peterkwells
@peterkwells.com
1.8K followers 420 following 2.8K posts
BlackpoolFC, books, tech, people, policy & delivery, realist. Hopes to make stuff work for everyone. https://peterkwells.com
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peterkwells.com
Presumably expanding the scope of the digital ID plans to include child/parental responsibility and school applications (which happen at local authority level in England) is a next Parliament thing...
peterkwells.com
I'd expect both national security/data protection reqs and environmental sustainability of energy have become bigger factors in the intervening period, as more people buying space in data centres will ask about those?
peterkwells.com
I'm 10 yrs out of telecoms but for latter the list of things to consider for location included stuff like energy & internet connectivity cost and resilience (ie diverse sources of energy, multiple routes to rest of internet), (national) security & data protection reqs, end-user experience
peterkwells.com
I think there's differences in terms of data centres for developing/training/tuning models vs data centres for providing end-user services

I _suspect_ you can go easier on location for former than latter
peterkwells.com
That's problematic :(
peterkwells.com
I say supporting because even without doing "proper" research you can hear various things going on in ppl's minds when they say no, eg

+ already overworked
+ don't know who other teams are
+ don't have right buttons on 'puter they use for everything
+ misplaced fears over privacy/confidentiality
&c
peterkwells.com
Imagine if there was a "Tell Us Once" mantra that wasn't focussed on digital/bits of data, but instead on supporting different bits of public sector - NB: not including milkman and cleaner, obvs - to take responsibility and speak with each other to help people get service outcome they're after?
peterkwells.com
Sister doing other bits of admin for permanently moving elderly relative to care home has today rung:

+ care home
+ NHS matrons
+ social care (no answer)
+ outsourced care provider
+ DWP attendance allowance team (37 mins on phone, got told off by DWP staff)
+ GP (no answer)

(& milkman + cleaners)
peterkwells.com
Hi [NHS org], 3 months ago you said X didn't need any more treatment on lesion but we've now received a letter with a date for an op. X has dementia and is now in a care home 60 miles away

Oh, thanks for letting us know. Can you ring care home & get them to ring us?

Can't you ring them?

Sorry, no
Reposted by peterkwells
jamesomalley.co.uk
Still some room just above the Vauxhall badge for "Free the Postcode Address File".
excelpope.net
See yer da’s got a new car.
peterkwells.com
Irregular reminder that some of the UK AI investment announced last month was double-counting (eg Microsoft's figure included their existing operations) and a lot of the rest depends on this bubble not going >pop<

www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Bank of England warns of growing risk that AI bubble could burst
Possibility of ‘sharp market correction has increased’, says Bank’s financial policy committee
www.theguardian.com
peterkwells.com
Well I know I'm very late to this particular indie folk party but Iechyd Da is delightful

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iechyd_Da
Iechyd Da - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
peterkwells.com
* an alternative name is "the Campaign for Someone Else's Computers Growth Zone"
peterkwells.com
the Campaign to rename AI Growth Zones to Data Centre Growth Zones* and to ask people pushing them to actually draw any meaningful causal link from data centre location -to-> jobs/economic growth/sovereignty/better society starts here

britishprogress.org/reports/unbl...
Unblocking AI Growth Zones
Britain has the chance to lead in the global AI race, but to do so we will need to reform the rules that hold back sustainable development.
britishprogress.org
Reposted by peterkwells
pigsonthewing.org.uk
Looking forward to Stewart Lee's new routine, "These days, you can't even study English..."
peterkwells.com
Imagine the joy people would get from a recommendation like:

"CoPilot 2025:

I worked with Peter to draft an email. He gave good prompts and excellent feedback. Would strongly recommend as a partner for other AI assistants!"
peterkwells.com
Sure, CoPilot pops up unexpectedly & MS are now using people's professional network messages on LinkedIn as training data for genAI models, but MS are still missing a trick to drive more AI use

Why aren't people getting LI recommendations from MS CoPilot for their professional work with CoPilot?
peterkwells.com
The "sovereign AI infrastructure" at the bottom of the FT picture made me spill my coffee
jjaron.bsky.social
Honestly, when the financial press starts printing diagrams like this, isn't it time for a regulator to step in?
Reposted by peterkwells
omaromalleykhan.bsky.social
I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter

Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
Reposted by peterkwells
robfordmancs.bsky.social
A reminder that this week the Conservatives announced they want a “British ICE”
johnpfaff.bsky.social
Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.
flglchicago.bsky.social
Here’s video of the incident
peterkwells.com
And that conflation is being done by both the proponents and opponents of that big bucket of stuff called "digital ID"
peterkwells.com
This Telegraph piece on how "[UK] Digital ID cards pave way for £600m tax grab" is a great example of the perils of conflating all sorts of (slightly different/slightly overlapping/sometimes widely divergent) things into the big bucket of stuff called "digital ID"

archive.ph/aZBoT
archive.ph
peterkwells.com
34 million people in work, xx% changing job in a given time period....
text saying "Press release
New digital ID scheme to be rolled out across UK
A new digital ID scheme will help combat illegal working while making it easier for the vast majority of people to use vital government services. Digital ID will be mandatory for Right to Work checks by the end of the Parliament.", the words "by the end of the Parliament" are highlighted
Reposted by peterkwells
jamesomalley.co.uk
The GOV.UK app is now testing a very-locked-down chat bot that is understandably paranoid about hallucination.