Ben Hooper

It struck me earlier that a future where AIs are smarter than us would - in one sense - not be unprecedented. For most of history, human society and culture were built on the belief that we shared the universe with more powerful beings. ASI would return us to this historic norm.

@turi Sorry to miss this! Timezones plus I’ll be camping, without signal

This will be my first long-form conversation - 90 mins on the book. Please join!

If you care about productivity growth or affordability, then you should read this. The Department of Business and Trade published a consultation on the future of the UK competition regime in January. The "accountability" rationale is neither clear nor coherent. The single proposed solution does not attempt to address that rationale. The proposed new system is unclear and untested. The regime already appears less politically independent than before, and this proposal increases that risk. I am not opposed to change and would have welcomed a more considered document from DBT.  The type of incremental change proposed seems to be the worst of all worlds.  Either the CMA should consider improving the current system, or we should consider radical change.  To that end, I have outlined some thoughts to broaden the discussion.  I hope it can be a useful contribution to the debate. fingleton.com/insights/is-uk…

@s8mb Congrats Sam! This is awesome news

Very happy to welcome our new son into the world. He is already very cute and alert. He and my wife are both doing really well.

@turi Congratulations Turi! Can’t wait to read

Coming out on 14th May, 2026. Please see link in bio to pre-order.

Britain needs nuclear power. Our nuclear projects are the most expensive in the world and among the slowest. Regulators and industry are paralysed by risk aversion. This can change. For Britain to prosper, it must. Earlier this year, the Prime Minister appointed me to lead a Taskforce to set out a path to getting affordable, fast nuclear power Britain. Our final report today sets out 47 recommendations, among them: - Creating a one-stop shop for nuclear approvals, to end the regulatory merry-go-round that delays projects at the moment. - Simplifying environmental rules to avoid extreme outcomes like Hinkley Point C spending £700m on systems to protect one salmon every ten years, while enhancing nuclear's impact on nature. - Limiting the ability of spurious legal challenges to delay nuclear projects, which adds huge cost and delay throughout the supply chain. - Approving fleets of reactors, so that Britain’s nuclear industry can benefit from certainty and economies of scale. - Directing regulators to factor in cost to their behaviour, and changing their culture to allow building cheaply, quickly and safely. - Changing the culture of the nuclear industry to end gold-plating and focus on efficient, safe delivery. If the government adopts our report in full, it will send a signal to investors that it is serious about pro-growth reform and taking on vested interests for the public good. A thriving British nuclear industry producing abundant, affordable energy would be good for jobs, good for manufacturing, good for the climate, and good for the cost of living. And it could enable Britain to become an AI and technology superpower. Britain can be a world leader in this new Industrial Revolution, but only if it has the energy to power it. Our report is bold, but balanced. Our recommendations, taken together and properly implemented, will forge a clear path for stronger economic growth through improved productivity and innovation. This is a prize worth fighting for. gov.uk/government/pub…

@erikphoel I feel like a big part of Beethoven’s appeal is that it sounds like the product of profound internal effort and struggle. A mortal striving to do something godlike (and often succeeding). Compare the Missa Solemnis with pretty much anything by Mozart.

Scientists sequenced Beethoven's genome from a strand of hair and found a funny result. Applying the gene-wide associations studies to musicality (that we know, there are methodological limits), Beethoven's genetic propensity to musicality was... low?

If Meta's "consent or pay" model succeeds at the CJEU... I think prohibiting it from ad targeting under legitimate interests will have backfired EEA users go from opting out for free to opting out for €13/month I get the legal arguments but it means less privacy or less money

@fchollet Tech’s version of Waiting for Godot

Every single month from here on there will be rumors of AGI having been achieved internally. Just rumors, never any actual paper, product release, or anything of the sort.

The impact of digital privacy restrictions on marketing operations is mostly understood. But how the adaptations of marketing teams affect other parts of an organization -- Finance, Product -- and indeed the general "start-up ethos" is not. Thoughts in a thread. (1/X)

I think this graph from our new paper is very consequential. It shows working with AI boosts low performers up well above average. And ours isn’t the only paper to find this. What does it mean when everyone becomes pretty good? We are going to find out. oneusefulthing.org/p/centaurs-and…

@s8mb Let’s not forget Shakespeare struggling to write Romeo and Juliet until he falls in love himself in Shakespeare in Love. Just like how he couldn’t write Macbeth until he’d murdered someone or the Tempest until he’d had a go at sorcery.

A lot of art takes a while to be appreciated. I think the scene in “Darkest Hour” where Churchill gets the lines for his “fight on the beaches” speeches from a diverse group of working class tube passengers will come to be remembered as one of the cringiest scenes ever filmed.

@JohnFingleton1 But I worry that AI will take an increasing share of what’s left - and so limit opportunities for future generations to work their way up & hone their craft to the point where they can, similarly, outperform AI. 2/2

@JohnFingleton1 Lot's of different issues here, not sure there’s a one-size-fits-all response. Think the ablest of today's creatives will continue to get work by outperforming AI (even if they make some use of it). 1/2

First thought was that this risks incumbency capture, with past vested interests trumping future growth. Am I wrong? British media and creative industries quizzed over AI risks to copyright ft.com/content/766808…

For more, see: fingleton.com/insights/regul…

People may say they’d be more willing to use AI if there were more regulation. But revealed preference matters here too. ChatGPT achieved record-breaking adoption against the backdrop of *current* regulatory frameworks.

Is there a tradeoff between building trust in AI and encouraging its adoption? In my submission to the Australian Government's consultation on AI regulation I argue that this issue needs more thought. 🧵

Yesterday, Meta announced that it will change the legal basis through which it processes certain data in the EU under the GDPR from Legitimate Interest to Consent. This is a substantive policy change that will have serious repercussions on digital advertising in the EU. (1/X)