Wise words and waggishness… May 2025

By Marc Ambasna-Jones 02 May 25 Reading time: 3 mins

“They [Frey and Osborne] didn’t anticipate large tech companies essentially appropriating (read stealing) the work of artists, writers, and internet users to train their models and then displace their own creative work.”

Dr Devika Narayan, assistant professor at the Bristol Digital Futures Institute and University of Bristol Business School, talking about the speed and severity with which creative professionals have been affected by gen AI in our piece Twelve years after ‘The Future of Employment’: what AI really means for work

“The term ‘AI ethics’ has become a buzzword. It’s often seen as a form of activism or reduced to slogans about ‘doing good’. As a discipline, ethics requires knowledge, expertise, and an understanding of complex trade-offs… it helps organisations make better decisions and build more robust, trusted business practices.”

Karin Rudolph, founder of Collective Intelligence and the AI Ethics, Risk and Safety Conference in Bristol, in our article There’s appetite for AI but no real roadmap. We need to change that

“Managing that hype has been very difficult. It’s quite frustrating for academics because we’ve got quite a lot of rigour.”​

Ruth Oulton, professor of Quantum Photonics at the University of Bristol, speaking at a recent Foresight Live event on the challenges academics face amidst the hype surrounding quantum technologies

“Do our business customers and consumers care about what the technology is in the network that’s making the network better? Realistically, not really. They care that it makes their lives easier and better and their data more secure.”

Zoe Davidson, a research specialist in optical networks at BT, talking in Bristol at a recent Foresight Live event. From our article From research to reality: quantum is not AI

“Collaboration helps to overcome fragmentation in the market, ensuring that smaller or newer companies can access the resources and expertise they need to thrive. As part of this, there is a need for better signposting to connect companies with the relevant pools of talent, resources, and expertise within the industry.”

Ian Smith, head of the UK Telecoms Innovation Network (UKTIN), writing on why Collaboration should complement competition to deliver on the UK’s vision

“This really is a fantastic achievement for the RUH and will hopefully be the start of many similar operations where patients can now return home the same day. This is now possible due to the use of the robot, which provides better precision and accuracy which also enhances recovery times too.”

Consultant urological and robotic surgeon Ayman Ali talking about how a cancer patient has become one of the first in the UK to be discharged the same day after undergoing major robotic prostate surgery at Bath’s Royal United Hospital

“The key point is, in AI… we’re using probabilities. We’re using induction. And that means we need people, especially those with ethics and critical thinking skills, to stay in the loop.”

Nigel Toon on why trust in AI will depend not just on capability, but on transparency. From our article Twelve years after ‘The Future of Employment’: what AI really means for work

“Mission-critical networks require more than Zero Trust, they demand quantum-resilient security and edge intelligence.”

Andy Leaver, CEO of Arqit, on why the company has teamed up with Intel and Equus to deliver “the world’s first quantum-safe architecture for secure mobile access to classified data” (via email).

Marc Ambasna-Jones / Editor-in-chief

Working as a technology journalist and writer since 1989, Marc has written for a wide range of titles on technology, business, education, politics and sustainability, with work appearing in The Guardian, The Register, New Statesman, Computer Weekly and many more.