Tony Yates
@t0nyyates.bsky.social
Economist. Ex Prof / central banker. Macro, politics, money, central banks, finance, Brexit, covid, AI, climbing, MUFC, Blueskyism.
Reposted by Tony Yates
Trump chasing imaginary oil supplies, Big Tech chasing an imaginary AI deity, and wannabe Fed chairs chasing an imaginary productivity boom. My new year's resolution of not getting angry about bullshit narratives is not going to last long
January 7, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Trump chasing imaginary oil supplies, Big Tech chasing an imaginary AI deity, and wannabe Fed chairs chasing an imaginary productivity boom. My new year's resolution of not getting angry about bullshit narratives is not going to last long
Reposted by Tony Yates
Otto very succinctly nailing it. They are concerned about women and girls, but only so far as to keep them for themselves. When the abuse is being perpetrated by X users, that’s working as the system intended
Telling isn't it that all the "protect our girls" people are still on X despite what Grok is doing.
January 7, 2026 at 10:49 AM
Otto very succinctly nailing it. They are concerned about women and girls, but only so far as to keep them for themselves. When the abuse is being perpetrated by X users, that’s working as the system intended
Reposted by Tony Yates
Re the Government should not be using X.
It's more that ministers and civil servants and MPs shouldn't be using X.
Because when one of them accidentally downloads material, they personally commit the offence - not the Government.
And Musk through X knows which MPs download which illegal material.
It's more that ministers and civil servants and MPs shouldn't be using X.
Because when one of them accidentally downloads material, they personally commit the offence - not the Government.
And Musk through X knows which MPs download which illegal material.
January 7, 2026 at 10:26 AM
Reposted by Tony Yates
I avoid X all together now but I think there's a reasonable distinction between passively using X as a source of information or for work (an unfortunate necessity) and actively posting on it (unforgivable, have a word with yourself)
January 7, 2026 at 10:17 AM
I avoid X all together now but I think there's a reasonable distinction between passively using X as a source of information or for work (an unfortunate necessity) and actively posting on it (unforgivable, have a word with yourself)
this is a TV drama plot
January 7, 2026 at 10:10 AM
this is a TV drama plot
Reposted by Tony Yates
If you thought Elon Musk's “Grok” chatbot couldn't get worse, read my latest article: Grok isn't just undressing women, it's now putting swastika bikinis on them. One woman who was targeted is a recently-deceased Holocaust survivor.
BREAKING: X’s chatbot Grok isn’t just making AI porn deepfakes, it’s now making Nazi AI porn deepfakes, undressing women and showing them wearing “swastika bikinis”. Many of these women are Jewish, including a recently deceased Holocaust survivor.
Elon Musk’s “Grok” is undressing women and showing them in swastika bikinis
One woman targeted is a Jewish Holocaust survivor
decoherence.media
January 7, 2026 at 7:45 AM
If you thought Elon Musk's “Grok” chatbot couldn't get worse, read my latest article: Grok isn't just undressing women, it's now putting swastika bikinis on them. One woman who was targeted is a recently-deceased Holocaust survivor.
Reposted by Tony Yates
If the UK government had a Culture Secretary, that person would be in a position to take a view about whether child porn on demand was a good thing, or a bad thing. thecritic.co.uk/brin...
January 7, 2026 at 9:49 AM
If the UK government had a Culture Secretary, that person would be in a position to take a view about whether child porn on demand was a good thing, or a bad thing. thecritic.co.uk/brin...
His admission of wrongness can be put in the context of him continuing to say something that is pretty much the same thing as per my repost this morning.
January 7, 2026 at 9:44 AM
His admission of wrongness can be put in the context of him continuing to say something that is pretty much the same thing as per my repost this morning.
January 7, 2026 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by Tony Yates
Governments can stop this in an instant. It's a choice to not do so
GROK IS GENERATING ABOUT ‘ONE NONCONSENSUAL SEXUALIZED IMAGE PER MINUTE www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
Grok Is Generating About 'One Nonconsensual Sexualized Image Per Minute'
Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok keeps churning out nonconsenual images of women and minors in bikinis and lingerie, outraging users and regulators
www.rollingstone.com
January 7, 2026 at 9:31 AM
Governments can stop this in an instant. It's a choice to not do so
Reposted by Tony Yates
Sickening. 5000 illegal abuse images a day and still no action.
