Speaking on the record to an invited audience at RUSI on 21 January 2019, GCHQ Deputy Director for Strategic Policy Paul Killworth described how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have the potential to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of various intelligence functions. However, these capabilities bring with them complex legal and ethical considerations, and there is a strong public expectation that the UK's intelligence agencies will act in a way that protects citizens' rights and freedoms. The national security community has expressed a desire to engage in a more open dialogue on these issues, with Killworth stressing that'it is absolutely essential that we have the debates around AI and machine learning in the national security space that will deliver the answers and approaches that will give us public consent'. However, it may prove difficult to provide sufficient reassurances to the public concerning national security uses of AI, due to understandably high levels of sensitivity. Public acceptance of intelligence agencies' use of technology is driven by two conflicting sentiments. On the one hand, there is a high expectation that the national security community will protect citizens from threats to their safety, and adopt new methods that may allow them to do this more effectively.