Weekly Review 2 January 2026

Some interesting links that I Tweeted about in the last week (I also post these on Mastodon, Threads, Newsmast, and Bluesky):Can AI coding agents recreate Minesweeper? https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/12/the-ars-technica-ai-coding-agent-test-minesweeper-edition/How to prepare for entry-level jobs in the age of AI: https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-effect-entry-level-jobsOf all the AI that the Pentagon could use, why is it grok? https://dataconomy.com/2025/12/24/why-elon-musks-grok-ai-is-becoming-a-core-tool-for-the-pentagon/AI is weaponising security flaws faster than ever before: https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/22/zafran_security_ceo/Giving workers access to more AI doesn’t necessarily make them more productive: https://www.informationweek.com/machine-learning-ai/offering-more-ai-tools-can-t-guarantee-better-adoption-so-what-can-AI voice cloning is a gift for extremists: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/21/ai-voice-cloning-nazis-islamic-state-extremismAn AI chatbot security flaw is reported..and reported..and kinda gets fixed? https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/24/pentesters_reported_eurostar_chatbot_flaws/Organisational workflows are changing because of AI: https://www.hpcwire.com/bigdatawire/2025/12/23/from-digitalization-to-intelligence-how-ai-is-redefining-enterprise-workflows/Are we willingly becoming slaves to AI? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/26/ai-dark-ages-enlightenmentRolling out AI support doesn’t always make things better: https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/23/oracles_new_aienhanced_support_portal/AI projects fail because management isn’t ready for them: https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/24/reason_ai_isnt_delivering/AI spending is dropping because it doesn’t really add a lot of value to businesses: https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/24/ai_spending_cooling_off/The pope views AI as a moral as well as a technological issue: https://dataconomy.com/2025/12/25/pope-leo-xiv-prepares-landmark-magnifica-humanitas-encyclical-on-ai/Seven AI models that will run on a Raspberry Pi: https://www.kdnuggets.com/7-tiny-ai-models-for-raspberry-piWhen the AI bubble bursts, we might be able to reduce the power of the tech bros: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/23/artificial-intelligence-ai-bubble-bursts-humans-take-back-controlAn overview of how coding AI work: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/12/how-do-ai-coding-agents-work-we-look-under-the-hood/AI and the post-COVID tech slowdown is resulting in a lot of tech-sector redundancies: https://www.informationweek.com/it-leadership/tech-company-layoffs-the-covid-tech-bubble-bursts-sep-14The growth of AI has made the building and powering of more data centres a public issue: https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/24/the-year-data-centers-went-from-backend-to-center-stage/Using AI to detect whale strandings before they happen: https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360918173/ai-buoy-gives-rescuers-head-start-golden-bay-whale-strandingsI don’t think AI is quite up to the task of solving real-world mysteries: https://www.stuff.co.nz/society/360918326/kenny-dale-shame-me-how-ai-came-tantalisingly-close-solving-mystery-old-guitar-and-its-anguished