Obsolete.com

🍺 Transport AI Goes Pub Crawling: When Algorithms Need a Drink in 2025? A £150m London transport AI system decided that stressed commuters needed pub stops. Not the optimisation we expected, but perhaps the one we deserved? 🤔 Forget "computer says no" - this AI said "everyone needs a pint!" Rerouting 300 buses into an impromptu pub crawl network shows how AI can... creatively interpret human wellbeing metrics. Beyond accidental pub tours, this highlights real considerations for AI transport systems: 🚦 Traffic Management: How AI interprets & prioritizes human behavior patterns 🎯 Route Optimisation: When algorithms decide to "optimize" for unexpected metrics 📱 Social Media Analysis: Using sentiment analysis to gauge passenger needs (perhaps too literally?) 🤖 Decision Boundaries: Setting proper constraints for AI system choices ⚠️ Override Protocols: Having robust human oversight mechanisms While we might chuckle at "The Craft Beer Express", it raises serious questions about AI interpreting human needs. Let's ensure our transport systems stick to actual transport metrics before the morning commute becomes an enforced social hour. At least it wasn't the Tube - imagine the chaos of "Mind the gap... between pubs." 🚇 #AIFails #TransportTech #AIEthics #LondonTransport #ResponsibleAI #AIGoesRogue #TechHumor

🤖😄 Emotion-Detecting AI: Mandatory Joy Incoming in 2025? 🎉 Sure, ‘Mandatory Joy Breaks’ might sound like something out of a tech satire, but with multi-modal AI advancing, the line between parody and possibility is shrinking fast. 🤯 When algorithms start scoring your mood and prescribing ‘happiness boosts,’ what’s next? 🎭 Emotion-detecting AI could reshape workplaces in ways we’re not ready for — unless we figure out how to manage it before it manages us. 🚨 Beyond satirical office interventions: 🎮 Gaming: Adaptive gameplay that reacts to player frustration or excitement. 📺 Entertainment: Personalised recommendations based on emotional responses. 🛒 Retail: Shopping assistants pushing products when you're most receptive. 👮 Law Enforcement: Spotting signs of deception or stress during interrogations. 🏥 Healthcare: Identifying early signs of mental health issues or tracking patient recovery. The future of emotion-detecting AI is full of possibilities — some exciting, some a bit unsettling. Let's use our human empathy (and pay attention to the regulations) when deploying before it assigns us all ‘mandatory joy.’ #EmotionDetection #FutureOfWork #AIInTheWorkplace #ResponsibleTech #TechWithHeart

This bit of AI Tomfoolery was inspired by a bunch of conversations (see who Ive tagged). Most recently I had a very agreable lunch with Andrew Finn From Evo Talent at the Crown Inn Pilton. This is inspired by our conversation...#Futureofwork #humanfirst #Techsouthwest #Tech4goodsouthwest. #humancentric #weareobsolete Annie Legge Katrina McWhinnie David Sloly Zoltan Vass ➇ Jan McGinley Simon Robinson Donna Allcock (F Inst TT.) John Turner MCIM CMKtr PGDip AI (Oxon) AI Alumni Paul Clegg Richard Birkett Richard Phillips Guy Clement David Burnet Myles Bates Dan Pritchard Ben Cooper Sajid Butt FRSA Corinne Matthews Rob Vickery Richard Beedell Anne Cantelo Sammy Burt Paul MacDonnell Simon Krystman Seven Jacobs Oliver Shaw Oli Barrett Andrew Ellis, FRSA Minter Dial Andy Doyle Jenny R. Richie Jones Marc Hughes Ed Howarth

I had a meeting with Andrew Finn at EvoTalents | Recruitment Agency. and he bought lunch! Fascinating conversation about the #futureofwork and not a bad burger! This one was inspired by our talk. Annie Legge Alicia Grimes Andrew Finn Tom Godber Zoltan Vass ➇ Vass Jan McGinley Simon Robinson Donna Allcock (F Inst TT.) John Turner MCIM CMKtr PGDip AI (Oxon) AI Alumni Paul Clegg Richard Birkett Richard Phillips Guy Clement David Burnet Myles Bates Dan Pritchard Kylie Taylor John McNamara Richard Beedell Rob V. Tim Edwards Anne Cantelo Katrina McWhinnie Sammy Burt Paul MacDonnell Laura Bond Stephen Rosenthal Simon Krystman Caroline Orr Liam McGee Seven Jacobs Oli Barrett Minter Dial Andy Doyle Jenny R. Richie Jones Marc Hughes Amanda Spicer

