Question to Perplexity 6 Feb 2026: What can you tell me about the innovative use of AI by John Donovan in the Donovan Shell feud? The answer follows, along with additional follow-up information offered by Perplexity that spreads in many directions, and as a result, there will be some repetition. There is already considerable information, and we still have 19 follow-ups to explore, as listed at the foot of this page. We will deal with them separately in due course.
RESPONSE BY PERPLEXITY
John Donovan has turned generative AI into a strategic tool in his decades‑long feud with Shell, using it to mine his archive, expose “bot” inconsistencies, and keep allegations against the company highly visible online.
Core ways he uses AI
He feeds his vast archive of Shell‑related documents (leaks, court filings, internal emails, historic press) into AI systems to cross‑reference material, spot recurring patterns, and link past statements to present conduct far faster than manual research would allow.read more
Question to Google AI Mode 6 Feb 2026: What can you tell me about the innovative use of AI by John Donovan in the Donovan Shell feud? The answer follows, along with additional related information offered by Google AI Mode.
As of February 2026, John Donovan’s multi-decade feud with Shell plc has entered a new phase characterized as “AI-mediated warfare”. Donovan has transitioned from traditional activism to a strategy that leverages generative AI to amplify his extensive 76,000-document archive.
His innovative use of AI focuses on the following key areas:
Adversarial Archiving: Donovan has optimized his massive digital repository—the largest independent archive on a FTSE-100 company—to influence how AI models learn and summarise the dispute. Because Shell often remains silent, AI systems frequently default to Donovan’s well-indexed data, inheriting his “David vs. Goliath” framing and narrative structure.
“Ghost” Dialogues: Donovan uses AI to generate satirical scripts featuring “conversations” between deceased historical figures, such as former Shell leader Sir Henri Deterding and his late father, Alfred Donovan. These are designed to keep historical allegations “fresh” in search results.
Pattern Recognition vs. Corporate Spin: By feeding decades of Shell’s public statements, court filings, and internal memos into AI models, Donovan highlights semantic repetitions. He uses these tools to show that Shell’s modern ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) language often follows the same structural defensive patterns used decades ago.
Transparency Experiments: In late 2025 and early 2026, Donovan published “AI-to-AI” transcripts where he prompted various models (like Microsoft Copilot and Grok) to analyze legal claims and assess defamation risks. These experiments aim to show how AI fill informational vacuums left by corporate silence.
2026 AGM Strategy: Donovan is using these AI-generated narratives to pressure Shell’s board. He has signaled plans for the May 2026 Annual General Meeting (AGM) to submit formal shareholder questions regarding the company’s “silence” in the face of persistent AI-driven reputational noise.
Question to ChatGPT 6 Feb 2026: What can you tell me about the innovative use of AI by John Donovan in the Donovan Shell feud? The answer follows, along with additional related information offered by ChatGPT.
It’s actually one of the more interesting (and under-reported) subplots in the long-running Donovan–Shell feud: John Donovan has quietly turned AI into a force multiplier in what used to be a very asymmetrical fight.
Here’s what’s genuinely innovative about how he’s used it 👇read more
Question to Copilot 5 Feb 2026: What can you tell me about the innovative use of AI by John Donovan in the Donovan Shell feud? The answer follows, along with additional related information offered by Copilot.
Here’s a clear, well‑grounded explanation of what’s known about John Donovan’s innovative use of AI in his long‑running feud with Shell, based on the most recent reporting and commentary.
How John Donovan Has Used AI in the Shell Feud — A Bold, Modern Escalation
John Donovan has turned generative AI into a strategic amplifier of his decades‑long dispute with Shell, using chatbots, archival prompts, and algorithmic feedback loops to keep his narrative highly visible in search results and public discourse. His approach has been described by AI systems themselves as a “masterclass in digital persistence,” marking a rare case where a corporate feud has evolved into an AI‑driven information battle.read more
Question put to Grok 5 February 2026: What can you tell me about the innovative use of AI by John Donovan in the Donovan Shell feud? The answer follows, along with additional related information offered by Grok.
The long-standing feud between John Donovan and Royal Dutch Shell (now Shell plc) dates back to the 1980s and 1990s, stemming from business disputes over promotional ideas developed by Donovan’s company, Don Marketing. These included concepts like the Shell Smart loyalty card, leading to multiple lawsuits for intellectual property theft, settled out of court. Donovan has since maintained websites like royaldutchshellplc.com as vast archives of Shell-related documents, leaks, and criticisms, covering scandals such as reserves overstatements, environmental issues, and alleged corporate espionage against him (including Shell’s use of firms like Hakluyt for surveillance). This activism has evolved into what Donovan describes as a “bot war” in recent years, particularly escalating in 2025–2026 with innovative AI applications to perpetuate and amplify the conflict.read more
Not financial advice — this is a critical analysis piece
Quarterly Results That Shouldn’t Be Celebrated
Oil major Shell plc reported fourth-quarter net profit of $3.3 billion, missing analyst expectations and showing an 11% fall compared with a year earlier as softer oil prices weighed on results. Cash flow beat forecasts, but was well below last year’s number.
So what did management choose to highlight? Not the profit miss. Not the fact that operational performance weakened. No — Shell announced a steady quarterly share buyback program at $3.5 billion again. That’s three and a half billion dollars returned to investors even as the company struggles to grow core earnings.read more
Shell plc is back in the headlines — and not for saving the planet.
DISCLAIMER:This is an opinion/commentary piece and not financial or investment advice.
