"I’ve asked ChatGPT and…"

That’s it. No need to say more. All those years speaking about "fake news" and "checking your sources" just to blindly repeat a random series of letters assembled by a stochastic algorithm? Seriously?

I don’t care about your credentials, I don’t care about your experience. With a couple of words, you gladly announced that you are obliterating them and refusing all forms of free will. Goodbye!

https://ploum.net/2026-09-09-ai_policy.html

"If you find yourself typing a prompt to express your idea, then just send me that prompt. I’m not interested in what an algorithm would do with your prompt, I want to know what you asked in the first place. I care about you, the human."

100% this.

https://ploum.net/2026-09-09-ai_policy.html

"I’m one of those people deeply interested in all the extraordinary stuff other humans have to say. Unfortunately, life is already too short to hear them all. I need to make a lot of choices. That’s why I will not tolerate any attempt to steal the little time I’ve on this planet by making me interact with stochastic algorithms trained to produce tons of "average," non-human content."

https://ploum.net/2026-09-09-ai_policy.html

"My estimates of the cost of applications range from €5.3 million to about €43.5 million. Even the lower estimate exceeds the €5-million value of the GenAI for Africa grant, making it very likely that this scheme has been a net drain on the research system."

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-04060-x

"Legal, journalistic and political institutions exist to insist on some sort of accountability, even when public attention is in short supply. Political overpromising and evasion is bad enough as it is, without being forced to think that up is down and wrong is right. If this behaviour is simply overlooked then it will get worse, as has been the case in the United States."

All true. But what struck me most is that the USA has become the punchline for this kind of thing.

https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/scandals-cost-nigel-farage-dear-eventually-bdmqq5zrl

From the Times's daily briefing email:

" US: JD Vance has speculated that the Antichrist could be “walking among us” and said he would not be shocked if the world was already in “end times”."

Hmm. If only there was some way to recognise an Antichrist.

https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/jd-vance-antichrist-may-walk-among-us-fct8kxt6j

"When you work with a format as complex as yaml, it is difficult to be aware of all the features and subtle behaviors it has. There is an entire website dedicated to picking one of the 63 different multi-line string syntaxes."

Wow. I knew YAML was too complex for real use, but I had no idea it was *possible* to invent that many multi-line string syntaxes.

https://ruuda.nl/2023/the-yaml-document-from-hell

I can't believe they're saying "Major versions of Firefox now land every two weeks" like it's a GOOD thing.

"Experts warn that decaying infrastructure and decades of underinvestment have made the [UK]’s water supply a vulnerability that could be exploited, in particular by Russia. That scenario has been underscored by heatwaves and drought, exacerbated by climate change.

A loss of supply could occur as a result of deliberate contamination, a cyberattack targeting automated systems, infrastructure failure caused by power loss or fire, or environmental factors such as drought."

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/environment/article/water-risk-shortage-5xzr3spzk

"The campaign to reinstate Pluto – with its passionate advocates, ongoing debates, occasional protests and petitions – seems to be largely confined to the US. “It is more of an issue in the United States,” says Metzger. “This was the one we discovered.” So, the planet’s demotion was a source of wounded pride? “I’ll admit there was some of that – among the public, not the scientists.”"

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/aug/31/forbidden-planet-was-plutos-2006-demotion-a-big-mistake

Incoming: executive order reinstating Pluto as a planet and renaming it "America"

"My personal equivalent to "touch grass" is "touch fossil." Sometimes I just have to do that, to remind myself that life as a paleontologist is more than emails and pushing around bits and bytes."
— Andy Farke at https://bsky.app/profile/andyfarke.bsky.social/post/3mu634uda322x

Dear all Billionaires,

THIS is what you want the world's reaction to be when you die.