Throughout history many traditions have believed that some fatal flaw in human nature tempts us to pursue powers we don't know how to handle. The Greek myth of Phaethon told of a boy who discovers that he is the son of Helios, the sun god. Wishing to prove his divine origin, Phaethon demands the privilege of driving the chariot of the sun. Helios warns Phaethon that no human can control the celestial horses that pull the solar chariot. But Phaethon insists, until the sun god relents. After rising proudly in the sky, Phaethon indeed loses control of the chariot. The sun veers off course, scorching all vegetation, killing numerous beings and threatening to burn the Earth itself. The gods reassert control of the sky and save the world. Two thousand years later, when the Industrial Revolution was making its first steps and machines began replacing humans in numerous tasks, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published a similar cautionary tale titled The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Goethe's poem (later popularised as a Walt Disney animation starring Mickey Mouse) tells of an old sorcerer who leaves a young apprentice in charge of his workshop and gives him some chores to tend to while he is gone, such as fetching water from the river. The apprentice decides to make things easier for himself and, using one of the sorcerer's spells, enchants a broom to fetch the water for him.

U.S. technology giant Microsoft has teamed up with a Chinese military university to develop artificial intelligence systems that could potentially enhance government surveillance and censorship capabilities. Two U.S. senators publicly condemned the partnership, but what the National Defense Technology University of China wants from Microsoft isn't the only concern. As my research shows, the advent of digital repression is profoundly affecting the relationship between citizen and state. New technologies are arming governments with unprecedented capabilities to monitor, track and surveil individual people. Even governments in democracies with strong traditions of rule of law find themselves tempted to abuse these new abilities.

Although Mr Macron promotes the use of digital algorithms to make public and private services more efficient, he said in an interview with Wired magazine, that the technology should be open to public scrutiny to ensure public trust. He said: "My role is not to block this change, but to be able to train or retrain people for them to get opportunities in this new world." While AI could revolutionise major industries in the fields of medicine, energy, transport, defence and finance, Mr Macron warned that unless the technology can be trusted, "people will eventually reject this innovation". He guaranteed that all the AI algorithms created by his government will be transparent to reduce the threat to democracy which AI poses.