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Matthew Hughes

@matthewhughes.bsky.social

1.7K followers 1.6K following 1K posts

Journalist (ex The Register, The Next Web, HowToGeek). Writer. Software developer. Dog owner (x3). Scouser. I have a newsletter about how tech companies are ruining our lives. https://whatwelost.substack.com/

whatwelost.substack.com

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

My latest newsletter is about how the generative AI industry made us fear the wrong things.

AGI won't kill us all, and AI won't take our jobs. But it'll still harm us.

Generative AI a paper tiger, with a real tiger behind it.

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

Generative AI is a Paper Tiger with a Real Tiger Behind It

We Were Afraid Of The Wrong Stuff

whatwelost.substack.com

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 2h

It’s genuinely funny getting research/analyst quotes for @edzitron.com and seeing how people react when I say my questions are for Ed.

Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 4h

You doing good man?

Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 4h

That’s such a good headline though.

Reposted by Matthew Hughes

Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 4h

Sigh. futurism.com/artificial-i...

Amazon Caught Peddling AI Slop Version of Cory Doctorow That's So Ironic That We Have to Go Outside and Stare at the Sky for a Bit

The renowned tech critic's book "Enshittification" hasn't even been out for a full day, and Amazon is already selling AI-generated knockoffs.

futurism.com

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Reposted by Matthew Hughes

Shane Jones @shane.co.uk · 8h

The first "UK Porn Block" / "Child Safety" data breach is out.

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2025/oct/07/discord-data-breach-proof-of-age-id-leaked

I knew it would be quick, but not that quick.

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 17h

One of my potentially unpopular opinions is that getting a first aid certificate should be a prerequisite to hold a driver’s license, as it is in Germany.

Also, well done!

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 17h

It’s just spectacular to see how committed Microsoft is to killing its game business.

Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 19h

Also that (and I say as much in the piece.

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 19h

Oh, it’s more along the lines of “I want to support these people.”

I have genuinely paid extra to buy genuine Arduino in the past, even though it costs 10x as much (more if bought from Maplin, RIP), because I wanted to support them.

Even though legally there’s nothing wrong with the knock-offs.

Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 19h

a man wearing a surgical gown and a mask says but why

ALT: a man wearing a surgical gown and a mask says but why

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Matthew Hughes

Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 21h

I'll be joining @benjedwards.com at 3:30 ET to talk about the AI bubble, join us!

Benj Edwards @benjedwards.com · 23h

Heads-up that I’ll be talking to @edzitron.com about the AI hype machine and the “AI bubble” this afternoon live on YouTube: 3:30 P Eastern, 12:30 P Pacific

arstechnica.com/ai/2025/10/a...

Ars Live: Is the AI bubble about to pop? A live chat with Ed Zitron.

Join a live discussion on October 7 about the AI gold rush.

arstechnica.com

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Reposted by Matthew Hughes

jon mothman @jonchristian.net · 22h

folks, what are we even doing here

In one video, a forklift delivers Hawking’s wheelchair into a WWE-style ring, where he’s immediately knocked to the ground by burly wrestlers.

“This shouldn’t even be legal!” exclaims an announcer in the AI-generated clip.

In another video, Hawking takes blow after blow to the face from a UFC fighter. “Hawking’s in trouble,” the announcer yells, as the physicist topples out of his wheelchair.

In another, Hawking is trampled by a raging bull. In another, he’s attacked by a crocodile that drags him into a muddy river. In yet another, he drops into a skateboarding halfpipe and wipes out badly, smoke pouring from his wheelchair.

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

/fin.

If you want to read the whole thing, chuck me a subscribe.

<3

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

Generative AI is a Paper Tiger with a Real Tiger Behind It

We Were Afraid Of The Wrong Stuff

whatwelost.substack.com

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

Those risks are the real tigers.

These are the things we need to be wary of. The things we need to fight back against. And the things that we, like Paul Revere, need to warn the world about.

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

Generative AI is a Paper Tiger with a Real Tiger Behind It

We Were Afraid Of The Wrong Stuff

whatwelost.substack.com

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

The biggest lie the generative AI industry ever told is that it was a threat to our livelihood and our lives.

This disguised other, and arguably more sinister threats, and as a result, we're oblivious to the risk that this technology actually poses.

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

Instead, we're seeing short-form videos generated with Veo3 and Sora that don't pretend to be anything other than AI-generated, and that try to reinforce an idea through tropes and low-brow jokes.

A lie, repeated often enough, becomes truth.

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

Even when it comes to disinformation, generative AI's threat isn't what we were first warned about.

We expected sophisticated deepfakes, or fake news publications churning out copy at a scale faster than the New York Times.

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

This is the real tiger hiding behind generative AI.

ChatGPT was never the problem. It was the Jack Welch clones that helm every FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 company.

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

If it was anything else, why would Meta bring back stack ranking, and start purging "low performers"?

Why are some of the WITCH "big five" outsourcing companies seeing faster revenue growth than Apple, and all but one having positive growth?

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

Three years into this farce, there is no evidence that AI is taking people's jobs, as a recent Yale study shows.

The tech job market sucks, but that's because companies are taking advantage of the moment to outsource and cutback on pandemic-era headcount.

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

AI, they said, would kill the market for software engineers.

Meanwhile, some software engineers are making bank fixing vibe-coded apps, in part because coding != software engineering.

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

They said agents -- not people -- were the future.

The same agents that don't work, and that the people who are forced to use them absolutely despise.

My favorite review of Salesforce's Agentforce: "Using Agentforce is like vomiting on a piece of shit."

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

It's important to understand what generative AI is actually doing, and compare it to what we were warned against.

We were told that AI would destroy entry-level jobs within a few years. We were told that genAI models wouldn't hallucinate by 2025.

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

With generative AI -- and AI more broadly -- we were warned that it might destroy the job market, and perhaps also humanity.

The only other technology that I could think of that parallels this is...

Wait for it.

The nuclear bomb.

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

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Matthew Hughes @matthewhughes.bsky.social · 23h

As a society, we're really bad about predicting the negative impacts of new technological breakthroughs. And so, when something new bursts on the scene, it's all positive. The bad shit comes later.

Generative AI was different, however.

whatwelost.substack.com/p/generative...

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