Si Williams
@siwilliams.bsky.social
Generating award-winning text, in London
Reposted by Si Williams
I realise I'm just a freak, but living in a multicultural city is the best thing of all time, it's just the best possible human experience and i can not understand why anyone on earth would be like "weve got to destroy this"
January 17, 2026 at 4:28 AM
I realise I'm just a freak, but living in a multicultural city is the best thing of all time, it's just the best possible human experience and i can not understand why anyone on earth would be like "weve got to destroy this"
Reposted by Si Williams
Directly responsible for the demise of dozens of companies and recording studios which had made London the go-to place in Europe for dubbing and voiceovers. Great.
AI voice start-up ElevenLabs in funding talks at $11bn valuation ft.trib.al/HFaSKZY
AI voice start-up ElevenLabs in funding talks at $11bn valuation
Fundraising would transform company into UK’s most highly valued AI start-up
ft.trib.al
January 16, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Directly responsible for the demise of dozens of companies and recording studios which had made London the go-to place in Europe for dubbing and voiceovers. Great.
Reposted by Si Williams
Finally reading this great essay on what translators do and what language is! This part in particular hit home for me.
January 8, 2026 at 3:29 AM
Finally reading this great essay on what translators do and what language is! This part in particular hit home for me.
Reposted by Si Williams
We translate books because reading, writing, creating, sharing with others, bridging cultures and communicating are human activities that give us a reason to live. Take the human element out, and what even is the point? Why do it if humans are not enjoying the process or the product?
January 10, 2026 at 6:45 AM
We translate books because reading, writing, creating, sharing with others, bridging cultures and communicating are human activities that give us a reason to live. Take the human element out, and what even is the point? Why do it if humans are not enjoying the process or the product?
Reposted by Si Williams
Yeah, accessibility is low hanging fruit for AI, because no one really wants to pay for it. The attitude is “we HAVE to do it, but we don’t have to do it WELL”. 😏
January 6, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Yeah, accessibility is low hanging fruit for AI, because no one really wants to pay for it. The attitude is “we HAVE to do it, but we don’t have to do it WELL”. 😏
Reposted by Si Williams
By which I mean AI essays are just you capering in your jesters' bells for the emperor. Instead you should be getting smashed & setting off tens of thousands of pounds worth of fireworks all at once in an empty building. Light up the skyline. Cause mayhem.
December 21, 2025 at 11:19 AM
By which I mean AI essays are just you capering in your jesters' bells for the emperor. Instead you should be getting smashed & setting off tens of thousands of pounds worth of fireworks all at once in an empty building. Light up the skyline. Cause mayhem.
Reposted by Si Williams
Every facet of generative AI has made my professional life worse, without question, but THIS specific aspect has been driving me NUTS.
Clients, who have made me toil for weeks over indescribably small details, are now approving & producing in-house commercial artwork that looks like a fever dream.
Clients, who have made me toil for weeks over indescribably small details, are now approving & producing in-house commercial artwork that looks like a fever dream.
December 8, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Every facet of generative AI has made my professional life worse, without question, but THIS specific aspect has been driving me NUTS.
Clients, who have made me toil for weeks over indescribably small details, are now approving & producing in-house commercial artwork that looks like a fever dream.
Clients, who have made me toil for weeks over indescribably small details, are now approving & producing in-house commercial artwork that looks like a fever dream.
Reposted by Si Williams
“AI is clearly sticking around so you have to get used to it” wrong. I don’t have to get used to shit. I am a practiced hater and I can keep this going for decades if I am required to
December 1, 2025 at 11:29 PM
“AI is clearly sticking around so you have to get used to it” wrong. I don’t have to get used to shit. I am a practiced hater and I can keep this going for decades if I am required to
Reposted by Si Williams
Also include audio description in this. I queued up The Man Who Invented Christmas last year, interested to hear how they approached the AD, and while the description writing was fine, the voice was AI and felt spooky. That's taking a job from a voice actor and insulting the blind audience.
Let me give some insight on this, as a producer in the dub industry who worked with major streamers, who's witnessed first-hand where this push for AI is coming from.
tl;dr: Only CEOs want this. Tell them how much you hate it. Be loud, email, call, @, post. You will kill this.
🧵⬇️
tl;dr: Only CEOs want this. Tell them how much you hate it. Be loud, email, call, @, post. You will kill this.
