The future direction of the planet was secretly being mapped out in Aviemore this week.
In a hush-hush operation hundreds of some of the brightest young minds on the planet were locked behind tight security at the Macdonald Aviemore Resort.
They were part of a conference organised by Deep Mind – part of the internet giant Google empire.
Private security guards patrolled the entrances to the resort, while public access to the swimming pool and cinema was out of bounds throughout the week.
There were also signs advising there was no access to the site.
Around 600 people took over the centre – 400 of them Deep Mind employees – mainly from UK but also some from Europe.
A source said: “It is part conference, part networking and exchanging ideas and part holiday.”
Spokesmen for Macdonald But spokesmen for Macdonald declined to reveal the client, and Google ironically failed to comeback with an answer.
Deep Mind, a world leader in artificial intelligence and its application, did respond but also declined to comment at this stage.
A spokeswoman for Highland Council, which pays around £140,000-a-year for public access to the resort’s swimming pool, confirmed that the pool closure was within the terms of the service contract.
However Badenoch and Strathspey Ward Councillor Bill Lobban said:”It is an inconvenience but if it brings business to the area then that’s not bad. I don’t know who the client is but a contact of mine told me to ‘Google it.'”
DeepMind was founded in London in 2010 and backed by some of the most successful technology entrepreneurs in the world. Having been acquired by Google in 2014, it is now part of the Alphabet group – the parent of Google.
