Phillip de Wet
@phillipdewet.bsky.social
Editor, columnist, ex News24, ex Business Insider SA, ex Mail & Guardian, ex Daily Maverick.
Living in Canterbury, writing about technology and geopolitics, learning about AI, advocating risk-adjusted writing.
Living in Canterbury, writing about technology and geopolitics, learning about AI, advocating risk-adjusted writing.
The horror!
Opinion: The city-state's enthusiastic picklers are fighting a war against neighbours driven mad by the paddle sport’s relentless ‘pock, pock, pock’ noise. on.ft.com/3XL5emL
December 11, 2025 at 8:08 AM
The horror!
My media literacy message remains "the media: not as bad as you think!"
Simultaneously, we we need to arrange some field trips to Rwanda for editors. I'd go so far as to say it should be a statutory requirement.
Simultaneously, we we need to arrange some field trips to Rwanda for editors. I'd go so far as to say it should be a statutory requirement.
December 10, 2025 at 10:47 AM
My media literacy message remains "the media: not as bad as you think!"
Simultaneously, we we need to arrange some field trips to Rwanda for editors. I'd go so far as to say it should be a statutory requirement.
Simultaneously, we we need to arrange some field trips to Rwanda for editors. I'd go so far as to say it should be a statutory requirement.
I still firmly believe we're witnessing the end of American hegemony, first political and then cultural. But I could still spot three out of four famous Los Angeles street names in NYT Connections earlier this week.
December 10, 2025 at 10:28 AM
I still firmly believe we're witnessing the end of American hegemony, first political and then cultural. But I could still spot three out of four famous Los Angeles street names in NYT Connections earlier this week.
Most of 2025: CENSORED BY ORDER OF GRU
The paper version has a complete key that shows those are the "unconfirmed" attacks with preliminary classification.
Even that, though, undermines excellent copy that makes a powerful point, before the chart makes it look like thumb-suck scaremongering.
The paper version has a complete key that shows those are the "unconfirmed" attacks with preliminary classification.
Even that, though, undermines excellent copy that makes a powerful point, before the chart makes it look like thumb-suck scaremongering.
Russian attacks in Europe are, by nature, scattergun and hard to track. But the scale is now such that analysts believe the escalation is strategic rather than opportunistic, designed to trigger public fear and policy paralysis. The attacks are a test of Europe’s mettle – and Russia is taking notes.
December 9, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Most of 2025: CENSORED BY ORDER OF GRU
The paper version has a complete key that shows those are the "unconfirmed" attacks with preliminary classification.
Even that, though, undermines excellent copy that makes a powerful point, before the chart makes it look like thumb-suck scaremongering.
The paper version has a complete key that shows those are the "unconfirmed" attacks with preliminary classification.
Even that, though, undermines excellent copy that makes a powerful point, before the chart makes it look like thumb-suck scaremongering.
I still remember the arguments that you can't make money from free software, that open source is inherently unsustainable. (With a lot of that coming from Microsoft...)
After Confluent, IBM will have spent well over $50 billion on OSS acquisitions since 2018
www.thestack.technology/ibm-to-buy-c...
After Confluent, IBM will have spent well over $50 billion on OSS acquisitions since 2018
www.thestack.technology/ibm-to-buy-c...
IBM to buy Confluent – and treat it like Red Hat?
More than $50 billion on OSS acquisitions later, some in the Kafka community hope IBM brings stability, others worry about the impact.
www.thestack.technology
December 8, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I still remember the arguments that you can't make money from free software, that open source is inherently unsustainable. (With a lot of that coming from Microsoft...)
After Confluent, IBM will have spent well over $50 billion on OSS acquisitions since 2018
www.thestack.technology/ibm-to-buy-c...
After Confluent, IBM will have spent well over $50 billion on OSS acquisitions since 2018
www.thestack.technology/ibm-to-buy-c...
This turned into the hook for today's @news24southafrica.bsky.social column.
The apparent involvement of a South African legislative party in sending mercenaries to fight for Russia is no big deal in Washington, but you'd better believe Brussels is watching.
www.news24.com/opinions/col...
The apparent involvement of a South African legislative party in sending mercenaries to fight for Russia is no big deal in Washington, but you'd better believe Brussels is watching.
www.news24.com/opinions/col...
December 8, 2025 at 10:14 AM
This turned into the hook for today's @news24southafrica.bsky.social column.
The apparent involvement of a South African legislative party in sending mercenaries to fight for Russia is no big deal in Washington, but you'd better believe Brussels is watching.
www.news24.com/opinions/col...
The apparent involvement of a South African legislative party in sending mercenaries to fight for Russia is no big deal in Washington, but you'd better believe Brussels is watching.
www.news24.com/opinions/col...
South Africa gets angry if you call it a Russian ally. It has told Ukraine it can be a neutral mediator.
