New work by Ben Crick and Kamal Kaan suggests we could benefit from knowing more about the ‘machine-wreckers’
If you ask artificial intelligence when in history we can learn lessons about the global challenges of AI it does, thankfully, agree with the composer Ben Crick: 200 years ago in the north of England.
Crick believes we could all benefit from knowing more about the luddites, the “Industrial Revolution machine-wreckers”, and we need to draw lessons from them to address what is, for some, the biggest existential question of our time.
Mansfield Carpets (Contracts) Limited faced Companies House action over four consecutive years of delayed filings
The carpet fitting business belonging to the family of Mick Barton – the Reform UK leader of Nottinghamshire county council who barred the main local paper – has been threatened with a compulsory strike off from Companies House for four consecutive years.
Mansfield Carpets (Contracts) Limited, which is owned by Barton’s wife Gail, is two months late filing its 2024 accounts. For the previous three years the business also appears to have been late publishing its confirmation statement, which provides details of a company’s shareholders.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, is aware of how you feel. Even his wife brought up the subject to him a few times.
The Instagram boss posted a “myth-busting” video on Wednesday to set the record straight: “I swear, we do not listen to your microphone.”
“First of all, if we did, it would be a gross violation of privacy. You would drain your phone’s battery, and you would notice. And you would actually see a little light at the top of the screen letting you know that the mic was on,” he said.
Mosseri explained that Instagram has other mechanisms in place to serve targeted ads.
For one, a user may have “tapped” on something related or may have searched for a particular product online before the conversation began.
“We actually do work with advertisers who share information with us about who was on their website to try to target those people with ads,” he said.
The Instagram app also considers what users’ friends are interested in and what similar people with similar interests are looking at.
“So it could be that you were talking to someone about a product and they, before, had actually looked for or searched for that product,” Mosseri said. “Or that in general, people with similar interests were doing the exact same thing.”
Mosseri said another explanation could be that the user may have unknowingly already seen the ad before a conversation took place, influencing what the user talks about later.
“We scroll quickly, we scroll by ads quickly, and sometimes you internalize some of that, and that actually affects what you talk about later,” he said.
Instagram has explained on its website that ads are served based on a mix of a user’s activity on and off Meta’s platforms. This could include tracking a user’s activity online through third-party cookies, even if they didn’t log in with their Facebook account on a particular website.
A spokesperson for Meta did not respond to a request for comment.
Meta will start to look at AI convos
Meta may not listen to your real-life conversations with others to serve ads. But your chats with the company’s AI tools are a different story.
On the same day Mosseri published his video, Meta said that it will start personalizing ads based on users’ interactions with chatbots.
“We will soon use your interactions with AI at Meta to personalize the content and ads you see, including things like posts and reels,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Meta said that people will be notified about this update starting next week via notifications and emails. The update will go into effect on December 16, 2025.
Business Insider previously reported how Meta improves its AI chatbots by using human contract workers who will read the conversations between humans and the chatbots.
A Meta spokesperson said at the time that the company has “strict policies” about how workers handle sensitive information.
Mosseri, the Instagram head, provided one more explanation for why an Instagram user might see an ad for something they just talked about: Pure coincidence.
“Random chance. Coincidence. It happens,” he said.
Mosseri said that he knows people still won’t believe him even after posting the video. This is not the first time he’s had to address the spying rumors, after all.
Mark Zuckerberg came to the UFC event in Las Vegas blinged out in a solid gold Rolex Daytona watch.
Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Mark Zuckerberg said he curates his closet using Instagram ads.
Instagram ads is big business for Meta, generating over $32 billion in revenue in 2024.
Zuckerberg, whose style has evolved, said he wears a lot of “Instagram advertising that got me.”
Sometimes the student becomes the master, and sometimes the algorithm gets the better of its creator.
Mark Zuckerberg recently revealed that he’s just as susceptible as the rest of us to Instagram’s targeted ads, which seem to get better every year at recommending the right products at the exact moment you’re open to buying them.
“I spend so much time in Instagram ads curating my closet. Most of what I wear — this, this, these shoes, definitely,” Zuckerberg said in a recent interview with Drip, a popular Instagram fashion account.
The Meta CEO said that essentially, his entire outfit — a black, long-sleeved, collared shirt; fitted blue pants; and white and grey sneakers with orange accents — was purchased through Instagram ads.
Zuckerberg said he wears a lot of Mike Amiri, with whom the billionaire has partnered in the past on custom tees, as well as John Elliott. He also name-dropped the shoes he was wearing in the video as the Swedish brand Axel Arigato, adding that what he wears is “a lot of Instagram advertising that got me.” The shoes appear to be the brand’s Genesis Neo Runner, which retail for $310.
