7th November 2025

If you think the rate of technological change is ever-increasing, then you are not alone.

We had a technology conference at work this week and one of the recurring themes was AI – “Artificial Intelligence”. It was good to get past the media hype and listen to those working in the industry. The most insightful observation came from a representative of Amazon when he was asked what further AI developments might be on the horizon. You know the sort of question – it’s a favourite of job interviewers – where do you see yourself in five years’ time? The answer on this occasion really struck home: “Five years? We’re only thinking six months ahead!” Such is the pace of AI development.

I was also impressed by the prominence our speakers gave to the wider implications of AI adoption, in particular the social and environmental impacts. There has been much media angst about whether people will be replaced by machines, but how often have we heard that before? I’m sure the same hysteria followed the inventions of the steam engine, the production line, the personal computer. But we’re still here. The promise of AI, indeed all technology, is to remove the tedium of repetitive, dangerous or error-prone tasks – surely that is a desirable outcome for us all?

And as the UN climate conference, COP30, takes place in Brazil this coming week, it was also timely to remember the environmental cost of AI. Whether it is the energy to power the computers or the water to cool them down, AI is not environmentally neutral. But it does not need to be detrimental to our world.

So let us embrace this new technology but be careful to use it wisely.