Alex Hern
@hern.bsky.social
AI writer at the Economist. I write about it, that is. I’m still human. One of literally dozens of people online who is not American.
Sometimes the takes I generate are too powerful for a WhatsApp group
November 11, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Sometimes the takes I generate are too powerful for a WhatsApp group
yeah was wondering if the story had changed but I guess not, that is quite a funny trend
November 5, 2025 at 12:19 PM
yeah was wondering if the story had changed but I guess not, that is quite a funny trend
If you saw this chart in isolation it would be incredibly hard not to conclude that being connected to nature sucks www.theguardian.com/environment/...
November 1, 2025 at 9:37 AM
If you saw this chart in isolation it would be incredibly hard not to conclude that being connected to nature sucks www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Fun fact via @ironeconomist.bsky.social: the national minimum wage is £12.21. If you are over 21, it is illegal to have a low-paid job in the UK.
October 31, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Fun fact via @ironeconomist.bsky.social: the national minimum wage is £12.21. If you are over 21, it is illegal to have a low-paid job in the UK.
£1,800 pcm no pets no dss
October 24, 2025 at 12:28 PM
£1,800 pcm no pets no dss
this makes me so profoundly patriotic
October 23, 2025 at 8:58 AM
this makes me so profoundly patriotic
Eventually I won’t think “rayner?” But not yet
October 18, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Eventually I won’t think “rayner?” But not yet
good news! Claude no longer tries to kill people if you put it in extreme situations. bad news! It does this because it knows it's being tested. assets.anthropic.com/m/99128ddd00...
October 17, 2025 at 8:14 AM
good news! Claude no longer tries to kill people if you put it in extreme situations. bad news! It does this because it knows it's being tested. assets.anthropic.com/m/99128ddd00...
looks like it's downstream of Bing's error, which makes sense because DDG sources from it
October 15, 2025 at 8:45 AM
looks like it's downstream of Bing's error, which makes sense because DDG sources from it
huh. would love to know what's happening on Duck Duck Go's image search for this very specific error to be so firmly embedded
October 15, 2025 at 8:44 AM
huh. would love to know what's happening on Duck Duck Go's image search for this very specific error to be so firmly embedded
why just this morning I was calling for the construction of megacity one to house eight billion brits
October 14, 2025 at 3:08 PM
why just this morning I was calling for the construction of megacity one to house eight billion brits
Right but that's because planning is, massively, the bottleneck. (Not even planning! One tiny chunk of the planning system!)
October 14, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Right but that's because planning is, massively, the bottleneck. (Not even planning! One tiny chunk of the planning system!)
Thing that's good about it is it's the same battery of tasks that they've been testing since Feb 2025. Agree that it's focused on SWE stuff
October 13, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Thing that's good about it is it's the same battery of tasks that they've been testing since Feb 2025. Agree that it's focused on SWE stuff
METR has updated its LLM time-horizon chart for Claude 4.5 Sonnet and we're still above the trendline. Slowdown? What slowdown? metr.org/blog/2025-03...
October 13, 2025 at 12:21 PM
METR has updated its LLM time-horizon chart for Claude 4.5 Sonnet and we're still above the trendline. Slowdown? What slowdown? metr.org/blog/2025-03...
somewhat annoying to spend lots of my time going "AGI and superintelligence sound puffy but they are terms of art that it's useful being precise with so that we all know what we're talking about" and then having Sam Altman say this in an interview stratechery.com/2025/an-inte...
October 9, 2025 at 12:46 PM
somewhat annoying to spend lots of my time going "AGI and superintelligence sound puffy but they are terms of art that it's useful being precise with so that we all know what we're talking about" and then having Sam Altman say this in an interview stratechery.com/2025/an-inte...
how dead is the tory party? dead enough that multiple people who support this exact policy have texted me in dismay that it's now backed by Kemi Badenoch
October 8, 2025 at 11:20 AM
how dead is the tory party? dead enough that multiple people who support this exact policy have texted me in dismay that it's now backed by Kemi Badenoch
there's an optimal amount to blow on a single day's partying isn't there. if you give me £100 and tell me to have a good time I'll have more fun than if you give me £50 but if you give me £1000 I'd feel a lot of pressure to spend it all. Give me £10,000 and I'm drinking champagne with gold flakes
October 7, 2025 at 3:14 PM
there's an optimal amount to blow on a single day's partying isn't there. if you give me £100 and tell me to have a good time I'll have more fun than if you give me £50 but if you give me £1000 I'd feel a lot of pressure to spend it all. Give me £10,000 and I'm drinking champagne with gold flakes
lotta animal fans online today huh.
also people who are at least twenty short of a good tiem
also people who are at least twenty short of a good tiem
October 3, 2025 at 11:14 AM
lotta animal fans online today huh.
also people who are at least twenty short of a good tiem
also people who are at least twenty short of a good tiem
seveneves (2015) arxiv.org/abs/2509.12351
September 30, 2025 at 3:43 PM
seveneves (2015) arxiv.org/abs/2509.12351
Boris Johnson commits to never voting again.
September 27, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Boris Johnson commits to never voting again.