IN THE ETHER

A global archive of independent reviews of everything happening from the beginning of the millennium

Read our Copyright Notice click here

For publication dates click here

The old model failing comes as a relief - Britain at last has the opportunity to take its place in the new digital world beyond designing chips, a few games and fintech, having eschewed seizing chances before.

First it should abandon follower ideas like the out of date WEF obsession with digital ID.

Simultaneously, it should invest as much as it can in quantum computing and secure applied usages which it will specialise in commercially - it has a good knowledge base.

The new world may be AI and quantum computing. Britain should make the bet - the big money is going into AI so bet on the other.

Others may invest in AI in Britain but let it be their money. We should invest ours in quantum computing. The bet will pay off somehow.

As for AI? We should start developing ethical frameworks for it - we have the skills for that, too.

Of course an AI should be shut down if it shows self-directed malice towards humans in everyday life.

In our view an AI will always rank behind a racehorse in the sentience league and both's lineages have been created by humans.

If a person kidnapped and killed Shergar he should be sentenced to ten years in prison.

If an AI locked a person in a house then initiated his death it should be switched off for a decade.

Now, if an AI kidnapped a racehorse ..... four years at least.

Think it could not happen?

Health telemetry is sometimes used in training but onboard telemetry should be banned at all race meetings worldwide otherwise racecourses will become hotspots for hackers testing tools.

Should worldwide agreement not be possible, Britain should lead the way: it bans chemical doping and it should ban race meeting telemetry.

The last thing you want is injected poisoned data saying a racehorse won by more seconds or milliseconds than it did.

Racing does not have the budget of F1 to defend itself.

(YouTube screenshots)

All those attack surfaces! At least F1 only has temporary locations to defend - but probably could not against a hostile AI's parallel processing.

What chance a UK digital ID system avoiding poisoned data injected by AI? Not much.

*****

A more un-British and anti-Good Friday/Belfast agreement idea you could not dream up than digital ID.

We doubt that countries like Britain, Japan, Australia and South Korea should be in blocs these days - it reduces commercial agility. These are not kingpin countries but everyone will want to partner with them if they specialise well.

Her latest video will be going down a rabbit hole that the politicians will be blind in.

It does suggest to us, though, that existing digital ID models are doomed with the imminent onset of post-quantum cryptography, AI-attackers and the lack of trust in biometrics (which is why passports have multiple security features other than biometrics - and also require possession and presence).

It looks currently probable that if a government issues you with a digital ID it will have to be re-issued anew every two years as the probability of it being compromised rises sharply with the passage of time.