Paul Langley | Lightnews

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 7h

Data as 'intangible asset' or 'factor of production' - US versus Chinese capitalism in brief
www.ft.com/content/897f... via @FT

America must follow China in treating data as an asset

US accounting principles fail to recognise its enormous economic value

www.ft.com

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 3d

And, it's especially good at teasing out the magical thinking that's blowing the bubble

Liz McFall @allartmarkets.bsky.social · 3d

and another giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Liz McFall @allartmarkets.bsky.social · 3d

and another giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 4d

But surely this is rentier capitalism, not commodity and consumer capitalism?

A. Stefansky @astefansky.bsky.social · 5d

Once again: if these LLMs could actually do all the things their owners claim, they wouldn’t be selling access. They would be building and selling all the things they claim their software can do.

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 4d

Yes, this is not speculation on something small or rare, like a tulip bulb, but something where bigger is better, and even bigger is even better, etc. Parallels with railway bubble are probably useful, but railways were built once to last for decades because it wasn't assumed trains would get faster

A. Stefansky @astefansky.bsky.social · 5d

Once again: if these LLMs could actually do all the things their owners claim, they wouldn’t be selling access. They would be building and selling all the things they claim their software can do.

Susan J. Smith @sjs1869.bsky.social · 6d

Yikes! Something’s got to give…

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 6d

This is a must-read, but I can't help thinking that more emphasis needs to be placed on the resonance between the pursuit of scientific scale for AI and the underlying and explicit pursuit of business scale at all costs for platforms and investors
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Donald MacKenzie · AI’s Scale

AI’s scale doesn’t matter just to specialists. The rest of us are being taken on a ride along the logarithmic curve...

www.lrb.co.uk

Mark Blyth @mkblyth.bsky.social · 6d

Applications are open for the Finance Summer School 2026. Last two have been at Brown. This one is at LSE thanks to LSE European Institute and Huth Initiative, plus the Berkeley Program on Finance and Democracy. Stellar Line up. Apps open: forms.gle/WsEVk4Yy52Dn...

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 6d

This is a must-read, but I can't help thinking that more emphasis needs to be placed on the resonance between the pursuit of scientific scale for AI and the underlying and explicit pursuit of business scale at all costs for platforms and investors
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Donald MacKenzie · AI’s Scale

AI’s scale doesn’t matter just to specialists. The rest of us are being taken on a ride along the logarithmic curve...

www.lrb.co.uk

Lenore Palladino @lenorepalladino.bsky.social · 6d

$1.25 trillion: "the most valuable private company in history"

we aren't going to go back to an era where the 'public' markets are the main thing and these 'private' companies & financial deals are the sideshow

adjust your priors everyone

www.ft.com/content/9d2b...

How Elon Musk used SpaceX to rescue xAI and build a $1.25tn colossus

Billionaire folds rocket maker into a lossmaking AI start-up, betting scale and control can beat rivals to blockbuster IPO

www.ft.com

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 10d

Thanks, Dave. That's an excellent idea. Please let me know how we can arrange

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 11d

Becoming THE platform infrastructures on which so much rests has been crucial to the rise of US Big Techs. But perhaps this is also their Achilles heel, not least because its becoming increasingly expensive to build and depreciation is accelerating rapidly - www.ft.com/content/0dbf... via @FT

Big tech’s $680bn buy-now-book-later problem

Don’t believe the hyperscalers; it takes depreciation of billions to hold them back

www.ft.com

Stuart Elden @stuartelden.bsky.social · 12d

@paullangley.bsky.social and @andrewleyshon.bsky.social, Fintech Capital: The Digital Transformation of Everyday Money and Finance - Zone, July 2026
press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/...

Fintech Capital

A thorough examination of the worldwide digital transformation of people’s everyday monetary and financial relations driven by the emergence of FinTech

press.princeton.edu

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 13d

Especially galling news for all authors who had their intellectual and written work pillaged by this particular band of robber barons

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 13d

FT Exclusive: Anthropic is set to raise about $20bn from venture capitalists and other investors. The fundraising deal, which is close to being finalised, would value the AI company at $350bn. ft.trib.al/ye2oRk9

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 13d

FT Exclusive: Anthropic is set to raise about $20bn from venture capitalists and other investors. The fundraising deal, which is close to being finalised, would value the AI company at $350bn. ft.trib.al/ye2oRk9

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 14d

A burning question for me, too!
A sanitised space for business as usual, perhaps

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 15d

Any loan where the annual interest to be paid can exceed the mandatory repayments is a mis-sold loan. Imagine making mortgage repayments for 30 years and then finding you still owed more than the sum you borrowed.
www.ft.com/content/277a...

Will student loans be the next mis-selling scandal?

