Chris Pitcher
@cpitcher.bsky.social
Doing NHS digital stuff. Interested in building things, data, coding, and public policy. Previously an apprenticeship coach, school data manager and teacher.
Really wish more focus was on the climate crisis aspect of this story, rather than whatever nonsense the orange convicted felon blurted out today (which he will have forgotten by tomorrow) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Why is Trump interested in Greenland? Look to the thawing Arctic ice | Gaby Hinsliff
Forecasts suggest that global heating could create a shortcut from Asia to North America, and new routes for trading, shipping – and attack, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff
www.theguardian.com
January 18, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Really wish more focus was on the climate crisis aspect of this story, rather than whatever nonsense the orange convicted felon blurted out today (which he will have forgotten by tomorrow) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Thanks to everyone involved in organising #ukgc26 and all the attendees for a really interesting day. Keen to keep the conversations going especially anyone who wants to get into it around the NHS / healthcare
January 17, 2026 at 8:23 PM
Thanks to everyone involved in organising #ukgc26 and all the attendees for a really interesting day. Keen to keep the conversations going especially anyone who wants to get into it around the NHS / healthcare
Really, really scary stuff coming out of the US.
Stunning photos from Minneapolis, including this one by John Locher for the Associated Press. www.theatlantic.com/photography/...
January 16, 2026 at 11:29 AM
Really, really scary stuff coming out of the US.
Reposted by Chris Pitcher
It's incredible the extent to which an unreliable statistic oscillating around zero is reported each month as if it actually means anything
This happens so often, yet it is still a thing that dominates and guides the news cycle. Governments and policies live and die on these minor fluctuations, which often prove to be inaccurate in any case.
January 15, 2026 at 7:57 AM
It's incredible the extent to which an unreliable statistic oscillating around zero is reported each month as if it actually means anything
In the real world, there are real problems that cannot be solved with a slick pitch.
"Uptime spells out the bottom line bluntly: 'It is unclear how the industry will continue to deliver capacity at the rate that many projections forecast'"
"Uptime spells out the bottom line bluntly: 'It is unclear how the industry will continue to deliver capacity at the rate that many projections forecast'"
Ignore rosy datacenter expansion projections – there isn't enough power
Ignore rosy datacenter expansion projections – there isn't enough power
Grid and generation capacity are not being added fast enough to support the scale of growth many forecasts assume
A looming shortage of electrical power is set to constrain datacenter expansion, potentially leaving many industry growth forecasts looking overly optimistic.…
dlvr.it
January 14, 2026 at 6:49 PM
In the real world, there are real problems that cannot be solved with a slick pitch.
"Uptime spells out the bottom line bluntly: 'It is unclear how the industry will continue to deliver capacity at the rate that many projections forecast'"
"Uptime spells out the bottom line bluntly: 'It is unclear how the industry will continue to deliver capacity at the rate that many projections forecast'"
Just don't see how the LLM bros solve this problem. We are probably at "peak data" it's all downhill from here as slop poisons the well that models train on, even without folk actively speeding it up!
AI industry insiders launch site to poison the data that feeds them
AI industry insiders launch site to poison the data that feeds them
Poison Fountain project seeks allies to fight the power
Alarmed by what companies are building with artificial intelligence models, a handful of industry insiders are calling for those opposed to the current state of affairs to undertake a mass data poisoning effort to undermine the technology.…
dlvr.it
January 11, 2026 at 2:55 PM
Just don't see how the LLM bros solve this problem. We are probably at "peak data" it's all downhill from here as slop poisons the well that models train on, even without folk actively speeding it up!
Billions and billions of dollars burned for this. Massive carbon emissions for this. Rare earth metals wasted for this. What a mess.
Overheard on bus in Baden-Baden yesterday. Grouo of teenage students.
'Our teacher creates his worksheets with ChatGPT; we answer them using ChatGPT; he marks them using ChatGPT.'
Thanks to my translator (human).
'Our teacher creates his worksheets with ChatGPT; we answer them using ChatGPT; he marks them using ChatGPT.'
Thanks to my translator (human).
December 20, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Billions and billions of dollars burned for this. Massive carbon emissions for this. Rare earth metals wasted for this. What a mess.
