PAT Kane’s excellent article regarding the Billy Coull nonsense does highlight the need for the public to rethink their approach to all matters computer. If the likes of Coull can con people so easily, can you imagine what our politicians are up to with sophisticated systems costing billions, all designed to mislead and control us?

READ MORE: Willy Wonka Glasgow experience highlights rise of AI ‘scams’

The shady business dealings of a Tory cabinet minister – I couldn’t tell you which name he is using this week – are proof (as if we needed it) that crooks are everywhere, waiting to take advantage when they see an opening. Having a generation of computer-obsessed people must be music to the ears of the smart, unscrupulous politicians and their business chums. What online lies are we being peddled, what AI-generated guff are we being sold as truth?

It's guaranteed that computer systems will increasingly figure in the establishment’s never-ending fight against truth and social justice, so while we may laugh at Coull, we need to educate the young in particular and make them aware that the digital world can be a playground for the crooks in suits.

Jim Butchart
via email