Abby Gilbert
@abbygkgilbert.bsky.social
Political economy. AI.
Co-Director, Institute for the Future of Work
Research Associate, Digit
Policy Board Member, Work and Equalities Institute
Co-Director, Institute for the Future of Work
Research Associate, Digit
Policy Board Member, Work and Equalities Institute
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
While I'm self publicising, my piece on the hellmouth of UK AI policy and regulation post EU AIA and Trump is up on SSRN, "From the Brussels Effect to the Mar-a-Lago Effect? : AI Governance in the UK" papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... v much 1st draft so comments truly welcome not-just-saying-it!
From the Brussels Effect to the Mar-a-Lago Effect? : AI Governance in the UK
<p><span>The UK has had a chequered and difficult history in determining its style of AI governance. Having historically seen itself in general regulatory terms
papers.ssrn.com
October 27, 2025 at 3:13 PM
While I'm self publicising, my piece on the hellmouth of UK AI policy and regulation post EU AIA and Trump is up on SSRN, "From the Brussels Effect to the Mar-a-Lago Effect? : AI Governance in the UK" papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... v much 1st draft so comments truly welcome not-just-saying-it!
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
"AI may not simply be 'a bubble,' or even an enormous bubble. It may be the ultimate bubble. What you might cook up in a lab if your aim was to engineer the Platonic ideal of a tech bubble. One bubble to burst them all." - @bcmerchant.bsky.social
AI Is the Bubble to Burst Them All
I talked to the scholars who literally wrote the book on tech bubbles—and applied their test.
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:50 AM
"AI may not simply be 'a bubble,' or even an enormous bubble. It may be the ultimate bubble. What you might cook up in a lab if your aim was to engineer the Platonic ideal of a tech bubble. One bubble to burst them all." - @bcmerchant.bsky.social
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
Prior to the US-UK tech deal announcements last week, our Co-Director @abbygkgilbert.bsky.social spoke at @cambridgetechweek.bsky.social
about the need to manage risks for UK businesses integrating Software as a Service (SaaS) hosted by US big tech into workplaces and systems.
about the need to manage risks for UK businesses integrating Software as a Service (SaaS) hosted by US big tech into workplaces and systems.
September 24, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Prior to the US-UK tech deal announcements last week, our Co-Director @abbygkgilbert.bsky.social spoke at @cambridgetechweek.bsky.social
about the need to manage risks for UK businesses integrating Software as a Service (SaaS) hosted by US big tech into workplaces and systems.
about the need to manage risks for UK businesses integrating Software as a Service (SaaS) hosted by US big tech into workplaces and systems.
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
A Labor Day reminder: today there isn't a single city, metro area, or state in the U.S. where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest 2-bedroom apartment.
Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
Opinion | America Is Pushing Its Workers Into Homelessness
www.nytimes.com
September 1, 2025 at 11:54 AM
A Labor Day reminder: today there isn't a single city, metro area, or state in the U.S. where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest 2-bedroom apartment.
Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
BREAKING: California lawmakers have reached an agreement with Uber and Lyft that will open the door for app drivers to form unions and organize for increased pay and better benefits.
www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
California reaches deal with Uber, Lyft to allow driver unions
The deal brings Uber and Lyft on board with a pathway to unionization for ride-hailing workers after the companies spent years fighting against the idea.
www.politico.com
August 29, 2025 at 7:16 PM
BREAKING: California lawmakers have reached an agreement with Uber and Lyft that will open the door for app drivers to form unions and organize for increased pay and better benefits.
www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
August 27, 2025 at 3:53 PM
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
This is the best product listing copy I’ve ever read
August 20, 2025 at 5:56 PM
This is the best product listing copy I’ve ever read
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
Dynamic pricing isn't just about #Oasis... IFOW Co-Director, Dr @abbygkgilbert.bsky.social has written superb piece for @trustforlondon.bsky.social on greater role algorithms are playing in workplaces - allocating hours, monitoring performance and setting pay.
trustforlondon.org.uk/news/not-jus...
trustforlondon.org.uk/news/not-jus...
