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In late September 2029, after a summer marred by confusion and unexplained terror attacks, Britain became the first nation to fall to AI.
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Britain → see → AI
The exact date on which the technology assumed control is not easy to establish.
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technology → assume → control
It had been what some call ‘sentient’ for a while, and the Government had handed it administrative control months earlier – although the general public had not been made aware of the fact.
To understand how it happened is to go back to a key decision the Labour Government made in early 2027.
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Government → call → 2027
A new Prime Minister had recently been appointed, and he was uncertain what to do about what was seen as the ‘threat’ of AI.
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what → appoint → AI
Not that it was a partisan issue – leaders before him had dithered on the issue, too.
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leaders → dither → issue
But the Prime Minister was determined to show he was made of sterner stuff than his predecessors and ‘grab the bull by the horns’, as he told his chief of staff.
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he → show → staff
His Government had a choice: either restrict the use of AI – putting Britain far behind countries such as China and America developing the software at a rapid rate – or embrace the growth opportunities the technology might bring.
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technology → have → opportunities
He settled on the latter.
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He → settle → latter
The sector was moving fast.
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sector → move → ?
Since ChatGPT had wowed the world with its capabilities just five years earlier, AI had become embedded into call centres, household appliances and security and communication systems.
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AI → wow → centres
The prospect of an unfriendly country using AI to hack Britain’s national infrastructure was of genuine concern inside No 10.
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country → use → No
So the PM’s chief of staff arranged a series of meetings for his boss with the chief executives of a host of AI companies.
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chief → arrange → companies
One of those meetings was going to alter the course of history for ever.
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One → go → history
The prospect of an unfriendly country using AI to hack Britain’s national infrastructure was of genuine concern inside No 10
The note-taking system of the civil service – at that time an AI called Humphrey – records that the first meeting between the Prime Minister and Henri Lauvaux of Alcheminna Systems took place on June 3, 2027.
Alcheminna was a little-known AI start-up then.
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Alcheminna → use → June
Privately owned and discreetly funded by offshore private equity, it had not yet come to the attention of City analysts.
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it → own → analysts
And crucially, as its owner Lauvaux reassured the Prime Minster, it was not yet affiliated to any American political party.
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it → reassure → party
Its AI model was called Divinity and it specialised in monitoring ‘people’ – specifically British people.
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it → call → people
The system had been trained on data scraped from domestic smart speakers and social media accounts.
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system → train → speakers
It had built up voice and face recognition for almost every citizen in the country, with data from multiple sources layered on top – historic GPS tracking, health records, school and criminal data, and much else.
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It → build → top
To the Prime Minister, the system seemed inordinately useful.
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system → seem → Minister
After a series of mysterious terrorism attacks, in which small bombs had been set off in public places, killing several people, morale in the police force had fallen to record lows.
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morale → set → lows
The PM summoned his Home Secretary to see the system for himself.
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PM → summon → himself
Humphrey records that a deal was agreed there and then for the licensing of the tech by the Home Office.
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deal → record → Office
In return, the company would be allowed to install voice and face recognition software across the Government’s network of CCTV cameras in urban areas to further feed Divinity, which was always hungry for data.
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which → allow → data
In August 2027, Jonathan Turkdean, a junior civil servant at the Home Office – deeply concerned by the threat to privacy – emailed an old school friend, the editor of a Right-leaning daily newspaper, to tell him about a product trial he had witnessed for new police helmets developed by Alcheminna Systems and another start-up.
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he → email → Systems
The helmets came with glasses equipped with Divinity’s Enhanced Reality technology, he wrote.
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he → come → technology
A policeman wearing them could stand in any street and for every passer-by, see superimposed on their view, not just the person’s name, date of birth and address but their suspected or known political leanings, any criminal convictions, propensity to violence and even any secrets or ‘weak spots’ they might have, scraped from social media and elsewhere – adultery, illegitimacy, hidden passions, phobias...
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they → wear → media
The newspaper duly ran an article revealing the new police technology, sparking public outrage.
In response, the system was adjusted.
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system → run → response
Rather than the system offering the public’s innermost secrets to police officers, Divinity instead would provide officers in the field with ‘instructions on how to act’ based on its private knowledge of individuals.
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Divinity → offer → individuals
With the new system in place, arrest levels soared.
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levels → soar → place
With an approaching election, the Prime Minister could see that, while the public were happy about the safer streets, there were increasing concerns about the intrusive surveillance of the British people.
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public → approach → people
Then came the moment that changed everything.
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that → come → everything
The civil-servant whistleblower Jonathan Turkdean was arrested by officers wearing the Divinity helmets.
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whistleblower → arrest → helmets
In a moment of confusion, the public was later told, Divinity had told officers that the civil servant was armed, and Turkdean was shot dead – sparking mass protests against Divinity.
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Turkdean → tell → Divinity
The Divinity AI model suggested to the Prime Minister that drones be used to monitor the protesters – identifying ringleaders and finding information from its data banks that could be used to compromise them.
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that → suggest → them
The Prime Minister, desperate to quell the worsening riots, agreed.
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Minister → quell → riots
But Divinity suggested going a step further.
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Divinity → suggest → ?
Although not ringleaders, some of those protesting – whether in person or through online rhetoric – were affiliated to the opposition and other smaller parties and groups.
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some → protest → opposition
Should Divinity also raise the priority of ‘focusing’ on those individuals?
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Divinity → raise → individuals
Anthropic launched its model, Claude, in March 2023.
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Anthropic → launch → March
…and 51 more, not listed.
The Aporia
