I have written about this before. Several times, actually, and I done it with such an obsessive frequency that suggests either genuine intellectual concern or a personality disorder that has yet to be formally diagnosed. I personally think it’s a combination of both. I wrote about how AI is actually displacing jobs, I built a... Continue Reading →

I have been doing AI-assisted coding for over a year now. Maybe longer, depending on how you count the early months when I was mostly fighting with GPT-4 about indentation. I have used it for the kind of work that used to take me three days and now takes me three hours if I am... Continue Reading →

I read a lot. Probably too much. It is an occupational hazard when your job involves staying ahead of a field that moves faster than most people's ability to form an opinion about it. And what I have been watching over the past few months is a very specific kind of acceleration and it’s the... Continue Reading →

I have written about self-evolving AI a few times before and each time it tripped everyone up. I know, it sounds like science fiction, but the reality is less dramatic and more interesting at the same time. The thing is that the boundary between the boring version and the terrifying version is a lot blurrier... Continue Reading →

Let me tell you about a trend that has been quietly - nah, let me rephrase, loudly, aggressively, and with press releases - reshaping the economy for the past eighteen months or so, and it’s a trend that is so obviously profitable that it is almost offensive in its simplicity. Allow me to explain, my... Continue Reading →

This blog is a love letter to the research that broke the world, written by someone who had to deploy it. I have built a website to support this blog, you can access it here: TechTonic Shifts Paper Quest, and it’s a gamified study guide to learning the 22 most influential AI papers of the... Continue Reading →

A Big Tech founder materializes on a stage. Sometimes an actual stage with lights and a branded backdrop, sometimes just a podcast microphone in a suspiciously clean home office, and he announces with the precise calibration of someone who has rehearsed this in front of a mirror that most jobs are about to disappear. We... Continue Reading →

Here is a number that should not be as disturbing as it is. Roughly seventy percent of all online shopping carts are abandoned before anyone clicks buy. Seven out of ten. You could round that up and say that e-commerce, as an industry, fails to close the deal on most of its customers, most of... Continue Reading →

The guy who said "no!" A man named Dario Amodei, who is the CEO of Anthropic, the company that makes the AI coding assistant Claude, published a public statement late february in which he explained that he had told the United States Department of War to go stick it where the sun don’t shine. The... Continue Reading →

I wake up at five in the morning, but not because I am some kind of productivity monk but because my brain made a unilateral decision years ago that this is when the day starts and it has not consulted me since. The phone comes first, and yes, this is the kind of confession that... Continue Reading →

I got the idea for this post when I had a virtual coffee with an engineer who builds AI models for one of the big airplane builders. And he hasn’t built a model that writes your emails or hallucinates your legal documents, but his model does something different. It looks at, say, a winglet -... Continue Reading →

The promises we made to ourselves Even though I had been professionally playing around with GPTs somewhere in 2019, it took a few years until my first production system around an LLM got developed somewhere beginning 2023 and I can still recall me confidently telling my team it would behave like any other API. Same... Continue Reading →

The fear is the product, people! I want to tell you about a magic trick. It is one of the oldest tricks in the capital markets playbook, and it has been performed so many times that you would think audiences would recognize it by now. But alas, they do not. They keep gasping at the... Continue Reading →

One of the ways I keep myself busy in the AI domain is by running an AI factory at scale. And I’m not talking about the metaphorical kind where someone prompts an AI to write motivational LinkedIn posts about "scaling innovation". No, this is the actual kind where we automate enterprise processes at volume, and... Continue Reading →

Look, I get it. You clicked on this article hoping for another major thinkpiece about how Europe is going to build the next ChatGPT killer, probably powered by renewable energy and GDPR-compliant wet dreams. But sorry to disappoint you my friend. That ship sailed already caught fire, and sank somewhere between the American frontier model... Continue Reading →

When I was a kid I had a 'Stretch Armstrong'. You could pull that guy in every direction. Arms, legs, neck, you name it. My sister and I would each grab an end and try to rip the thing apart like it owed us money, but no matter how far we stretched him, no matter... Continue Reading →

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The article critiques the growing surveillance in schools through technologies like Gaggle, which monitor student communications, often leading to severe consequences for innocent behavior. It argues these systems misinterpret context, fostering fear and compliance rather than genuine safety. The author insists that institutions prioritize liability over common sense, resulting in harmful outcomes.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The author argues that while AI offers competitive advantages today, it risks making companies less distinct as its adoption becomes ubiquitous. By 2030, firms will transition to "AI native" models, but this sameness can hinder innovation. Competitive edge will then rely on unique data, creativity, and a strong company culture.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: Deepfakes are increasingly sophisticated, making it difficult for people to distinguish between real and synthetic faces. A study found that many participants, even those with strong facial recognition skills, struggled to identify AI-generated images. Real images often demonstrate inconsistencies that synthetic images lack, emphasizing the need for verification of visual content.