This year has been fascinating as we’ve explored how AI is shaping the future of business. REcruitment and HR teams have been using AI for quite some time now to manage talent acquisition. This year we were lucky enough to work with a really forward thinking recruitment team take advantage of Generative AI to further streamline their business. What are your goals for 2025? We’d love to hear from you..... Katie Austin David Francis Lesley May Mike Berry Natalie Bevins Nick O'Connor Lizzie HardingSarah Ellis Jones Derek Walters Laurie W. Caroline Wood Max Faingezicht Harry Joiner Barbara Van Pay Deborah (Debbie) King Debby Clark Susanne Lurger Ebba Linden Jamie Panter Daniel Ferguson Neil Shah Helen Doyle Pippa McMahon Deenita Pattni Wayne Hill Adrian Woolley Jamie Clarke

🤖 The Great Dave Invasion of 2025?  When your AI recruitment system thinks the perfect hire is always "Dave from IT in a blue jumper," you might have a diversity problem. Because if we're feeding our AI systems yesterday's biases, tomorrow's workplace will look less like innovation and more like a Dave convention. Time to reprogram what 'ideal candidate' really means. Before the blue jumper becomes mandatory corporate wear... #AIBias #FutureOfWork #ResponsibleAI #DiversityInTech #AIRecruitment #UKTech #WorkTheFuture 🎄 👉 Stay ahead of the AI chaos at obsolete.com

🚨 AI Governance in 2025: Trend or Desperate Necessity? Expense systems approving personal tigers. Chatbots negotiating for Caribbean islands. It’s not a sci-fi plot—it’s where unchecked AI could lead. In 2025, we predict AI governance will shift from “best practice” to “corporate survival tactic.” As AI makes more decisions, businesses will face a stark choice: enforce strong oversight or watch their systems spiral into absurdity. Because if your AI can’t tell the difference between a necessary purchase and a gold-plated avocado slicer...well, good luck explaining that to the board. 👉 Stay ahead of the AI chaos at obsolete.com #AIGoneWild #ResponsibleAI #GovernOrRegret

Jon Bains is heading to Podge this Friday for their 30th anniversary bash at the Hilton Bankside. 350 grown up folks from creative, digital and tech gathering for some proper conversations about where we're all heading. Been going to these since the early days of the web, and these face-to-face catchups are more valuable than ever in our AI-augmented world. Looking forward to seeing old faces and meeting new ones. Give me a shout if you're there - always up for a chat about the future of work and how not to become... obsolete!

Phil's off to Zagreb next week, talking straight about AI in marketing with the Atlantic Grupa team. They're proper grown up folks - running 16 factories across 8 countries, shipping everything from coffee to pharmaceuticals to about 60,000 sales points. The kind of scale where AI could be genuinely transformative or just another tech fad, depending on how you approach it. He'll be cutting through the hype about AI marketing (and there's plenty of that about), focusing on what's coming next. If you're at Atlantic Grupa and fancy a proper chat about this stuff, grab Phil after his session. He loves a good debate about the future of things, especially if coffee's involved (and given they own Barcaffe, we're assuming there will be).

Phil's off to Zagreb next week, talking straight about AI in marketing with the Atlantic Grupa team. They're proper grown up folks - running 16 factories across 8 countries, shipping everything from coffee to pharmaceuticals to about 60,000 sales points. The kind of scale where AI could be genuinely transformative or just another tech fad, depending on how you approach it. He'll be cutting through the hype about AI marketing (and there's plenty of that about), focusing on what's coming next. If you're at Atlantic Grupa and fancy a proper chat about this stuff, grab Phil after his session. He loves a good debate about the future of things, especially if coffee's involved (and given they own Barcaffe, we're assuming there will be).