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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons
@alexparsons.bsky.social
1.2K followers 850 following 2.2K posts
Democracy Programme Lead / Senior Researcher - mySociety/TheyWorkForYou. Also for some reason Postman Pat reviews.
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · Mar 4
Today we've added some new features to TheyWorkForYou and launched an accompanying report about money in politics. See more at whofundsthem.com
WhoFundsThem
Building better information about money in politics.
whofundsthem.com
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 1d
(I'm not working this week but sign up to hear about the new information we're adding toTheyWorkForYou!)
mysociety.org
mySociety @mysociety.org · 2d
New stuff on TheyWorkForYou ahoy! Join us at lunchtime on Thursday, October 23, when our own @alexparsons.bsky.social and @juliacushion.bsky.social will be talking through what's new.

For full details and to book your free spot: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/theyworkfo...
TheyWorkForYou update: a richer view of Parliament
We want to improve the quality of UK democracy by making more and better information available - join us to hear about our latest updates.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 2d
Not only will people not sue us, they'll pay us money for their characters to sell bitcoin.
crushbort.bsky.social
bort @crushbort.bsky.social · 2d
i think we are going to find out at some point these guys invented cocaine 2 and have been on it all along
Buried in Altman's post is the real story: "People are generating much more than we expected per user," using massive compute resources on content that's often being generated for very small audiences (it is, after all, a social media app). OpenAl will "have to somehow make money for video generation," Altman wrote. Translation: Sora is burning through compute costs with no offsetting revenue. Altman floated a potential solution: "We are going to try sharing some of this revenue with rightsholders who want their characters generated by users." The idea-perhaps similar to You Tube's ad-monetization program for videos that include copyrighted material -would give studios a financial incentive to opt in. "The exact model will take some trial and error to figure out," Altman acknowledged, "but we plan to start very soon."
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 2d
And somewhere in the middle you get the quadratic voting fans - whose answer is "yeees, but with diminishing returns the more you care"
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 2d
Although they don't really understand each other, "no" to this question is what unites more elitist forms of electoral democracy and citizen assembly fans.
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 2d
"Should people who care more get more say" is one of the interesting democratic divides.
deargodwhatnow.bsky.social
Daniel @deargodwhatnow.bsky.social · 2d
It's vastly underappreciated imho how a small number of dedicated and unified people can push through a huge amount of social change, whether you like them or not
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 2d
Yeah real double edged sword that one.
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 2d
I was experimenting with "can it help me find someone who's talked about this from this angle" and it referenced a real report that wasn't available on the internet and started making up direct quotes.
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 2d
"give me supporting evidence for this" is one of the most dangerous uses. It will definitely give you something.
gavin-kelly.bsky.social
Gavin Kelly @gavin-kelly.bsky.social · 2d
I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of this.
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 2d
(More on that second one in a few weeks)
alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 2d
In general, citizens assemblies have a really clear role for areas where elected representatives have a conflict of interest (setting the rules of politics) or where politicians making decisions *creates* conflicts of interest (e.g. distributing public funding for scrutiny).
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 2d
Looks like the IPSA citizens forum has now happened, would be interesting to see when the full thing is published www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Walker also said Ipsa was working towards increasing public understanding about the way MPs were funded, with pay currently set at £93,904 a year, and the annual maximum for costs associated with their works at £250,000. After setting up an independently run “citizens’ forum” to debate the issue, she said the group changed their views on MPs’ pay. They “mostly believe MPs’ pay is fair, but that it should remain grounded in the context of the wider social and economic realities facing ordinary working people”, Walker said. After the exercise, Ipsa is proposing that the way it sets MP pay should be “based on the main recommendations made by the citizens’ forum”. Some other findings of the forum were that MPs’ pay could be benchmarked against comparable roles in the public service and similar democracies; be linked in part to national average household income; and reflect the demanding nature of the role.
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 3d
Adding to the thread; bsky.app/profile/acas...
acastroaraujo.bsky.social
andrés castro araújo @acastroaraujo.bsky.social · 3d
"The guts of institutions is that somebody somewhere really cares to hold an organization to the standards and is often paid to do that."
mcopelov.bsky.social
Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 3d
We have institutions in place to address both of these problems, but they require people who swore oaths on Bibles to the country & Constitution to do their damn jobs.
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 4d
On shares specifically, we've ripped off @chriscook.news 's point about the much stronger US rule. £70k is really high! research.mysociety.org/html/beyond-...
Excerpt from: Beyond Transparency
Practical steps to improve data quality and fix the wider environment
research.mysociety.org
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 4d
Also I think we can do more from the outside about this (resources needed, but the practical steps clear) research.mysociety.org/html/beyond-...
Excerpt from: Beyond Transparency
Practical steps to improve data quality and fix the wider environment
research.mysociety.org
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 4d
Few things on this.

