Rufus Rock
@rufusrock.bsky.social
MS student at CMU philosophy, formerly UCL IIPP & STS
@simonpoulton.com thinks that there is a "possibility that shopping agents empower consumers so they aren’t forced onto a platform to transact.” I think this exemplifies exactly why LLMs might only get worse from here asimovaddendum.substack.com/p/are-llms-t...
Are LLMs the Best That They Will Ever Be?
Without careful disclosure architectures, AI products may only get worse, even as the technology gets better.
asimovaddendum.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:49 PM
@simonpoulton.com thinks that there is a "possibility that shopping agents empower consumers so they aren’t forced onto a platform to transact.” I think this exemplifies exactly why LLMs might only get worse from here asimovaddendum.substack.com/p/are-llms-t...
Reposted by Rufus Rock
Provocative title here from @rufusrock.bsky.social but it's hard to disagree on this point 1/ phttps://asimovaddendum.substack.com/p/are-llms-the-best-that-they-will?r=3f5ape&triedRedirect=true
November 25, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Provocative title here from @rufusrock.bsky.social but it's hard to disagree on this point 1/ phttps://asimovaddendum.substack.com/p/are-llms-the-best-that-they-will?r=3f5ape&triedRedirect=true
Reposted by Rufus Rock
Maybe those sunlit uplands are actually hallucinations? Maybe we're at peak-LLM?
I helped write a thing (just in case you are not tired of reading about AI) open.substack.com/pub/asimovad...
Are LLMs the Best That They Will Ever Be?
Without careful disclosure architectures, AI products may only get worse, even as the technology gets better.
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Maybe those sunlit uplands are actually hallucinations? Maybe we're at peak-LLM?
I helped write a thing (just in case you are not tired of reading about AI) open.substack.com/pub/asimovad...
Are LLMs the Best That They Will Ever Be?
Without careful disclosure architectures, AI products may only get worse, even as the technology gets better.
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:47 PM
I helped write a thing (just in case you are not tired of reading about AI) open.substack.com/pub/asimovad...
Reposted by Rufus Rock
Are LLM's the best that they will ever be? A guest post on Asimov Addendum by @rufusrock.bsky.social
"The technology might continue to get better, but that doesn’t mean that the user experience will.
Why? Primarily because no one knows how to make LLMs profitable."
Read more below👇
"The technology might continue to get better, but that doesn’t mean that the user experience will.
Why? Primarily because no one knows how to make LLMs profitable."
Read more below👇
November 25, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Are LLM's the best that they will ever be? A guest post on Asimov Addendum by @rufusrock.bsky.social
"The technology might continue to get better, but that doesn’t mean that the user experience will.
Why? Primarily because no one knows how to make LLMs profitable."
Read more below👇
"The technology might continue to get better, but that doesn’t mean that the user experience will.
Why? Primarily because no one knows how to make LLMs profitable."
Read more below👇
Reposted by Rufus Rock
UK government simultaneously replaced expert advice on technology with tech company “consultants” and displaced their civil servants’ experience and expertise into AI models… It’s a disaster & an absolute gift to the tech vendors…
August 22, 2025 at 9:56 AM
UK government simultaneously replaced expert advice on technology with tech company “consultants” and displaced their civil servants’ experience and expertise into AI models… It’s a disaster & an absolute gift to the tech vendors…
Reposted by Rufus Rock
Public Sector Capabilities Index ➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/res...
Council on Urban Initiatives ➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/res... 3/3
Council on Urban Initiatives ➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/res... 3/3
Public Sector Capabilities Index
IIPP, with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, has launched an initiative to establish a Public Sector Capabilities Index – the first global measure of city governments’ capacity to solve problems.
www.ucl.ac.uk
August 6, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Public Sector Capabilities Index ➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/res...
Council on Urban Initiatives ➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/res... 3/3
Council on Urban Initiatives ➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/res... 3/3
Another classic case of “let’s automate everything don’t worry it’ll be fine” www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis...
Wimbledon 2025: Play stopped in Sonay Kartal's match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova after electronic line calling fails
Play is stopped in Sonay Kartal's last-16 match at Wimbledon as the electronic line calling system fails to call a ball out.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 6, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Another classic case of “let’s automate everything don’t worry it’ll be fine” www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis...
Great thoughts on information over abundance from @hankgreen.bsky.social — though calling a lot of the AI slop on TikTok “information” feels generous.
youtu.be/9euKCrTyMEc
youtu.be/9euKCrTyMEc
You’re Not Addicted to Content, You’re Starving for Information
YouTube video by vlogbrothers
youtu.be
June 30, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Great thoughts on information over abundance from @hankgreen.bsky.social — though calling a lot of the AI slop on TikTok “information” feels generous.
youtu.be/9euKCrTyMEc
youtu.be/9euKCrTyMEc
Reposted by Rufus Rock
When I worked in UK academia I recall hearing of a Japanese man who was baffled at how Britain had decided to run its universities like firms. “Why? Your universities are excellent and your firms are terrible.”
To repeat: "A country so stupid it actively trashes one of things it's good at and famous for."
Today's university slashing and burning is Edinburgh, where about 10% of the budget will be cut. There'll be another case every single day until UK govts actually do something. A country so stupid it actively trashes one of things it's good at and famous for.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
February 25, 2025 at 10:24 PM
When I worked in UK academia I recall hearing of a Japanese man who was baffled at how Britain had decided to run its universities like firms. “Why? Your universities are excellent and your firms are terrible.”
