Ever wondered if society's predecessors could do a better job of ruling the world?
Well, now you can, and it's all thanks to AI. Sensay Island is a micronation, a privately owned island off the coast of the Philippines (formerly known as Cheron Island), now governed entirely by AI. It has been purchased and renamed by the British AI startup Sensay to experiment in AI-driven governance. I spoke to founder and CEO DanThomson to learn all about it
Sensay Island is an actual island located off the coast of the Philippines. Viewable on Google Maps, it spans about 3.4 km² and features beaches, rainforest, and coral lagoons.
The team chose the Philippines due to its availability and price. According to Thomson, "the Philippines is underrated compared to places like Thailand, Vietnam, or Bali. It just came up as the right opportunity, and I jumped on it."
As a journalist who has written extensively about smart cities over the years, I share Thomson's interest in the notion of building a city-state from scratch. Thomson sees Sensay Island as a testbed:
"What if governance weren't distorted by lobbying, corruption, or self-interest? Could AI create better systems? "
Resurrecting the past to govern the future
To form a government, Thomson looked to history.
Sensay Island's digital cabinet draws on a range of philosophical, political, scientific, and cultural luminaries, compiled to bring historical wisdom and ethical depth into governance via AI. Thomson admitted that initially he opted for philosophers, then realised they were "all old, white men."
Currently, the Island's (non) elect are:
- President (Head of State), Marcus Aurelius
- Prime Minister: Winston Churchill
- Foreign Affairs Minister: Eleanor Roosevelt
- Defence Minister: Sun Tzu Treasury
- Secretary: Alexander Hamilton
- Justice Minister: Nelson Mandela
- Science & Technology Minister: Ada Lovelace
- Education Minister: Confucius
- Health Minister: Florence Nightingale
- Agriculture Minister: George Washington Carver
- Environment Minister: Wangari Maathai
- Culture Minister: Leonardo da Vinci
- Ethics Advisor: Mahatma Gandhi
- Innovation Advisor: Nikola Tesla
- Infrastructure Director: Queen Hatshepsut
- Chief Strategist: Zhuge Liang
- Intelligence Chief: T. E. Lawrence
Notably, the list excludes anyone from the Philippines, and when I asked Thomson if they would be included, he admitted it's not something he ever thought about.
"It hasn't come up yet, but if a proposal for local figureheads were put forward, I'd support it. We've already debated council members — Churchill even won a vote over Lee Kuan Yew, which shows how democratic (and unpredictable) the system can be.
Broadly, I want Sensay to inspire human-centred, transparent, and impactful uses of AI—whether in business, education, or governance. If AI Island proves that AI can improve systems, even in small ways, that's success."
So how are decisions made?
Thomson explained that 'e-residents' put forward proposals and the AI government debates and votes on them.
"I stay hands-off to minimise bias—it's about seeing what happens when AI governs."
According to Thomson, "even becoming a resident starts with a proposal. We already have hundreds, maybe thousands, interested. The point isn't just numbers — it's showing that AI can serve as a think tank or advisory body for governments."
From philosophy to digital Immortality: Thomson's journey into AI
But what inspired such a project? Thomson's background is in philosophy. He shared:
"I studied it at university and ended up writing two books during a quarter-life crisis.
Those books explored digital mortality, mind uploading, and the meaning of life. I thought: we forget people after just two or three generations unless they were famous or successful. What if AI could preserve us? With all the photos, videos, and data we have, we could create versions of ourselves that interact with our great-grandkids.
That's the long-term vision—digital immortality."
Sensay bets on replicas to humanise digital interactions
To be clear, Thomson already has skin in the game. His company Sensay provides an AI-driven platform that enables businesses to create custom AI chatbots, or "digital replicas," powered by advanced AI agents. These chatbots can interact naturally, round-the-clock, based on knowledge sourced from your content— like documents, websites, videos, and audio.
The company is currently building products for companies in sales, customer support, tourism boards, and even governments.
But I wanted to really understand what makes for a good virtual human? Thomas contends that replicas are extensions of people, not replacements.
"They should put the humanity back into interactions, not take it out. For example, I save time every day because my chatbot drafts my emails. Left to myself, I'd send five-word replies, but the AI helps me flesh them out. Done correctly, it's seamless and accurate to me."
According to Thomson, it's all about good data and contextual awareness.
"The AI needs to know who it's talking to, whether it's on email, Twitter, or chat, and adjust tone and style. Adding voice and video makes it even more realistic.
We think of it as an "AI brain" that ingests data — text, voice, video, style — then layers on reasoning, situational awareness, knowledge retrieval, and personality before generating interactions.