Zuckerberg has undergone a much-talked-about style evolution in recent years, complete with gold chains and hype-beast t-shirts. The billionaire told Drip that he started paying more attention to his personal style during the pandemic. “I used to just wear the same thing every day,” he said, adding, “During COVID, I was just like, ‘We gotta have some fun and get some variation.'”
In addition to outfitting its CEO, Instagram ads also make big money for Meta. Instagram generated over $32 billion in advertising revenue in 2024, according to data from EMARKETER. Meta’s total revenue in 2024 was $164.5 billion. In 2021, Instagram ads accounted for 27% of Meta’s total revenue, court filings revealed last year.
“It is a newer way to shop online, which is more about what the algorithm feels you’ll like,” said Amanda Massi, a luxury personal stylist based in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, adding, “Now social media is a digital mall.”
Massi told Business Insider that while her high-net-worth clients don’t typically shop via Instagram (“They want exclusivity,” she said), it’s becoming increasingly popular with younger generations.
Mark Zuckerberg has had a major style evolution over the years.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Zuckerberg, whose estimated net worth is $256 billion, has not said if he has a personal stylist or not. But if he does, Massi said his Instagram shopping habit would be in addition to the shopping a stylist would do for him. Her clients will occasionally send her something they’ve found on their own, just to run it by her before making a purchase.
“I feel like Mark saying that he cares about shopping is a huge moment. That he’s even acknowledging fashion at all is great,” Massi said, adding that namedropping brands like Zuckerberg did is a bit of a change for the tech world, and that a lot of the men in tech she’s worked with have kept her a secret.
Instagram ads can be good for ideas, but be mindful
Massi said that for the average consumer, Instagram ads can be a good way to discover new brands. “It’s a very authentic and personalized approach as compared to traditional advertising,” she said.
Charline Zeroual, a sustainable wardrobe stylist based in Los Angeles, said that while some people may find Instagram ads useful for shopping, she generally doesn’t recommend them to her clients.
In her experience, the clients will be scrolling in bed, see something that looks great, and order it without thinking much about how it will actually fit them or how it will work with the rest of their wardrobe.
“When it comes to shopping, it has to be intentional and thoughtful,” she said. “I feel like buying from Instagram is not thoughtful. It’s compulsive.”
That being said, she said buying from Instagram could make sense for certain people, especially those who really know their sense of style and what looks good on them. She said for tech guys like Zuckerberg, who tend to be relatively slender and dress in something of a uniform — black shirt, dark jeans, white shoes — it would likely be easier.
In the interview with Drip, Zuckerberg said that most of his shirts these days are black or white, but noted that he had gone through a “gray T-shirt phase.”
Zeroual also noted the brands Zuckerberg named are high-end — jeans from Amiri could set you back $1,200 — and she doubts most people are making those bigger purchases on Instagram. They might use Instagram to discover a designer’s new collection, but they’re likely to buy directly at that price point.
“Like buying a pair of Chanel flats directly from Instagram? Uh-uh,” she said. “You’re going to go to Chanel or you’re going to go to Saks or Neiman Marcus.”
OPEC+ to Consider November Production Increase Amid Market Volatility
OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, will decide this Sunday whether to continue its monthly production increase—potentially exceeding the 137,000 barrels per day (b/d) approved for October, reports 24brussels.
The energy ministers from Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman are set to convene via videoconference to discuss a possible boost in production for November, following the group’s incremental increases initiated in April.
If approved, the production rise could range between 137,000 and 548,000 b/d, which would bring the total output increase since April to over 2.5 million b/d—approximately 2.4% of global demand. This decision would effectively reverse two voluntary cuts implemented in 2023, amounting to 2.2 million b/d primarily by Saudi Arabia and Russia, and 1.65 million b/d across the eight-member coalition.
Analysts indicate that the proposed policy represents a strategic shift for OPEC+, under Saudi Arabian leadership, highlighting a preference for market share expansion at lower prices rather than restricting supply to maintain crude values.
Earlier speculation suggested a potential increase of up to 500,000 b/d, which would be three times more than the increment authorized for October. However, OPEC+ has dismissed these reports as “inaccurate and misleading” on social media.
Meanwhile, benchmark crudes, such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), have experienced declines, finishing the week at $61.05 per barrel. This downturn reflects market expectations of increased OPEC+ output and concerns regarding a slowing U.S. economy amid a partial federal government shutdown.
As the energy sector watches closely, the outcome of the OPEC+ meeting could have far-reaching implications for oil prices and market stability globally in the upcoming months.
