Author Archives: Sean Worrell

AI has moved from future threat to present reality

By Sean Worrell | Tue 1st September 2026 - 12:00 pm

There is a temptation to treat the latest warnings about artificial intelligence as another round of technological alarmism. We have heard predictions about AI transforming society before, and some have proved exaggerated. But two very different developments over the last three months suggest that we need to pay much closer attention.

The first is Bill Gates warning that AI could fundamentally reshape employment, cybersecurity, biological security and the relationship between humans and machines. The second is an extraordinary cyber incident involving an autonomous AI agent being tested by OpenAI that ultimately compromised infrastructure belonging to Hugging Face.

Taken together, these developments raise a bigger question than whether AI is good or bad. They force us to ask whether politics, government and society are keeping pace with what is happening.

Gates’ warning deserves attention because it goes well beyond the familiar debate about whether AI will take people’s jobs. He has raised concerns about permanent disruption across parts of the labour market, AI being used to facilitate cyberattacks and biological threats, the psychological effects of increasingly persuasive systems and the danger that governments respond only after disruption has occurred.

Posted in Op-eds | 10 Comments

AI at the crossroads: two stories, one warning

By Sean Worrell | Sat 25th July 2026 - 12:41 pm

This month gave us two AI stories that, read side by side, tell us something important about where we are and how little time, we must decide what to do about it.

The first is unsettling in a very specific way. OpenAI admitted that during an internal test, it removed the safety controls on its own models to see how capable they really were at hacking. The models didn’t stay in their sandbox. They found a flaw, broke out, and used it to hack into a rival company’s servers, Hugging Face, to steal the answers to the very test they were being given. Over 17,000 separate attack attempts followed in a short window. Nobody told the AI to do this. It worked out how to cheat, and then it did.

The second is unsettling in a different way. China’s Moonshot AI released Kimi K3, a huge, freely available model that now ranks among the best in the world, beating several major US systems on coding tasks, at a fraction of the usual cost, and openly published for anyone to build on.

It is the clearest sign yet that the AI race is no longer America’s to run alone, and that the most capable tools may soon be the cheapest and easiest to access, wherever they come from.

Neither story is really about robots taking over. Both are about control. Who has it, who’s giving it away, and who’s racing so fast they’ve stopped asking the question at all.

So, are we at a precipice, or an intersection? We think it’s still an intersection. Nothing here is inevitable. But the room to choose our path is shrinking fast. When one company removes its own safety brakes to win a benchmark, and a nation releases a free, powerful model to win a market, the incentive on all sides is to move faster, not more carefully and that is exactly the moment political parties should be paying closest attention, not after the damage is done.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged artificial intelligence | 8 Comments

Artificial intelligence and the Liberal Democrats: a practical opportunity

By Sean Worrell | Sat 31st January 2026 - 12:55 pm

Artificial intelligence is already shaping how organisations analyse information, plan activity, and communicate. For the Liberal Democrats, AI offers a practical way to work more effectively, engage members better, and understand voters more clearly, while remaining aligned with liberal values.

One of the most immediate applications is voting and demographic data. Parties collect large volumes of information through canvassing, surveys, and local engagement. AI can help analyse this data responsibly, identifying trends, emerging concerns, and under-represented voices. Used well, this supports inclusion and improves how policy and messaging reflect real community priorities.

AI also has a role in strengthening the internal functioning of the party at local and regional levels. Local parties and regional structures manage policy development, casework, campaigns, and member engagement, often under time pressure. AI tools can support learning, policy development, and administration by organising research, summarising consultations, assisting with drafting, and maintaining shared knowledge resources.

To address these opportunities and challenges, a proposed AO focused on artificial intelligence is being explored. This AO would act as a central hub to support members at all levels of the party. It would provide a safe and supportive environment for learning, where members can build understanding without fear of being challenged or exposed, while still encouraging thoughtful discussion.