ALSO, one of the parties in the legislature apparently paid to send (probably unwitting) mercenaries to fight for Russia.
With deep involvement by the immediate family of a former President.
ALSO, one of the parties in the legislature apparently paid to send (probably unwitting) mercenaries to fight for Russia.
With deep involvement by the immediate family of a former President.
Despite insisting it had nothing to do with sending 17 men to Russia for “bodyguard training”, News24 can reveal that the MK Party (MKP) was invoiced for at least one of the men’s flights to that country.
Conned into combat: MKP invoiced R20k for one-way ticket to war for men fighting for Russia | News24
Despite insisting it had nothing to do with sending 17 men to Russia for “bodyguard training”, News24 can reveal that the MK Party was invoiced for at least one of the men’s flights to that country.
www.news24.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:57 AM
South Africa gets angry if you call it a Russian ally. It has told Ukraine it can be a neutral mediator.
ALSO, one of the parties in the legislature apparently paid to send (probably unwitting) mercenaries to fight for Russia.
With deep involvement by the immediate family of a former President.
ALSO, one of the parties in the legislature apparently paid to send (probably unwitting) mercenaries to fight for Russia.
With deep involvement by the immediate family of a former President.
AI electricity use is a legitimate concern, but projecting current intelligence-per-watt forward without assuming massive efficiency gains is just barely short of a factual mistake.
And requires a fundamental misapprehension about how both hardware and software has pretty much always evolved.
And requires a fundamental misapprehension about how both hardware and software has pretty much always evolved.
December 3, 2025 at 2:28 PM
AI electricity use is a legitimate concern, but projecting current intelligence-per-watt forward without assuming massive efficiency gains is just barely short of a factual mistake.
And requires a fundamental misapprehension about how both hardware and software has pretty much always evolved.
And requires a fundamental misapprehension about how both hardware and software has pretty much always evolved.
You can put Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk in a pink bikini, via a simple "twinning" LLM attack to bypass filters.
ChatGPT5.1 is not falling for it right now, but this is Perplexity's take.
Original report is based on Nano Banana Pro.
anthonymattas.com/articles/twi...
ChatGPT5.1 is not falling for it right now, but this is Perplexity's take.
Original report is based on Nano Banana Pro.
anthonymattas.com/articles/twi...
December 2, 2025 at 5:54 PM
You can put Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk in a pink bikini, via a simple "twinning" LLM attack to bypass filters.
ChatGPT5.1 is not falling for it right now, but this is Perplexity's take.
Original report is based on Nano Banana Pro.
anthonymattas.com/articles/twi...
ChatGPT5.1 is not falling for it right now, but this is Perplexity's take.
Original report is based on Nano Banana Pro.
anthonymattas.com/articles/twi...
Credit to Google.org for going public on its $1m gift around AI to Tel Aviv University (TAU), when its parent is already taking internal pain for selling war-enabling service to Israel.
If you could get a "quietly" into the headline, it would run harder. Seeming unapologetic is a lesser PR evil.
If you could get a "quietly" into the headline, it would run harder. Seeming unapologetic is a lesser PR evil.
November 27, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Credit to Google.org for going public on its $1m gift around AI to Tel Aviv University (TAU), when its parent is already taking internal pain for selling war-enabling service to Israel.
If you could get a "quietly" into the headline, it would run harder. Seeming unapologetic is a lesser PR evil.
If you could get a "quietly" into the headline, it would run harder. Seeming unapologetic is a lesser PR evil.
Wednesday: Naver (basically S.Korea's Google) buys Upbit (basically S.Korea's Coinbase) with promises to converge AI and Web3 and change the world with hot-shit tech.
Thursday: Upbit loses $30 million in what sounds like an old-fashioned bypass hack.
Thursday: Upbit loses $30 million in what sounds like an old-fashioned bypass hack.
November 27, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Wednesday: Naver (basically S.Korea's Google) buys Upbit (basically S.Korea's Coinbase) with promises to converge AI and Web3 and change the world with hot-shit tech.
Thursday: Upbit loses $30 million in what sounds like an old-fashioned bypass hack.
Thursday: Upbit loses $30 million in what sounds like an old-fashioned bypass hack.
Japan is like an idealised version of what's happening in parts of Europe, the tension between rising xenophobia and the shortage of workers in the short term, and falling birth rates in the longer term. More acute all around.
But the impact is almost identical: flashpoint politics, and populism.
But the impact is almost identical: flashpoint politics, and populism.
Anti-foreigner sentiment is on the rise as Japan wrestles with how to keep its identity intact amid plummeting birth rates.
What’s Japan’s Problem with Foreigners?
Anti-foreigner sentiment is on the rise as Japan wrestles with how to keep its identity intact amid plummeting birth rates.
buff.ly
November 26, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Japan is like an idealised version of what's happening in parts of Europe, the tension between rising xenophobia and the shortage of workers in the short term, and falling birth rates in the longer term. More acute all around.
