Newly-installed MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli has used her first public speech in the role to emphasise the need for the Secret Intelligence Service – as it is formally known – to have “mastery of technology” as a core skill.
Metreweli, who succeeded Sir Richard Moore as MI6 chief in October, said advanced technologies would “accelerate the pace and scale of every threat and opportunity, and increasingly, individualise them too”.
Prior to becoming “C”, as the head of MI6 is known, Metreweli was “Q” – the director general responsible for technology and innovation, and a role immortalised in the James Bond books and films.
Speaking yesterday, Metreweli said that advances in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and quantum computing are not only revolutionising economies but “rewriting the reality of conflict, as they ‘converge’ to create science-fiction-like tools”.
Metreweli pledged that AI would be a domain in which MI6 excels, using technology to augment – rather than replace – the organisation’s human skills.
“Every digital trace, every byte of data, every algorithmic decision has implications for the safety of the lives of the courageous people who work with us as officers and agents, and for the UK’s strategic advantage,” she said.
“Mastery of technology will infuse everything we do. Not just in our labs, but in the field, in our tradecraft, and even more importantly, in the mindset of every officer. We will become as comfortable with lines of code as we are with human sources, as fluent in Python as we are in multiple other languages.”
In her speech, Metreweli made clear references to the threats posed by China and Russia.
“It was in my last role as ‘Q’, where it was my job to turn emerging technologies from threats to opportunities, that I could most see the world changing,” she said. “As I dug deep into data and extraordinary innovation, I could see how technology was rapidly reshaping not just our capabilities but also conflict and trust, truth and global power.”
Metreweli said that while AI-powered robots and drones are “brilliant for scaled manufacturing” they are also “devastating on the battlefield”. She also reflected that discoveries that cure disease can also create new weapons.
“As states race for tech supremacy, or as some algorithms become as powerful as states, those hyper-personalised tools could become a new vector for conflict and control,” she said.
The MI6 chief added: “The algorithms flatter our biases and fracture our public squares. And as trust collapses, so does our shared sense of truth – one of the greatest losses a society can suffer.”
She said the “export of chaos” was a feature of Russia’s current approach to international engagement, including cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, state-sponsored arson and sabotage, as well as propaganda and influence operations designed to destabilise targeted societies.
“My service must now operate in this new context too: not just expert on hostile states, terrorism, proliferation and more, but also fluent in technology, able to anticipate the second and third order effects of advances that reshape the world in minutes not months,” she said.