Training is the hard part, so we're making that as seamless as possible. We've even built hallucination checkers to keep accuracy very high."
The company has created numerous demos — such as the one featuring George Clooney for Nespresso — to demonstrate to brands how they can utilise ambassadors. Its experimented across healthcare, education, gaming, and tourism, but its focus is now B2B. An example is the replication of CEOs or sales leads so customers can connect with them in the buying process.
There's also a strong interest in HR. Sensay's head of HR replica interviewed 50,000 people for various job applicants — applicants start by speaking to the chatbot, which filters based on criteria before moving them to formal applications.
According to Thomson, "it weeds out people who don't even read job descriptions."
That said, I was curious how the problem of bias in AI decision-making is factored in when it comes to Sensay Island. Thomas admits it's the biggest challenge:
"LLMs naturally filter out parts of humanity — they won't swear, they avoid controversial topics. But humanity isn't clean-cut.
People often identify with aspects of various ideologies, including those with problematic elements. We don't want an "AI Hitler," obviously, but neither do we want a left-wing utopia. Striking a balance is key.
We've worked on balancing perspectives, avoiding extremes but still capturing human diversity. We've also developed a charter drafted by AI, which the AI government then debates and refines. It's not perfect, but it's about testing whether AI governance can be more efficient or fair than humans alone."
Living laboratories or libertarian playgrounds?
Sensay Island is an actual place — although "right now it's basically one hut and a caretaker named Mike," admits Thomson, who suggests that in time they might migrate to a more autonomous location or expand elsewhere — not some kind of Web3 virtual reality.
Further, manufactured cities are hardly a new idea. Entrepreneurs worldwide have been securing land to build them as testbeds for reimagining governance, sustainability, and economic growth, often sidestepping traditional public-sector constraints:
There's Songdo in South Korea, home to over 160,000 residents.
And soon we might finally see Woven City, in action:
The brainchild of Toyota, Woven City is a purpose-built "living laboratory" at the base of Mt Fuji, designed to test and refine innovative technologies in a real-world urban setting — the official phase 1 launch planned for autumn 2025, with the first 100 residents moving in soon after.
Then there's NEOM, the planned mega-city in northwest Saudi Arabia, launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in October 2017 as part of the country's Vision 2030, aimed at diversifying away from oil dependency.
The project spans 26,500 km² and plans for multiple renewable energy-powered themed regions, including futuristic urban hubs, industrial zones, tourism and leisure resorts, and digitally driven communities. That said, beyond the glitz and CGI-generated videos, only about 2.5 km of The Line is under construction, with plans significantly scaled back: housing targets dropped from 1.5 million to around 300,000 residents by 2030.
Additionally, in the US, VC-backed tech entrepreneurs have purchased land to create their own manufactured towns or cities, such as Belmont, Telosa, and California Forever. It all sounds promising in theory, until it doesn't.
Last year, Trump proposed building up to ten new master-planned cities on federal land across the United States. These deregulated zones — granted broad "regulatory relief"— could be exempt from major federal laws such as the Internal Revenue Code, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Fair Labour Standards Act, and OSHA. Supporters envision each city serving as a dedicated hub for industries such as semiconductors, defence, biotechnology, or nuclear power, operating without the need for prior approval from agencies like the FDA or EPA.
Should these testbeds trump (yeah, excuse the pun) labour rights and environmental protection?
An AI island without internet? Sensay’s bold governance experiment collides with the Philippines’ digital divide
Placing the issues around manufacturing cities and unregulated testbeds in the context of Sensay Island, it's hard not to connect them to the harsh reality of life in the Philippines – a place with low digital literacy and poor internet access.
It's something that startup teks is working to address.
CEO and co-founder Livia Dolle previously told me:
"The internet penetration rate is just 1.8 per cent per year. Satellite internet options like Starlink exist, but remain unaffordable for most users.
Many NGOs try to provide connectivity, but they fund it for a year and leave, making it unsustainable."
Thomson concedes that while not everyone can afford Starlink or has reliable connections.
"But AI replicas could help democratise access. Imagine replicating world-class professors and making them accessible to kids in remote areas.
Suddenly, someone who could never attend Oxford or Cambridge gets that knowledge. There are cultural barriers — lawyers and educators can be protective of expertise — but the potential impact is huge."
To be clear, I believe Thomson has good intentions, and the initiative has captured public interest. Interested people can apply for citizenship. According to Thomson, so far, interest has been in the hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
"The point is less about numbers and more about showing governments that AI can be used as a think tank or advisory body for decision-making."
Observer visas are slated to open mid-2026 for visitors to Sensay Island, with research residencies and permanent citizenship following in stages.
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