John Thornhill

We’re close to the point where chatbots and avatars are all but indistinguishable from humans online. How can you be sure that you’re not interacting with a synthetic human?
THE BROAD VIEW

I’m human. Are you? The quest for our online identity

The increasing ubiquity of AI makes it harder to authenticate who someone is in the digital realm

Miniature figures of people are seen in front of the new Google logo in this illustration taken May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
THE BROAD VIEW

We need a new deal for the Web

The speed and direction of AI’s transformation of the digital economy raises fears of its viability and predatory bots

FILE PHOTO: Gemini logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Generative AI models are skilled in the art of bulls**t

Large language models are unconcerned with truth because they have no concept of it – and therein lies the danger

Led by Elon Musk (left), US tech bosses have been filing into Mar-a-Lago to trade favours with Trump (right) and donate to his inauguration fund.
THE BROAD VIEW

A lesson for oligarchs: politics can be deadly

The emergence of a powerful tech elite close to Donald Trump has jarring echoes with Russia

As one AI lord sees it, a superintelligence might arrive as soon as 2026; such powerful AI would amount to a "country of geniuses in a data centre".
THE BROAD VIEW

Will AI ‘compress’ the 21st century?

Several of the top AI leaders are now tamping down the fear factor and turning up the volume on hope and hype

Contemporary America: Increasingly looks 'weird' ? -- Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic.
BOOK REVIEW

Who are we now? – humanity’s next frontier

A survey of tens of thousands of people by one of Google’s top AI researchers also gives a compelling look at the...

Today’s frontier AI models are approaching the “universal” computers that Alan Turing could only imagine, capable of vastly more functions.
THE BOTTOM LINE

We need a political Alan Turing to design AI safeguards

Frontier technology is a challenge that raises a spectrum of concerns

The rapid development and increasingly pervasive use of generative AI systems has alarmed many.
PERSPECTIVE

Multiple red flags are not yet slowing the generative AI train

Critics claim the technology carries alarming risks and needs better governance