But the impact is almost identical: flashpoint politics, and populism.
But the impact is almost identical: flashpoint politics, and populism.
Castro double-dipped on the political gains. Gaddafi used it as a tool for extortion. The US made it part of everyday politics. And then planes full of Palestinians arrived in South Africa – which is fundamentally vulnerable to coerced migration.
www.news24.com/opinions/col...
www.news24.com/opinions/col...
Phillip de Wet | SA is a big fat weaponised-migration target. It needs a plan | News24
Weaponised migration is an old problem for which South Africa, a prime victim, needs to be better prepared, writes Phillip de Wet.
www.news24.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Castro double-dipped on the political gains. Gaddafi used it as a tool for extortion. The US made it part of everyday politics. And then planes full of Palestinians arrived in South Africa – which is fundamentally vulnerable to coerced migration.
www.news24.com/opinions/col...
www.news24.com/opinions/col...
The UK's Nuclear Regulatory Review, out today, cites two (2) reasons you have to go build-baby-build on nuclear power:
* electrification of stuff like cars as part of de-carbonisation
* AI
That's the only new demand driver it anticipates, and ranks way below geopolitical instability in importance.
* electrification of stuff like cars as part of de-carbonisation
* AI
That's the only new demand driver it anticipates, and ranks way below geopolitical instability in importance.
November 24, 2025 at 9:26 AM
The UK's Nuclear Regulatory Review, out today, cites two (2) reasons you have to go build-baby-build on nuclear power:
* electrification of stuff like cars as part of de-carbonisation
* AI
That's the only new demand driver it anticipates, and ranks way below geopolitical instability in importance.
* electrification of stuff like cars as part of de-carbonisation
* AI
That's the only new demand driver it anticipates, and ranks way below geopolitical instability in importance.
Voice is still expensive and complicated compared to text. But I think the tech space in South Africa is missing out on finally cracking aliterate users.
And voice-first should be very politically palatable.
www.itweb.co.za/article/oped...
And voice-first should be very politically palatable.
www.itweb.co.za/article/oped...
OpEd: In SA, you should be thinking voice-led agentic
If you're going agentic for anything public-facing, please build voice into the workflow, writes ITWeb contributor Phillip de Wet.
www.itweb.co.za
November 21, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Voice is still expensive and complicated compared to text. But I think the tech space in South Africa is missing out on finally cracking aliterate users.
And voice-first should be very politically palatable.
www.itweb.co.za/article/oped...
And voice-first should be very politically palatable.
www.itweb.co.za/article/oped...
"I don't do drugs, but if the 'just say no' campaign was used on me, maybe I would."
- (Sadly a Chatham Rule conversation, so I can't attribute.)
- (Sadly a Chatham Rule conversation, so I can't attribute.)
November 19, 2025 at 6:21 PM
"I don't do drugs, but if the 'just say no' campaign was used on me, maybe I would."
- (Sadly a Chatham Rule conversation, so I can't attribute.)
- (Sadly a Chatham Rule conversation, so I can't attribute.)
Hating on "AI" (in reference to some stupid video-clip generator) is starting to irk me approximately as much as complaining about "the media" (in reference to one outlet).
Do you meant the AI that might solve antibacterial resistance? That is reducing grid energy loss? Then be more specific.
Do you meant the AI that might solve antibacterial resistance? That is reducing grid energy loss? Then be more specific.
November 19, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Hating on "AI" (in reference to some stupid video-clip generator) is starting to irk me approximately as much as complaining about "the media" (in reference to one outlet).
Do you meant the AI that might solve antibacterial resistance? That is reducing grid energy loss? Then be more specific.
Do you meant the AI that might solve antibacterial resistance? That is reducing grid energy loss? Then be more specific.
"...indicators that many [thieves] are only interested in Apple iPhones."
iPhones hold value better, sure. But given Apple's tight control of both hardware and software, there's a case to be answered here: where is the vendor? Is it tracking the data, and making a plan?
iPhones hold value better, sure. But given Apple's tight control of both hardware and software, there's a case to be answered here: where is the vendor? Is it tracking the data, and making a plan?
The brutal reality of life as an Android owner in London: First you’re shocked as you’re mugged. Then you’re humiliated as the thief returns the device. www.londoncentric.media/p/london-pho...
"Don't want no Samsung"
Plus: Scroll down to see what might be the strangest new artwork in the capital and read more on our investigations into the capital's landlords.
www.londoncentric.media
November 18, 2025 at 8:56 AM
"...indicators that many [thieves] are only interested in Apple iPhones."
iPhones hold value better, sure. But given Apple's tight control of both hardware and software, there's a case to be answered here: where is the vendor? Is it tracking the data, and making a plan?
iPhones hold value better, sure. But given Apple's tight control of both hardware and software, there's a case to be answered here: where is the vendor? Is it tracking the data, and making a plan?