🧵⬇️
The only thing less human than these AI dub performances is the decision to sign off on them
A company this big can pay human actors a decent wage, not produce slop that intentionally removes the human element.
A company this big can pay human actors a decent wage, not produce slop that intentionally removes the human element.
November 30, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Also include audio description in this. I queued up The Man Who Invented Christmas last year, interested to hear how they approached the AD, and while the description writing was fine, the voice was AI and felt spooky. That's taking a job from a voice actor and insulting the blind audience.
Reposted by Si Williams
"The idea of deporting people with settled status is disgusting, and anyone proposing it should be immediately drummed out of polite society. Breaking promises made in good faith to our friends and neighbours is racist, extremist and immoral."
I'm basically shouting at the sky here, but still.
I'm basically shouting at the sky here, but still.
It’s racist, it’s extremist and it’s immoral
The right is still calling for deportations, and the government is still being cowardly about it. Also: London’s first green belt; some notes on a shark; and some news, on my next book.
jonn.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:22 PM
"The idea of deporting people with settled status is disgusting, and anyone proposing it should be immediately drummed out of polite society. Breaking promises made in good faith to our friends and neighbours is racist, extremist and immoral."
I'm basically shouting at the sky here, but still.
I'm basically shouting at the sky here, but still.
Reposted by Si Williams
“Let’s call it for what it is: bullshit. The truth is, politicians have talked about little else but immigration for decades and in the most dehumanising ways.
Polanski added: “Stop the boats’ is all we hear. Well, today I'm saying ‘stop the bullshit’.”
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Polanski added: “Stop the boats’ is all we hear. Well, today I'm saying ‘stop the bullshit’.”
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
UK faces ‘battle for the soul’ of the country, says Starmer amid Reform threat
In a rallying cry to progressives around the world, the Prime Minister said allies must stop the ‘politics of predatory grievance’.
www.independent.co.uk
September 26, 2025 at 1:34 PM
“Let’s call it for what it is: bullshit. The truth is, politicians have talked about little else but immigration for decades and in the most dehumanising ways.
Polanski added: “Stop the boats’ is all we hear. Well, today I'm saying ‘stop the bullshit’.”
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Polanski added: “Stop the boats’ is all we hear. Well, today I'm saying ‘stop the bullshit’.”
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Reposted by Si Williams
Times births column today
September 18, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Times births column today
Reposted by Si Williams
now ive been in the workforce for a while, so I'm not surprised that some of you might not be aware of this "hack": when your boss says, hey, are you easily replaceable by a computer, you say no. you don't say yes. that is what we call "a whoopsie"
Scoop: Business Insider informed its staff this week that they are allowed to use ChatGPT to generate first drafts of their stories, while also indicating the newsroom will not disclose such A.I. use to readers.
Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/business-i...
Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/business-i...
Business Insider and the Bots
The Axel Springer-owned newsroom is buzzing over new ChatGPT writing guidelines—part of an aggressive A.I. strategy pushed by its German parentco and detailed in a memo obtained by Status.
www.status.news
September 17, 2025 at 2:06 AM
now ive been in the workforce for a while, so I'm not surprised that some of you might not be aware of this "hack": when your boss says, hey, are you easily replaceable by a computer, you say no. you don't say yes. that is what we call "a whoopsie"
Reposted by Si Williams
ah! maybe that is a big part of it. writing is a technology we invented to store something we evolved to create: spoken language.
obvious LLM writing *has no speaker*. 'steady progress, gentle pacing' are words without a speaker. they are just words in themselves.
obvious LLM writing *has no speaker*. 'steady progress, gentle pacing' are words without a speaker. they are just words in themselves.
September 16, 2025 at 8:00 AM
ah! maybe that is a big part of it. writing is a technology we invented to store something we evolved to create: spoken language.
obvious LLM writing *has no speaker*. 'steady progress, gentle pacing' are words without a speaker. they are just words in themselves.
obvious LLM writing *has no speaker*. 'steady progress, gentle pacing' are words without a speaker. they are just words in themselves.
Something with Roman numerals? All I've got is Charlus I.
September 13, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Something with Roman numerals? All I've got is Charlus I.
Reposted by Si Williams
Youtubes Auto dubbing is surely one of the worst features anywhere ever.
September 4, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Youtubes Auto dubbing is surely one of the worst features anywhere ever.
Reposted by Si Williams
1. quick deepl/human comparison for you. This is from my current project on state sexual violence against Greenlandic women, which is obviously pretty sensitive stuff.
