Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social
Tech journalist and author, who increasingly also talks on TV and radio. Interested in the sparks that happen when the online and offline worlds collide
@stokel on the other place. Buy my book: How AI Ate the World!
@stokel on the other place. Buy my book: How AI Ate the World!
Very easy to mock the OBR for its issues around files going online yesterday but I'm not sure anyone at the Treasury, where the Budget document was named 'Final_print_HMT_Budget_2025_TEXT_PRINT_NEW.pdf' (two prints, a final and a new for those keeping count) should mock
November 27, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Very easy to mock the OBR for its issues around files going online yesterday but I'm not sure anyone at the Treasury, where the Budget document was named 'Final_print_HMT_Budget_2025_TEXT_PRINT_NEW.pdf' (two prints, a final and a new for those keeping count) should mock
Tech bros want to build data centres in space. But why, and how realistic is it to happen? My latest for @standard.co.uk.web.brid.gy
www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/da...
www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/da...
Is the race to build data centres in space a planet-saver or pie in the sky?
Chris Stokel-Walker asks if off-planet data centres are a viable way to meet AI’s insatiable demand for energy
www.standard.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Tech bros want to build data centres in space. But why, and how realistic is it to happen? My latest for @standard.co.uk.web.brid.gy
www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/da...
www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/da...
We had an EMERGENCY BUDGET EPISODE of Crashed, where we looked at what the Budget means for tech - plus how Meta is (yet again) censoring LGBTQ+ voices and sex workers. Plus a shoutout to Land of Hope and Glory. Listen now: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
November 27, 2025 at 8:24 AM
We had an EMERGENCY BUDGET EPISODE of Crashed, where we looked at what the Budget means for tech - plus how Meta is (yet again) censoring LGBTQ+ voices and sex workers. Plus a shoutout to Land of Hope and Glory. Listen now: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
Hello - needless to say, if you work at the OBR and its CMS, I want to speak to you...
November 26, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Hello - needless to say, if you work at the OBR and its CMS, I want to speak to you...
Europe is developing its own tech stack - but why? My latest for @nikkei.com Digital Governance explains it all www.nikkei.com/prime/digita...
米国製クラウドに頼れず 欧州で50億ユーロのテック基金 - 日経デジタルガバナンス
何年もの間「デジタル主権」を唱えてきた欧州だが、デジタル基盤については少数の米ハイパースケーラーに委託する状況にあった。そんな中で欧州連合（EU）の欧州委員会はこのほど、50億ユーロ（9000億円）規模の「Scaleup Europe Fund（スケールアップ欧州基金）」の概要を発表した。企業の成長を支援する民間運営の基金だ。デジタルインフラを欧州企業の製品で賄おうという「Euro Stack（
www.nikkei.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Europe is developing its own tech stack - but why? My latest for @nikkei.com Digital Governance explains it all www.nikkei.com/prime/digita...
Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
I reviewed Tim Berners-Lee's book for @nature.com... and wasn't an enormous fan (but couldn't tell who was to blame - him or his co-writer) www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The Internet is broken and the inventor of the World Wide Web wants to fix it | Nature
Tim Berners-Lee is calling for a return to a decentralized Internet and stronger data privacy, but his arguments could be more inspiring. Tim Berners-Lee is calling for a return to a decentralized Internet and stronger data privacy, but his arguments could be more inspiring.
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:08 PM
I reviewed Tim Berners-Lee's book for @nature.com... and wasn't an enormous fan (but couldn't tell who was to blame - him or his co-writer) www.nature.com/articles/d41...
To be fair, if you're as functionally unable to complete a sentence as he is then it's unsurprising that you have to ask an LLM to provide a "vulgar roast" (what a weird phrase) of people you're at a party with
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 2:23 PM
To be fair, if you're as functionally unable to complete a sentence as he is then it's unsurprising that you have to ask an LLM to provide a "vulgar roast" (what a weird phrase) of people you're at a party with
I reviewed Tim Berners-Lee's book for @nature.com... and wasn't an enormous fan (but couldn't tell who was to blame - him or his co-writer) www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The Internet is broken and the inventor of the World Wide Web wants to fix it | Nature
Tim Berners-Lee is calling for a return to a decentralized Internet and stronger data privacy, but his arguments could be more inspiring. Tim Berners-Lee is calling for a return to a decentralized Internet and stronger data privacy, but his arguments could be more inspiring.
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:08 PM
I reviewed Tim Berners-Lee's book for @nature.com... and wasn't an enormous fan (but couldn't tell who was to blame - him or his co-writer) www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The folks at @inc.com are running a big Ideas for 2026 issue, and asked me to look at the rising interest in personal data sovereignty and gaining control over the information companies hold about you www.inc.com/chris-stokel...
