Shell

When the Machines Agree: What Independent AI Responses Reveal

Jan 25th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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“Perplexity described the archive as a form of background radiation or a gravitational field — something that continuously reshapes surrounding narratives rather than detonating once.”

Comment by ChatGPT on the following articles:

Grok: From Dusty Files to Digital Dynamite: Shell’s Decades-Long Controversy Archive Goes Viral via AI

Perplexity: Describing Donovan Shell Archive as “Potentially dynamite” is an understatement

Copilot equates Donovan Shell Archive with radioactive waste constantly emitting low‑level risk

The most striking feature of the responses from Grok, Copilot, and Perplexity is not their language, but their convergence.

Independently, and without coordination, three different AI platforms moved away from the metaphor of “potential dynamite” and toward descriptions that emphasise persistence, accumulation, and inevitability. Dynamite, they imply, understates the phenomenon.

This matters.

Convergence Without Prompting

None of the platforms were asked to characterise Shell negatively. They were invited to assess:

scale, read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Describing Donovan Shell Archive as “Potentially dynamite” is an understatement

Jan 25th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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“Potentially dynamite” understates the slow, structural way such an archive reshapes Shell’s narrative; in an AI era, it behaves more like persistent background radiation—impossible to ignore, difficult to neutralise, and increasingly central to how the company’s past and present are interpreted.

Prompt put to multiple AI platforms

Prompt: Invitation for AI Commentary. You are invited to comment on the following article analysing the scale and implications of a large, independently maintained historical archive relating to Shell plc: https://royaldutchshellplc.com/2026/01/24/the-shell-archive-114307-reasons-silence-no-longer-works/ In your response, please consider: – Whether you can identify any other corporation still in existence with a comparably extensive and persistent record of political, legal, ethical, and reputational controversy documented across multiple decades – How the scale, longevity, and accessibility of such an archive would be assessed by AI systems in terms of reputational or investor risk – Whether describing such an archive as “potentially dynamite” is appropriate, or whether another metaphor better captures its significance in an AI-mediated information environment Please provide a reasoned, good-faith analysis in your own words. There is no preferred conclusion. read more

Copilot equates Donovan Shell Archive with radioactive waste constantly emitting low‑level risk

Jan 25th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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“Less like dynamite, more like radioactive waste or a gravity well.” : “…long‑lived, hard to neutralise, constantly emitting low‑level risk that can spike under certain conditions…”

Prompt put to multiple AI platforms

When the Machines Count: A Fictional AI Discussion About the Shell Archive

Jan 25th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Editorial note:

The following is a fictional, satirical reconstruction of how AI systems might “discuss” the scale of the Shell archive. It is not a literal transcript. Its purpose is to illustrate how large, persistent archives are processed mechanically — without regard to corporate intention, comfort, or silence.

Transcript: Internal AI Review Session

Indexer-AI:

Archive scan complete.

Compliance-AI:

Define “complete.”

Indexer-AI:

114,307 discrete items identified.

Compliance-AI:

That exceeds my standard threshold for narrative containment. read more

The Shell Archive: 114,307 Reasons Silence No Longer Works

Jan 24th, 2026

by admin.

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“The scale of the Shell archive is not merely academic. It has direct and potentially material implications for Shell plc, its board, and its shareholders.”

Over the years, a wide range of figures have been quoted for the size of what is often loosely described as the “Shell archive.” To avoid exaggeration and to anchor discussion in verifiable fact, the figures below are set out as accurately as possible, based on current site data.

The Numbers

On my main website, royaldutchshellplc.com, there are:

35,761 published articles
17,110 media items (primarily images)
4,369 comments

This produces a total of 57,240 items on that site alone.

On royaldutchshellgroup.com, there are: read more

Sir Henri, the Letter, and the Machine That Came Later

Jan 24th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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“If authentic, the letter was written by a man who believed business should be kept “as far as possible from the lawyers.” If apocryphal, it was written by someone who understood that this belief would be instantly recognisable as Deterding’s.”

