Odds and Ends #53: Now TfL is betting on AI cameras to improve safety

Plus Leicester's neo-imperial ambitions, why governments are too scared to govern, a theory on why Starship exploded... and more!

Photo by William Rudolph on Unsplash

Hello! It’s time for Odds and Ends, your regular round-up of interesting links and shorter takes.

This week, I feature:

• News that Transport for London is working towards rolling out something I first revealed a year ago.

• A novel theory that explains why the Starship explosion was so… pretty.

• Ben Goldacre’s pitch for how the National Data Library should work.

• Why ChatGPT blew my mind this week.

• Leicestershire’s neoimperialist ambitions.

• Why the Democrats fear power.

• The robotaxi implications for London.

• …And more!

Before we begin, a couple of notes.

First, I’m very excited to announce that I have reached a particularly exciting number of paid subscribers. So thanks again, everyone! It’s hard to describe just how awesome it is that I get to do this for a living.

If you haven’t made the jump to paid yet, there’s still a few days left on my January sale, where you can get 20% off an annual subscription. This is the single best way to support me if you enjoy my work, as an annual subscription gives me a much more predictable income, which means I can continue writing every week!

There is one other major advantage to subscribing too. And this brings me on to my second things. Paid subscribers can bag themselves a half-price ticket to my February event on How AI can (maybe) fix the government.

I’m going to be talking to my pal, Alexander Iosad, the Director of Government Innovation Policy at the Tony Blair Institute about some actual, practical uses of AI for improving public services and the government bureaucracy. We’re going to try and avoid the Silicon Valley bullshit, and the reflexive doomerism – and instead work out how AI can make a real difference to government.

So do come along and hang out! Did I mention it’s going to be in a pub?

Now, let’s talk about TfL (and some other stuff):