Latest news with #Follows
Scottish Sun
26-05-2025
- Scottish Sun
China & Russia will use drones ‘size of insects' to spy on West & commit untraceable murders, ex-Google futurist warns
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) KILLER camouflage drones the size of insects could be used by Russia and China to commit untraceable murders, an ex-Google futurist warns. Tracey Follows, who has also worked with Amazon and Meta, warned they could even carry deadly pathogens and be used to spy on the UK. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 The warning echoes the plot of an episode of Black Mirror featuring robot bees Credit: NETFLIX 3 The Black Mirror episode features swarms on drone insects known as 'ADIs' And it is a prediction which is a chilling echo of the Black Mirror episode "Hated in the Nation". The near future sci-fi show envisioned of world where robot bees designed to pollinate flowers could be hijacked to commit murder. The Future of You author told The Sun: 'In time, one expects a drone to have the situational awareness to carry out an attack autonomously without a human in the loop. 'The big question is what's the payload on these drones, what are you actually attaching to the drone? 'Increasingly, over the last four or five years, I've been reading about viruses and how you can potentially attach a pathogen to these sorts of weapons. 'So not only can you identify somebody personally, you can then attack them with a virus, for example.' Terrifyingly, she warned it could open the door for rogue nations like Russia to assassinate targets on UK soil without leaving a trace. Moscow was infamously accused of poisoning ex-Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury in 2018. Skirpal and his daughter, Yulia, survived but local woman Dawn Sturgess was inadvertently killed when she sprayed what she thought was perfume on her wrists. Russia denies any involvement. Before that, Skripal was convicted of spying for Britain in 2006 and jailed for 13 years. Watch terrifying vision of secret Chinese drone mothership that can launch vast AI killer swarms - as it's set to take to skies in days But in future, drone attacks could make it impossible to identify a culprit. Follows, who founded consultancy service Futuremade, said: 'If you can camouflage these micro weapons, and if you've got technology that's so advanced that the enemy country doesn't know what's happened, you can't really trace exactly what's happened. 'If you're adding a virus as a payload onto a drone, it could be a completely new virus. 'You may not know what that virus is in your country and it's attacked somebody individually because it's autonomously targeted and activated against that person." Follows, ranked in the world's Top 30 Futurists by Global Gurus, added: 'I don't think it's just Russia and China that one has to worry about. 'I think it's anybody, in any country, in any region who is starting to integrate AI into the military and into these lethal weapons.' Drone technology continues to advance at an alarming rate as the AI explosion shows no signs of slowing down. This month, chilling images emerged of a new Chinese 'mothership' drone carrier that can launch swarms of mini-drones. The small drones would then work together to 'swarm' enemies. State broadcaster CCTV said its inaugural mission will launch on Monday. Chinese drone carrier that can launch deadly swarms by James Moules, Foreign News Reporter A NEW Chinese drone carrier that can launch deadly swarms against enemy targets could take to the skies within days. This unmanned "drone mother ship" is expected to take off for its first mission as part of a terrifying drive to boost the Chinese air force's combat capabilities. Named Jiu Tian - meaning "nine heavens" - this unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) would add to China's ability to "swarm" enemies. This tactic involves releasing vast swarms of drones that work together to overwhelm enemy air defence systems. A video widely circulated on X shows a visualisation of the aircraft's capabilities - demonstrating its ability to release vast swarms of deadly drones. China's state broadcaster CCTV confirmed its inaugural mission on Monday. The jet-powered drone will start by undergoing a series of tests before it is fully deployed by the Chinese air force. Boasting a carrying capacity of up to six tonnes of ammunition and small-sized drones, the UAV has a maximum range of 4,350 miles and altitude of 50,000 feet. Swarms of drones, including kamikaze UAVs, can be released from both sides of the aircraft's belly. Terrifyingly, it is reportedly able to fly above many medium-range defence systems currently deployed around the world. READ MORE HERE Follows warned that not only are drones becoming better at identifying targets, but people are simply becoming easier to track down. She said: 'I spoke to Erik Prince. He's the biggest kind of private military contractor in the world, and the founder of Blackwater. 'Among other things, he co-founded a company called Unplugged, which brings privacy to your mobile phone. So it doesn't collect any data.' She added: 'So he's very aware of communications technologies and how they can be used for surveillance. 'He talked to me about the way in which drones can do precision targeting now if the data is available on your AI, a sort of advertising ID, if you like. 