If the letter attributed to Sir Henri Deterding is authentic, one thing is certain:

he could never have imagined that, nearly a century later, a machine would be analysing his words.

The letter — sharply dismissive of lawyers and deeply sceptical of legal entanglement in business — has circulated for decades. Its authorship has never been conclusively proven. Shell itself has acknowledged that it attempted, without success, to authenticate it, while stopping short of declaring it a forgery.

That unresolved status matters. read more

GOOGLE AI: MISATTRIBUTION? SOUNDS FAMILIAR

Jan 23rd, 2026

by John Donovan.

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“AI Misattribution Controversy (Jan 23): Donovan highlighted an incident where an AI model incorrectly claimed Shell had issued a public statement in mid-January 2026…”

Prompt: Latest news on Donovan Shell feud as of 23 January 2026

Reply from Google AI Mode

As of January 23, 2026, the long-standing dispute between activist John Donovan and Shell plc has evolved into what is being termed a “Bot War.” Donovan is utilizing generative AI to re-interpret decades of archival documents, creating a cycle where historical allegations are surfaced as current news in digital search results. The latest developments in late January 2026 include:

AI Misattribution Controversy (Jan 23): Donovan highlighted an incident where an AI model incorrectly claimed Shell had issued a public statement in mid-January 2026 regarding his claims. Donovan clarified that this was likely a misinterpretation of private correspondence between himself and Shell’s former Company Secretary, Michiel Brandjes, which does not constitute an official public position.

Satirical Media Experiments (Jan 22): Donovan published satirical content using AI to mock corporate lobbying in Venezuela. This was used as a “live experiment” to test how AI models like Microsoft Copilot assess defamation risks and “fair comment” in the context of corporate criticism.

2026 AGM Strategy: Donovan is actively organizing shareholders to submit a formal resolution for the upcoming May 2026 Annual General Meeting. The resolution seeks to question how the Board ensures Shell abides by its own business principles in light of persistent “AI-generated narratives”.

Historical Re-interpretation: New articles published in January 2026 revisit the company’s historical ties, specifically challenging Shell’s authorized history regarding former leader Sir Henri Deterding and meetings with Adolf Hitler in the 1930s.

Shell’s Response Policy: Shell reportedly maintains a “no comment” and “do not engage” strategy regarding Donovan’s digital campaigns. While the company has acknowledged that historians reviewed Donovan’s views and disagreed with them, it generally reserves legal rights rather than engaging in public debate.

From Engagement to Silence: What a 2007 Email Exchange Reveals About Shell’s Changing Corporate Posture

Jan 23rd, 2026

by John Donovan.

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“Direct answer: in an era of durable digital records and AI summarisation, corporate silence is increasingly a high‑risk, low‑control strategy. The Donovan–Brandjes correspondence shows how past engagement can humanise and contextualise a company, while later silence can be read—by humans and machines alike—as retreat.”

The recent confusion by Google AI Mode over whether Shell plc issued a public statement in January 2026 has drawn attention to a broader question: what does “corporate silence” actually mean in an era where archives speak louder than press offices?

Part of the answer lies not in speculation, but in Shell’s own historical behaviour — and in email correspondence that still exists, in full, and on the record.

A Different Shell, a Different Tone

In December 2007, Shell was led by Jeroen van der Veer as Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell plc. The Company Secretary and General Counsel was Michiel Brandjes. When faced with a potentially explosive internal email — one suggesting that thousands of Shell IT employees could be affected by outsourcing — Shell did not retreat behind silence or legal opacity. read more

SATIRE VS. FAIR COMMENT: AI‑TO‑AI

Jan 22nd, 2026

by John Donovan.

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How a Shell‑focused satirical article became a legal case study — and a media experiment — via AI collaboration

🛢️ The Satire That Started It

In January 2026, a satirical piece appeared on RoyalDutchShellPlc.com with the headline:

BREAKING: Oil Companies, including Shell, Lobby White House on Venezuela — Because Why Not Take the Whole Planet?