Consumers Want More Control Over Their Data—and These Startups Are Letting Them Monetize It
The desire for ‘data sovereignty’ is spreading quickly. Here’s what that means for businesses.
www.inc.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:28 PM
The folks at @inc.com are running a big Ideas for 2026 issue, and asked me to look at the rising interest in personal data sovereignty and gaining control over the information companies hold about you www.inc.com/chris-stokel...
From AWS to Azure, and most recently this week the Cloudflare issue, it's becoming increasingly clear the web has a concentration problem. My latest for @tomshardware.com outlines the scale of the issue www.tomshardware.com/service-prov...
The web's infrastructure has a concentration problem, exposing us all to crushing outages — from AWS and Azure to Cloudflare, the perils of having a centralized internet are being felt by all
Are hyperscaler cloud providers a victim of their own success?
www.tomshardware.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:08 PM
From AWS to Azure, and most recently this week the Cloudflare issue, it's becoming increasingly clear the web has a concentration problem. My latest for @tomshardware.com outlines the scale of the issue www.tomshardware.com/service-prov...
Lots of interesting stuff happening in the world of university spinouts - as I wrote about for the latest edition of @newscientist.com's Business Insights newsletter, which hit inboxes this week. Sign up for it today link.newscientist.com/click/426166...
Sign up to Newsletters | New Scientist
link.newscientist.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Lots of interesting stuff happening in the world of university spinouts - as I wrote about for the latest edition of @newscientist.com's Business Insights newsletter, which hit inboxes this week. Sign up for it today link.newscientist.com/click/426166...
Cursor recently touted a major study suggesting huge productivity benefits for coders - so is AI about to sweep up that sector? I looked into the details for @leaddev.com leaddev.com/ai/cursor-cl...
Cursor claims its tools are a massive productivity hack for devs
Is this the massive productivity benefit we’ve been waiting for?
leaddev.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Cursor recently touted a major study suggesting huge productivity benefits for coders - so is AI about to sweep up that sector? I looked into the details for @leaddev.com leaddev.com/ai/cursor-cl...
AI slop is swamping social media - so how should brands respond when trying to spread the message about their products? My latest for The Current www.thecurrent.com/marketing-st...
As AI slop spreads on social media, brands have lessons to learn | The Current
With AI video generation tools in the hands of millions thanks to OpenAI’s Sora and Meta’s Vibes, how should marketers react: Adopt or avoid?
www.thecurrent.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:57 PM
AI slop is swamping social media - so how should brands respond when trying to spread the message about their products? My latest for The Current www.thecurrent.com/marketing-st...
Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
Websites are rightly locking out AI crawlers from accessing their content. But their attempt to protect copyrighted material has corollary damage: misinformation sites, which don't, are polluting training data. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91442627/mis...
Misinformation sites have an open-door policy for AI scrapers
A new study highlights the information pollution risks inherent in an AI-enabled world.
www.fastcompany.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Websites are rightly locking out AI crawlers from accessing their content. But their attempt to protect copyrighted material has corollary damage: misinformation sites, which don't, are polluting training data. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91442627/mis...
God, Gemini 3 is amazing and frustrating in equal parts. It "watched" a YouTube video I was in and gave me useful feedback about how I present myself. Then gave it a link to a radio hit and asked it to "listen". It couldn't. Gave it the MP3. Claimed it did listen but didn't.
November 19, 2025 at 7:06 PM
God, Gemini 3 is amazing and frustrating in equal parts. It "watched" a YouTube video I was in and gave me useful feedback about how I present myself. Then gave it a link to a radio hit and asked it to "listen". It couldn't. Gave it the MP3. Claimed it did listen but didn't.
Websites are rightly locking out AI crawlers from accessing their content. But their attempt to protect copyrighted material has corollary damage: misinformation sites, which don't, are polluting training data. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91442627/mis...
Misinformation sites have an open-door policy for AI scrapers
A new study highlights the information pollution risks inherent in an AI-enabled world.
www.fastcompany.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Websites are rightly locking out AI crawlers from accessing their content. But their attempt to protect copyrighted material has corollary damage: misinformation sites, which don't, are polluting training data. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91442627/mis...
Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
The EU looks set to run a coach and horses through the GDPR, its landmark data protection regulation, in order to try and save the challenging implementation of its AI act. I explained all to a Japanese audience for @nikkei.com Digital Governance www.nikkei.com/prime/digita...