Graduates are in uproar about Budget changes to loan repayment terms, and they have a point

www.ft.com

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 17d

Bottom line is that any FinTech can't make enough in the UK and the US is the obvious place to expand. But the clock is ticking and a banking licence is not a golden ticket www.ft.com/content/908e...

Revolut scraps US merger plans in favour of push for standalone licence

UK-headquartered fintech had hoped to secure banking charter through buying an American lender

www.ft.com

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 18d

Finally, a US President prepared to put forward the case for the unbanked and financially excluded

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 18d

Breaking news: Donald Trump has sued JPMorgan Chase and its chief executive Jamie Dimon, seeking at least $5bn in damages over claims the biggest US bank unfairly closed his account for political reasons ft.trib.al/pZ6rNQe

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 18d

Breaking news: Donald Trump has sued JPMorgan Chase and its chief executive Jamie Dimon, seeking at least $5bn in damages over claims the biggest US bank unfairly closed his account for political reasons ft.trib.al/pZ6rNQe

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 18d

What a relief. There's absolutely nothing to worry about!

Alex Jimenez @alexisrjimenez.bsky.social · 18d

'Big Short' investor Michael Burry sounds alarm on #AI bubble that's 'too big to save'

Michael Burry says the AI boom is a bubble of epic proportions, and there's no way to stop it from popping and taking down the stock market and economy with it

www.businessinsider.com/big-short-mi...

#Investing

'Big Short' investor Michael Burry sounds alarm on AI bubble that's 'too big to save'

Michael Burry said the US government will "pull out all the stops" to save the tech boom, the market, and the economy, but it won't succeed.

www.businessinsider.com

Alex Jimenez @alexisrjimenez.bsky.social · 18d

'Big Short' investor Michael Burry sounds alarm on #AI bubble that's 'too big to save'

Michael Burry says the AI boom is a bubble of epic proportions, and there's no way to stop it from popping and taking down the stock market and economy with it

www.businessinsider.com/big-short-mi...

#Investing

'Big Short' investor Michael Burry sounds alarm on AI bubble that's 'too big to save'

Michael Burry said the US government will "pull out all the stops" to save the tech boom, the market, and the economy, but it won't succeed.

www.businessinsider.com

Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · 18d

Coming Soon! FinTech Capital, by @paullangley.bsky.social and me, accounts for the rise and ubiquity of fintech and its global transformation of everyday financial transactions. The book is out in July in the US, and in September in the UK. Available for pre-order here: tinyurl.com/bdz2pjn5

Fintech Capital

A thorough examination of the worldwide digital transformation of people’s everyday monetary and financial relations driven by the emergence of FinTech

press.princeton.edu

FINTECH CAPITAL @fintechcapital.bsky.social · 20d

Coming soonish! Now available for pre-order press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Fintech Capital

A thorough examination of the worldwide digital transformation of people’s everyday monetary and financial relations driven by the emergence of FinTech

press.princeton.edu

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 21d

Sending solidarity @markpendleton.bsky.social and colleagues @sheffielducu.bsky.social
It is the University’s responsibility to mitigate the consequences of undelivered teaching due to fully legitimate strike action. Victorian-style labour relations in UK universities are a managerial choice.

Mark Pendleton @markpendleton.bsky.social · 21d

Well that’s me locked out. No pay for the foreseeable future, all because I refuse to reschedule lost teaching, for which I have already lost pay as part of the strike. Please donate to support @sheffielducu.bsky.social members like me at www.gofundme.com/f/heubvb-sup...

Screenshot of email that reads: “This status will remain in place until the University receives notification that you are no longer participating in that action. During this period, any work undertaken will be regarded as voluntary.”

Mark Pendleton @markpendleton.bsky.social · 21d

Well that’s me locked out. No pay for the foreseeable future, all because I refuse to reschedule lost teaching, for which I have already lost pay as part of the strike. Please donate to support @sheffielducu.bsky.social members like me at www.gofundme.com/f/heubvb-sup...

Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 21d

Was honored to get the call to be one of The Guardian’s Big Interviews in G2. A thorough and thoughtful piece that digs into the real fundaments of the AI bubble narrative.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Ed Zitron on big tech, backlash, boom and bust: ‘AI has taught us that people are excited to replace human beings’

His blunt, brash scepticism has made the podcaster and writer something of a cult figure. But as concern over large language models builds, he’s no longer the outsider he once was

www.theguardian.com

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 26d

Out with the old cut and paste slide decks, and in with the new approach of prompting a model that confirms the slide decks were correct all along www.ft.com/content/de78... via @FT

McKinsey challenges graduates to use AI chatbot in recruitment overhaul

Candidates in pilot assessed on how they prompted consulting firm’s AI assistant and ability to adapt responses

www.ft.com

Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 26d

I'm co-chairing the Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation

Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".

Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!

Deadline: 2nd February 2026

www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...

About the Conference

www.4sonline.org

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