Reposted by Rufus Rock
Europe’s dependence on US tech is a critical weakness | Opinion
https://www.ft.com/content/30d6f79f-d1ee-49dc-bff5-719f18c1a9e5
https://www.ft.com/content/30d6f79f-d1ee-49dc-bff5-719f18c1a9e5
Europe’s dependence on US tech is a critical weakness | Opinion
In order to protect their sovereignty, the continent’s leaders must invest in a digital ecosystem independent of America
www.ft.com
February 19, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Europe’s dependence on US tech is a critical weakness | Opinion
https://www.ft.com/content/30d6f79f-d1ee-49dc-bff5-719f18c1a9e5
https://www.ft.com/content/30d6f79f-d1ee-49dc-bff5-719f18c1a9e5
Reposted by Rufus Rock
Signature tally now closing in on 3000. Please keep discussing, sharing and signing to put as much pressure on the Royal Society to respond as possible. forms.gle/AuYvuWqytx8K...
Open letter to the President of the Royal Society – time to stand up for your values
If you wish to show your support for the letter below regarding apparent inaction by the Royal Society in the face of breaches of its code of conduct by Elon Musk FRS, please sign below. I invite anyo...
forms.gle
February 18, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Signature tally now closing in on 3000. Please keep discussing, sharing and signing to put as much pressure on the Royal Society to respond as possible. forms.gle/AuYvuWqytx8K...
Reposted by Rufus Rock
I just wrote a piece on why I think the chatter about AI putting programmers out of work is wrong. Every time it gets easier to tell computers what we want them to do, it brings more people into the fold and unleashes a wave of creativity and creative destruction. That reads like opportunity to me.
The End of Programming as We Know It
www.oreilly.com
February 5, 2025 at 2:05 PM
I just wrote a piece on why I think the chatter about AI putting programmers out of work is wrong. Every time it gets easier to tell computers what we want them to do, it brings more people into the fold and unleashes a wave of creativity and creative destruction. That reads like opportunity to me.
Reposted by Rufus Rock
'Scaling laws' are not laws. They are an industrial strategy. Like Moore's Law. Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman et al's airport books lay it out - Blitzscaling as a way to crush competition and earn monopoly rents. So the story has to be that bigger is better.
At Google, I asked why they were fixated on building THE LARGEST model.
Why are you going for size?
What function are you trying to achieve?
Why is the thing you were upset about that you didn't have THE LARGEST model?
They responded by firing me 🤷🏼
Why are you going for size?
What function are you trying to achieve?
Why is the thing you were upset about that you didn't have THE LARGEST model?
They responded by firing me 🤷🏼
January 28, 2025 at 10:12 PM
'Scaling laws' are not laws. They are an industrial strategy. Like Moore's Law. Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman et al's airport books lay it out - Blitzscaling as a way to crush competition and earn monopoly rents. So the story has to be that bigger is better.
Reposted by Rufus Rock
Genuinely wild how much the internet 15 years ago felt like a frontier and now feels like those terminals you get in video games with a couple of pages to give you the illusion of an explorable internet, like in cyberpunk 77. Just fully fucked the whole thing up
December 21, 2024 at 1:09 PM
Genuinely wild how much the internet 15 years ago felt like a frontier and now feels like those terminals you get in video games with a couple of pages to give you the illusion of an explorable internet, like in cyberpunk 77. Just fully fucked the whole thing up
Reposted by Rufus Rock
how hard can it possibly be to understand that LLMs are not good for information retrieval
December 9, 2024 at 11:44 AM
how hard can it possibly be to understand that LLMs are not good for information retrieval
Reposted by Rufus Rock
Not enough to complain about tech bros. Must look at their feudalistic renter practices. In 2019 I wrote on “digital feudalism” www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/p... (based on theory in my book The Value of Everything). In 2023 ran a project on “Algorithmic Rents” www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/pub....
Preventing Digital Feudalism | by Mariana Mazzucato - Project Syndicate
Mariana Mazzucato calls reform of the platform-dominated market for personal data the main economic challenge of our time.
www.project-syndicate.org
December 7, 2024 at 5:54 PM
Not enough to complain about tech bros. Must look at their feudalistic renter practices. In 2019 I wrote on “digital feudalism” www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/p... (based on theory in my book The Value of Everything). In 2023 ran a project on “Algorithmic Rents” www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/pub....
Reposted by Rufus Rock
Brilliant analysis from one of our @stsucl.bsky.social alumni
Just published: my new paper on how Big Tech profits from our attention. Ever wondered how platforms turn clicks into cash? Find out here: doi.org/10.1016/j.in...
December 3, 2024 at 6:33 PM
Brilliant analysis from one of our @stsucl.bsky.social alumni
Just published: my new paper on how Big Tech profits from our attention. Ever wondered how platforms turn clicks into cash? Find out here: doi.org/10.1016/j.in...
November 29, 2024 at 8:17 PM
Just published: my new paper on how Big Tech profits from our attention. Ever wondered how platforms turn clicks into cash? Find out here: doi.org/10.1016/j.in...
The Economist’s graphs remain undefeated
He forgot the first rule: don't get high on your own supply
www.economist.com/briefing/202...
www.economist.com/briefing/202...
November 22, 2024 at 12:10 AM
The Economist’s graphs remain undefeated
Very exciting to be featured in this great journal!
Just accepted in Information Economics and Policy: "Behind the Clicks: Can #Amazon allocate user attention as it pleases?" Can it? Yes it can, and that has really important regulatory implications as the authors @rufusrock.bsky.social, Ilan Strauss, @timoreilly.bsky.social
November 21, 2024 at 9:53 PM
Very exciting to be featured in this great journal!