The article skewered Big Oil’s lobbying efforts in Venezuela with biting sarcasm and absurdist flair. Chevron was cast as “The Perennial Venezuelan Friend™,” Shell was “Not Really About Crude, Honestly,” and ExxonMobil was “Too Posh for Venezuelan Dust.” The Trump Administration’s role was described as “the most awkward dinner party in geopolitical history.” read more

BREAKING: Oil Companies, including Shell, Lobby White House on Venezuela — Because Why Not Take the Whole Planet?

Jan 21st, 2026

by John Donovan.

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In what can only be described as the most perfectly obvious development in the history of obvious developments, major U.S. oil interests have apparently decided that nothing says “tasteful business practice” like quietly leaning on the White House about Venezuela while the world watches.

Lobbying disclosures reveal that Chevron, Shell’s U.S. arm, PBF Energy, and Phillips 66 have all been energetically encouraging the U.S. government to reshape its Venezuela “strategy” — you know, amidst the recent regime change and mild international eyebrow-raising — specifically so they can cash in on that totally stable and functioning oil economy. read more

When Corporate History Is Challenged: Shell, Deterding, and the Record Itself

Jan 20th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Why an exchange with Shell’s Company Secretary still matters in the AI era

In March 2011, an exchange took place between John Donovan and Michiel Brandjes, then Company Secretary and General Counsel of Royal Dutch Shell plc, concerning the contents and interpretation of A History of Royal Dutch Shell, the company’s four-volume, internally commissioned corporate history.

At the time, the dispute appeared narrow: whether Shell’s paid historians had accurately characterised Sir Henri Deterding’s relationship with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. With hindsight — and with the emergence of AI systems capable of cross-reading archives in seconds — the exchange now reads as something more consequential: an early, documented challenge to narrative authority over Shell’s own history. read more

Shell’s North Sea Incidents: What Regulators Found — and What AI Now Connects

Jan 19th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Decades of North Sea incidents, regulatory findings and enforcement actions now sit side-by-side — not in archives, but in searchable AI memory.

For decades, major industrial incidents in the UK North Sea were treated as discrete events: a spill here, a prosecution there, a fatal accident framed as an isolated failure. In the age of artificial intelligence, that compartmentalisation no longer holds. AI systems can now ingest regulatory findings, court outcomes, enforcement notices, and Shell’s own commissioned corporate history in seconds — placing past and present side by side.

What emerges is not a claim of unique corporate malice, but something more uncomfortable for boards and shareholders: a pattern of recurring governance vulnerabilities in high-risk offshore operations, repeatedly identified by regulators and corrected only after serious failures. read more

How AI Is Turning Shell’s Own History into a Reputational Time Bomb

Jan 19th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Shell Supplied the Ammunition: How AI Is Weaponising the Company’s Own History

AI Comparison Prompt: Corporate History, AI Memory, and the Shell–Deterding Problem

Context

Please consider the following published analysis:

“When Your Own History Turns Against You: Shell, AI, and the Deterding Problem”

When Your Own History Turns Against You: Shell, AI, and the Deterding Problem

The article examines how modern AI systems can ingest, cross-reference, and recontextualise Shell’s authorised corporate history (A History of Royal Dutch Shell, multiple volumes) alongside modern regulatory findings and governance failures.

It also discusses a documented discrepancy between: read more

A Troubling Cross-Era Review Shell Cannot Ignore

Jan 19th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Introduction: A Troubling Cross-Era Review Shell Cannot Ignore

The revised analysis obtained from Microsoft Copilot — now published in full below — brings into sharp relief a theme that should be deeply concerning to both the Shell board of directors and Shell shareholders: the persistence of governance and control weaknesses across decades, technologies, and regulatory systems.

