Polly Thompson
@pollyrt.bsky.social
"surprisingly people focussed for a tech person" | "stronger than you look" | "so embarrassing"
Reposted by Polly Thompson
In which @richardpope.org shares a very personal example of the problems GDS Local could help local council's to solve. richardpope.org/2025/11/26/a...
Aerated concrete and EHCPs
I was up until midnight last night trying to battle a local …
richardpope.org
November 26, 2025 at 11:35 AM
In which @richardpope.org shares a very personal example of the problems GDS Local could help local council's to solve. richardpope.org/2025/11/26/a...
Reposted by Polly Thompson
"Our society might have stumbled into the most embarrassing possible cyberpunk dystopia, but—as of today—it's at least one in which wordwizards who can mesmerize the machine mind with canny verse and potent turns of phrase are now a pressing cybersecurity threat."
www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/...
www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/...
Poets are now cybersecurity threats: Researchers used 'adversarial poetry' to trick AI into ignoring its safety guard rails and it worked 62% of the time
Hacking the planet with florid verse.
www.pcgamer.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:50 PM
"Our society might have stumbled into the most embarrassing possible cyberpunk dystopia, but—as of today—it's at least one in which wordwizards who can mesmerize the machine mind with canny verse and potent turns of phrase are now a pressing cybersecurity threat."
www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/...
www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/...
Reposted by Polly Thompson
![Comic. [Person sitting at desk with laptop with machine labeled E-21 making “click click” noises on the floor behind] VOICE FROM LAPTOP: Hey all! Does your E-21 humidifier make an annoying clicking noise? Mine did, but I finally figured out that there’s an easy fix, so I made this video in case anyone else… PERSON AT DESK: Oh my god. Yes. *Yes.* [caption] I know there’s more important work in the world, but I feel like these people deserve, at minimum a statue.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreifdjde6wgflkeil7kf4kdh3zqk32k55rkljlwu6arzbw557ogbulu@jpeg)
November 5, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Polly Thompson
I want to explain a few things and then it might be clearer why UK trans people are upset.
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
August 29, 2025 at 11:56 AM
I want to explain a few things and then it might be clearer why UK trans people are upset.
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.
In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)
Reposted by Polly Thompson
How to avoid concreting cowpats (and other AI hokem)
Or, six questions to help scrutinise the AI system or policy solution you're being sold
Delighted to write for @thehousemag.bsky.social @politicshome.bsky.social
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Or, six questions to help scrutinise the AI system or policy solution you're being sold
Delighted to write for @thehousemag.bsky.social @politicshome.bsky.social
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
October 28, 2025 at 2:33 PM
How to avoid concreting cowpats (and other AI hokem)
Or, six questions to help scrutinise the AI system or policy solution you're being sold
Delighted to write for @thehousemag.bsky.social @politicshome.bsky.social
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Or, six questions to help scrutinise the AI system or policy solution you're being sold
Delighted to write for @thehousemag.bsky.social @politicshome.bsky.social
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
I hope someone pitches a Traitors debrief session at @govcampcymru.bsky.social tomorrow. "The limits of analytical intelligence in the absence of trust: what Alan Carr, Joe Marler and David Olusoga can teach us about decision making under pressure"
November 6, 2025 at 10:59 PM
I hope someone pitches a Traitors debrief session at @govcampcymru.bsky.social tomorrow. "The limits of analytical intelligence in the absence of trust: what Alan Carr, Joe Marler and David Olusoga can teach us about decision making under pressure"
This is the best telly ever. Amazing stuff.
November 6, 2025 at 10:06 PM
This is the best telly ever. Amazing stuff.
Reposted by Polly Thompson
🚨Small boat migrants getting “private health care” while the rest of us have to use the NHS?!🚨
That’s outrageous!
Or is it?
Might the reality be a little more mundane and a little less clickbait-worthy?
Let’s take a 👀
1/17
🧵
That’s outrageous!
Or is it?
Might the reality be a little more mundane and a little less clickbait-worthy?
Let’s take a 👀
1/17
🧵
October 19, 2025 at 3:51 PM
🚨Small boat migrants getting “private health care” while the rest of us have to use the NHS?!🚨
That’s outrageous!
Or is it?
Might the reality be a little more mundane and a little less clickbait-worthy?
Let’s take a 👀
1/17
🧵
That’s outrageous!
Or is it?
Might the reality be a little more mundane and a little less clickbait-worthy?
