Don't get this attitude. Explicitly asking someone to hand write code from scratch is fine.
You don't, they ask if they can use common workflow, you say yes, but then terminate the interview for it.
Scoring *how* they prompt Claude and drive it is a hugely valuable predictor.
I'm not a human factors engineer, but it is blindingly obvious to me that the square of carpet that forms the ramp needs to be a different colour to fix this.
We are very careful about where we put our feet.
The yellow border is literally distracting users *away* from the man-trap in their path.
Shame about the paywall but this is well thought out, coherent and above all right.
We are being misdirected about where the risks really are by a coalition of the nefarious and the plain misguided. Having seen some of the latter from Govt advisors, good to see ministers with a clear grasp on reality.
AI can bring enormous benefits to Britain.
But as it becomes more powerful, we need to be clear-eyed about the risks. We will follow the evidence and do what is needed to keep people safe.
That is the test I will apply.
thetimes.com/uk/technology-u…
GPT Live dropped with a range of voices that doesn't include any British English.
Crucially, neither does it have the 'text' output modality of gpt-realtime so can't be extended by stacking an external TTS.
Nonetheless here's a tease of what could be done with it...
Replying to @RobinJPickering
That’s a shame as the demos look impressive. I may have spent some of today wiring GPT Live into a project I’m working on, only to realise it’s not going to work with a UK audience quite yet 😔
That was the real beta of polite.ai being asked to switch from a competing realtime model to gpt-live.
Since yesterday, it has a tweak in the open source llm-agent server plumbing to stream transcripts into a stacked @ElevenLabs TTS behind an experimental flag...
Because it is a hack going through the transcript path the latency and expression is bad, but it at least shows UK audiences what the future could be until @OpenAI give us custom voices we can regionalise, or at least a text modality we can stream local TTS from.
Pretty please...
Rob retweeted
Replying to @shivmalik
Nothing like a good multi-year public consultation overseen by a former civil servant or junior minister to encourage a bit of entrepreneurial spirit!
Had a couple of hours to fill this afternoon near Deansgate Station in Manchester. Looking around for cafe/co-work place and landed instead at Manchester Science Museum.
Working around inspiring people is great for productivity, sometimes inspiring historical things are better!
Great start to the day on an open top bus heading to the train station for meetings in Manchester. How is your day going?
Can you imagine what every electronic device in the village is making of that.
Rob retweeted
A wonderful piece by Patrick about the Optimistic Picnic.
It was great to chat with him, and share the optimistic spirit!
Down with pessimism! Down with the trolls!
Give quiche a chance: I joined the Optimistic Picnic in Kensington Gardens yesterday, where @isnit0 and over 100 others defied trolls and snitches to show that the way to happiness is to lay down your phone and meet in real life
Wrote this for @Telegraph
telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/09…
Rob retweeted
Replying to @isnit0
You could not write a joke about Britain funnier than this. Totally beyond parody.
nitter.cf/theroyalparks/status/2…
Replying to @landofangle
Good morning, the event organiser has been contacted informing them that no permission has been granted for this event to take place, they make alternative arrangements for their event & cease public advertising that implies it will take place in the Royal Parks. Hope that helps.
Rob retweeted
The official Optimistic Picnic Blanket.
Designed by @SMatsiutsia, it's the best way to maximise your optimism.
They are only available for the next two days, so be sure to move quickly if you want one!
buildthings.shop/products/op…
In just 5 days, over 1,000 optimists will gather for Britain's most optimistic gathering in a generation: The Optimistic Picnic.
If you haven't already:
1. Sign up: luma.com/pic-nic
2. Invite your friends and family
3. Register to volunteer
Last Thursday I published the long version of why I built a new thing: polite.ai.
Then I cleared off for a Bank Holiday weekend.
It did not quite work out that way, but that is another post.
Back at my desk today, here is the shorter version:
voice AI is hitting its second ceiling.
That is why I think the builder itself needs to become conversational.
If conversation is the natural interface for customers interacting with organisations, it should also be the interface for organisations shaping the AI systems that represent them.
That is the bet behind polite.ai.
We are moving from manifesto to beta.
If you want to help test that idea against reality, request an invite here:
polite.ai/
Longer version: pickering.org/why-i-built-po…