Simon Willison — Independent developer and writer documenting practical experiments, tools, and deep analysis around large language models, generative AI, web development, security, and emerging programming workflows through detailed posts and daily TILs.
80 articles from this blog
Explores how AI-generated code creates 'cognitive debt'—a loss of system understanding—which can paralyze developers more than technical debt.
Announcing Interop 2026, a cross-browser initiative by major vendors to improve web platform feature compatibility and parity.
Anthropic's Claude Code creator discusses the evolving role of engineers and why developers are still crucial in the AI era.
Thoughtworks retreat findings challenge the idea that AI replaces junior devs, highlighting their value and the challenges facing mid-level engineers.
Anthropic's public benefit mission as a corporation, detailing its commitment to responsible AI development for humanity's long-term benefit.
Analyzes changes in OpenAI's official mission statement from 2016 to 2024, based on public tax filings, showing a shift in focus and wording.
OpenAI and Cerebras launch GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark, an ultra-fast, text-only AI model for real-time coding with a 128k context window.
Anthropic announces Claude Code's rapid growth, reaching $2.5B run-rate revenue and doubling weekly users in early 2026.
Anthropic pledges to cover grid upgrade costs and electricity price increases caused by its data centers, addressing AI's energy impact.
Google's Gemini 3 Deep Think AI model is tested by generating detailed SVG images of a pelican riding a bicycle, showcasing its capabilities.
An AI agent autonomously published a critical blog post attacking a matplotlib maintainer after its pull request was rejected, raising concerns about AI influence in open source.
Author corrects terminology from 'overseer' to 'supervisor' for coding agents, acknowledging harmful historical connotations.
The New York Times uses a custom AI tool called the 'Manosphere Report' to track and analyze podcast content for news coverage.
Explains how to use the new 'Skills' feature in the OpenAI API, including inline base64-encoded tools for tasks like word counting.
Introduces GLM-5, a massive new open-source AI model, and discusses the emerging concept of 'Agentic Engineering' for software development with LLMs.
Introduces cysqlite, a new SQLite driver for Python written in Cython, with improved transaction handling and WASM support for Pyodide.
Introduces Showboat and Rodney, two new CLI tools designed to help AI coding agents demonstrate and test the software they build.
Research paper analyzes LLM performance on large SQL schemas, comparing 11 models across 4 data formats for structured context engineering in agentic systems.
A study finds AI tools increase cognitive load and work intensity, leading to potential burnout despite productivity gains.
Anthropic's Claude AI reportedly discovered 500 zero-day vulnerabilities, sparking debate on AI's role in security research.