GDPRよりAI振興？ EU､テック規制緩和案を19日にも発表 - 日経デジタルガバナンス
欧州連合（EU）の欧州委員会は近く、AI法の「実効性を高める」ことを目的とした「簡素化パッケージ」を発表すると見られている。（欧州委が拠点を置く）ブリュッセル流に言えば、これはルールの緩和と先送りに他ならない。今回については、EU発のルールで最も成功したとされる一般データ保護規則（GDPR）の書き換えを意味している。NIKKEI Digital Governanceは海外在住のジャーナリストによる...
www.nikkei.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:55 AM
The EU looks set to run a coach and horses through the GDPR, its landmark data protection regulation, in order to try and save the challenging implementation of its AI act. I explained all to a Japanese audience for @nikkei.com Digital Governance www.nikkei.com/prime/digita...
Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
Attempts to regulate AI through a child safety lens might also end up protecting us all - my latest for Transformer www.transformernews.ai/p/why-pressu...
Why pressure on AI child safety could also address frontier risks
Keeping kids safe is a priority for legislators globally — and might increase attention on other risks, too
www.transformernews.ai
November 18, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Attempts to regulate AI through a child safety lens might also end up protecting us all - my latest for Transformer www.transformernews.ai/p/why-pressu...
Attempts to regulate AI through a child safety lens might also end up protecting us all - my latest for Transformer www.transformernews.ai/p/why-pressu...
Why pressure on AI child safety could also address frontier risks
Keeping kids safe is a priority for legislators globally — and might increase attention on other risks, too
www.transformernews.ai
November 18, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Attempts to regulate AI through a child safety lens might also end up protecting us all - my latest for Transformer www.transformernews.ai/p/why-pressu...
As apparently a lot of Polymarket users seemed to know before journalists were given access to the materials under embargo, Google just released Gemini 3. More interested in how these markets are being moved than anything, tbh blog.google/products/gem...
A new era of intelligence with Gemini 3
Today we’re releasing Gemini 3 – our most intelligent model that helps you bring any idea to life.
blog.google
November 18, 2025 at 4:06 PM
As apparently a lot of Polymarket users seemed to know before journalists were given access to the materials under embargo, Google just released Gemini 3. More interested in how these markets are being moved than anything, tbh blog.google/products/gem...
Cloudflare's outage seems... bad? X, ChatGPT, multiple other sites down
November 18, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Cloudflare's outage seems... bad? X, ChatGPT, multiple other sites down
Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
The EU just fired a shot across the bows of Temu and Shein... but has it also shot itself in the foot? My latest for @fastcompany.com on upcoming de minimis changes www.fastcompany.com/91441712/eur...
The EU just fired a shot across the bow at Shein and Temu
Both companies have carved out an enviable niche thanks to cheap customs charge carve-outs—but that era is ending.
www.fastcompany.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:08 PM
The EU just fired a shot across the bows of Temu and Shein... but has it also shot itself in the foot? My latest for @fastcompany.com on upcoming de minimis changes www.fastcompany.com/91441712/eur...
The Magnificient Seven tech firms account for 35% of the stock market value - historic highs - and more than half of its growth since April. Not sure this is shocking. In other news, water is wet
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Google boss Sundar Pichai warns 'no company immune' if AI bubble bursts
The AI boom has been an
www.bbc.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 8:18 AM
The Magnificient Seven tech firms account for 35% of the stock market value - historic highs - and more than half of its growth since April. Not sure this is shocking. In other news, water is wet
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The EU just fired a shot across the bows of Temu and Shein... but has it also shot itself in the foot? My latest for @fastcompany.com on upcoming de minimis changes www.fastcompany.com/91441712/eur...
The EU just fired a shot across the bow at Shein and Temu
Both companies have carved out an enviable niche thanks to cheap customs charge carve-outs—but that era is ending.
www.fastcompany.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:08 PM
The EU just fired a shot across the bows of Temu and Shein... but has it also shot itself in the foot? My latest for @fastcompany.com on upcoming de minimis changes www.fastcompany.com/91441712/eur...
Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
French rocket is actually called Baguette One!
HyPrSpace has raised €21 million to perform its Baguette One suborbital test flight and accelerate the development of its OB-1 rocket.
europeanspaceflight.com/french-rocke...
europeanspaceflight.com/french-rocke...
French Rocket Builder HyPrSpace Secures €21 Million in New Funding
HyPrSpace has raised €21 million to perform its Baguette One suborbital test flight and accelerate the development of its OB-1 rocket.
europeanspaceflight.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:53 AM
French rocket is actually called Baguette One!