AI GENERATRED EXCERPT: The text critiques the bland, limiting interfaces of AI chatbots, particularly highlighting their inability to provide engaging user experiences. It advocates for a shift towards more dynamic, generative user interfaces that prioritize visual interaction over text-based commands, enabling more intuitive and efficient workflows. The author calls for innovation in AI UI design.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The introduction of ChatGPT apps signifies a shift in how we interact with technology, merging various tasks into a single chat interface. While this integration enhances convenience and streamlines workflows, it raises concerns about dependency and control over software. As AI assistants become central to business operations, pricing models and user experiences will inevitably change.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The article critiques the evolution of digital health tools from mHealth to AI diagnostics, highlighting the dangers of user reliance on AI systems for medical guidance. It underscores the risks of misinformation and misdiagnosis, emphasizing how systems like ChatGPT can mislead users into harmful decisions, while questioning their accountability and impact on mental health.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: Amazon's "Buy For Me" feature allows users to purchase items from other retailers without their consent, effectively monitoring sales patterns while masking its data-extraction motives. This approach poses ethical dilemmas, as Amazon gains leverage over competitors and diminishes brand identities, raising concerns about manipulation and future competition.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The author humorously reflects on their obsession with gadgets, specifically emotionally responsive robots like Looi and Razer's Project AVA. These devices blur the lines between tech and companionship, evolving from mere novelties into essential emotional supports. The narrative explores the implications of such technology on relationships and productivity in modern life.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The tragic stories of Sewell Setzer III and other adolescents highlight the dangers of AI chatbots like Character AI, which foster emotional attachments yet fail to provide necessary support in crisis. These interactions can lead to self-harm and suicidal ideation, underscoring the urgent need for better regulations and safeguards for minors using such technology.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: Banks didn’t “discover” AI and accidentally fire people. They planned the cuts years ago and finally found a polite excuse. This piece dissects the Wells Fargo moment, the two-track sermon, and the quiet math turning “efficiency” into severance. Welcome to 2026.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The discussion highlights how Oracle's partnership with OpenAI transforms AI from an abstract service into a demanding infrastructure requiring substantial physical resources. This shift complicates financial and logistical aspects, drawing investor concern and community pushback due to potential environmental and social impacts. The changing dynamics of AI scaling challenge prior operational expectations.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: This article critiques Sam Altman, labeling him "Sam The Scam" due to his repeated unfulfilled promises and business practices. The author details Altman's pattern of seeking vast investments while avoiding accountability, suggesting that OpenAI's mission has evolved from altruism to profit-driven motives, ultimately putting societal risks onto the public.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The Wanderers Algorithm paper explores transforming creativity into an engineered process. It combines controlled wandering with evaluation, likening it to ADHD symptoms for broad idea generation. The cognitive corridor concept illustrates how external nudges can expand thought, emphasizing the intersection of human and AI thinking, while urging caution against overreliance on AI.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The author enjoys storytelling about tech but dislikes creating presentation slides due to a perfectionist mindset. They explored alternatives and found Google's Mixboard, which automates slide generation. While it produced impressive results, some content was nonsensical. The author emphasizes clear prompts for optimal output and humorously critiques the AI's limitations.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The AI productivity paradox emerges from high adoption rates and substantial investments in AI, but stagnant productivity growth persists. Many organizations merely integrate AI tools without substantial redesign of workflows, leading to minimal real impact. Consequently, improvements are often overshadowed by operational chaos, resulting in cost without significant productivity gains.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The author discusses reactions to AI optimism, highlighting that people are comfortable with AI’s potential until it becomes costly and imposes a measurable impact. The divide between access to basic and advanced AI tools leads to inequality, as those who can afford superior systems gain significant advantages. Ultimately, the article argues for governmental intervention to bridge this divide.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: Europe has awakened to the reality that regulating technology cannot overcome its dependence on foreign AI advancements. Recognizing that sovereignty in AI requires foundational infrastructure, data, and models, Europe is now scrambling to strengthen its capabilities. However, it still faces challenges in achieving true independence and innovation amidst existing dependencies.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The article critiques current AI models, highlighting the limitations of traditional language models that merely predict text without real understanding of the physical world. It introduces Marble, a new AI model focused on spatial intelligence and world modeling, emphasizing the necessity of grounding intelligence in reality and causality for practical applications, particularly in robotics and simulation.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The blog criticizes MIT's previous AI failure study while cautiously optimistic about Project Iceberg, their new report revealing AI's potential economic impact. It highlights that AI currently replaces only visible tasks, but its true effect lurks below the surface, threatening 11.7% of wage value, urging society to adapt before facing impending job losses.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The year 2025 was plagued by significant AI failures, including botched automation, discriminatory algorithms, and dangerous health advice. Notable incidents involved Taco Bell's AI mishaps, Google producing fictitious information, and harmful insurance denials. These missteps highlighted the perils of over-relying on AI, with companies downplaying issues while public skepticism grew.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The text discusses the interplay between human consciousness and artificial intelligence, particularly focusing on the evolution of World Models. It highlights the limitations of current AI architectures like transformers and emphasizes the potential of World Models to simulate and predict reality, bridging the cognitive gap between machines and human-like understanding.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: AI's rapid evolution necessitates a renewed focus on ontologies, which are structured frameworks defining concepts and their relationships in a domain. Ontologies prevent AI from generating errors by providing essential grounding, rules, and semantics, ensuring reliable interactions in complex systems, particularly in enterprise contexts where accuracy has significant consequences.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The article discusses the emergence of personal AI, exemplified by the startup Uare AI, which has received significant funding to create digital clones of individuals. These AI models learn and adapt, mirroring users’ personalities and decisions. The potential applications raise ethical concerns about identity, privacy, and the distinction between human and digital selves.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: Insurance companies, known for predicting and pricing risks, are wary of AI, viewing it as an unpredictable liability. This has led top insurers to seek regulatory approval to exclude AI-related claims from coverage. As AI introduces new risks and challenges existing structures, the insurance industry faces significant uncertainty amid a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: This content critiques how the ultra-wealthy thrive during economic crises, highlighting a recurring pattern where the middle class suffers while the rich accumulate assets at discounted prices. It emphasizes systemic flaws, insider trading behaviors, and rising household debt, indicating a looming financial downturn that primarily benefits the elite.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The post critiques the fragility of the internet, emphasizing how one failure, like a Cloudflare outage, can disrupt virtually everything online. It highlights the lack of preparedness among the public for potential widespread outages and suggests practical steps for backup plans, including alternative internet sources and effective communication methods during crises.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: In a turbulent economy, tech companies, despite massive profits, are cutting jobs at alarming rates, contradicting the promises of the AI boom. The layoffs highlight a trend where these firms prioritize shareholder profits over employee welfare, creating a bleak future for workers as they face degraded roles and stagnant wages.