Not Just a Matter of Oasis Tickets: Dynamic Pricing & Algorithms in the Workplace
We tackle poverty and inequality in London
trustforlondon.org.uk
July 29, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Dynamic pricing isn't just about #Oasis... IFOW Co-Director, Dr @abbygkgilbert.bsky.social has written superb piece for @trustforlondon.bsky.social on greater role algorithms are playing in workplaces - allocating hours, monitoring performance and setting pay.
trustforlondon.org.uk/news/not-jus...
trustforlondon.org.uk/news/not-jus...
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
As AI and automation disrupt entry-level jobs, how can young people from low-income backgrounds access better work?
In Youth Employment Week, we're excited to be publishing this research with the EY Foundation highlighting why internal motivation is so crucial:
www.ifow.org/publications...
In Youth Employment Week, we're excited to be publishing this research with the EY Foundation highlighting why internal motivation is so crucial:
www.ifow.org/publications...
July 8, 2025 at 7:43 AM
As AI and automation disrupt entry-level jobs, how can young people from low-income backgrounds access better work?
In Youth Employment Week, we're excited to be publishing this research with the EY Foundation highlighting why internal motivation is so crucial:
www.ifow.org/publications...
In Youth Employment Week, we're excited to be publishing this research with the EY Foundation highlighting why internal motivation is so crucial:
www.ifow.org/publications...
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
💬 The future of work: A manifesto for 2030
IFOW Co-Director @abbygkgilbert.bsky.social joined @isabelberwick.ft.com, Colette Stallbaumer and Christine Armstrong at the FT Women in Business Summit to explore how women work best, and what needs to be done to reshape how, where and why we work
IFOW Co-Director @abbygkgilbert.bsky.social joined @isabelberwick.ft.com, Colette Stallbaumer and Christine Armstrong at the FT Women in Business Summit to explore how women work best, and what needs to be done to reshape how, where and why we work
June 19, 2025 at 5:08 PM
💬 The future of work: A manifesto for 2030
IFOW Co-Director @abbygkgilbert.bsky.social joined @isabelberwick.ft.com, Colette Stallbaumer and Christine Armstrong at the FT Women in Business Summit to explore how women work best, and what needs to be done to reshape how, where and why we work
IFOW Co-Director @abbygkgilbert.bsky.social joined @isabelberwick.ft.com, Colette Stallbaumer and Christine Armstrong at the FT Women in Business Summit to explore how women work best, and what needs to be done to reshape how, where and why we work
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
Data centers could greatly reduce the strain they put on the grid by scaling down operations and lowering electricity use in less than 1% of all hours, so why don't they. In my Energy Institute post today, I dig into the need to improve incentives. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/04/14/c...
🔌💡
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Can Data Centers Flex Their Power Demand?
First they need to have the right incentives to do so. Electricity world these days is filled with concern about supersized (“hyperscale”) data centers, those computing facilities that use more ele…
energyathaas.wordpress.com
April 14, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Data centers could greatly reduce the strain they put on the grid by scaling down operations and lowering electricity use in less than 1% of all hours, so why don't they. In my Energy Institute post today, I dig into the need to improve incentives. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/04/14/c...
🔌💡
🔌💡
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
‘I talked to Gates Foundation participants who said Henry V had offered them a safe way to consider leadership in action.’ @margaretheffernan.bsky.social on why the arts and humanities provide essential training in the skills that employers say they need
on.ft.com/3XU1y2w
on.ft.com/3XU1y2w
The problem with workers who can’t think for themselves
Education that prioritises Stem over the arts may struggle to teach initiative, innovation and curiosity
on.ft.com
April 14, 2025 at 6:04 AM
‘I talked to Gates Foundation participants who said Henry V had offered them a safe way to consider leadership in action.’ @margaretheffernan.bsky.social on why the arts and humanities provide essential training in the skills that employers say they need
on.ft.com/3XU1y2w
on.ft.com/3XU1y2w
“While much of the world operates on a just-in-time supply model, China takes a different approach, hoarding vast reserves to protect against price swings, geopolitical tensions, and climate shocks.”
