An 18th/19th century English philosopher called Jeremy Bentham devised an idea he called the Panopticon. It was a design for a prison where one guard could see what all the prisoners were doing, and none of them could tell if they were being observed.

In the 21st century, his idea is coming to life thanks to AI. We might not all be in prisons, but more and more we won’t be able to escape constant surveillance. Unlike the panopticon, this AI will become far smarter, more capable, and more powerful than the lone human guard in Bentham’s idea.