IT Essentials: Living in interesting times

Are they deadly or divine?

Interesting times are both blessing and curse.

“May you live in interesting times” is, probably apocryphally, said to be an ancient Chinese saying – with “interesting” interchangeable with “dangerous.” What people really want, it implies, is the boring certainty that tomorrow will be basically the same as today.

Is that true?

Imperial China was a land of two halves. Society was stubbornly resistant to change, but technology leapt forwards. Inventions like the compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing appeared hundreds of years earlier than in the rest of the world, and changed society just by existing.

What would that disruption look like to a peasant of the time? You’ve spent your whole life respecting your elders, only to find that suddenly this new-fangled paper stuff holds all of their wisdom – and no need to kowtow to anyone. Great if you’re newly married, terrible if you’re an in-law. Interesting times, indeed.

Change today is even faster, and the fallout from the latest new tech – AI, of course – is still unclear. We know it will have a far-reaching impact, but how quickly?

In our predictions for 2026, released this week, I said AI would beat the investment bubble. Then I revised what I’d written, and revised it again. I even edited it after the story went live.

That’s because, as will come as no surprise to anyone subscribing to this newsletter, tech is in a constant state of change. Do I have faith that AI technology will still be here in 12-24 months’ time? Absolutely. Do I think it will still be expanding at the rate vendors are claiming today? I have my doubts. Will it have had a long-lasting effect on society? The jury is still out, but there are already studies showing the use of services like ChatGPT can damage our cognitive ability.

Luckily journalists, unlike the ancient Chinese (apocryphal or not), love interesting times – it's kind of why our profession exists.

In case you missed it above, we’ve published our predictions for 2026, covering topics including AI, cybersecurity and even quantum computing. It’s the best thing to an oracle (not that one) you’ll find this side of Delphi.

IBM’s Alessandro Curioni, director of the company's research lab in Zurich, has his own predictions about the future of computation, and spoke at length to John Leonard this week.

Sticking with the future-tech theme, HSBC is preparing for a quantum world. The bank’s head of quantum technologies, Philip Intallura, spoke in Zurich about post-quantum cryptography and algorithmic trading. John was on site to get the scoop.

My last three recommendations are all about AI. First, we’ve opened nominations for the AI Leadership Index, a list of the UK’s leading figures in this fast-developing space. Get your name in now!

Penny Horwood has talked to Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Microsoft’s Chief Accessibility Officer, about how we ensure the AI revolution is an accessible one: an important but underreported topic.

And in our last Ctrl Alt Lead episode of the year, Alexandra Ebert – an advisor to the FCA, OECD and IEEE – speaks all about the current state of tech’s AI adoption, including that looming bubble.