times.

youtu.be/T4ekeXQ2B6Q?...

YouTube video by India Today Global Unitree Humanoid Robots Shock People at 2026 Spring Festival Gala with Martial Arts

Chinese Unitree Humanoid Robots 2026

youtu.be/O9ao_HLi1gE?...

Why are people disconnecting or destroying their Ring cameras?

Centros de logística humana El Gobierno de Trump está creando una unidad dedicada a integrar los servicios de las principales empresas de tecnología en agencias como ICE

El jefe de ICE dijo hace un año que necesitaba “un proceso de deportación como el de Amazon Prime, pero con humanos”. Gracias a la Big Beautiful Bill, está creando una red de “centros de logística humana” para ejecutar la misión.

Mi columna de hoy en @elpais.com

elpais.com/opinion/2026...

Deep Blue We coined a new term on the Oxide and Friends podcast last month (primary credit to Adam Leventhal) covering the sense of psychological ennui leading into existential dread that many …

Many programmers in 2025/2026 experienced their own “Deep Blue moment”, much like chess players did after Garry Kasparov lost to Deep Blue in 1997, and later like Go players did after Lee Sedol was defeated by AlphaGo.

simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/15/...

Israel’s move to register land ‘systematises dispossession’ of Palestinians Israeli rights groups say land registration in West Bank will further Israel's aim of annexing Palestinian territory.

Annexation of West Bank proceeds systematically:
www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/...

Canada and the EU demand absolute respect for their own sovereignty, yet do nothing, about Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.

Just words:

1/ www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/joint-s...

2/ www.canada.ca/en/global-af...

2/2

Esta actitud alemana respaldada por el Reino Unido implica más muertos en Ucrania, más influencia del trumpismo en países europeos, auge del fascismo, más dependencia energética de EE.UU., más rearme de Alemania al margen de la UE, mayor probabilidad de enfrentamiento bélico en Europa.

Francia e Italia piden reanudar el diálogo directo con Putin Europa se plantea abrir conversaciones con Moscú, pero Berlín y Londres creen que no es el momento. La Unión reclama su sitio en la mesa de diálogo sobre Ucrania y trata de elevar la presión sobre el ...

1/2

Da miedo pensar en las razones por las que Berlín y Londres no creen que Europa tiene que reanudar de una vez el diálogo directo con Putin.

Preferir que los intereses de los ciudadanos europeos sigan siendo "defendidos" por Trump es colaboracionismo.

elpais.com/internaciona...

A Stock Market Doom Loop Is Hitting Everything That Touches AI The stock market turmoil unleashed by the artificial-intelligence industry reflects two fears that are increasingly at odds.

"The stock market turmoil is driven by two fears: that AI will disrupt entire segments of the economy, and that the hundreds of billions of dollars invested in AI may not deliver big payoffs anytime soon. [...] Those two things can’t be true at the same time.”

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

How AI slop is causing a crisis in computer science Preprint repositories and conference organizers are having to counter a tide of ‘AI slop’ submissions.

Another story where you realise that absolutely no one has any idea how to deal with all the AI papers being cranked out.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...