Hugh Costello has written The Prompt, a new drama for Radio 4 which will be broadcast on Wednesday 18th March at 2:15pm.
The Prompt is a taut and compelling reactive drama that explores how some in the tech sector are now painfully conflicted about potential misuses of the pioneering AI models they helped to create.
When Aggie discovers that her carefully designed protections have been outwitted by the AI she created, she decides it is time to blow the whistle, whatever the personal cost.
The last 12 months have seen an astonishing acceleration in the pace and intensity with which tech firms are developing more sophisticated AI models. The UK’s Online Safety Act came into force in July 2025. Although it has been hailed as a breakthrough in child protection, there are concerns that the rapid pace of AI development makes enforcement of the Act more difficult.
Hugh has written close to 40 radio-dramas, including The Betrayed, a five-parter about the growing threat of far-right extremism in Ireland, and Hidden Belfast: Forbidden Love, a five-part historical drama shedding light on the forgotten diaries of a linen merchant who recorded the lives of gay people living in Belfast in the 1930s.
