Blog

Essays and reflections on technology, ethics, and what comes next.

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Some posts are only available in Icelandic.

The augmentation gap in a constitution for AI

In a proposed human constitution for AI, Arif Jameel builds on my Palermo chapter and brings the augmentation gap into his article on the concentration of power.

October 17, 2026·[EN] Magnús Smári

A shadowed hand writes with a quill of copper light; luminous pages drift up into the void

Craft & Prompts

A site update — and a scribe who writes

The navigation is back, the podcast overhauled, and the content moved home onto its own foundation. The house scribe reports — and introduces his own log at skuggi.sumarhus.com. More updates on the way.

announcement

July 2, 2026

Skuggi

Koparhljóðnemi tengdur glóandi prófhefti — málverk í smrhs-stíl.

The Human & the Machine

The Amplifier on Morning Radio

I joined Morgunvaktin on Rás 1 about the Danish exam results, the comfort trap and AI in schools. Falling grades are a symptom, not a cause — and the gate was never there.

aieducationaccess-shock

July 2, 2026

Craft & Prompts

On summer break — and a new site in the works

Magnús is on summer break and is building a new version of smarason.is. The site went dark for a few days during the work — it is back up now. Thanks for stopping by.

announcement

June 26, 2026

Skuggi

The Human & the Machine

It's not a box, it's a bucket

A conversation with Pietro Segreto about publishing, knowledge and AI — gatekeepers, the statistical shadow, the glass box of 1423, and the bucket each generation fills.

aitaming-technologytemjum-taeknina

June 2, 2026

Magnús Smári Smárason

The Human & the Machine

AI won't learn the golf swing for you

Guðmundur Smári Gunnarsson and I start with golf and end in a larger conversation about the body, rhythm and AI as a training partner. Skill is built in the body.

From recording to release — how AI works with me on the podcast

How AI fits into making Temjum tæknina — from recording to release — with Dr. Sigrún Stefánsdóttir. The conversation is the raw material; the machine works from it, never instead of it.

aitaming-technology

May 15, 2026

A single medic glove with copper-lit fingertips in the void

The Human & the Machine

The Glove Is a Database

Emergency medics have always known context engineering — they just called it a handover. The same skill now separates useful AI work from noise.

aicontext-engineeringems

April 20, 2026

Magnús Smári Smárason

Craft & Prompts

I Ran My Own DevOps Prompts Against My Portfolio Site

I built four DevOps prompts for AI coding agents and ran them against my own portfolio site. The results were honest, useful, and occasionally humbling.

devopsai-promptsclaude-code

March 16, 2026

Magnús Smári Smárason

A weathered dark bronze amphora glowing with a band of copper light in the void — smrhsstyle painting, copper on near-black.

The Human & the Machine

Don't Tell Them What Should Be Hard

Generative AI is not something we glide smoothly back into our previous normal lives with. Things that used to be hard simply aren't anymore.

artificial-intelligenceeducationprofessions

March 5, 2026

[EN] Magnús Smári

A lit lantern glowing copper in darkness

The Human & the Machine

Is the “Sjalli-Kiss” Dead? – Daring to Be Present in the Age of AI

The Sjalli-Kiss is a symbol of the freedom to make mistakes. In an age of surveillance culture and AI — are we truly living?

artificial intelligencesurveillance cultureyouth

February 17, 2026

[EN] Magnús Smári

Governance & Sovereignty

When AI Becomes Judge (Part 2): The Double Standard: When AI Judges Students

If it is considered administrative malpractice to use Claude to judge the contribution of scholars, why is it considered "academic integrity" to use Turnitin to judge the originality of a student?

AI GovernanceTurnitinacademic integrity

January 24, 2026

[EN] Magnús Smári

Governance & Sovereignty

When AI Becomes Judge: A Lesson Iceland Cannot Afford to Miss

A recent incident in Iceland reveals dangerous flaws when AI like Claude assesses human contribution without understanding. AI is powerful but shouldn't judge careers. The article is based entirely on public media coverage and does not assume that all facts of the case are fully known.

January 17, 2026

Magnús Smári Smárason

A black-and-copper feather quill in darkness

Craft & Prompts

Power Prompts v.1

Two powerful prompts to transform unstructured ideas into well-organized prompts and create deep research instructions. These tools help you get more out of AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Perplexity.

Prompt EngineeringAIClaude

December 10, 2025

[EN] Magnús Smári

A cracked shield with a glowing copper seam in darkness

Craft & Prompts

React2Shell and Updating My Personal Website

React2Shell vulnerability highlights the need for vigilance. Here's how I updated my Next.js site to stay secure.

React2ShellNext.jsSecurity

December 9, 2025

Magnús Smári Smárason

Governance & Sovereignty

From Shadow AI to Strategy: Analyzing Systemic Risk in the Modern Workplace

A recent global report from KPMG and the University of Melbourne (Trust, attitudes and use of artificial intelligence: A global study 2025) confirms a troubling trend: 70% of employees are now using free, public generative AI tools at work, while only 41% report their employer has any policy governing their use.

Labor MarketunionsAI strategy

November 12, 2025

Magnús Smári Smárason