The Ruffian

Is AI going to kill us all? It sounds like a crazy question, and maybe it is a crazy question. But a lot of serious people are taking it seriously, and since it’s been in the news recently, I thought it would be a good idea to talk to one of them. Dan Williams is an Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of Sussex and an Associate Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge.

Catch-up service: The Great and Unfortunate Story of Jason Arday (A note on the awful news about Arday further down)The Last LunchYoung ChurchillDear Me, EnglandAnatomy of a ‘F*ck You’Happy John and Paul Day I am not very fond of arguments over what AI can or cannot do, since they tend to devolve into arguments over definitions. For instance, it used to be said that AI can’t reason.

Girl Reading, Lucian Freud, 1952. Catch-up service: How To Push Back With a Smile From Community To Tribe TikTok Can’t Take All the Blame For Populism The BBC’s Friends Can Be Its Worst Enemies Are Parents Too Close To Their Children? Postcard From Venice 5 AI Failure Modes Shared By Humans Because it’s nearly Christmas and because I’m a fool to myself I’m offering a 25% discount on new paid subscriptions, up to and including December 1st.

We talk about it a lot these days, but what is “populism”? If you don’t have a ready answer, don’t worry, neither do the experts. Political scientists have great trouble defining populism because it doesn’t seem fit on a left-right axis. Most populist movements are on the right, but some are on the left (Zack Polanski, the new Green Party leader, is recognisably of this species). So is populism an ideology, or just a style of communicating?

NB this is a bit longer than usual, apparently I had a lot to say. It contains a few links to X; apologies to those who can’t access it. The tone was set by Today, BBC radio’s flagship news programme, the morning after the night before.

Three housekeeping points before we begin: • As previously mentioned, my choir is singing in this concert, coming up next week. It’s going to be a wonderful evening. Tickets available here. • On November 27th I will be talking John & Paul at one of the greatest bookshops in the world: Shakespeare and Company in Paris. It’s free to attend. Come and say hello. I’ll be spending most of that week in Paris if anyone would like to meet for coffee.

Catch-up service: 5 AI Failure Modes Shared By Humans Why Are LLMs fixated on the number 7? The Emperor’s New Diplomacy Podcast: Jemima Kelly on the radical right Successful Politicians Are Pattern-Breakers Is Civility a Fantasy? A reminder to book tickets for my choir’s concert at Cadogan Hall on November 13. Lads, it’s Mozart and Beethoven. With first-rate soloists and orchestra. As Prince would say, it’s gonna be a beautiful night.

Catch-up service: Why Are LLMs fixated on the number 7? The Emperor’s New Diplomacy Podcast: Jemima Kelly on the radical right Successful Politicians Are Pattern-Breakers Is Civility a Fantasy? A Studio 54 Immigration Policy 10 Ways To Buy Happiness AI is a magnet for clever people who like thinking about intelligence and decision-making - people who might in another life have become cognitive psychologists. Indeed there’s considerable cross-fertilisation between the two fields.

Catch-up service: The Emperor’s New Diplomacy Podcast: Jemima Kelly on the radical right Successful Politicians Are Pattern-Breakers Is Civility a Fantasy? A Studio 54 Immigration Policy 10 Ways To Buy Happiness It’s about time we had a midweek Ruffian, isn’t it? I have an exercise for you. Open up the nearest chatbot - ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini - and ask it to name a random number between one and ten. I’ll wait. Ready? Let me guess: it said ‘7’. Why am I so confident?

Trump speaks with Netanyahu at the Knesset in Jerusalem on Oct. 13. Evelyn Hockstein/Getty Images Catch-up service: Podcast: Jemima Kelly on the radical right Successful Politicians Are Pattern-Breakers Is Civility a Fantasy? A Studio 54 Immigration Policy 10 Ways To Buy Happiness Suicide as a Bargaining Tactic Christmas is coming and I need hardly tell you that John & Paulmakes an excellent present. My UK publisher has produced a lovely gold edition just for this purpose.