Every LLM I use does much better when asked for "succinct" rather than "short" or "brief".
This, in my experience, is also true of human writers of every kind.
Interesting work to be done, here.
This, in my experience, is also true of human writers of every kind.
Interesting work to be done, here.
November 12, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Every LLM I use does much better when asked for "succinct" rather than "short" or "brief".
This, in my experience, is also true of human writers of every kind.
Interesting work to be done, here.
This, in my experience, is also true of human writers of every kind.
Interesting work to be done, here.
Not sure if this now makes me a royalist. But looking at the British royal family's place in UK society recently, I find myself arguing that other countries can do with a bit of that. As long as the costs are strictly contained.
www.news24.com/opinions/col...
www.news24.com/opinions/col...
Phillip de Wet | The British royal family is bad value for money, but still worth emulating | News24
Between kicking out Andrew and simply being there when one man with a knife terrorised Britain, the royal family has partly paid its way, writes Phillip de Wet.
www.news24.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Not sure if this now makes me a royalist. But looking at the British royal family's place in UK society recently, I find myself arguing that other countries can do with a bit of that. As long as the costs are strictly contained.
www.news24.com/opinions/col...
www.news24.com/opinions/col...
Google and OpenAI effectively have infinite money. Apple and Anthropic and Meta aren't far behind. I'm deep into the Google ecosystem, with a bit of apple. Yet, as a wildly promiscuous LLM user, Perplexity is still my go-to answer engine.
Starting to think we don't need to worry about monoculture.
Starting to think we don't need to worry about monoculture.
November 7, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Google and OpenAI effectively have infinite money. Apple and Anthropic and Meta aren't far behind. I'm deep into the Google ecosystem, with a bit of apple. Yet, as a wildly promiscuous LLM user, Perplexity is still my go-to answer engine.
Starting to think we don't need to worry about monoculture.
Starting to think we don't need to worry about monoculture.
Mobile phones begat battery development that massively accelerated renewable energy.
There seems a decent chance AI will do the same for carbon capture, because data centres that can't wait turn to LNG – but can't defend doing so. And have, effectively, infinite money to address that tension.
There seems a decent chance AI will do the same for carbon capture, because data centres that can't wait turn to LNG – but can't defend doing so. And have, effectively, infinite money to address that tension.
November 5, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Mobile phones begat battery development that massively accelerated renewable energy.
There seems a decent chance AI will do the same for carbon capture, because data centres that can't wait turn to LNG – but can't defend doing so. And have, effectively, infinite money to address that tension.
There seems a decent chance AI will do the same for carbon capture, because data centres that can't wait turn to LNG – but can't defend doing so. And have, effectively, infinite money to address that tension.
Remarkable to listen to analysts talk about Donald Trump's statements (in this case on Nigeria) with the same language Christians use about the Old Testament: it's true but don't take it literally, it meets the morality of the audience, influences through description though it sounds like command.
November 2, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Remarkable to listen to analysts talk about Donald Trump's statements (in this case on Nigeria) with the same language Christians use about the Old Testament: it's true but don't take it literally, it meets the morality of the audience, influences through description though it sounds like command.
All the noise is about AI. But it is striking how 2025 is becoming the year in which the IT sector comes to grips with the encryption disaster that is quantum computing.
This week: Cloudflare says it is about to start experimenting with a neat way to prevent server impersonation.
This week: Cloudflare says it is about to start experimenting with a neat way to prevent server impersonation.
October 30, 2025 at 1:32 PM
All the noise is about AI. But it is striking how 2025 is becoming the year in which the IT sector comes to grips with the encryption disaster that is quantum computing.
This week: Cloudflare says it is about to start experimenting with a neat way to prevent server impersonation.
This week: Cloudflare says it is about to start experimenting with a neat way to prevent server impersonation.
One way to think about it: like any good employee, LLMs works towards their metrics – and if you have bad metrics, you get bad output from, eventually, bad employees.
Some good stuff happening in benchmarking, though, which could help significantly.
www.science.org/content/arti...
Some good stuff happening in benchmarking, though, which could help significantly.
www.science.org/content/arti...
AI hallucinates because it’s trained to fake answers it doesn’t know
Teaching chatbots to say “I don’t know” could curb hallucinations. It could also break AI’s business model
www.science.org
October 29, 2025 at 10:33 AM
One way to think about it: like any good employee, LLMs works towards their metrics – and if you have bad metrics, you get bad output from, eventually, bad employees.
Some good stuff happening in benchmarking, though, which could help significantly.
www.science.org/content/arti...
Some good stuff happening in benchmarking, though, which could help significantly.
www.science.org/content/arti...