Paul Langley | Lightnews

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 2d

Materialism is triumphant at the Whitehouse, apparently
www.ft.com/content/572b...

What lies behind Trump’s retro oil plundering?

Doubling down on fossil fuels threatens to leave the US floundering in the AI race with China

www.ft.com

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 2d

There's no need to panic, it's priced in!

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 3d

Financial Times reading like David Harvey right here www.ft.com/content/7be4...

The new era of resource imperialism

Trump’s military actions in Venezuela show how US foreign policy has become geared towards securing access to energy and critical minerals

www.ft.com

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 5d

www.ft.com/content/0004...

State-controlled investors own a quarter of private credit

Big and getting bigger

www.ft.com

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 5d

In the context of the regulatory struggles of several higher profile European FinTechs, $38mn is a very small price to pay for a prized banking license

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 5d

Zilch buys Lithuanian lender to secure European banking licence ft.trib.al/MRcL4IH

Zilch buys Lithuanian lender to secure European banking licence

UK fintech agrees $38mn deal as it eyes international expansion and potential IPO

ft.trib.al

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 5d

Zilch buys Lithuanian lender to secure European banking licence ft.trib.al/MRcL4IH

Zilch buys Lithuanian lender to secure European banking licence

UK fintech agrees $38mn deal as it eyes international expansion and potential IPO

ft.trib.al

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 5d

What might be called 'the hegemon's exception' is fast becoming the norm in the rules based international order

Peggy March @rebelgeo.bsky.social · 6d

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

US will be exempt from global tax deal targeting profits of large multinationals

Agreement finalised by the OECD waters down a landmark 2021 deal that set a minimum global corporate tax of 15%

www.theguardian.com

Peggy March @rebelgeo.bsky.social · 6d

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

US will be exempt from global tax deal targeting profits of large multinationals

Agreement finalised by the OECD waters down a landmark 2021 deal that set a minimum global corporate tax of 15%

www.theguardian.com

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 6d

The private equity investment strategy of USS should be subjected to scrutiny. How USS became main shareholder in debt-laden zombie firms like Thames Water and G.Network is a scandal. Trustees should read research by USS members instead of advice from asset managers
www.ft.com/content/2ca2...

UK broadband operator sold to distressed debt specialist

G.Network’s lenders trigger sale of company with £300mn of net debt but just 25,000 customers

www.ft.com

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 7d

Any assistance or advice on the matter below would be greatly appreciated

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 8d

Can anyone explain the following issue about the class action against Anthropic? I have multiple works in LibGen (searchable via Alex Reisner's tool from The Atlantic) but the same works do not register in the search tool recently created for the class action?

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 7d

The sloppy bubble will burst in 2026
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

The cost of AI slop could cause a rethink that shakes the global economy in 2026

Revenues may be rising rapidly, but not by nearly enough to cover the wild levels of investment under way

www.theguardian.com

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 8d

Can anyone explain the following issue about the class action against Anthropic? I have multiple works in LibGen (searchable via Alex Reisner's tool from The Atlantic) but the same works do not register in the search tool recently created for the class action?

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 12d

Private equity is eating itself

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 12d

Private equity struggles to value assets, sells assets to itself to pay investors.

Sold £79.2bn of assets to itself, to new entities under its control with money from new investors to pay earlier investors.

A ponzi scheme full of conflict of interests.

PE firms sell assets to themselves at a record rate in 2025

Private equity firms sold companies to themselves at a record rate this year, using a controversial tactic

www.cityam.com

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 12d

No surprises here.
The dot com bubble pivoted around the economic problem of how to monetize the Internet, including subscriptions, intermediary fees, charges, etc. and generating advertising revenues. The platform business models that emerged are now being adapted in the context of the AI bubble.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 12d

“This could look like a user asking how much ibuprofen to take for a headache receiving a promoted ad for Advil in the chatbot’s response. Meanwhile, actual results on correct dosage may be brushed to the side, or buried under a mountain of ad text…”

OpenAI Reportedly Planning to Make ChatGPT "Prioritize" Advertisers in Conversation

OpenAI employees working on ChatGPT report plans to unleash sponsored advertisements above organic results.

futurism.com

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 12d

Private equity struggles to value assets, sells assets to itself to pay investors.

Sold £79.2bn of assets to itself, to new entities under its control with money from new investors to pay earlier investors.

A ponzi scheme full of conflict of interests.

PE firms sell assets to themselves at a record rate in 2025

Private equity firms sold companies to themselves at a record rate this year, using a controversial tactic

www.cityam.com

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 12d

“This could look like a user asking how much ibuprofen to take for a headache receiving a promoted ad for Advil in the chatbot’s response. Meanwhile, actual results on correct dosage may be brushed to the side, or buried under a mountain of ad text…”

OpenAI Reportedly Planning to Make ChatGPT "Prioritize" Advertisers in Conversation

OpenAI employees working on ChatGPT report plans to unleash sponsored advertisements above organic results.

futurism.com

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 13d

An exchange in TSI on Greta Krippner and @asociologist.bsky.social’s paper “The Person and the Category”, about insurance scores and classes, with a comment from Rogers Brubaker, one from Marion Fourcade & myself, and a reply. (Bonus tech thumbnail of guy being horrifically blinded by his screen.)

