Quantum computing and AI: How spy agencies are turning to technology

The head of MI6, Alex Younger, says there is a need for "fourth-generation espionage" as adversaries take advantage of "blurred lines" between the cyber and physical worlds. Here are some of the ways Britain's security services are adopting, and responding to, modern technology. These are potentially valuable tools for agencies seeking to spot leads within vast volumes of data. The Government's latest counter-terrorism strategy states that developments in artificial intelligence will "allow us to filter and identify crucial information faster than ever", adding that the power of quantum computing can be combined with AI to improve the speed at which large datasets can be sorted and mined for key information. Data analysis capabilities are seen as particularly important for monitoring more than 20,000 former MI5 "subjects of interest" who are not under active investigation.