British tech entrepreneur Dan Thomson is turning the tiny Philippine island of Sensay (Palawan province) into a unique micronation. He bought the island in 2025 and has set up a council of 17 AI-powered robots to govern it. The council will be made up of digital copies of famous historical figures (like Churchill, Mandela, Gandhi, da Vinci, and Marcus Aurelius) who have been trained to understand their actual writings and philosophies. They’ll be voting on laws and managing crypto wallets, while a ‘Human Protection Assembly’ of nine people will have the right to veto dangerous decisions. Over 12,000 people from all over the world have already signed up for the digital residency on the island, even though there’s currently just one gardener there. So, for 2026–2027, we’ve got a few things in the works. We’re planning to launch an eco-friendly microgrid, build 30 tourist villas and roll out the digital citizenship programme on a larger scale.
A tiny Philippine island is about to become the world’s first territory to be run by a council of 17 robots powered by artificial intelligence. The Daily Mail says that more than 12,000 people from all over the world have already said they’re interested in the project, as they’re hoping to get e-residency status.
The island in question is Sensay – a tiny island just 3.6 km long, located in the province of Palawan in the west of the Philippines. Then in 2025, it was bought by British tech entrepreneur Dan Thomson, who founded the chatbot company Sensay. He was the one who decided to turn the island into a micronation with a pretty unusual system of government.
Instead of the usual politicians, power on Sensay will be held by a council of 17 artificial intelligences. They’ve got digital versions of Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Leonardo da Vinci, Marcus Aurelius and Sun Tzu. They’ve all been trained on the real-life writings, speeches and philosophy of their counterpart.
These so-called ‘leaders’ will be discussing and voting on decisions that’ll be part of the island’s constitution. Right now, people are the ones making the decisions, but eventually, the AI is going to be linked to independent bank accounts and crypto wallets.
Isn’t that dangerous?
Thomson himself is pretty open about the risks. When he was chatting with CNN Travel, he said:
“If the authorities start buying weapons and attacking neighbouring islands, that would be a bad situation.”
But he quickly added that he thinks it’s “highly unlikely” that that’ll happen.
To be on the safe side, the island has a Human Protection Assembly. This is made up of nine elected residents who can stop potentially harmful decisions by the AI council.
So, what’s the situation now?
At the moment, there’s just one person living on Sensé – a gardener called Mike. The island isn’t recognised internationally and is just an experimental project. But Thomson has big plans to build up to 30 villas and turn the island into a tourist hotspot for visitors to Palawan.
The island’s economy will be based on two tokens: Wisdom-Credits are for public services, and the SNSY Token is for international trade.
The plan is to set up renewable microgrids and research labs on the island in 2026, and then a full digital residency programme and 100% renewable energy will be up and running by 2027.