Thursday session

I have little understanding for people using large language models to generate slop; words and images that nobody asked for. I have more understanding for people using large language models to generate code. Code isn’t the thing in the same way that words or images are; cod...

Scratch the skin of wild-eyed AI proponents, and a thick syrup oozes out, made up of the blendered remains of Roko’s Basilisk, barely sublimated Christian end-times thinking, and the mis-remembered plot of that one cool science-fiction story they read when they were twelve. This is the basis for the new order, just like the blockchain was a couple of years ago, and a dead-eyed, low-poly, pantsless rendering of Mark Zuckerberg was a couple of years before that.

“You’re going to be left behind” is only the latest version of “Have fun staying poor.” It’s got every ounce of the smug self-satisfaction that it shouldn’t need if the inevitability it promises were actually inevitable.

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AI is really good for helping you if you’re bad at something, or at least below average. But it’s probably not the right tool if you’re great at something. So why would these CEOs be saying, almost all using the exact same phrasing, that everyone at their companies should be using these tools? Do the think their employees are all bad at their jobs?

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The point of AI isn’t to make workers more productive, it’s to make them weaker when they bargain with their bosses.

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Happy anniversary to “the patent that never was”:

https://cds.cern.ch/record/1164399/

Thanks, CERN!

Technically, AI is a field of computer science that uses advanced methods of computing.

Socially, AI is a set of extractive tools used to concentrate power and wealth.

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Thoughtful analysis from Ben (as always).

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In exactly six weeks time, UX London is happening!

I am ridiculously excited about this year’s line-up—I can’t wait to see the talks and get hands-on in the workshops.

If you haven’t yet got your ticket, now is the time. There’s a flash sale this week: use the discount code FLASH20 to get a whopping 20% of any ticket. Do it before the end of Friday!

Whether you’re coming for all three days or choosing one focused day, you’re in for a treat.

• Day one on Tuesday, 10 June is discovery day.
• Day two on Wednesday, 11 June is design day.
• Day three on Thursday, 12 June is deliver day.

Head on over to the website to get all the details and then get your discounted ticket.

See you there!

Monday session

Dining al fresco (with Coco the cat for company).

I should be using the lh and rlh units more enough—they’re supported across the board!

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The foreword to the O’Reilly book on creating inclusive experiences.

Feels like an emerging trend:

Instead of that deep immersion where I’d craft each function, I’m now more like a curator? I describe what I want, evaluate what the AI gives me, tweak the prompts, and iterate. It’s efficient, yes. Revolutionary, even. But something essential feels missing — that state of flow where time vanishes and you’re completely absorbed in creation. If this becomes the dominant workflow across teams, do we risk an industry full of highly productive yet strangely detached developers?

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Enjoyed the album launch gig by Patients tonight!

https://patientstheband.bandcamp.com/album/post-high-lows-2

Reading Salt Slow by Julia Armfield.

Thursday session

Overall, consistency, user control, and actual UX innovation are in decline. Everything is converging on TikTok—which is basically TV with infinite channels. You don’t control anything except the channel switch. It’s like Carcinisation, a form of convergent evolution where unrelated crustaceans all evolve into something vaguely crab-shaped.

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So much slopaganda on LinkedIn.

I’m obviously biased, but I like the sound of what Chris is doing to create a library of HTML web components.

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Let’s go back to a website!

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In which I answer questions about blogging.

I’ve put a copy of this on my own site too.

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An interview about my blog, originally published on the website People and Blogs in April 2025.

Marvel: Avengers Endgame is the most ambitious crossover event in history.

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Hold my beer. Literally.

Reading Bloodchild And Other Stories by Octavia Butler.

Matcha latte in a Jazz Kissa.

Signed!

We, the undersigned, call on the record labels and members of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)—including UMG, Capitol Records, Concord Bicycle Assets, CMGI Recorded Music Assets, Sony Music Entertainment, and Arista Music—to drop your lawsuit against the Internet Archive.

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Signed!

We, the undersigned, call on the record labels and members of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)—including UMG, Capitol Records, Concord Bicycle Assets, CMGI Recorded Music Assets, Sony Music Entertainment, and Arista Music—to drop your lawsuit against the Internet Archive.

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Thursday session

Matt’s beach thoughts are like a satisfying susurrus in my RSS reader.

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