Every piece of reporting I've seen on this is drastically understating the scale. These are from Grok's replies within a single minute. Time-to-reply is degrading because it has such a backlog of NCII/CSAM requests to fulfill. Conservatively I estimate it is producing more than 5000 of these per day
January 7, 2026 at 9:23 AM
Sickening. 5000 illegal abuse images a day and still no action.
Lots of people are not often logged on. Many never log on again. Many won't see your post in the timeline, it will be too far down. Some are bots. Some will mute you the first time you say something boring or annoying.
January 7, 2026 at 9:31 AM
Lots of people are not often logged on. Many never log on again. Many won't see your post in the timeline, it will be too far down. Some are bots. Some will mute you the first time you say something boring or annoying.
I'm pretty sure I did not make that line up and that some UK govt politician has used it before.
January 7, 2026 at 9:26 AM
I'm pretty sure I did not make that line up and that some UK govt politician has used it before.
I think there are ways Starmer could've been more direct about Trump. Something like 'long standing allies are like the best of friends. The point of them is that you owe it to them to be completely frank when they are making a big mistake'. Mix of friendly personalisation of the issue with law.
January 7, 2026 at 9:24 AM
I think there are ways Starmer could've been more direct about Trump. Something like 'long standing allies are like the best of friends. The point of them is that you owe it to them to be completely frank when they are making a big mistake'. Mix of friendly personalisation of the issue with law.
Yep I never read them.
January 7, 2026 at 9:20 AM
Yep I never read them.
Or yesterday I was trying to remember Mr Inbetween, and googled 'Astralian tv series about a hitman with a daughter' which was all I could remember and got the name back right away.
January 7, 2026 at 9:18 AM
Or yesterday I was trying to remember Mr Inbetween, and googled 'Astralian tv series about a hitman with a daughter' which was all I could remember and got the name back right away.
Seriously, some searches are now much easier. That time I was trying to find the video of 'kids' by MGMT and could not remember the song or the band. So I wrote something like 'viral video of a song outside a uni dorm before they were famous' and it came up.
January 7, 2026 at 9:17 AM
Seriously, some searches are now much easier. That time I was trying to find the video of 'kids' by MGMT and could not remember the song or the band. So I wrote something like 'viral video of a song outside a uni dorm before they were famous' and it came up.
Exactly. You are not aware of concerns. You have actually seen it with your own eyes.
January 7, 2026 at 9:14 AM
Exactly. You are not aware of concerns. You have actually seen it with your own eyes.
People have theories that the world has been fucked by social media, Twitter/X in particular. I wonder how much of the harm is down to people misunderstanding the 'follower' count as a count of followers rather than a record of all the people that once logged in and clicked that button.
January 7, 2026 at 9:09 AM
People have theories that the world has been fucked by social media, Twitter/X in particular. I wonder how much of the harm is down to people misunderstanding the 'follower' count as a count of followers rather than a record of all the people that once logged in and clicked that button.
Oh I definitely agree with that!
January 7, 2026 at 9:07 AM
Oh I definitely agree with that!
Reposted by Tony Yates
Michael Weiss summed it up best, the other day: Trump hates war, loves acts of war.
If you actually delve into the shite you'll see I conceded that point ages ago (which is why this was all so dumb and pointless). OTOH it's clear he's not a hawk in the mould of Bush or even Clinton.
January 6, 2026 at 12:41 PM
Michael Weiss summed it up best, the other day: Trump hates war, loves acts of war.
Chris Mason tackling the issues raised by Trump's threat to annexe another NATO country's territory. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
January 7, 2026 at 9:02 AM
Chris Mason tackling the issues raised by Trump's threat to annexe another NATO country's territory. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Are we really debating interpersonal tactics to try and coax politicians away from a social media site actively generating child porn? If they were debating setting up a new child porn factory in Parliament I don't think we'd seriously consider holding back what we thought about them.
January 7, 2026 at 8:47 AM
Are we really debating interpersonal tactics to try and coax politicians away from a social media site actively generating child porn? If they were debating setting up a new child porn factory in Parliament I don't think we'd seriously consider holding back what we thought about them.