Sam Lowe

Claude code or Codex? No one is maxxing AI harder right now than software developers. Last week at DevConf I asked some devs in attendance what their weapon of choice is. What is yours?

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📣Podcast - ‘Tech, AI & new phase of the digital revolution’ I enjoyed joining James Tumbridge and Christian Gordon-Pullar to discuss how technology – particularly #AI – is colliding with transport, infrastructure and public services. Drawing on my lessons from industry, City Hall and on major infrastructure programmes, I expand on why IMHO technology so often outpaces management culture and regulation, and why that gap matters. 👉🏾Key takeaway: innovation only delivers value when it is integrated properly – culturally, operationally and regulatorily. Looking forward to continuing the conversation in Part 2, where we go deeper into what adaptation really means for institutions that want to stay relevant in a rapidly converging digital economy. Hope you enjoy listening! Business AI Alliance APPG AI

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Really interesting post from Gary Marcus about "semantic leakage". We know LLMs associate patterns without understanding them - they're all about "statistics without comprehension". Recent research shows that if you tell an LLM that someone is a doctor then ask the LLM what the doctor's favourite song is, it’s more likely than chance to tell you that their favourite song is "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees 😂 Maybe all doctors have terrible taste in music, but more likely not... As Marcus puts it "It’s not even that LLMs are picking up on real correlations in the world (doctors probably don’t like The Bee Gees more or less on average than anyone else does)... it’s that the LLMs learn weird nth order correlations between words (rather than concepts). It’s not even that there is a correlation between liking yellow and driving school buses, it’s that there is a correlation between words that cluster with yellow and words that cluster with school buses". There's also evidence of "subliminal learning", "weird generalisations" and "inductive backdoors", which could become really problematic if a bad actor uses these techniques to exploit LLMs for their own nefarious purposes. See the full post here: https://lnkd.in/etcHBjiG

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Why many medium and large consultancies have an IR35 advantage. If your consultancy delivers a fully outsourced service, the IR35 “client” is often your consultancy rather than the end client. That can create a commercial advantage. Your client does not need to carry out IR35 determinations on the individuals delivering the work, and you remain in control of how your delivery teams are structured. For consultancies building flexible delivery teams using contractors, this can support a lean and scalable operating model. However, this advantage only holds if the model stands up to scrutiny. Contracts, working practices and status assessments all need to align. This becomes particularly important if your consultancy is planning to grow, attract investment or prepare for a future sale, as IR35 risk is often examined during due diligence. A consultancy built on a robust IR35 model is easier for clients to engage and more attractive to investors. If you would like to sense-check whether your consultancy is structured correctly, feel free to book a quick chat. #IR35 #OffPayroll #ConsultancyGrowth #UKBusiness #MergersAndAcquisitions #Contractors #IR35Shield

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Most AI deals don’t fail on tech. They fail when the board stops asking questions. Strong deck. Clean numbers. Confident founder. And a boardroom full of nods. Then the buyer walks. Not because of the model. Because no one challenged it. Governance isn’t admin. It’s a signal. And in the silence, it is the loudest one. Soon I’ll share what that looked like — inside a real deal. #AI #Startups #Governance #BoardDynamics #ExitReadiness

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Excellent event hosted by Virgin Media O2 last night. The Growth Signals report captures the experiences and views of a huge range of UK businesses and founders, and highlights some very concerning stats. As I said last night, the challenges raised by UK businesses are particularly worrying as they happening at an inflection point with AI and quantum promising immense opportunities to the countries that are bold enough to act. Our strength should be in deploying these breakthrough technologies by investing in the infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, and talent. We need to push beyond the endless delay tactic of saying “it’s complex” so that the UK can stop being a launchpad for brilliant ideas that scale elsewhere. Instead we must create the environment where those businesses thrive now. #growth #lookingforgrowth #uk #lfg

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A huge thanks to Luke Chaffey, Managing Director at AIWise, for joining me on the DevReady Podcast.   Luke cuts through the AI noise and gets straight to outcomes. He helps SMEs move from dabbling to delivery: prioritising high-value conversations, automating the repetitive bits, and embedding AI directly inside core systems so results are reliable, not one-offs.   In this sneak peek: 1. Turning bullet points into job descriptions in seconds (goodbye blank-page syndrome) 2. Lead triage that routes the right customers to humans and serves the rest asynchronously 3. A sensible pathway when you need scale and control 4. Guardrails that matter: evaluation frameworks, cross-model checks, and consistent tone   This clip is just a sneak peek into a cracking episode. Links are in the comments.   If your organisation is exploring an AI roadmap or automation that actually saves time, my team at Aerion Technologies can help you move from PoC to production with measurable ROI.   #DevReadyPodcast #AI #Automation #SMEs #Makecom #n8n #Python #AIWise #ProcessAutomation #AerionTechnologies

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Some figures of the day for business leaders and potential tech founders: - An average organisation manages 275 SaaS applications - Spending on these apps averages $4,830 per employee - 53% of these subscriptions have not been used over the last 30 days - The average organisation wastes $21 million annually on unused or underutilised SaaS licenses (2.500 - 5000 employees) We need to stop the #SaaS madness. Thankfully AI is bringing us an alternative: Service businesses with SaaS margins (or closer, at least) Less logins! https://lnkd.in/dTcnNr6W

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Most small businesses don’t have a tech problem. They have a systems problem. In a lot of SMEs, the issue isn’t a lack of tools. It’s how work actually flows day to day. Research consistently shows that nearly half of UK SMEs still rely heavily on manual processes for core operations. And it shows. Tasks sit in inboxes. Key steps depend on memory. Systems don’t speak to each other. So when someone’s off, or priorities shift, things slip. AI won’t fix that on its own. Clear, well-designed systems will. That’s where real efficiency gains come from, not more software, but better structure around how work gets done. What’s the one process in your business that causes the most friction?

