Chris Stokel-Walker

In today's @economist.com Espresso, I've written up the results of a paper testing how well AI chatbots can persuade people to switch political allegiances

Pick up the Christmas double issue of the Literary Review for my thoughts on a new book on TikTok, plus much more

When the AI bubble bursts, who’ll be left standing? Most people seem to agree that the AI bubble is going to pop at some point. But what happens next is more uncertain.

Pretty much everyone seems to think the AI bubble is about to burst - including those at the vanguard of the AI revolution. But few people seem to know what happens next. My latest for @fastcompany.com explores who'll be left standing www.fastcompany.com/91448362/ai-...

Why copper markets are feeling the pinch due to aggressive AI data center expansion — expansive buildout to demand 1.1 million tonnes of copper annually by 2030, close to 3% of global demand Alongside energy, water and computer chips, the supply squeeze is being felt further up the chain, too.

Copper load of this: the metal is reaching new highs and squeezing supply to nearly nothing thanks to one main customer - data centres. My latest for @tomshardware.com on how AI is impacting industries indirectly www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...

Why copper markets are feeling the pinch due to aggressive AI data center expansion — expansive buildout to demand 1.1 million tonnes of copper annually by 2030, close to 3% of global demand Alongside energy, water and computer chips, the supply squeeze is being felt further up the chain, too.

Copper load of this: the metal is reaching new highs and squeezing supply to nearly nothing thanks to one main customer - data centres. My latest for @tomshardware.com on how AI is impacting industries indirectly www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...

When the AI bubble bursts, who’ll be left standing? Most people seem to agree that the AI bubble is going to pop at some point. But what happens next is more uncertain.

Pretty much everyone seems to think the AI bubble is about to burst - including those at the vanguard of the AI revolution. But few people seem to know what happens next. My latest for @fastcompany.com explores who'll be left standing www.fastcompany.com/91448362/ai-...

Oh wait, yay it is happening again

Sad day for business bros as LinkedIn is throwing up a 500 server error from Cloudflare (this isn't happening *again*, is it?)

Why Zig is moving on from GitHub GitHub has become “completely neglected”, according to a scathing review of the platform from the project leader behind Zig.

Zig is zagging - away from GitHub, after concerns about automation and AI. My latest for @leaddev.com leaddev.com/ai/why-zig-i...

We tried out Suno this week on Crashed and got it to create a Steps song, then mimic My Chemical Romance podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

Very easy to mock the OBR for its issues around files going online yesterday but I'm not sure anyone at the Treasury, where the Budget document was named 'Final_print_HMT_Budget_2025_TEXT_PRINT_NEW.pdf' (two prints, a final and a new for those keeping count) should mock

Is the race to build data centres in space a planet-saver or pie in the sky? Chris Stokel-Walker asks if off-planet data centres are a viable way to meet AI’s insatiable demand for energy

Tech bros want to build data centres in space. But why, and how realistic is it to happen? My latest for @standard.co.uk.web.brid.gy
www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/da...

We had an EMERGENCY BUDGET EPISODE of Crashed, where we looked at what the Budget means for tech - plus how Meta is (yet again) censoring LGBTQ+ voices and sex workers. Plus a shoutout to Land of Hope and Glory. Listen now: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

Got to think the Treasury team have double checked that this page isn't quite live yet in the last half hour... was worth a go though

Amazing scenes

On a meta/political point of view, I have *no idea* why the Tory front benches haven't stuck the PDF of the OBR forecast into NotebookLM and got a quick readout and started asking questions

That Digital Services Tax that successive governments have crowed about? It'll bring in.... errr... 0.1% of all the country's tax receipts each year to 2030-31

Say it with me now: un-funded-spen-ding-cuts

The TBI will be happy - digital ID cards will cost an estimated £1.8 billion over the next three years, split between £0.5 billion for resource departmental spending (RDEL) and £1.3 billion for capital departmental spending (CDEL)

AI will boost the economy, the OBR forecast, except... "Our analysis suggests AI will likely provide a smaller boost to productivity growth over the next five years than the ICT revolution did before 2008."

Anyway, tech-wise, AI will have a "positive effect on productivity growth", the OBR say, with a 0.2 percentage point impact in five years

Hello - needless to say, if you work at the OBR and its CMS, I want to speak to you...

米国製クラウドに頼れず　欧州で50億ユーロのテック基金 - 日経デジタルガバナンス 何年もの間「デジタル主権」を唱えてきた欧州だが、デジタル基盤については少数の米ハイパースケーラーに委託する状況にあった。そんな中で欧州連合（EU）の欧州委員会はこのほど、50億ユーロ（9000億円）規模の「Scaleup Europe Fund（スケールアップ欧州基金）」の概要を発表した。企業の成長を支援する民間運営の基金だ。デジタルインフラを欧州企業の製品で賄おうという「Euro Stack（

Europe is developing its own tech stack - but why? My latest for @nikkei.com Digital Governance explains it all www.nikkei.com/prime/digita...

I reviewed Tim Berners-Lee's book for @nature.com... and wasn't an enormous fan (but couldn't tell who was to blame - him or his co-writer) www.nature.com/articles/d41...

To be fair, if you're as functionally unable to complete a sentence as he is then it's unsurprising that you have to ask an LLM to provide a "vulgar roast" (what a weird phrase) of people you're at a party with

I can find the idea expressed within the book worthy while feeling that the poor expression of it harms its likelihood of being adopted. "It's technical so it doesn't have to be engaging" is a poor excuse when people like me exist to translate complicated concepts in engaging ways to the public

Sure, but - and I appreciate your views but I'm about done with the conversation after this - you're conflating a review of the book (which I thought was not good!) with a comment or judgment on the proposals he has (which you've highlighted yourself I say is interesting). This is a book review

Sorry but you're wrong - this isn't a technical book. This is a mass-market book aimed at the mainstream. I know of what I speak; I've had the publishers' marketing material and pitching to me. In that sense, it singularly fails

When someone expects people to fork out £25 for a book, and employs a co-writer who is supposed to be a "charismatic entertaining storyteller" I at least expect some kind of attempt at it

I reviewed Tim Berners-Lee's book for @nature.com... and wasn't an enormous fan (but couldn't tell who was to blame - him or his co-writer) www.nature.com/articles/d41...