Comment and Reply: "The Person of the Category"

Editorial Note: In 2023, Rogers Brubaker submitted a comment to Theory and Society on an article that Greta Krippner and Daniel Hirschman had published the year prior in the same journal. Richard Swed...

www.theoryandsocialinquiry.org

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 16d

That's a pretty small concert arena (or one largish farmer's field)

Susan J. Smith @sjs1869.bsky.social · 16d

Apparently, the world is getting richer. Here’s the catch: ‘The top one-in-a-million (about 5,600 adults, enough to fill a concert arena) collectively hold 3% of global wealth, more than the entire bottom half of the world’s adult population’… wid.world/document/wor...

wid.world

Susan J. Smith @sjs1869.bsky.social · 16d

Apparently, the world is getting richer. Here’s the catch: ‘The top one-in-a-million (about 5,600 adults, enough to fill a concert arena) collectively hold 3% of global wealth, more than the entire bottom half of the world’s adult population’… wid.world/document/wor...

wid.world

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 19d

Largesse for the few, austerity for the rest. Spending at UK universities mirroring the UK fiscal state

21 Group @21group.bsky.social · 19d

Ulster University senior management spends freely in the skies

Three trips to Qatar cost £83114, attended by Vice-Chancellor & other senior figures including pro-VCs

St Patrick’s Day visit to Washington added another £61000 — or ~£12400 per head

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/educati...

Ulster University under fire for £83k cost of Qatar trips after telling Stormont it is ‘feeling the squeeze’ of cuts

Ulster University has been criticised over an £83,000 bill for trips to Qatar.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk

21 Group @21group.bsky.social · 19d

Ulster University senior management spends freely in the skies

Three trips to Qatar cost £83114, attended by Vice-Chancellor & other senior figures including pro-VCs

St Patrick’s Day visit to Washington added another £61000 — or ~£12400 per head

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/educati...

Ulster University under fire for £83k cost of Qatar trips after telling Stormont it is ‘feeling the squeeze’ of cuts

Ulster University has been criticised over an £83,000 bill for trips to Qatar.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 20d

Stormy

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 23d

www.ft.com/content/bee3...

Have we reached a tipping point on public debt?

An intolerable burden is being placed on future generations that will result in financial crises and political instability

www.ft.com

Economy & Society @econsocjournal.bsky.social · 25d

Drum roll ... Our final Issue of 2025 is a very Special Issue on (Post-)Growth Infrastructures, edited by Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn and Matthias Kranke.
This was one of two winners supported by funding from our Special Issue Competition.

www.tandfonline.com/toc/reso20/c...

Economy and Society

(Post-)Growth Infrastructures. Guest Editors: Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn and Matthias Kranke. Volume 54, Issue 4 of Economy and Society

www.tandfonline.com

Hyo Yoon Kang 강효윤 @hyoyoonkang.bsky.social · 28d

Spotted in Seoul subway - Korea Fintech Week 2025 “Towards more fintech x AI finance” sponsored by Korean financial regulation authority and ministry of finance

What could go wrong… 😑

Tagging @paullangley.bsky.social

Seoul Subway ad for Korea Fintech Week 2025 “Towards more fintech x AI finance” sponsored by Korean financial regulation authority and ministry of finance

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · Dec 11

Also, FinTech startups: no credit history, no problem - your face can be analysed to determine your creditworthiness

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · Dec 11

Computer scientists: "So with machine learning we can extract subtle patterns from massive datasets. What shall we do with it?"

Business school professors, every single time: "You know, I think phrenology got a raw deal in the late 1800s."

Can Your Face Predict Your Salary? Using AI Personality Assessments in Hiring

A new study from Wharton faculty explores how AI can extract personality traits from facial images — and what that means for your career.

knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · Dec 11

Blowing new, new economy bubbles

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · Dec 11

Get ready for a spectacular IPO boom from the big beasts of Silicon Valley on.ft.com/4q1ytxo | opinion

Get ready for a spectacular IPO boom from the big beasts of Silicon Valley

SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic will break new ground — potentially with the scale of their losses

on.ft.com

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · Dec 11

Computer scientists: "So with machine learning we can extract subtle patterns from massive datasets. What shall we do with it?"

Business school professors, every single time: "You know, I think phrenology got a raw deal in the late 1800s."

Can Your Face Predict Your Salary? Using AI Personality Assessments in Hiring

A new study from Wharton faculty explores how AI can extract personality traits from facial images — and what that means for your career.

knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu