Joseph Lochlann Smith

Software engineer with Investigations & Reporting at @guardian. And sometime pianist

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

My hours spent cross-referencing contracts, furlough data and company accounts with the help of @porcelinad bore fruit last week: “VIP lane” Covid suppliers also claimed £1m in furlough cash https://t.co/oXkwHULozA

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

Prediction has come true! 2023 => 2026 https://t.co/9BaUnEQiS4

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

Prediction: in a few years language/framework choice will be a trivial decision at the start of a software project, because if you change your mind you’ll be able to wave an LLM magic wand and translate a whole codebase. https://t.co/DuAk1Tq5N2

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

The launch of GPT-5 is a great time to remind ourselves how Large Language Models really work beneath the shiny packaging.

I’ve written this piece to bridge the gap between the chatbot facade and the technology that powers it.

https://t.co/jZW9wZMwEL

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

“The ability to remember past states and anticipate future ones seems prerequisite for valuing one's continued existence.”

Nothing like a philosophical chat with Claude to round out the week

https://t.co/SHIMzjw7r1

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

What a pleasure to be on this panel at the European Agora for Journalism

[Journalisme & Citoyenneté @LesAssises]

@CartooningPeace @ihecs @evawolfangel @JoeLochlann @lasseedfast @jecosic L’#IA, de nouveaux outils pour le #journalisme d’investigation ?  C’est la question à laquelle vont essayer de répondre @evawolfangel 🇩🇪@JoeLochlann 🇬🇧 @lasseedfast 🇸🇪 et @jecosic 🇷🇸 c’est maintenant aux #AJBrussels 🇪🇺 📸@ihecs

[Journalisme & Citoyenneté @LesAssises]

@CartooningPeace @ihecs @evawolfangel @JoeLochlann @lasseedfast @jecosic L’#IA, de nouveaux outils pour le #journalisme d’investigation ?  C’est la question à laquelle vont essayer de répondre @evawolfangel 🇩🇪@JoeLochlann 🇬🇧 @lasseedfast 🇸🇪 et @jecosic 🇷🇸 c’est maintenant aux #AJBrussels 🇪🇺 📸@ihecs

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

Great to play with @kadieaquarius @OutSpokenLDN @southbankcentre

[Shaniqua Benjamin @ShanqMarie]

And then ending with the soulful sounds of @kadieaquarius who is always a vibe and I was first introduced to @OutSpokenLDN. An overall great night

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

Prediction: in a few years language/framework choice will be a trivial decision at the start of a software project, because if you change your mind you’ll be able to wave an LLM magic wand and translate a whole codebase. https://t.co/DuAk1Tq5N2

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

Uncanny Google named their chatbot Bard, which in Asimov’s story “Someday” was a resentful computer that generated random fairy tales. Its last story ends: "the little computer knew then that computers would always grow wiser and more powerful until someday—someday—someday—…"

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

Testing the limits of the most advanced artificial intelligence technology humanity has ever created 🤖

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

@stephen_abbott @ByRobDavies @LewisSpurgin @darkgreener Yes would be great to talk to you about the ROE as well as Land Reg and CoHo data more generally. At the Guardian we’ve been working with their bulk datasets for a few years now and have built an in-house tool around them. I’ll message you

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

My brother’s latest tennis thinkpiece. They’re always worth a read if (unlike me) you are a tennis aficionado

[Jamie Malachy Smith @JamieMalachy]

My latest article on young Carlito's prospects in 2023.
#tennis #alcaraz

https://t.co/OLXIV19xwd

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

Investigative journalism at its best. It is so satisfying to see this mystery solved and the brazen lies and corruption exposed.

[David Conn @david_conn]

EXCLUSIVE: Revealed: Conservative peer Michelle Mone secretly received £29m from ‘VIP lane’ PPE company, documents seen by the Guardian indicate.

https://t.co/S0pYnUh8cv

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

Another piece with ⁦@ByRobDavies⁩ on UK-Qatari entanglement https://t.co/FmUZ9E3QrD

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

@owenboswarva @ByRobDavies @HMLandRegistry @gdndevelopers Credit due to @sam__cutler @mrb_barton @pmcmahon @mar_savar for all their amazing work building said tool. It’s called LuRCH (Land Reg Companies House) and it’s powered a lot of important journalism here at the @guardian

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

@owenboswarva @ByRobDavies @HMLandRegistry In fact it’s based on both the OCOD (overseas companies), CCOD (domestic companies), and Companies House (e.g. to find Al-Thani owners of CCOD companies). We used a tool that I built with other @gdndevelopers in my team to make searching and joining those datasets easier.

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

Teamed up with @ByRobDavies to investigate Qatar’s UK property empire. Spoiler: it’s even bigger than you think. https://t.co/Ead1RzdFBN

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

and therefore it is better to turn away from the painful things until they come and think about what is pleasant.”

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

🧵Tolstoy on the climate crisis: “At the approach of danger, two forces always speak with equal force in a man’s soul:

[Joseph Lochlann Smith @JoeLochlann]

the other says still more reasonably that it is too painful and tormenting to think about the danger, when it is not in man’s power to foresee everything and save himself from the general course of things,