'So if you've got stuff on your phone and you've got an identification on your phone, if you're carrying that with you, the drone can identify that and that can be set to attack.' As technology continues to advance rapidly, so too do security and privacy concerns. Follows warns that drones may also pave the way to record personal conversations without consent. 3 Could China and Russia really use insect-size drones? What happened to Sergei Skripal? FORMER Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok in his adopted hometown of Salisbury in March 2018. The nerve attack, which also poisoned his daughter Yulia, sparked a diplomatic row between the UK and Russia. Sergei was a Russian military intelligence officer who was convicted in 2006 of spying for the United Kingdom. Skripal was accused by Russian prosecutors of working for MI6 in the late 1990s and passing secrets to the British using a James Bond-style spy rock. At the time, he was serving in the Russian Ground Forces and was nicknamed "the Spy with the Louis Vuitton bag" because of his taste for luxury goods. In 2006 he was released in a spy swap and moved to the UK where he settled in Salisbury. Sergei's wife Liudmila died from cancer in 2012 and in 2017 he lost his older brother and his 43-year-old son Alexandr. The ex-KGB spy and his daughter Yulia, 36, were exposed to a nerve agent and fell gravely ill after having a pizza lunch in Salisbury on Sunday, March 4, 2018. They were found slumped on a bench in a "catatonic state" and spent weeks critically ill in hospital. Anti-terror police investigated the poisoning and discovered the agent used was military-grade Novichok, made in Russia. Russia denied that their special services were involved in the attack, which sparked a diplomatic spat and the expulsion of embassy staff. Police believe the pair were exposed to the nerve agent after it was left on the front door of his home. Worse, they could even film us without us being aware we're being filmed at all. That would therefore spark a race with the technology used to detect them. Asked if drones the size of flies will one day be able to film us, she added: 'They probably will be able to, yes. 'DARPA (a US military research agency) used to have a program called SHRIMP and they put it out as a competition for researchers, engineers and computer scientists to come back and say, how could you do these tiny micro drones? 'The problem was with the energy as they're so small. You can't get the energy in them for them to be transported for a long enough distance or carry out the actions you want them to. 'So they had this short range micro micro robotics program. And that was in 2019, and it's all gone very quiet since then. 'I'm always suspicious when things go quiet because I know that it's going into sort of patent territory. 'People are working on things in the research process, and then something will come out. There is absolutely no reason why they can't be doing short range conversation recording."
The Irish Sun
26-05-2025
- The Irish Sun
China & Russia will use drones ‘size of insects' to spy on West & commit untraceable murders, ex-Google futurist warns
KILLER camouflage drones the size of insects could be used by Russia and China to commit untraceable murders, an ex-Google futurist warns. Tracey Follows, who has also worked with Amazon and Meta, warned they could even carry deadly pathogens and be used to spy on the UK. 3 The warning echoes the plot of an episode of Black Mirror featuring robot bees Credit: NETFLIX 3 The Black Mirror episode features swarms on drone insects known as 'ADIs' And it is a prediction which is a chilling echo of the Black Mirror episode "Hated in the Nation". The near future sci-fi show envisioned of world where robot bees designed to pollinate flowers could be hijacked to commit murder. The Future of You author told The Sun: 'In time, one expects a drone to have the situational awareness to carry out an attack autonomously without a human in the loop. 'The big question is what's the payload on these drones, what are you actually attaching to the drone? READ MORE ON DRONES 'Increasingly, over the last four or five years, I've been reading about viruses and how you can potentially attach a pathogen to these sorts of weapons. 'So not only can you identify somebody personally, you can then attack them with a virus, for example.' Terrifyingly, she warned it could open the door for rogue nations like Russia to assassinate targets on UK soil without leaving a trace. Moscow was infamously accused of poisoning ex-Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury in 2018. Most read in The US Sun Skirpal and his daughter, Yulia, survived but local woman Dawn Sturgess was inadvertently killed when she sprayed what she thought was perfume on her wrists. Russia denies any involvement. Before that, Skripal was convicted of spying for Britain in 2006 and jailed for 13 years. Watch terrifying vision of secret Chinese drone mothership that can launch vast AI killer swarms - as it's set to take to skies in days But in future, drone attacks could make it impossible to identify a culprit. Follows, who founded consultancy service Futuremade, said: 'If you can camouflage these micro weapons, and if you've got technology that's so advanced that the enemy country doesn't know what's happened, you can't really trace exactly what's happened. 