Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots based on large language models (LLMs) have been with us on a large scale for almost three years now, ever since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. Their impact on the world is undeniable, with around two-thirds of companies using them to a greater or lesser degree by mid-2025. There…
Human beings can be devious. We are capable of trickery and deceit, of withholding information, cheating or lying. The term “Machiavellian” is used for deceitful, manipulative behaviour in pursuit of personal gain or status over ethical principles. Given the increasing role in our lives of artificial intelligence (AI) and the large language models (LLMs) used…
The pharmaceutical industry was worth $1.6 trillion in 2024, employing around 8 million people directly and up to 75 million people indirectly. Various flavours of artificial intelligence show considerable promise in these industries. AI can be utilised in various applications, including research and drug discovery, clinical trials, operations such as manufacturing, and for other purposes,…
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology, such as ChatGPT and its rivals, depends heavily on training data, but what if that training data is deliberately poisoned? The large language models (LLMs) technology that underlie generative AI go through three stages of training. The models are fed vast amounts of raw data, such as The Common Corpus,…
Self-driving cars have been a science fiction staple for years, featuring in movies like “Demolition Man” and “Total Recall”. Given that 1.2 million people a year die in accidents on the roads, it is hardly surprising that people have been trying to make this particular piece of fiction into reality for quite some time. The…
The oil and gas industries are some of the largest in the world, with a market size of over $7 trillion. Just over half of that is exploration and production, the rest being refining and distribution. It employs over 12 million people, with a further 60 million employed indirectly by its suppliers. While an oil…
Science fiction is full of AIs that have gone rogue. The HAL 9000 computer in the 1968 Stanley Kubrick movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” determined that the crew of the spaceship it operated was superfluous to its mission and attempted to kill them all when it suspected they were plotting to shut it down. When…
There has been great public excitement about artificial intelligence (AI), and in particular generative AI, ever since the release of ChatGPT by OpenAI in November 2022. The underlying large language model (LLM) technology allows AI models to generate content on a wide range of subjects in a fluent, conversational manner. From answers to basic questions…