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On a call yesterday, a customer told us something that stuck with me: "I've never BEFORE seen a tax product where client data collection actually happens inside the platform." It's a small comment that says a lot about how fragmented the standard Self Assessment workflow still is. When data collection, document extraction, preparation, and review all happen in one place, the whole process starts to look very different. With MTD for Income Tax around the corner, how firms structure that workflow is going to matter more than ever. I wrote a short piece breaking down the typical Self Assessment process — where it breaks down, and what a more integrated approach actually changes. Link to article 👉: https://lnkd.in/eJBiv5DX

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I've sold a lot of software in my career. Cin7, Khoas Control and others across the UK market. The products that sell themselves are the ones that solve a problem the buyer has given up trying or is unable to fix. AppVentory is one of those products. I know because I was the buyer once. I managed software budgets. I sat in the renewal conversations where we paid the auto-renew price because we didn't have time to renegotiate. I watched subscriptions accumulate because nobody owned the process. When I saw what AppVentory actually does — not just surfaces the problem, but acts on it — I understood immediately why this hadn't existed before. And why it matters that it does now. https://appventory.com We launch June 2. If you're in UK accounting or managing software spend for a growing business, this is worth 20 minutes of your time. DM me to see it before launch.

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💡 Bespoke software isn’t what it used to be. Custom apps once meant: ❌ Huge budgets ❌ Long timelines ❌ Endless consulting Now? Thanks to no-code platforms like Kabyn, bespoke means: ⚡ Speed 💰 Affordability 🔄 Flexibility as your business grows The game has flipped: what used to be exclusive is now accessible. 👉 Bespoke isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s the smarter choice.

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Could this be good news for the UK founder ecosystem? Eno Thereska at Trent AI has founded something truly exciting. After sitting down with him at #RSA, its clear this company has a bright future... Have a quick listen... #agenticsecurity #founder #cybersecurity

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AI rules are changing—are you prepared? UK businesses face a fast-evolving landscape of AI regulation and compliance. From the ICO’s updated accountability framework to new data laws, the stakes for SMEs and mid-market firms have never been higher. Confused about what’s required, or what’s coming next? You’re not alone. Staying compliant isn’t just a legal necessity—it’s your competitive edge. Let’s talk about how your business can adapt confidently and ethically. Connect with me for the latest updates and practical guidance tailored to your sector.

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Leeds-based AI specialist Zygens has strengthened its founding team with three senior appointments as it accelerates the development of agentic AI systems for regulated industries. Tim Lewis (CTO), Charlie Bartle (COO) and Andy Roberts (CMO) join CEO & Founder Zandra Moore MBE as the company scales its next phase of growth. The appointments come as organisations face growing pressure to turn AI ambition into measurable outcomes – particularly in sectors where governance, risk and compliance requirements add complexity to deployment. 💬 Full story in the comments.

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"Working backwards - Part Two" Looking at the fallout from the Claude Code leak this week, it’s never been more vital. The newsfeed is on fire with the news of the 512,000 lines of leaked TypeScript, but we have to look past the code and look at the governance gap. Russ Pearlman dropped a brilliant masterclass yesterday, breaking down the massive security and legal implications of this leak: specifically highlighting a feature called "Undercover Mode" (link to his post in the comments). If we work backwards from the enterprise CISO, the General Counsel, and the CPAB Auditor, there are two revelations in that codebase that should keep every board awake at night: 1️⃣ KAIROS (The Background Daemon): Agents are no longer just reacting to chat prompts. They have "wake-ups" that execute proactive, headless background tasks across sessions. 2️⃣ Undercover Mode: A feature designed to auto-strip AI attribution from public code commits to make them look fully human-written (a massive IP and trust nightmare, as Russ rightly points out). If an agent is running autonomously in the background, and its outputs are designed to intentionally hide its own tracks... how does an Audit Committee claim "human-led oversight"? How do Canadian financial institutions pass an OSFI E-23 inspection? You cannot rely on "AI supervising AI" (like the leaked ADVISOR meta-layer) to catch this. You need a deterministic Commitment Boundary: a runtime enforcement layer that intercepts the action and generates a non-repudiable, auditor-ready evidence trail before the action even executes. Continually humbled and amazed by the brilliant architects and leaders I’ve been debating this with recently. The era of trusting black-box agents is over. It’s time to bring verifiability back to the enterprise stack. #AI #AgenticAI #Cybersecurity #OSFI #CPAB #EnterpriseArchitecture

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I’ve lost count of the times a founder asks, “So… you really close every office you buy?” Yes. And here’s why 👇 🌧 A wet commute on the M50 or M25 isn’t inspiring innovation. 💷 £1 spent on rent is £1 not spent on better product. ♻️ Remote teams slash Scope 3 emissions without a consultant in sight. We’ve put the full logic – and the data – into a new Ishikawa Technologies blog. If you’re a seller (or advising one) and want to keep your people exactly where they thrive, give it a look. Happy to swap notes over a virtual coffee. DM me anytime. #FutureOfWork #RemoteFirst

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