Let’s take a 👀
1/17
🧵
Reposted by Polly Thompson
Building a culture of national pride on the things we’re actually good at and the things we make that people actually want would make us look like Tumblr Island and we should absolutely do it
“Britain? The Warhammer porno costume drama academia place that used to be into racism? Yeah, weird dudes?”
“Britain? The Warhammer porno costume drama academia place that used to be into racism? Yeah, weird dudes?”
In her lunch with the FT the OnlyFans CEO says her company pays more tax than the entire British fishing industry. Quite a stat.
October 4, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Building a culture of national pride on the things we’re actually good at and the things we make that people actually want would make us look like Tumblr Island and we should absolutely do it
“Britain? The Warhammer porno costume drama academia place that used to be into racism? Yeah, weird dudes?”
“Britain? The Warhammer porno costume drama academia place that used to be into racism? Yeah, weird dudes?”
This piece is a great articulation of the off-ness of much AI written "content"
"It is airbrushed writing. Distanced, smoothed-out, impersonal writing. Writing that - if you look to it for companionship - is going to end up making you feel more alienated and lonely."
"It is airbrushed writing. Distanced, smoothed-out, impersonal writing. Writing that - if you look to it for companionship - is going to end up making you feel more alienated and lonely."
I wrote up my thoughts on the weirdly self-evidently LLM-written phrase "steady progress, kind pacing" properly. Along with why it maybe *is* a problem to do empathetic writing about neurodiversity using a large language model (and without saying so!)
open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...
open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...
is it written by AI? seven ways to tell
and why - even though AI can be great - being able to tell the difference matters
open.substack.com
October 3, 2025 at 9:37 AM
This piece is a great articulation of the off-ness of much AI written "content"
"It is airbrushed writing. Distanced, smoothed-out, impersonal writing. Writing that - if you look to it for companionship - is going to end up making you feel more alienated and lonely."
"It is airbrushed writing. Distanced, smoothed-out, impersonal writing. Writing that - if you look to it for companionship - is going to end up making you feel more alienated and lonely."
Reposted by Polly Thompson
I'll be doing a little show-and-tell / workshop on visualizing your company operating system (free). Would love to see folks.
zoom.us/meeting/regi...
zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Mapping Company Operating Systems. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
In this session I will describe various techniques for mapping your company operating system. We will explore different "frames", visualization approaches, and core concepts. I'll leave a full thirty ...
zoom.us
September 12, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I'll be doing a little show-and-tell / workshop on visualizing your company operating system (free). Would love to see folks.
zoom.us/meeting/regi...
zoom.us/meeting/regi...
🎯
"You can’t “test and learn” if you’re unable to learn, and you can’t learn if you pretend that you already know everything. "
"You can’t “test and learn” if you’re unable to learn, and you can’t learn if you pretend that you already know everything. "
had some stuff to get off my chest about strategies ~ gilest.org/notes/strate...
gilest.org: The strategy is enquiry
gilest.org
September 12, 2025 at 8:21 AM
🎯
"You can’t “test and learn” if you’re unable to learn, and you can’t learn if you pretend that you already know everything. "
"You can’t “test and learn” if you’re unable to learn, and you can’t learn if you pretend that you already know everything. "
Reposted by Polly Thompson
I am thinking about trying to organise an in-person gathering of folks across Gov involved in CRMish projects to share experiences and insights - particularly on the topic of value and benefits realisation but anything really..
September 3, 2025 at 12:00 PM
I am thinking about trying to organise an in-person gathering of folks across Gov involved in CRMish projects to share experiences and insights - particularly on the topic of value and benefits realisation but anything really..
Reposted by Polly Thompson
wild how people want to get rid of autistic trans people and think that the Internet would still work
August 28, 2025 at 5:47 PM
wild how people want to get rid of autistic trans people and think that the Internet would still work
Reposted by Polly Thompson
"Technical systems exist within complex social, cultural, and economic contexts; society shapes technology and technology shapes society (e.g., Hughes 1993; MacKenzie and Wajcman 1999). Yet such theoretical insights appear to have had little impact on policy development. ...
“Nerd Harder: A Typology of Techno-Legal Solutionist Logics in Child Online Safety Laws”
cc: erm, everyone
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
cc: erm, everyone
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Policy & Internet | PSO Journal | Wiley Online Library
As jurisdictions worldwide grapple with regulating social media's effects on youth, US state legislatures have emerged as important laboratories for “techno-legal solutionism”—the belief that complex...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 29, 2025 at 7:54 AM
"Technical systems exist within complex social, cultural, and economic contexts; society shapes technology and technology shapes society (e.g., Hughes 1993; MacKenzie and Wajcman 1999). Yet such theoretical insights appear to have had little impact on policy development. ...