'If you're adding a virus as a payload onto a drone, it could be a completely new virus. 'You may not know what that virus is in your country and it's attacked somebody individually because it's autonomously targeted and activated against that person." Follows, ranked in the world's Top 30 Futurists by Global Gurus, added: 'I don't think it's just Russia and China that one has to worry about. 'I think it's anybody, in any country, in any region who is starting to integrate AI into the military and into these lethal weapons.' Drone technology continues to advance at an alarming rate as the AI explosion shows no signs of slowing down. This month, chilling images emerged of a new Chinese 'mothership' drone carrier that can launch swarms of mini-drones. The small drones would then work together to 'swarm' enemies. State broadcaster CCTV said its inaugural mission will launch on Monday. Chinese drone carrier that can launch deadly swarms by James Moules, Foreign News Reporter A NEW Chinese drone carrier that can launch deadly swarms against enemy targets could take to the skies within days. This unmanned "drone mother ship" is expected to take off for its first mission as part of a terrifying drive to boost the Chinese air force's combat capabilities. Named Jiu Tian - meaning "nine heavens" - this unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) would add to China's ability to "swarm" enemies. This tactic involves releasing vast swarms of drones that work together to overwhelm enemy air defence systems. A video widely circulated on X shows a visualisation of the aircraft's capabilities - demonstrating its ability to release vast swarms of deadly drones. China's state broadcaster CCTV confirmed its inaugural mission on Monday. The jet-powered drone will start by undergoing a series of tests before it is fully deployed by the Chinese air force. Boasting a carrying capacity of up to six tonnes of ammunition and small-sized drones, the UAV has a maximum range of 4,350 miles and altitude of 50,000 feet. Swarms of drones, including kamikaze UAVs, can be released from both sides of the aircraft's belly. Terrifyingly, it is reportedly able to fly above many medium-range defence systems currently deployed around the world. Follows warned that not only are drones becoming better at identifying targets, but people are simply becoming easier to track down. She said: 'I spoke to Erik Prince. He's the biggest kind of private military contractor in the world, and the founder of Blackwater. 'Among other things, he co-founded a company called Unplugged, which brings privacy to your mobile phone. So it doesn't collect any data.' She added: 'So he's very aware of communications technologies and how they can be used for surveillance. 'He talked to me about the way in which drones can do precision targeting now if the data is available on your AI, a sort of advertising ID, if you like. 'So if you've got stuff on your phone and you've got an identification on your phone, if you're carrying that with you, the drone can identify that and that can be set to attack.' As technology continues to advance rapidly, so too do security and privacy concerns. Follows warns that drones may also pave the way to record personal conversations without consent. 3 Could China and Russia really use insect-size drones? What happened to Sergei Skripal? FORMER Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok in his adopted hometown of Salisbury in March 2018. The nerve attack, which also poisoned his daughter Yulia, sparked a diplomatic row between the UK and Russia. Sergei was a Russian military intelligence officer who was convicted in 2006 of spying for the United Kingdom. Skripal was accused by Russian prosecutors of working for MI6 in the late 1990s and passing secrets to the British using a James Bond-style spy rock. At the time, he was In 2006 he was released in a spy swap and moved to the UK where he settled in Salisbury. The ex-KGB spy and his daughter They were found slumped on a bench in a "catatonic state" and spent weeks critically ill in hospital. Anti-terror police investigated the poisoning and discovered the agent used was military-grade Novichok, made in Russia. Russia denied that their special services were involved in the attack, which sparked a diplomatic spat and the expulsion of embassy staff. Police believe the Worse, they could even film us without us being aware we're being filmed at all. That would therefore spark a race with the technology used to detect them. Asked if drones the size of flies will one day be able to film us, she added: 'They probably will be able to, yes. 'DARPA (a US military research agency) used to have a program called SHRIMP and they put it out as a competition for researchers, engineers and computer scientists to come back and say, how could you do these tiny micro drones? 'The problem was with the energy as they're so small. You can't get the energy in them for them to be transported for a long enough distance or carry out the actions you want them to. 'So they had this short range micro micro robotics program. And that was in 2019, and it's all gone very quiet since then. 'I'm always suspicious when things go quiet because I know that it's going into sort of patent territory. 'People are working on things in the research process, and then something will come out. There is absolutely no reason why they can't be doing short range conversation recording."
