Alan Turing, considered the father of modern computing and regarded by many as the creator of “artificial intelligence” with his seminal paper “Can Machines Think?”, suffered a tragic legal and social persecution due to his homosexuality, which ultimately led to his premature death at just 41 years old.
In 1952, Turing was arrested and convicted of “gross indecency,” as had been the case with the famous Oscar Wilde fifty years earlier, after admitting to a homosexual relationship, which at the time was considered a criminal offense in the United Kingdom. As an alternative to imprisonment, he accepted undergoing chemical castration treatment, which caused him impotence and other severe physical and psychological side effects.
This conviction also resulted in the loss of his security clearance, preventing him from continuing to work on government cryptography projects, despite having been a key figure during World War II in the Battle of the Atlantic by decrypting Nazi military communications.
His tragic and premature end serves as a stark reminder of the importance of tolerance and respect for human rights. It is a lesson to remind us that, despite all the challenges and threats posed by artificial intelligence, we must not forget that, to date, the most destructive intelligence against people—men and women alike—and against their rights has been human intelligence, natural intelligence.
On June 8, 1954, Turing was found dead in his home from cyanide poisoning, having consumed it with an apple. Although some theories suggest it may have been accidental, the autopsy concluded it was suicide.
The persecution Turing suffered reflects the legal and social discrimination of the time against homosexual individuals—a reality that, sadly, still persists in many parts of the world today.
Later, in 2013, Queen Elizabeth II granted Turing a posthumous pardon, but it wasn’t until 2017 that the “Alan Turing Law” was enacted, pardoning thousands of people convicted of homosexuality-related offenses in the UK.
Despite his premature death, Turing’s impact on science and technology is immense.
His tragic fate stands as a powerful reminder of the importance of tolerance and human rights—and a lesson that, no matter how much artificial intelligence evolves, we must remember that, so far, the most destructive intelligence ever wielded against people and their rights has been human intelligence—natural intelligence.
