Techtris

Brits keep getting arrested for tweets. Elon Musk is (part of) the reason.

Social media moderation is being outsourced to UK police forces. Unsurprisingly, they're terrible at it.

Sep 4 • 

James Ball

13

August 2025

What if "big data" just…isn't worth very much?

I'm not saying the emperor has no clothes. I am saying his clothes are cheap, tacky, don't work and are seriously overrated.

Aug 20 • 

James Ball

18

1

So, you've decided to complain about a paywall…

You don't like encountering paywalls. Writers don't like getting social media complaints about paywalls. Let's talk about that.

Aug 4 • 

James Ball

12

1

July 2025

Okay, so age verification is pretty painless. It's still not a good thing. At all.

It doesn't work. It's intrusive. It creates new vulnerabilities. It's bad for free speech. But…at least it's not difficult for users?

Jul 28 • 

James Ball

24

3

I Built The Torment Nexus (Political Podcast Edition)

Six years ago cartoonist Zach Weinersmith made a joke about a 24/7 AI podcast endlessly talking about polling numbers. I've made it a reality.

Jul 3 • 

James Ball

24

8

January 2025

Copyright (probably) won't save anyone from AI

There is lots of justified outrage at the way AI companies have "stolen" millions of creative works to train their models. But there's every chance it's…

Jan 13 • 

James Ball

8

3

December 2024

November 2024

November 2023

OpenAI set out to show a different kind of tech giant was possible. It might prove the opposite.

What has happened looks incomprehensible unless you know the strange history of OpenAI, its philosophy, and how that is now clashing with reality. Let’s…

Nov 19, 2023 • 

James Ball

14

Techtris – we didn’t start the fire (that was Sam Bankman-Fried)

Yes, we're back, sorry to have been away so long…

Nov 3, 2023 • 

James Ball

5

August 2023

A reset, not a pivot

An apology, plus: does effective altruism have a future now that its poster boy is behind bars?

Aug 16, 2023 • 

James Ball

10

June 2023

Techtris – Edward Snowden ten-year anniversary edition

Two failures and one success. Does it come out in the wash?

Jun 7, 2023 • 

James Ball

6