August 26, 2025 at 7:58 AM
1. quick deepl/human comparison for you. This is from my current project on state sexual violence against Greenlandic women, which is obviously pretty sensitive stuff.
Reposted by Si Williams
I wish surveys would stop asking me if I'd recommend something to a friend. I never recommend anything to friends so I always tick no. If you want to know if I like the product just ask me if I like the product.
July 29, 2025 at 6:36 PM
I wish surveys would stop asking me if I'd recommend something to a friend. I never recommend anything to friends so I always tick no. If you want to know if I like the product just ask me if I like the product.
Reposted by Si Williams
So, we’re raising a glass to the Lionesses, ITV and Guinness, Channel 4 and inclusion.
Goal-den. 5/5
Goal-den. 5/5
July 28, 2025 at 2:07 PM
So, we’re raising a glass to the Lionesses, ITV and Guinness, Channel 4 and inclusion.
Goal-den. 5/5
Goal-den. 5/5
@nathanaclark.bsky.social @windycoys.bsky.social I'm sure you've seen / heard Takai saying his name at the beginning of the medical day vid. IMO the key thing with GB > JP and back is keep in mind that vowels are just gaps between consonants. The rhythm is very quick and staccato...
July 10, 2025 at 10:31 AM
@nathanaclark.bsky.social @windycoys.bsky.social I'm sure you've seen / heard Takai saying his name at the beginning of the medical day vid. IMO the key thing with GB > JP and back is keep in mind that vowels are just gaps between consonants. The rhythm is very quick and staccato...
This reminds me that my favourite Inspirals song is the one with Mark E Smith.
Franz Ferdinand feat. Peter Capaldi - Take Me Out
June 28, 2025 at 1:54 PM
This reminds me that my favourite Inspirals song is the one with Mark E Smith.
Reposted by Si Williams
I wrote a piece about my time at UK Games Expo this year, tiny languages, and being autistic. I hope it conveys what I wanted it to. It's called CAT, PLANT, MONSTER:
www.timclarepoet.co.uk/uk-games-exp...
www.timclarepoet.co.uk/uk-games-exp...
UK Games Expo 2025 Tim Clare - Tim Clare - Author, Poet and Creative Writing Advice Podcaster
CAT, PLANT, MONSTER In Out of Sorts, you and your friends have been abducted by an alien. They want help organising their library, and it’s down to you and your friends to come up with a filing system...
www.timclarepoet.co.uk
June 2, 2025 at 5:44 PM
I wrote a piece about my time at UK Games Expo this year, tiny languages, and being autistic. I hope it conveys what I wanted it to. It's called CAT, PLANT, MONSTER:
www.timclarepoet.co.uk/uk-games-exp...
www.timclarepoet.co.uk/uk-games-exp...
Reposted by Si Williams
Reposted by Si Williams
This article does a great job of showing how inferior machine translation is and the sheer drudgery and frustration of being expected to post-edit rather than just allowing human translators to do their thing from the start, since like all creative work, people are so much better at it than AI.
Hahahahaha!!! Nooooo. Machine translation was always pretty bad but LLM have made it SO worse.
Here's just one example of how wrong they get it.
locdandloaded.net/2025/05/13/h...
Here's just one example of how wrong they get it.
locdandloaded.net/2025/05/13/h...
The Human Cost of AI
A couple of years ago, a good friend* achieved their lifelong dream: After a decade of grueling agency work, they had finally secured an in-house localization job on a game they loved. This was a high...
locdandloaded.net
May 21, 2025 at 5:24 PM
This article does a great job of showing how inferior machine translation is and the sheer drudgery and frustration of being expected to post-edit rather than just allowing human translators to do their thing from the start, since like all creative work, people are so much better at it than AI.
Reposted by Si Williams
Last night I attended the #OneVoiceAwards2025 honoured to have been shortlisted for 3 awards. Well, I won the #OVA25 award: ‘Best TV / Web Commercial (male)’ for the Poppy Appeal Campaign. Thanks to my awesome agents @damngoodvoices.bsky.social and to Leagas Delaney and The Royal British Legion.
May 18, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Last night I attended the #OneVoiceAwards2025 honoured to have been shortlisted for 3 awards. Well, I won the #OVA25 award: ‘Best TV / Web Commercial (male)’ for the Poppy Appeal Campaign. Thanks to my awesome agents @damngoodvoices.bsky.social and to Leagas Delaney and The Royal British Legion.