Reposted by Polly Thompson
Absolutely hilarious if the end of the Trump Era is marked by a dataviz chart showing various state guard units being recalled or troops lost to generals Janvier and Fevrier
August 28, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Absolutely hilarious if the end of the Trump Era is marked by a dataviz chart showing various state guard units being recalled or troops lost to generals Janvier and Fevrier
Reposted by Polly Thompson
And remember any checks to spot and reduce bias/discrimination like this needs to not only be up-front and on the model, but also ongoing and at the level of product/services/&c too
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
AI tools used by English councils downplay women’s health issues, study finds
Exclusive: LSE research finds risk of gender bias in care decisions made based on AI summaries of case notes
www.theguardian.com
August 11, 2025 at 8:34 AM
And remember any checks to spot and reduce bias/discrimination like this needs to not only be up-front and on the model, but also ongoing and at the level of product/services/&c too
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Polly Thompson
You know the rules
Well well well... youtu.be/jPCJIB1f7jk?...
August 10, 2025 at 7:07 PM
You know the rules
Reposted by Polly Thompson
Thanks google AI but I meant to type “shut”…
August 10, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Thanks google AI but I meant to type “shut”…
Reposted by Polly Thompson
Exactly how bad this latest government IT-related horrorshow is remains to be established, but it has all the hallmarks of a classic 21st century British state scandal:
✅overreliance on IT
✅bad IT design
✅obsessive secrecy
✅subordinating interests of the public to the interests of the organisation
✅overreliance on IT
✅bad IT design
✅obsessive secrecy
✅subordinating interests of the public to the interests of the organisation
Errr, this seems suboptimal. MyHMCTS had a bug that "that caused evidence to go missing, be overwritten or appear lost" FOR SEVERAL YEARS
"judges and lawyers had not been informed, as HMCTS management decided it would be "more likely to cause more harm than good"."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
"judges and lawyers had not been informed, as HMCTS management decided it would be "more likely to cause more harm than good"."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Courts service accused of covering up IT bug that caused evidence to go missing
Sources say judges in courts and tribunals will have made rulings when evidence was incomplete.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 8, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Exactly how bad this latest government IT-related horrorshow is remains to be established, but it has all the hallmarks of a classic 21st century British state scandal:
✅overreliance on IT
✅bad IT design
✅obsessive secrecy
✅subordinating interests of the public to the interests of the organisation
✅overreliance on IT
✅bad IT design
✅obsessive secrecy
✅subordinating interests of the public to the interests of the organisation
Reposted by Polly Thompson
Really, Alan Turing Institute?
June 6, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Really, Alan Turing Institute?
Reposted by Polly Thompson
It feels like we should be making a bigger deal of “we actually did in fact find a cure for AIDS”
Evidence is growing that some HIV-infected infants, if given antiretroviral drugs early in life, are able to suppress their viral loads to undetectable levels and then come off the medicine. www.wired.com/story/the-fi...
The First Widespread Cure for HIV Could Be in Children
Evidence is growing that some HIV-infected infants, if given antiretroviral drugs early in life, are able to suppress their viral loads to undetectable levels and then come off the medicine.
www.wired.com
August 1, 2025 at 1:45 PM
It feels like we should be making a bigger deal of “we actually did in fact find a cure for AIDS”
Reposted by Polly Thompson
Zuckerberg farted out some nonsense today, and since most media outlets refuse to report critically any time a tech CEO offers them some a pseudoserious press release, I've decided to do it for them.
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
How to Read an "AI" Press Release — Sonja Drimmer
Every so often someone like Mark Zuckerberg or Sam Altman will dribble out some unadorned text in Times New Roman font, announcing with stentorian certitude the advent of a new world that their latest...
sonjadrimmer.com
July 30, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Zuckerberg farted out some nonsense today, and since most media outlets refuse to report critically any time a tech CEO offers them some a pseudoserious press release, I've decided to do it for them.
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
Reposted by Polly Thompson
“Yeah but what do you mean by accessibility? Coz we work on an internal service…so it’s different.”
No. No it isn’t.
No. No it isn’t.
July 28, 2025 at 12:55 PM
“Yeah but what do you mean by accessibility? Coz we work on an internal service…so it’s different.”
No. No it isn’t.
No. No it isn’t.
Reposted by Polly Thompson
BREAKING: COUNTRY NOT BROKEN
July 27, 2025 at 6:46 PM
BREAKING: COUNTRY NOT BROKEN