Not by design, but still a remarkable coincidence after the many rabbit-holes I have researched, that soon after publishing ‘A Short Walk in AI’, the ontologically-provoking documentary ‘Age of Disclosure’* is released to the world.

The film presents a startlingly confident narrative from some very senior US figures, including Secretary of State and acting National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio: we are not alone, non-human intelligence (NHI) is already here, and the truth has been hidden for decades. It paints a picture of a universe teeming with life and a reality where contact is an “open secret”.

I know many will hesitate to engage with such a ‘taboo’ subject, but through the course of my research I’ve learnt to keep an open mind – which makes life so much more interesting – and to listen to the arguments and follow the evidence whenever available.

Yet, as I explore in a later chapter of the book, this narrative collides head-on with one of the stubborn theses of modern science: ‘The Great Silence’.

The Paradox of the Empty Signal

For sixty years, SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) has pointed radio telescopes at the stars. We have scanned billions of frequencies. We have listened with the most sensitive ears humanity has ever built.

And we have heard… virtually nothing. Only the unexplained ‘Wow!’ signal comes to mind but apart from that, silence.

This is the famous Fermi Paradox. If the universe is old and life is common, where is everybody? The data from the SETI instruments tells us we are effectively alone in a silent, sterile void. But the narrative from the “Disclosure” community tells us we are crowded.

How can both be true?

AI: The New Lens

In A Short Walk in AI, I argue that this contradiction might not be about the aliens; it might be about the scientific apparatus.

Our biological senses are narrow and our cognitive bandwidth is limited. We have been searching for “technosignatures” that resemble our 20th-century technology (radio waves). We have been looking for a mirror image of ourselves.

This is where Artificial Intelligence changes the game.

As I describe in the book, AI is now being used to sift through petabytes of telescope data to find “anomalies” – patterns that are too subtle, too complex, or too alien for human astronomers to recognise. AI does not suffer from human bias about what a signal “should” look like.

The Signal in the Noise

This brings us to a fascinating possibility that bridges the gap between the film and the science.

Perhaps the sky isn’t silent after all. Perhaps it is deafeningly loud, but we haven’t had the ears – or the open-mindedness – to hear it. If the “Disclosure” narrative is correct and NHI is operating with physics or in dimensions we don’t understand, our standard radio telescopes would naturally see nothing. They’re just too limited.

AI acts as a ‘prosthetic brain’, allowing us to perceive reality at a higher resolution. Whether it is mapping invisible Dark Matter (which makes up 85% of the universe) or identifying UAP patterns in sensor data, AI is the tool that might finally help resolve the paradox.

The Ultimate Question

There is, of course, a darker possibility that I touch on in the book’s conclusion. The silence might be real. It might be the result of the ‘Great Filter’ – the theory that civilisations destroy themselves with their own technology before they can reach the stars.

In this light, our race to build Superintelligence is the ultimate test. Are we building the tool that will help us connect to the cosmos, or the weapon that will ensure we remain silent forever? It’s an unnerving question.

Join the Discussion

The intersection of AI, cosmology, and existential risk is just one of the frontiers I explore in A Short Walk in AI. Whether you are a believer in Disclosure or a sceptic of the Silent Sky, the technology we are building today will help define the answer. It’s a fascinating subject!

Download your free copy of the book here: “A Short Walk in AI”.

James Tuke is the founder of AI Forum and author of “A Short Walk in AI.”

 * The Age of Disclosure (2025), directed by Dan Farrah and available on Amazon Prime, presents a comprehensive case that non-human intelligence has been engaging with Earth for decades and that a coordinated effort has kept this reality hidden from the public. Through testimony from senior politicians including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, military insiders and whistleblowers, the film argues we are on the brink of a forced global revelation that will fundamentally alter our understanding of human history and our place in the cosmos.