Speeches by Twigg.

“But they kill people.”

“It is interesting that Putin’s father was a submariner. We know from open source—read any book about him—that he takes a great interest in, and is very proud of, his father’s service. Probably unusually for a leader of a country, he takes a specific interest in this area of warfare. Could you explain what the Russians …”

“Your argument is that there are no consequences because there are no people involved, but that machine could kill people, so then there would be consequences.”

“Yes.”

“So if they killed someone in Poland, there would be consequences then?”

“Are we talking thousands or hundreds?”

“In connection with Mike’s question, but going back to AI, rather than quantum computing, I want to get clear in my head your view of the possibility of AI being developed to such an extent that it is almost impossible for any submarine not to be detected. Will we ever come to that? The survivability would be so low as …”

“Thank you; I just wanted that to be made clear. I am interested in their command and control. Do the Russians have much autonomy compared with, say, what our commanders have, in terms of what they do?”

“Sorry—just because of time, and because other people want to speak, can we get a short yes or no answer? Are we matching their capability or are they ahead of us?”

“Basically, any tiredness or lethargy in building up our own capabilities there could be pretty serious.”

“How would you compare the capabilities of the Russians with those of the west and the UK? How would you compare what their vehicles—their submarines—can do with what we can do? This is on detection, for instance.”

“Can I give an assurance that we in the ISC are very confident that we can do an effective job on this? It is worth pointing out that we cannot be told what we can and cannot publish. That will be a matter and a decision for us. May I ask for an assurance, following on from what the Minister has just said, that there wi…”

“It is disappointing that neither the Opposition nor the Government have referenced the important role that the ISC could have here. As a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee—I have spoken to its Chair, the Lord Beamish, and we heard earlier from its deputy Chair—we feel that the Committee should be involve…”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“When we hit the point where AI can produce AI.”

“It would be useful to know. I am not sure whether you are going to say, “Well, I cannot tell you what the problems are with training because it would give away some sort of secret.” But I just wonder what the specific obstacles are there to completion?”

“Sorry to interrupt. Did you say, “Define what the question was”?”

“What of the Defence Investment Plan? Has the Department implemented all the SDR commitments due to be completed by the end of 2025?”

“Is Professor Malcolm Chalmers heavily involved in the SDR and the Defence Implementation Plan? He was obviously brought in as an exceptionally experienced and knowledgeable person; what has his involvement been?”

“You used the word largely, which suggests that some have not, or some parts of it have not been completed, so could you enlighten us on that?”