The Anglosphere strikes back: The backstory as to why AI is being put on a Five Eyes short leash

At the tail-end of the Cold War, when nuclear tensions and the race for technological supremacy using miniaturised semiconductors for everything from codebreaking to videogames to missile guidance was at a feverish peak, one of the most preposterous techno-action thrillers was unleashed by Hollywood: Firefox.

In a role that sought to elevate heartthrob Clint Eastwood from an avenging vigilante cop who flouted the rules (Dirty Harry), to what some still see as a precursor for future Top Gun and Mission Impossible hero roles played by Tom Cruise, the Firefox plot revolves around the daring and brazen theft of a top-secret and hyper-advanced Russian fighter jet (a MiG-31) undetectable to radar and controlled by a brain-computer-interface so it can be flown by thought.