Why is China hoarding grains and other commodities?
Are they preparing for famine, tariffs or war? #agsky #econsky
episode3.net/grain/why-is...
Are they preparing for famine, tariffs or war? #agsky #econsky
episode3.net/grain/why-is...
Why is China hoarding grains and other commodities? - Episode 3
Are they preparing for famine, tariffs or war?
episode3.net
March 27, 2025 at 7:31 AM
“While much of the world operates on a just-in-time supply model, China takes a different approach, hoarding vast reserves to protect against price swings, geopolitical tensions, and climate shocks.”
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
"When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order."
Iya Prigogine, Noble prize-winning chemist
Iya Prigogine, Noble prize-winning chemist
March 23, 2025 at 4:39 PM
"When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order."
Iya Prigogine, Noble prize-winning chemist
Iya Prigogine, Noble prize-winning chemist
Important for all the irate lecturers trying to convince students that learning to write compellingly, alone, still matters
March 7, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Important for all the irate lecturers trying to convince students that learning to write compellingly, alone, still matters
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
What are immersive technologies?
Our new explainer provides a shared vocabulary by summarising the main types of these technologies, including what makes them ‘immersive’.
www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/resource/imm...
Our new explainer provides a shared vocabulary by summarising the main types of these technologies, including what makes them ‘immersive’.
www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/resource/imm...
What are immersive technologies?
This explainer covers virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and immersive virtual worlds (IVWs).
www.adalovelaceinstitute.org
March 5, 2025 at 9:17 AM
What are immersive technologies?
Our new explainer provides a shared vocabulary by summarising the main types of these technologies, including what makes them ‘immersive’.
www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/resource/imm...
Our new explainer provides a shared vocabulary by summarising the main types of these technologies, including what makes them ‘immersive’.
www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/resource/imm...
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
Investors dare to imagine a world beyond the dollar - If the EU could seize this moment and issue joint debt, it would tap in to a deep well of willing buyers keen to trim US exposure. on.ft.com/4iHtsH1 via @FT
Investors dare to imagine a world beyond the dollar
The US could dismantle its own exorbitant privilege by pushing the big bond market beasts into the arms of others
on.ft.com
March 4, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Investors dare to imagine a world beyond the dollar - If the EU could seize this moment and issue joint debt, it would tap in to a deep well of willing buyers keen to trim US exposure. on.ft.com/4iHtsH1 via @FT
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
A well-paid, four-year PhD position in political theory/philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, to work primarily with my wonderful colleagues Lillian Cicerchia and Paul Raekstad, and also a bit with yours truly. werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...
Vacancy — PhD Position in Political Theory
A fully-funded, four-year PhD position in political theory at the University of Amsterdam. We are open to research proposals in any area of political theory. We are particularly interested in candidat...
werkenbij.uva.nl
March 3, 2025 at 8:24 PM
A well-paid, four-year PhD position in political theory/philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, to work primarily with my wonderful colleagues Lillian Cicerchia and Paul Raekstad, and also a bit with yours truly. werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
With Apple pulling the plug on at-rest end-to-end encryption in the UK, and Signal threatening to pull out of Sweden if that government demands special access, it's looking bleak
Governments can't seem to stop asking for secret backdoors. New opinion piece here
www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/o...
Governments can't seem to stop asking for secret backdoors. New opinion piece here
www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/o...
Governments can't seem to stop asking for secret backdoors
Cut off one head and 100 grow back? Decapitation may not be the way to go
www.theregister.com
March 3, 2025 at 11:04 PM
With Apple pulling the plug on at-rest end-to-end encryption in the UK, and Signal threatening to pull out of Sweden if that government demands special access, it's looking bleak
Governments can't seem to stop asking for secret backdoors. New opinion piece here
www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/o...
