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How AI Actually Works

You cannot steer a technology you do not understand. These pieces open up the technical workings of modern AI: its architectures, its interpretability, and where today’s models break.

Essay 21 May 2026

Why LLMs can't count

Are they System 2 processors yet?

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Essay 25 Feb 2026

Why is AI shale-shaped?

The material contingency of the AI boom

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Essay 5 Jan 2026

The Post-Transformer Era

3 architectures competing to replace the transformer

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Essay 1 Dec 2025

Why AI can't learn on the job

And how that might change

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Newsletter 12 Sept 2025

Hallucination solutions, China's AI strategy and AI companions

Is AI overhyped, and the challenge of compute-based thresholds, TFP Newsletter #2

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Essay 2 Sept 2025

The AI boring law

Why LLMs don't have 'negative capability'

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Podcast 15 Aug 2025 · 55 min

Why we don't understand AI models yet

Breaking apart LLMs with Lee Sharkey

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© 2026 Phil Bell · Generative Futures The political economy of AI · Built for a progressive technological future