Michael DempseyMichael Dempsey works for BBC News and has written for The Telegraph, the Financial Times and The Sunday Times. He contributes to numerous other national newspapers and magazines. His career includes stretches in news journalism at the BBC, ITN, the Press Association and CNN.
His work covers any subject of human interest. With the James Bond movie No Time To Die grabbing headlines he published a lengthy feature in The Telegraph assessing what books 007 might read. And he wrote a Sunday Times story revealing how James Bond's book collection was assembled for a scene in the previous Bond movie Spectre. Rocket launches are rarely out of the headlines and this BBC story looks at what motivates students to aim for a career in the space industry. He has just interviewed a real life Mission Impossible team for the BBC. Known as a Red Team, these security and intelligence veterans try to break into top secret sites within the defence industry and the military. Their approach develops a Kill Chain that can culminate in the Red Team breaching the most sensitive computer systems. Who bothers to read instruction manuals? Very few of us. But AI is coming to the rescue, as he writes in this BBC story. In this BBC story which appeared on the eve of the Farnborough Air Show he explained how AI is defeating experienced pilots in dog-fighting manoeuvres. Migrating birds soar on air currents and a Texas company has worked out how this trick can give cargo-carrying gliders a lift. He has just explored this new field of aviation for the BBC. He has revealed how the data centre industry is studying small nuclear power plants as a means of feeding its appetite for electricity in this BBC story. Ever fancied owning a helicopter? One of his recent stories for the BBC examined the world of private choppers and a promising new design from a novel British company. He has just described the world of exceptionally slow drones loitering in the atmosphere to act as pseudo-satellites for the BBC. And as AI advances at a bewildering pace he weighed up the chances of regulation curbing the dangers of technology in this BBC story. An account of how retired tech bosses are passing on their wisdom to start-ups is one of his latest BBC stories, along with this tale of how cheap VR goggles are taking live theatre action to audiences anywhere. And another recent story for the BBC looked at how LinkedIn, the once staid social media platform beloved of corporate recruiters, is letting its hair down with irreverent humour and posts about the personal lives of users. He has written about how data centres are attempting to cut their appetite for electricity. Another recent BBC story reveals how cargo-hauling drone aircraft are poised to enter European skies. And he has written about a school in South Central Los Angeles transforming pupils' lives via lessons with VR technology. He has described how people across Europe are falling in love with little delivery robots. This story, opening up the human side of technology, is typical of his work for the BBC. The UK's Tempest jet fighter project is taking shape and absorbing a raft of advanced technologies. Michael got under the skin of this huge undertaking for the BBC. In other recent work for the BBC he looked at how teachers are struggling to educate parents about the dangers children face while online. He has published a story on the BBC News website about the craze for software that seeks opinions from a workforce, asking whether businesses really do care about what their people think. With alternatives to meat surging into shops he traveled to Geneva for the BBC to interview the team that is using AI to come up with new food formulations. Putting people at the heart of the story is the key to winning readers. In a very popular piece for the BBC he interviewed newly-minted data scientists who had followed fresh routes into this once esoteric career. Another recent story for the BBC highlights how the insurance industry is trialing radical technology in an effort to predict catastrophic events such as the Grenfell Tower fire or the Beirut port explosion. He has interviewed legendary advertising copywriter Rory Sutherland for a BBC feature looking at how AI software is being used to generate killer lines for adverts. Writing for the BBC about how technology has transformed market research he exposed a hidden connection between Boris Johnson and Meghan Markle while explaining how we simply can't be truthful to ourselves about our real likes and dislikes. One of his latest stories for the BBC reveals how the Royal Navy is conducting tests of a large uncrewed submarine directed entirely by AI. The BBC has published his account of an epic investigation into corruption spanning continents and using AI to delve through 60m documents to unearth wrongdoing. And this BBC story covers why people remain attached to vintage technology items such as Psion computers and MP3 players. One of his most recent articles for the BBC explores a new purpose that is emerging for Electric Vertical Take-Off aircraft. Some adventurous firms are rejecting the urban air mobility label in favour of flying machines that will link up cities and rival high-speed rail transport. He has written about supersonic airliner designs emerging from ambitious start-ups. This BBC story looks at these projects through the eyes of former Concorde pilot Captain Mike Bannister. Another recent piece for the BBC explains how aerospace firms are wrestling with the challenge of creating materials and engines that will permit flight at hypersonic speeds. He has tried out a neuroscience headset designed to train the brain to relax for a BBC story. Another recent feature for the BBC explains how AI and discrete weapons checks are evolving to fight Covid-19. One very popular article for the BBC explored how dragonflies and other creatures have inspired the design of a new generation of drones. Robot mini-tanks are trundling into military service and he has described their arrival