Mark Bridge
markbridgewriter.bsky.social
Mark Bridge
@markbridgewriter.bsky.social
Reading, writing, driving, photographing.

(Posts are my own opinion; reposts and likes are someone else's; reportage is not endorsement.)

http://www.markbridge.info
"When you ask AI what the meaning of life is, you concede that it must be AI: how else could AI respond, for what does it know of being human?" The latest from @sarahkendzior.bsky.social
December 10, 2025 at 8:32 PM
"AI represents the exact opposite of creativity, [Vince] Gilligan warns. It steals the work of others. So any attempt to legitimize it as a creative tool is built on lies." The latest article from @tedgioia.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Mark Bridge
Candid, class-based analysis of creative work makes some people uncomfortable.

You know what else makes people uncomfortable? Getting stuck in an elevator.

Yes, getting stuck in an elevator is scary. So is the state of working in the media.

Umm, OK lemme explain: www.esckey.co/what-getting...
What getting trapped in an elevator teaches us about the state of media
Concerned by journalism’s decline and the déjà vu discourse around it? This week, I recap a year of meta media headlines and connect that to the psychological toll of watching your industry collapse. ...
www.esckey.co
November 26, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by Mark Bridge
There's an arms race developing between job seekers and employers, one that sees both sides deploying increasingly sophisticated AI tools in a bot-versus-bot standoff that is quickly spiraling out of control.
The résumé is dying, and AI is holding the smoking gun
As thousands of applications flood job posts, ‘hiring slop’ is kicking off an AI arms race.
arstechnica.com
June 25, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Back from Cornwall, took a few photos, put a handful of them on Flickr: flic.kr/p/2r97QJa
Port Isaac
Port Isaac
flic.kr
June 8, 2025 at 7:45 PM
"The phone eats time; it makes us live the way people do inside a casino, dropping a blackout curtain over the windows to block out the world, except the blackout curtain is a screen, showing too much of the world, too quickly." Jia Tolentino in @newyorker.com
Jia Tolentino writes about how Donald Trump and “his lieutenant content-generator Elon Musk” harness the internet to damage our sense of the real.
My Brain Finally Broke
Much of what we see now is fake, and the reality we face is full of horrors. More and more of the world is slipping beyond my comprehension.
www.newyorker.com
May 5, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Reposted by Mark Bridge
This week's Substack: I travelled to leafy Wendover to understand how a dispute over a farm track could delay parts of HS2 and cost taxpayers tens of millions of pounds.
I visited Britain's most expensive farm track
A dispute over a farm track in Buckinghamshire could cost taxpayers 'tens of millions' in delays to HS2 after local NIMBYs blocked a minor upgrade. I went to see that the fuss was about.
martinrobbins.substack.com
April 28, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Reposted by Mark Bridge
Lovely to get this mention in the Financial Times:
March 20, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Mark Bridge
This is really good on an under-reported water pollution issue: so-called misconnections.

I did a piece on this (www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...) but Jim's story is far more fun and has great detail
March 20, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Mark Bridge
Performing arts leaders issue copyright warning over UK government’s AI plans
Performing arts leaders issue copyright warning over UK government’s AI plans
In a statement, 35 signatories from dance, theatre and music industries express concern about ‘fragile ecosystem’ More than 30 performing arts leaders in the UK, including the bosses of the National Theatre, Opera North and the Royal Albert Hall, have…
www.theguardian.com
March 18, 2025 at 5:14 AM
We've been clearing the garage today. Plenty of unexpected treasures discovered, some of which may end up on eBay. I'm not sure whether to sell the dessicated woodlice individually or as a job lot.
March 8, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Mark Bridge
Every major UK newspaper - left, right, broadsheet, tabloid - is running a front page campaign against copyright carveouts for AI training.

I can't remember the last time any political cause had such broad support, let alone one so anti-big tech and so economically consequential.
February 25, 2025 at 9:06 AM
"I think the rebel move right now is to be kind and to be loving. If AI is listening to everything we’re doing, let’s fill it full of loving, communal thoughts as a community, and not follow the hurt."

Pamela Anderson with @msmirandasawyer.bsky.social in @theguardian.com
February 23, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Google Gemini absolutely nailing it tonight.
February 14, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Mark Bridge
‘Mass theft’: Thousands of artists call for AI art auction to be cancelled
‘Mass theft’: Thousands of artists call for AI art auction to be cancelled
Letter says many of works being sold by Christie’s are made by AI models trained on pieces by human artists, without a licence Thousands of artists are urging the auction house Christie’s to cancel a sale of art created with artificial intelligence,…
www.theguardian.com
February 10, 2025 at 9:55 AM
"People having fun are more likely to sustainably change things in the long run." @jdshadel.com in wildwriting.substack.com/p/dancing-in...
Dancing in the intersections
JD Shadel on how good stories can still make a difference.
wildwriting.substack.com
February 8, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Mark Bridge
Fellow journos covering "AI": Please don't do their PR for them! "Virtual employees" is a harmful anthropomorphism in that it (a) is false; (b) confuses readers about the emerging technology and inaccurately lends human attributes like agency, accountability, etc.; and (c) harms humans in real jobs.
January 6, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Mark Bridge
The Brutalist and Emilia Perez’s voice-cloning controversies make AI the new awards season battleground
The Brutalist and Emilia Perez’s voice-cloning controversies make AI the new awards season battleground
Two leading contenders for Oscars this year have revealed use of artificial intelligence in the editing suite – will it affect their chances? The use of artificial intelligence could become a ferocious battleground during movie awards season, as at least…
www.theguardian.com
January 20, 2025 at 5:57 PM
"I lack words to describe how much I hate AI. Perhaps AI will come up with some plagiarized ones to provide me."

Sarah Kendzior on the drive by tech oligarchs to "annihilate reality".
January 17, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Mark Bridge