Governments can't seem to stop asking for secret backdoors. New opinion piece here
www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/o...
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
🎧 What happens when a key US intelligence watchdog loses its independent oversight? This episode unpacks Trump’s firing of PCLOB members, the lawsuit announced last week, and what it means for privacy, surveillance, and US-EU data relations. Featuring interviews with Travis LeBlanc and Greg Nojeim:
Watching the Watchers: The Future of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board | TechPolicy.Press
After President Trump terminated the Democratic members of the PCLOB, its effectiveness and future independence are in doubt.
www.techpolicy.press
March 1, 2025 at 4:28 PM
🎧 What happens when a key US intelligence watchdog loses its independent oversight? This episode unpacks Trump’s firing of PCLOB members, the lawsuit announced last week, and what it means for privacy, surveillance, and US-EU data relations. Featuring interviews with Travis LeBlanc and Greg Nojeim:
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
"The competitions do not actually ask machines to perform human tasks; it’s more accurate to say that they ask humans to behave in machine-like ways as they perform lifeless simulacra of human tasks." 🔥
My new piece in @theguardian.com
Techno-optimism is human pessimism.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Techno-optimism is human pessimism.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
AI is ‘beating’ humans at empathy and creativity. But these games are rigged | MJ Crockett
Research pitting people against AI systems gives AI an edge by asking us to perform in machine-like ways
www.theguardian.com
March 1, 2025 at 5:29 PM
"The competitions do not actually ask machines to perform human tasks; it’s more accurate to say that they ask humans to behave in machine-like ways as they perform lifeless simulacra of human tasks." 🔥
“Self-determination of national or cultural communities requires regulative structures at the supranational level strong enough to secure relations of equal integration into the global community and protect local communities from exploitation, expropriation and excursion”
Compelling & timely paper stating the case for a politics which recognises the primacy of the nation state, and it’s allocative autonomy (determining relations of production&distribution) while also working towards a democratically integrated global system.
March 1, 2025 at 6:45 PM
“Self-determination of national or cultural communities requires regulative structures at the supranational level strong enough to secure relations of equal integration into the global community and protect local communities from exploitation, expropriation and excursion”
Compelling & timely paper stating the case for a politics which recognises the primacy of the nation state, and it’s allocative autonomy (determining relations of production&distribution) while also working towards a democratically integrated global system.
March 1, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Compelling & timely paper stating the case for a politics which recognises the primacy of the nation state, and it’s allocative autonomy (determining relations of production&distribution) while also working towards a democratically integrated global system.
Reposted by Abby Gilbert
NEW
First of three papers in a major study from @nprcoxford.bsky.social and @jrf-uk.bsky.social.
TLDR - The credibility of all political parties in tackling household economic insecurity looks set to be one of the crucial dividing lines of the parliament.
www.theguardian.com/business/202... 1/
First of three papers in a major study from @nprcoxford.bsky.social and @jrf-uk.bsky.social.
TLDR - The credibility of all political parties in tackling household economic insecurity looks set to be one of the crucial dividing lines of the parliament.
www.theguardian.com/business/202... 1/
Labour losing support fastest among voters worried over finances, study finds
Poverty charity urges Keir Starmer to focus on living standards instead of culture wars and immigration
www.theguardian.com
February 25, 2025 at 3:36 PM
NEW
First of three papers in a major study from @nprcoxford.bsky.social and @jrf-uk.bsky.social.
TLDR - The credibility of all political parties in tackling household economic insecurity looks set to be one of the crucial dividing lines of the parliament.
www.theguardian.com/business/202... 1/
First of three papers in a major study from @nprcoxford.bsky.social and @jrf-uk.bsky.social.
TLDR - The credibility of all political parties in tackling household economic insecurity looks set to be one of the crucial dividing lines of the parliament.
www.theguardian.com/business/202... 1/