Henry Williams

Now that MI5 has been called in to protect us from rogue AI systems and Anthropic has opted not to release its Claude Mythos model to the public over safety concerns, it seems that talk of AI erasing humanity is not entirely overblown. But before the world ends, Artificial Intelligence poses another grave threat to humanity: it risks boring us to death. Lawyers are the first victims of the wave of AI slop that risks drowning us all Lawyers are among the first victims of the wave of AI slop that risks drowning us all. The Financial Times reports that clients are bombarding their lawyers with letters and emails generated by AI chatbots. One partner at a US firm told the paper he had received so many AI-generated emails that he could not keep up with the ‘barrage’.

'When the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose,' announced Meryl Streep at last night’s Golden Globe awards. This has received the most attention today. However, it was a subsequent remark in her speech which was perhaps more telling. 'An actor’s only job is to enter the lives of people who are different from us, and let you feel what that feels like.' It would seem, then, that America’s actors are not living up to Streep's job description. Nobody wants to perform at Trump's inauguration, and Hollywood is making no attempt to engage with or understand the 63 million voters who backed Trump. Have they even stopped to think how such a figure could be voted in as president? No, instead they whoop and cheer.

While many have seen Theresa May’s accession to Prime Minister as striking a blow for feminism, she has also struck a mighty blow for indolence. With George Osborne and David Cameron pushed towards the exit, those of us in our mid-30’s who are still at the thinking-about-doing-something-at-some-point stage of our lives can rest easy a while longer. This has always been a difficult age. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that I will never be a rockstar, given that I am well past the maximum age for the 27 club, (at my age Keith Richards was firmly in the Swiss blood transfusion clinic). I also know that even some of life’s greatest proponents of slacking are already well ahead of me.

George Osborne’s doomsday warning over Brexit has an odd historical echo to it. Take James Rothschild’s letter to his brother in 1831, just months before the Great Reform Act was passed the following year. He warned about how ‘the infamous liberal spirit’ could affect markets. ‘Let us get down to the nitty gritty,’ he said. ‘We fell some 30 per cent (in Paris) and I hope To God this will not be repeated this time in England.’ It turns out that historically international financiers have not been the hugest fans of popular revolts. The parallels with the stark predictions regarding Brexit from the Treasury, the OECD, and bankers willing to lend their names to open letters 180 years later are striking.

As a proud Cornishman I was delighted earlier this month to be chatting to a young American fashion designer who excitedly told me about his growing label. 'We’ve just taken on two students from Foolmoof, that’s how you say it right?' I think he meant Falmouth whose university - specialising in creative industries - has been one of the recent success stories in Cornwall. I’ve also come across graphics designers for Pixar in the badlands west of Penzance. They have been using the superfast broadband network to pass their animations back and forth with LA. For all its Doc Martin appeal, Cornwall is not a parochial backwater, and thanks to European Union investment, stories like the ones above are becoming more commonplace.