Introduction This paper explores the defining economic challenge of our time: the prospect of artificial intelligence rendering human labour uncompetitive. Our aim is to set out clearly the challenges posed by the Economic Singularity, and we invite thoughtful commentary, debate, and most importantly proposals for solutions. The paper combines analytical argument with storytelling. [ ] The post…
This article was first published in Forbes on 13 November 2025 About a decade ago, Geoff Hinton declared that human radiologists were like Wily E. Coyote in the Roadrunner show. They had run off the edge of a cliff, but hadn’t realised it yet. Their livelihoods were about to come crashing down. Ten years on, [ ] The post The Road to Superintelligence first appeared on .
First published in Forbes on 8 October 2025 A test for consciousness, not intelligence This month is the 75th anniversary of the Turing Test, which Alan Turing introduced to the world in his paper, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”, published in the October 1950 issue of the journal “Mind”. Today, the Turing Test is often derided [ ] The post The 75th Anniversary of the Turing Test first…
This article first appeared in Forbes on 28 September 2025 The Economic Singularity is a term I coined a decade ago to denote the moment when there are no longer any jobs for the vast majority of humans. In mathematics, the word “singularity” means a point when the normal rules stop working, and it was [ ] The post The Economic Singularity and the Five As first appeared on .
A rock has been thrown into the pond of digital publishing and it is making waves. Referrals from search engines are falling. For media organisations whose business models involve attracting eyeballs to sell advertising, this could be the beginning of an existential crisis. For organisations that depend heavily on organic search to bring in readers, [ ] The post Publishers brace for a shock wave…
As large language models evolve into true agents—persistent, memory-rich, goal-oriented companions—an interesting question arises: what should we call them? Not just their product names or brand identities, but the category of relationship they represent. Friends Years ago, when I wrote “Surviving AI”, I suggested we call them Friends. That suggestion feels more relevant now than [ ] The post What…
For years, the idea of machine consciousness has belonged to the realm of philosophy and science fiction. But as AI systems become more sophisticated, the debate is shifting from speculation to a pressing scientific and ethical question. Could machines develop some form of consciousness? And if so, how would we even recognise it? With Artificial [ ] The post The year of conscious AI first appeared…
Calum discusses the implications of machine consciousness for a New York-based think tank. Defining Consciousness: How do we define consciousness, and what criteria would we use to determine if an AI system has achieved it? It is ironic how little we understand consciousness, since it is actually the only thing any of us know anything [ ] The post Machine consciousness: definitions, implications,…
We all know that artificial intelligence is transforming every industry. One industry which is nascent today, but will be critical to us all in the future, and which could hardly exist without AI, is space telecoms or Non-Terrestrial Networks, as participants prefer to call it. At a conference on NTNs in Riyadh last month, [ ] The post AI Will Convert Space Telecoms From Science Fiction To Reality…
A new book by Nick Bostrom is a major publishing and cultural event. His 2014 book “Superintelligence” helped to wake the world up to the impact of the first Big Bang in AI, the arrival of Deep Learning. Since then we have had a second Big Bang in AI, with the introduction of Transformer systems [ ] The post Can we have meaning as well as fun? Review of Nick Bostrom’s Deep Utopia first appeared on…