Reposted by Chris Pitcher
Whatever the merits of the current doctor strikes in England, the BMA campaign is having a dangerous side-effect that will do the NHS great harm...
December 19, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Whatever the merits of the current doctor strikes in England, the BMA campaign is having a dangerous side-effect that will do the NHS great harm...
Pretty obvious limitation of LLMs which gets lost in all the noise is the random element i.e. same prompt gives different result every time. Fine for one-off tasks, not great for automation. The latter is why we bothered invented machines in the first place: reliably doing some repetitive task.
December 19, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Pretty obvious limitation of LLMs which gets lost in all the noise is the random element i.e. same prompt gives different result every time. Fine for one-off tasks, not great for automation. The latter is why we bothered invented machines in the first place: reliably doing some repetitive task.
Reposted by Chris Pitcher
2/ Almost as significant is the clear message being sent by two dates associated with the Black community being deleted, despite both being federal holidays: parks are no longer free to enter on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (third Monday in January) and Juneteenth (June 19).
December 6, 2025 at 2:11 PM
2/ Almost as significant is the clear message being sent by two dates associated with the Black community being deleted, despite both being federal holidays: parks are no longer free to enter on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (third Monday in January) and Juneteenth (June 19).
Reason 954 why a whole bunch of hypothetical AI data centres just ain't going to get built.
The construction industry, where more than a quarter of workers are foreign-born, has long struggled to find enough workers. Now, industry officials say Trump's immigration crackdown is making it worse.
ICE is sending a chill through the construction industry
The construction industry, where more than a quarter of workers are foreign-born, has long struggled to find enough workers. Now, industry officials say Trump's immigration crackdown is making it worse.
n.pr
November 9, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reason 954 why a whole bunch of hypothetical AI data centres just ain't going to get built.
Interesting article for lots of reasons. For me it shows some key issues with trying to use LLMs in the real world. The main one being: we all MUST remember these models are NOT intelligence... they do not use "logic" in the human sense, certainly not in the way we would want from a juror. 1/n
ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok make very squishy jury members
ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok make very squishy jury members
All three acquitted a teen in a mock trial based on a case where a judge ruled guilty
Law students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law last month held a mock trial to see how AI models administer justice.…
dlvr.it
November 8, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Interesting article for lots of reasons. For me it shows some key issues with trying to use LLMs in the real world. The main one being: we all MUST remember these models are NOT intelligence... they do not use "logic" in the human sense, certainly not in the way we would want from a juror. 1/n
There were certainly hints yesterday. Now this
November 6, 2025 at 8:09 PM
There were certainly hints yesterday. Now this
If the US Supreme Court in their hearing tomorrow about Trump's tariffs even *hint* to a majority of Justices declaring them unconstitutional - combined with the ongoing govt shutdown - these "jitters" could look a whole lot bigger in 24 hours time
Breaking news: US stocks have dropped as jitters over highly elevated valuations for many artificial intelligence companies intensified and top Wall Street executives said markets were vulnerable to a pullback. on.ft.com/4hIMmhj
November 4, 2025 at 10:21 PM
If the US Supreme Court in their hearing tomorrow about Trump's tariffs even *hint* to a majority of Justices declaring them unconstitutional - combined with the ongoing govt shutdown - these "jitters" could look a whole lot bigger in 24 hours time
Part of getting older I didn't anticipate is this sort of creeping realisation that there's a huge amount of stuff out there written by people that don't have the first clue what they are talking about. On like, *everything*
November 2, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Part of getting older I didn't anticipate is this sort of creeping realisation that there's a huge amount of stuff out there written by people that don't have the first clue what they are talking about. On like, *everything*
Excellent thread about the very real-world issues we face in the NHS. Wish there was more analysis like this and less hot air from certain quarters and their pals in the press.
Can't pass judgement on most of this, but the estimated savings in the NHS of £11bn are incredibly dubious and the proposed shift to a social insurance model is an infuriating zombie idea that is not supported by evidence
Some thoughts on the NHS proposals in this paper...
Some thoughts on the NHS proposals in this paper...
I keep being told spending cuts are easy. Honest proposals such as those recently outlined by Policy Exchange show they are not
My column www.ft.com/content/f086...
My column www.ft.com/content/f086...
October 31, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Excellent thread about the very real-world issues we face in the NHS. Wish there was more analysis like this and less hot air from certain quarters and their pals in the press.
