AIpiphanies

You could have given it any name.

Aloïs, perhaps. Or Jacques. Even Marcel would have felt appropriately Gallic.

But no. In a diplomatic gesture equal parts collaborative and confusing, Britain has decided to gift France an AI assistant named Humphrey—a digital civil servant modeled after Sir Humphrey Appleby of Yes, Minister fame. Because nothing says “transnational goodwill” quite like reviving a fictional British bureaucrat and uploading him into a French conference room.

“The hope is that AI Humphrey will help take minutes and free up valuable time,” they say.
Quelle ambition.

There is so much to admire here:

• The quiet confidence of the UK, assuming the French are not only ready to embrace AI, but ready to embrace British AI.
• The restraint shown in not naming the assistant Nigel.
• The underlying truth that bureaucracy, no matter the country, is best handled by a non-human who will never need a lunch break, a cigarette, or a nap.

Humphrey’s arrival is part of a broader government experiment called “Minute,” an effort to digitize diplomacy, summarize meetings, and—let’s be honest—reduce the number of times humans ask, “Wait, what did we agree on?”

Whether France will adopt him warmly or retaliate with a baguette-wielding bot of their own remains to be seen. But we applaud the effort.

Because if you’re going to automate the civil service, you might as well do it with panache, a British accent, and centuries of administrative subtext baked in.

We approve. Mostly. With reservations. And probably a subcommittee.

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