AI - Artificial Intelligence has a way to go before it really changes the way that ships operate and goods are delivered autonomously.

The Elizabeth Swann is equipped with an autonomous navigation system called 'Captain Nemo', feeding from the ships instruments and a vessel control computer called Hal, that is artificially intelligent. 

Captain Nemo is interactive and partly operated by a self-learning program called 'Hal,' named after 2001 Space Odyssey. In this story, such artificial intelligence, or AI is as controversial when the Swann was launched (fictional, not actual launch) as autonomous navigation was 20 years before. A similar theme was used in ground breaking movie, 'Terminator' with Skynet, and the excellent Will Smith film iRobot, where the equivalent of Hal, 'VIKI' also seeks to decide the fate of humans. 

This may sound far fetched to some familiar with the world of science fiction, but then such a system is currently being used by IBM's Mayflower MAS 400 autonomous trimaran that is set to cross the Atlantic in 2021 if all goes well, traveling the passage route of the Pilgrims Founding Fathers, of the USA.

Fortunately, computers that are designed to navigate a ship, do not have the connections to take over the world, indeed, the programs are relatively basic, designed to steer a vessel from point A to point B as quickly and safely as they can. What cannot be allowed to happen, is to let AI computers have access to anything other than isolated problem solving.

Clearly, AI super-computers, developed to think about world problems, will be a whole lot smarter than the people who designed them, and cold hearted machines devoid of emotion or paternal instincts, let alone reproductive biological urges. It is the humans who will quite quickly become the weak link in the/any chain - and where we are at present, harming the planet, it is only logical that an intelligent machine will seek to limit the damage we are causing.

The AI computer program, Hal, was developed by Professor Douglas Storm with the help of many academic institutions and specialist companies all over the world, for the purpose of long endurance autonomous (even unmanned) transits. She was way ahead of her time, but could not be completed before the passing of Professor Storm.

The Elizabeth Swann is a  fast solar and wind powered trimaran. One of the Six-Pack round the world competitors, captained by John Storm. Details of the design will be revealed on the 1st of August 2020.

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