for the BBC. He has also written for the BBC website on how high-tech counter-drone defence systems are being rushed into service in the aftermath of the Saudi Aramco attacks. He enjoys writing about aviation and this feature in Epicure magazine highlighted lesser-known innovators in flight including the great Brazilian pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont. An article in the Financial Times detailed how the private aviation industry combines sophisticated online booking technology with good old-fashioned inside knowledge and customer hand-holding. A June 2019 article in Spear's explained why savvy private jet owners are opting for second-hand aircraft. An article he wrote for a Times/Raconteur report on business and aviation was shortlisted for the 2015 Business Travel Journalism Awards. This revealed how regional airports can carve themselves a profitable niche while contributing to the UK economy. He contributed to the FT's Corporate Aviation report in May 2016 with two articles. One looked at why there is a lot more to innovation in private aircraft booking than lazy comparisons with Uber. The other outlined the advances in design and comfort that mark out the latest business jets. Previous articles for the FT on business aviation have looked at why we may have to carry on waiting for the long-anticipated arrival of a supersonic business jet and the impact of online technology on the battle between the fractional ownership and charter models. Writing for the FT's Connected Business report in March 2016 he ventured behind the enormous hype around airborne delivery drones. This article revealed practical advances that may see terrestrial delivery robots getting the job done economically and safely. He has assessed what data analysis can do for retail giants operating across Europe. Another recent piece revealed that banking bosses fear competition from an entirely new direction. And he has uncovered a move by the UK's NHS to wean patients away from excessive drinking via an anarchic computer game. In November 2014 he contributed to an FT report on Risk Management, detailing how holding a supply chain together in an era of globalisation is a tricky business. Another FT article explained how retailers are hiring specialist content moderation firms to ensure that online reviews come from genuine sources. The Economist has published an article by Michael on how an online economy is changing the face of the global motor industry. His writing for the FT has addressed cybersecurity, looking at how senior officials in the UK intelligence community are learning important lessons from their US counterparts. In April 2014 he reported for the FT on how Whitehall has succeeded in overcoming private sector reticence to create joint state-industry structures to promote cybersecurity. This article also touched on the sensitive role of cyber-reservists in the British military. He has published an account of the many shortcomings of the troubled F-35 fighter project in the FT. One 2014 article explained how smart software is helping Jetsuite to stay on top in the tough business of hiring out executive jets. And he has described the way Sikorsky turned to virtual reality to construct a new helicopter prototype. The thorny subject of how the NHS can exploit digital communications as costs and patient expectations rise is another subject he has covered for the FT. He has also written for the FT on the scale of the industrial espionage threat and the measures that UK agencies are taking to counter it. One FT story has explained what the exotic 250mph Bugatti Veyron supercar teaches us about the true nature of a brand. Other FT stories have shown how headhunters balance social media tools with old-fashioned skills, how banks are hoping mobile payments will raise their profile with younger customers and how energy costs are driving the design of data centres. A December 2013 article in the FT highlighted how an obsession with security has skewed the debate on the use of personal mobile devices in the workplace. How to make some practical use of the over-publicised Internet of Things was the focus of a piece he wrote for The Economist in September 2014. He returned to this theme in a Raconteur report in The Sunday Times in June 2015, highlighting how small low-budget Internet of Things projects can make a big difference to manufacturing industry. Articles published in a Times/Raconteur report in July 2015 examined how the world of market research is adapting to the rise of the digital consumer. One of these pieces looked at the true value of the over-exposed Big Data trend for researchers trying to extract real meaning from social media. Writing for reports inside The Times he has questioned the motives and behaviour of former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in a story on whistleblowing. This same report revealed how installing office mirrors can deter fraudsters and looked at where the Bribery Act stands two years after its many controversial clauses slipped into UK law. In February 2015 he wrote in a Times/Raconteur report on the way lawyers are handling client confidentiality in an era of digital security breaches. Another recent story in a Times report on the supply chain detailed how companies are using partnerships to change their relationship with suppliers. He has published articles in supplements to The Times on subjects as diverse as technology updates to military equipment, the vexed question of business ethics, and the latest changes to the legal profession. His work for the BBC has included features on casino-busting exploits by US businessman Yuchun Lee and the arrival of global outsourcing on Malta. Other titles he has contributed to range from Solicitors Journal where he explained the emergence of 'hot-tubbing' in British civil courts, to Washington's Air and Space Magazine, where he penned a cover story on the long love affair between generations of aviators and the venerable De Havilland Chipmunk training plane. |