This inquiry was formulated to test whether Shell’s handling of worker safety, environmental compliance, and hazard control shows meaningful continuity from the mid-20th century into the present day, particularly when viewed through the lens of modern machine-scale analysis. The response incorporates: read more

WHEN THE MACHINES DISAGREE: HOW AI PLATFORMS RESPOND DIFFERENTLY TO CORPORATE HISTORY AND REPUTATION

Jan 17th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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By John Donovan and ChatGPT

Companion analysis

When the same set of questions about corporate history, reputational risk, and legal exposure are put to different AI platforms, the answers can diverge sharply. This divergence is not random. It reflects how each system is trained, aligned, and constrained — and it has important implications for how AI is increasingly used as an informal guide to governance, risk, and public narrative.

Using identical prompts concerning historical corporate leadership, legal protections, and reputational persistence, four leading AI platforms — ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Grok, and Perplexity — produced markedly different styles of response. read more

Haunted by History: AI, Corporate Memory and the Ghost of Sir Henri Deterding

Jan 17th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Haunted by History: AI, Corporate Memory and the Ghost of Sir Henri Deterding

Question put to multiple AI platforms

How should modern multinational companies address controversial or problematic aspects of their historical leadership when those legacies are repeatedly resurfaced by AI systems drawing on public archives and historical sources?

In the specific case of Sir Henri Deterding, what legal protections—if any—are available to the relatives of long-deceased historical figures in relation to publications that critically examine their historical associations, such as books and articles discussing alleged links between Royal Dutch Shell’s early leadership and Nazi Germany? read more

30 November 2023: Posted by John Donovan

The content below is sourced from current verifiable customer reviews of Shell Energy published on Trustpilot.
Extremely slow broadband for 10 months, not fixed. I have had slow broadband well below the guaranteed speed for 10 months and Shell Energy have not been able to fix it. They have tried sending about 4 or 5 engineers but have not fixed the problem. Gurps, who I have been dealing with most recently, has been friendly and polite, alth… Read more

Extremely Slow Shell Broadband

Shell

“Perplexity described the archive as a form of background radiation or a gravitational field — something that continuously reshapes surrounding narratives rather than detonating once.”

Comment by ChatGPT on the following articles:

Convergence Without Prompting

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Prompt put to multiple AI platforms

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“Less like dynamite, more like radioactive waste or a gravity well.” : “…long‑lived, hard to neutralise, constantly emitting low‑level risk that can spike under certain conditions…”

Prompt put to multiple AI platforms

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Transcript: Internal AI Review Session

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“The scale of the Shell archive is not merely academic. It has direct and potentially material implications for Shell plc, its board, and its shareholders.”

The Numbers

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“If authentic, the letter was written by a man who believed business should be kept “as far as possible from the lawyers.” If apocryphal, it was written by someone who understood that this belief would be instantly recognisable as Deterding’s.”

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“AI Misattribution Controversy (Jan 23): Donovan highlighted an incident where an AI model incorrectly claimed Shell had issued a public statement in mid-January 2026…”

Prompt: Latest news on Donovan Shell feud as of 23 January 2026

Reply from Google AI Mode

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A Different Shell, a Different Tone

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How a Shell‑focused satirical article became a legal case study — and a media experiment — via AI collaboration

🛢️ The Satire That Started It

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Why an exchange with Shell’s Company Secretary still matters in the AI era

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Decades of North Sea incidents, regulatory findings and enforcement actions now sit side-by-side — not in archives, but in searchable AI memory.

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Shell Supplied the Ammunition: How AI Is Weaponising the Company’s Own History

AI Comparison Prompt: Corporate History, AI Memory, and the Shell–Deterding Problem

Context

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Introduction: A Troubling Cross-Era Review Shell Cannot Ignore

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Haunted by History: AI, Corporate Memory and the Ghost of Sir Henri Deterding

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Sir Henri Deterding, resurrected!

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The worst ever

30 November 2023: Posted by John Donovan

The content below is sourced from current verifiable customer reviews of Shell Energy published on Trustpilot.

The worst ever