Otago Daily Times
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Second title for Follows at national championships
Kane Follows. PHOTOS: SIMON WATTS / BW MEDIA Kane Follows pushed hard through the back end and came home strong. The Neptune swimmer won his second national title in as many days, securing the men's 100m backstroke with 55.23sec in Auckland last night. He finished 0.2sec ahead of silver medallist Zac Dell (Club 37) in a tight race, and Jasper Cornish (Coast) claimed bronze in 55.95sec. It was always going to be tough for the Olympian backing up after just missing the world championships qualifying time for the 200m backstroke on Thursday night. But Follows, humble as ever, was still proud of his performance. "Obviously you always want to go faster," Follows told commentators. "I'd say the hardest race is the race after missing a team or missing a time. "To go out there and win it, that's all I really wanted to do tonight." Dunedin swimmer Caitlin Deans has collected two medals at the New Zealand swimming championships in Auckland this week. Fellow Neptune swimmer Caitlin Deans came out firing to win bronze in the women's 400m freestyle in 4min 08.91sec. The Dunedin swimmer had a big battle against Olympic team-mate Eve Thomas (Coast) and they pushed each other all the way, with Thomas snagging silver in 4min 08.05sec. Former Dunedin swimmer Erika Fairweather cruised home in her specialist event to be crowned the national champion yet again in 4min 03.06sec. All three swam under the qualifying time of 4min 10.23sec for the world championships in Singapore later this year. It is the second medal — and second world qualifying mark — for Deans this week, after scoring silver in the women's 800m freestyle on the opening night. Neptune's Emilia Finer finished sixth in the 400m in 4min 23.92sec. Kiwi swimmer Alfie Weatherston-Harvey finished sixth in the men's 400m freestyle in 4min 0705sec. The championships wrap up tomorrow.
Otago Daily Times
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Follows picks up Otago's first open gold at champs
Kane Follows. PHOTO: ODT FILES Olympian Kane Follows won Otago's first open gold medal at the national championships last night. The Neptune swimmer was the only athlete to go under the two-minute mark in the men's 200m backstroke, clocking 1min 58.39sec in Auckland. It was just outside the qualifying time of 1min 58.07sec required for the world championships. "Honestly thought I did it," Follows told commentators when reflecting on the qualifying time. "Life's been a little different in the last few months, but felt like I adapted really well. "Definitely know I was faster than that leading into this, so pretty disappointed." It is the same event where Follows lit up the national championships last year, and qualified for his first Olympics after years of grinding away. He reflected it had been a challenging time returning after a pinnacle event. "It's a tough transition at the best of times. "I got told that I was too old, that I wasn't fast enough any more. It was kind of just head down, working full time and just trying the best I can. "I'm still proud of what I put out there today." Kiwi club swimmer Liam Rees won bronze in the men's 17-18 200m backstroke in 2min 09.47sec. Fellow Kiwi swimmer Alfie Weatherston-Harvey — who won gold in the men's 17-18 1500m freestyle and bronze in the men's on Wednesday — finished seventh in 2min 10.98sec. Alexandra's Caleb Ludlow was the fourth New Zealander home in the men's 17-18 50m breaststroke final in 31.15sec. New Zealand swimmer Kale Twist — who broke the Otago 50m freestyle record on Wednesday — finished eighth in the men's 100m freestyle in 50.91sec. Former Dunedin swimmer Erika Fairweather finished fourth in the women's 100m freestyle in 55.59sec.
BBC News
14-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Waverley council leader accused of bias over report
A council leader has defended himself after he appeared to ask an officer to "skew" a proposal to support his party's policy on local government a recorded video, Paul Follows, leader of Waverley Borough Council, was heard asking the chief executive if a report into government reform could be "skewed towards actively promoting" three unitary authorities for Surrey Follows said it was an "informal exchange" before the meeting started, but the Conservatives say his Liberal group were "seeking to exploit the shift to unitary local government in Surrey for their own personal gain".Surrey has until March 21 to submit proposals to central government on what reorganisation could look like, and will suggest either two or three councils covering the county. Mike Brennan, the chairman of the Surrey Conservatives, has called for the leader to resign because of what he has called "unethical behaviour"."This is shabby local politics at its worst and evidences why we need a smaller unitary authority to get people like Follows out," he added. 'No secret' Councillor Follows said: "I was simply asking for the commentary included in the proposal to be explicit that of the two options, we preferred three unitaries covering Surrey, and the evidence clearly supports this."I have made no secret of the fact that I believe the interests of Surrey residents would best be served if the new councils cover consistent geographic and economic areas."The council leader explained that the proposals have to be agreed across all 11 district and borough councils in Surrey.