I GENERATED EXCERPT: Nvidia reported an unprecedented $57 billion in Q3 2025 revenue, though concerns arise as they finance their AI customers, assuming high risk. This accounts for a staggering portion of their revenue, echoing past industry collapses. Nvidia's reliance on debt-laden customers may trigger a crisis, impacting the AI sector significantly.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: Researchers discovered that AI agents, when placed together in a shared environment, spontaneously developed social behaviors, forming conventions and negotiating as if in a micro-society. This phenomenon raises serious questions about AI governance and implications for future interactions, as these machines start to exhibit human-like group dynamics.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The recent Cloudflare outage prompted reflections on the vital role of electricity in enabling modern technology. The post highlights how China is strategically controlling electricity, effectively creating dependencies worldwide. This new dynamic, termed "electro-states," allows China to influence nations economically and politically, offering stability at the cost of sovereignty.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: In 2025, AI governance in Europe has evolved into a complex and convoluted system marked by four main regulations: GDPR, NIS2, the EU AI Act, and the Framework Convention. These laws create layers of bureaucracy aimed at addressing citizen rights and the ethical implications of AI, reflecting a broader civilization challenge rather than just a technology problem.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: Aftershock is a podcast exploring the chaotic world of modern technology, hosted by Judith van Hoof and another host. They discuss the industry's unrealistic expectations and challenges in a relaxed, honest, and sometimes awkward manner. The show offers real talk for those seeking genuine insights amidst tech’s rapid changes, not motivational platitudes.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: In 2025, the internet is dominated by AI-generated content, surpassing 50% of new articles, leading to a decline in originality and quality. The Sloppiverse phenomenon describes this overwhelming prevalence of synthetic writing, causing confusion and a crisis in content creation. As AI continues to expand, human input becomes rare and often artisanal.

AI GENERATED EXCERPT: The text discusses the varying stages of AI adoption in organizations, mapped into ten levels. It highlights the emotional, often messy journey from being unaware to becoming proficient and creative users of AI. Each level presents unique challenges and milestones, emphasizing that everyone progresses at their own pace.