Emma Brockes’ recent piece resonated deeply with me (It’s finally happened: I’m now worried about AI. And consulting ChatGPT did nothing to allay my fears, 8 April). I am currently delving into Marc Bloch’s work, Strange Defeat, where the distinguished French historian, who faced execution as a resistance fighter, offers a personal narrative about the downfall of the French army in 1940. He attributes this failure, at least in part, to a lack of foresight among the French military leaders, who failed to recognize that both technology and warfare had evolved significantly since 1918.

Brockes’ article implies that both we and our leaders are grappling with a similar shortcoming in understanding that a technology currently viewed as amusingly concerning could evolve into something far more serious. According to Bloch, the future Marshal Ferdinand Foch had previously dismissed aircraft as mere toys for enthusiasts, failing to see their military potential.

Bloch notes that the blitzkrieg of 1940 mirrored earlier French colonial conflicts, but this time it was the French employing outdated weapons. It raises a serious concern to ponder what an uncontrolled AI could do with our rudimentary tools in the next decade or two.

Peregrine Rand
Paris, France

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