Reposted by Chris Pitcher
There's been endless talk about an AI bubble, but less about exactly how, why, and how much it's a bubble. So I turned to the framework put forward by scholars Brent Goldfarb and David A. Kirsch, authors of "Bubbles and Crashes," for assessing tech bubbles.
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
AI Is the Bubble to Burst Them All
I talked to the scholars who literally wrote the book on tech bubbles—and applied their test.
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 8:58 PM
There's been endless talk about an AI bubble, but less about exactly how, why, and how much it's a bubble. So I turned to the framework put forward by scholars Brent Goldfarb and David A. Kirsch, authors of "Bubbles and Crashes," for assessing tech bubbles.
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
If we throw another hundred billion dollars or so at all this we might get a system that can recognise a packet of crisps!
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
US student handcuffed after AI system apparently mistook bag of chips for gun
Baltimore county high schools have gun detection system that alerts police if it sees what it deems suspicious
www.theguardian.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:26 PM
If we throw another hundred billion dollars or so at all this we might get a system that can recognise a packet of crisps!
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
This is a superb article about how democracy works in 2025. Focus is on US politics but contains myriad lessons for UK here also.
After 2024, pundits brushed off the Resistance as cringe. I submit: Yes, it was. And cringe is good. Cringe, in fact, will save democracy.
Resistance Is Cringe
But it’s also effective.
www.theatlantic.com
October 19, 2025 at 11:33 AM
This is a superb article about how democracy works in 2025. Focus is on US politics but contains myriad lessons for UK here also.
Reposted by Chris Pitcher
The more you learn at the moment the more you realize that so much of what’s going to pop the bubble is straight up physics and resources. It’s not clear if you can even build a gigawatt data center campus let alone power one, and GB200s have a negative 100% gross margin. Oracle bought 400,000!
October 18, 2025 at 6:52 AM
The more you learn at the moment the more you realize that so much of what’s going to pop the bubble is straight up physics and resources. It’s not clear if you can even build a gigawatt data center campus let alone power one, and GB200s have a negative 100% gross margin. Oracle bought 400,000!
Feel similar is true in the NHS right now (just replace "sold for actual profit" with "deliver actual better service")
Perhaps the *real* opportunity with Generative AI is for businesses who take advantage while all their competitors are distracted, and solve an actual problem with a solution that actually works and can be sold for actual profit.
October 9, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Feel similar is true in the NHS right now (just replace "sold for actual profit" with "deliver actual better service")
Reposted by Chris Pitcher
From a CTO WhatsApp group I'm in
October 7, 2025 at 5:29 PM
From a CTO WhatsApp group I'm in
How fast must the Royal Mail van have been travelling to hit this wheelie bin so high in the air!?
UK Home Office opens wallet for £60M automated number plate project
UK Home Office opens wallet for £60M automated number plate project
Department eyes new app to tap national ANPR data for live alerts, searches, and integrations
The UK's Home Office is inviting tech suppliers to take part in a £60 million "market engagement" for an application that uses data from automated number plate recognition (ANPR) systems.…
dlvr.it
October 7, 2025 at 9:19 AM
How fast must the Royal Mail van have been travelling to hit this wheelie bin so high in the air!?
Reposted by Chris Pitcher
This is a really key chart. Look at the difference between concern about immigration between Lab to Reform switchers and Lab to LD/Green/don't know switchers.
The latter group is five times larger.
The latter group is five times larger.
September 30, 2025 at 11:15 AM
This is a really key chart. Look at the difference between concern about immigration between Lab to Reform switchers and Lab to LD/Green/don't know switchers.
The latter group is five times larger.
The latter group is five times larger.
Starting to wonder if US govt buying up a share of Intel was rolling the pitch for when (not if) NVIDIA gets in trouble and needs a state bailout as the company is clearly in the "too big to fail" territory where the really bad things happen.
In this scenario NVIDIA would set up an entity to buy its own GPUs and then lease them to OpenAI. This isn’t exactly what Enron did, but it’s sure getting close!
September 24, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Starting to wonder if US govt buying up a share of Intel was rolling the pitch for when (not if) NVIDIA gets in trouble and needs a state bailout as the company is clearly in the "too big to fail" territory where the really bad things happen.