More can be done to detect and prompt MPs with ongoing interests to be up to date. Parliament needs to see data quality as an institutional problem rather than a individual matter.

research.mysociety.org/html/beyond-...
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 4d
Some good numbers in quoted tweet for the transition to post-social media alexparsons.co.uk/blog/posts/2...
Reposted by Alex Parsons
mysociety.org
mySociety @mysociety.org · 7d
There's still time - but only just - to sign up to today's #FOI event in which three experts will be looking at how FOI law works when it meets the real world. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/putting-tr...
Putting transparency to the test: evaluating FOI in practice
How can we tell if FOI laws are working in practice? Three expert speakers will help us assess whether legislation matches reality.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
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Reposted by Alex Parsons
drewharwell.com
Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 8d
OpenAI employees are very excited about how well their new AI tool can create fake videos of people doing crimes and have definitely thought through all the implications of this
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 8d
Post-social media giants having shed their social graph might find they have no moat (which might be an even tougher situation to regulate) alexparsons.co.uk/blog/posts/2...
Post-Social Media
Social media sheds its most unreliable component: other people
alexparsons.co.uk
alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 8d
And fully open models make the social debate more complicated because it puts the lie to the idea LLMs have to depend on theft, while still potentially having a big social impact.
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Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 8d
LLMs being everywhere while all existing AI companies have gone bust is one version of the future.
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 8d
Been doing some work using open models locally and it's really reinforced how LLMs are a useful technology while the broader AI business models make no sense.
ryanlcooper.com
ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 8d
"Plan for a future where you can buy GPUs for ten cents on the dollar, where there's a buyer's market for hiring skilled applied statisticians, and where there's a ton of extremely promising open source models" pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...
Pluralistic: The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh (27 Sep 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.net
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Reposted by Alex Parsons
qjurecic.bsky.social
Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 8d
(Battle Hymn of the Republic plays in the background)
sellars.bsky.social
Andy Sellars @sellars.bsky.social · 8d
AAUP v. Rubio is out, and look at how it starts. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Ahead of the case caption, a handwritten note: "Trump has pardons and tanks . . . . what do you have?" Judge Young's reply: "Dear Mr. or Ms. Anonymous, Alone, I have nothing but my sense of duty. Together, We the People of the United States –- you and me -- have our magnificent Constitution. Here’s how that works out in a specific case –- "
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alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 8d
Just from the "two chambers is a useful way of reflecting several principles at once" perspective alexparsons.co.uk/blog/posts/s...
Don't replace the Lords - split the Commons
What an elected second chamber is for.
alexparsons.co.uk
alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 8d
My "is this actually really core or is it wrecking by expanding the scope" question is if House of Lords reform should be in the same discussion.
dmk1793.bsky.social
David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 8d
I've written for @uniofbathipr.bsky.social blog about why the @appgfairelections.bsky.social's blueprint for a "National Commission on Electoral Reform" avoids the pitfalls of previous electoral reform efforts (e.g. the Jenkins Commission), and offers a way for British politics to escape from FPTP
Why a “National Commission” is the way forward for electoral reform
Electoral reform is back on the UK’s political agenda as First-Past-the-Post strains under the pressures of multi-party politics. The new APPG for Fair Elections proposes a National Commission to e…
blogs.bath.ac.uk
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