Ah, I’m being sarcastic. Britain gets accused by right wingers of being unsafe and full of mistrust *because* of diversity. My comment is a joke, but the unsmiling face is staring straight at those people.
But how can Britain be so trusting when it’s so diverse??? 😐
The irony that Anthropic are desperately trying to allow the use of their technologies to protect democracy, only to find the biggest threat to democracy to be their own government is pretty chilling…
youtu.be/MPTNHrq_4LU?...
Governments worldwide are moving to restrict youth access to social media — from Australia’s nationwide under-16 ban to fast-moving proposals in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Tech Policy Press is tracking these legislative efforts across continents and jurisdictions. 40 countries on the map:
Interesting set of practical applications of AI in public administration…
“GovTech Lab Ukraine selects winning innovation startups - Smart Cities World”
Did the centre just hold by 5 to 4??!!!
The political effects of X's feed algorithm https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10098-2 Received: 16 December 2024 Accepted: 4 January 2026 Published online: 18 February 2026 Open access • Check for updates Germain Gauthier,5, Roland Hodler?5, Philine Widmer35 & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya3,4,5 m Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects'. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk's platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users' feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X's algorithm has persistent effects on users' current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship.
A new paper shows that less than 2 months of exposure to Twitter’s algorithmic feed significantly shifts people’s political views to the right.
Moving from chronological feed to the algorithmic feed also increases engagement.
This is one of the most concerning papers I’ve read in awhile.
I am very excited to introduce you to the Neurodivergent Music Network, a cross-disciplinary hub for neurodivergent researchers exploring the intersection between music and neurodivergence.
Our mission is to collectively establish Neurodivergent Music Studies as a distinct academic field.
This is a great resource for city & neighbourhood leaders, and smart city practitioners:
“This collection of articles explores the forefront of sustainable urbanism, where city districts generate more renewable energy than they consume…”
The strategy is “diminish US power”. That should be patently obvious by now. The Trump administration isn’t carrying out an American strategy at all.
So many of these “AI opportunities” can already be done with good service & process design, and data sharing. Hard to see how AI is suddenly going to overcome the bureaucratic inertia that stands in the way…
How cities are using AI in 2026
It might have been Antonio Gaudi.
"Compliance is a behavioural goal, but many departments still rely on legacy KPIs built around enforcement activity rather than customer experience or voluntary adherence."
How many other municipal services and metrics is this true of?!
I'm interested to discover what they determine "quantum-ready workforce" to actually mean.
"Chattanooga secures grant for quantum workforce development - Smart Cities World"
This is just very cool to see...
"Candela P-12 completes record-breaking voyage - Marine Business"
True. If, say, Uber decided to buy Tesla instead of doing licensing deals with Lucid & others, that would be a strong move.
I’m still confused about “augmenting” drivers though - the truly efficient model would be centralised drivers controlling vehicles remotely through complex traffic areas.
A UK city official I once interviewed on the meaning of 'smart cities' said to me "a smart city is a city that knows the value of things". It's a comment that has always stuck with me, and so it's always fascinating to see what cities measure in order to gauge their progress & success...
#vancouver
“We’re more convinced than ever that AVs will unlock a multitrillion dollar opportunity for Uber".
“This is not the kind of a technology that is going to replace [human drivers]; it’s going to augment [them]".
Discuss... 😆
I'm looking forward to engaging with this new initiative from Smart Cities World - to access & hopefully contribute to the repository of AI best practice in cities..
"SmartCitiesWorld launches AI CityXchange to support cities at every stage of AI adoption"
🔴 Exclusive: Corporate donations British parties tripled over last three elections
But here's key thing: almost none is from FTSE500/listed companies
It's almost all companies controlled by super-wealthy individuals, or small, opaque firms
New on D4S: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-c...
Interesting looking event at Harvard & online next week...
"Building Resilient Workforces Through Place-Based Economic Policy - Bloomberg Center for Cities"
Yeah, it would def be useful to see exactly what those 32 in progress or completed projects are, and what the outputs & outcomes were.
I guess these new proposals don’t have operational data yet, which is why they need pilot hosts.
Really interesting to see integrated packages of support and capacity building like this, conducted internationally and then handed over to local governance. I think it's a valuable and repeatable model that more smart cities and climate action practitioners should be involved with.
"Pilot projects in the latest Leading Cities AcceliGOV programme enables cities to launch proven climate and infrastructure solutions in approximately 90 days."
All GDS’ original procurement guardrails are dead. It’s sickening!
“A country that publicly executes people cannot host a football World Cup!”
NEW: India is avoiding the fossil fuel detour 🪝
Where China built first on coal and gas, India is taking a shortcut >>> read in 5 graphics🧵