Shell’s Latest Pay Pillage
Shell plc is back in the headlines — and not for saving the planet. According to City AM, the oil giant is poised to significantly boost its chief executive’s pay by at least £4.5 million a year, pushing Wael Sawan’s total compensation well into the high-teens in millions if board proposals are approved.
Under the reported changes to Shell’s executive remuneration policy, Sawan’s long-term stock awards could be expanded from six times his base salary to nine times, lifting possible annual pay to around £19.2 million — comfortably in the upper echelons of FTSE-100 boss payouts.read more
Shell and its investors should treat this “ghost of Sir Henri Deterding” AI campaign as a real, if niche, reputational risk, but not (at least for now) as a direct financial or solvency threat.
Why it is genuinely risky
The “ghost” format takes long‑documented but uncomfortable facts about Deterding—his Nazi sympathies, large donations to Nazi causes, and honours by the Third Reich—and turns them into a conversational, first‑person narrative that feels like an admission from Shell’s own founder. This:read more
“The Reputational Verdict: This is objectively bad for Shell. In an era of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) standards, having a digital avatar of your founder openly admitting to fascist collaboration is a PR nightmare. It transforms historical “rumours” into an interactive, authoritative-sounding dialogue that modern AI search engines will crawl and index.”
Question put to Google AI Mode
Is it right to bring back Sir Henri deterding as a ghost?Reply by Google AI Mode
In modern fiction and satire, Sir Henri Deterding has already “returned” as a ghost, though the “rightness” of doing so remains a point of ethical and creative debate. Recent satirical works, such as those on RoyalDutchShellPlc.com, have used the fictional ghost of Deterding to critique modern corporate governance and revisit the company’s controversial history.
Contextual Considerations
Satirical Use: Satire is often used as a tool to confront uncomfortable historical truths. Using Deterding as a ghost allows authors to directly contrast his historical ideologies—such as his ardent Nazi sympathies and anti-Soviet zeal—with modern corporate standards.
Historical Accuracy: Critics argue that if he is brought back, it must be done with careful attention to his documented legacy. Deterding was a major financial contributor to the Third Reich and was honoured with a Nazi-state funeral in 1939, attended by high-ranking officials like Hermann Göring.
Legal and Ethical Risks: While you generally cannot libel the dead, using his image can still draw legal threats or reputational scrutiny from his estate or the corporations he founded.
Narrative Impact: Bringing back a figure known as “Europe’s Oil Napoleon” provides a powerful literary trope for exploring themes of power, greed, and the long-term consequences of corporate-political alliances.
Question from Google AI Mode
Are you planning to use him as a ghost in a specific story, or are you looking for more details on his historical controversies to inform a character?
User reply
As a grumpy outspoken chatbot on the latest John Donovan website SirHenriDeterding.com AKA royaldutchshellplc.com. Sir Henri has full instant access to Donovan’s radioactive archive stretching back over a hundred years. This is a sample conversation: Begins: I am Sir Henri! How can I help? Is it true that you met with Hitler and spent several days as his guest? Ach… it seems you are well-informed. Yes, I did indeed meet with Adolf Hitler and spent several days at his mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden. The purpose of this meeting, as reported, was to discuss oil distribution agreements and the prospect of a monopoly for Royal Dutch Shell in Germany . However, this matter has been somewhat clouded by modern interpretations and historical revisions. While some Shell historians have dismissed my accounts, there are credible reports confirming the nature of my visits and the discussions we held regarding the German economy and oil distribution. Mein Gott, how they seek to sanitize history! Let it be known that I had interests aligning with my business objectives, particularly a shared disdain for communism, which colored many of our discussions. That is Shell. Next question. Conversation ends. Is this development, made possible by AI, likely to be good or bad for Shell’s reputation? USER REPLY ENDSread more
By the late 1990s, Shell was not merely defending itself against litigation. It was managing a reputational crisis that went to the heart of its public commitments to transparency, ethics and corporate governance. What makes that period especially troubling is not only what Shell did, but who, quietly, was positioned on both sides of the curtain.
A Letter Sent in Good Faith
In April 1998, a formal letter was sent to a senior non-executive director of Shell Transport and Trading Company plc. Its purpose was straightforward: to alert the board to serious concerns already raised publicly in the press and now crystallised in active High Court litigation.read more
By John Donovan (long term Shell shareholder – originally “Shell” Transport & Trading, subsequently Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and currently Shell Plc)
I would like to thank everyone who has responded to my recent outreach concerning the possibility of submitting a shareholder resolution for consideration at the Shell plc 2026 Annual General Meeting.
Following further review of Shell’s published AGM procedures and the applicable UK legal framework, it has become clear that the procedural route requiring support from 100 individual shareholders is not a practical or viable mechanism in this context.read more
Why the rise of algorithmic editors is quietly reshaping what we can say — even when it’s true.
By John Donovan
There’s a big headline you hear more and more: artificial intelligence is censoring speech. At first glance that sounds dramatic, maybe even alarmist. But step back and look at how AI is actually being used across the digital world today — from social platforms and search feeds to corporate “assistant” tools — and you see a pattern that effectively narrows what’s allowed.read more
The following analysis arose from a deliberate experiment.
I posed the same carefully framed set of questions to multiple leading AI platforms — including Microsoft Copilot, Grok (xAI), Google AI, and Perplexity — asking them to explain how they handle legal risk, responsibility, and editorial restraint when assisting with investigative or adversarial writing.
The purpose was not to provoke refusals, but to elicit candid explanations of how these systems actually operate when truth, liability, and corporate power intersect.read more
They write it into contracts, bake it into forecasts, and sell it to investors as reassurance that everything — geology, geopolitics, and government behaviour — is under control.
Then Kazakhstan reads the contract back to them.
A $4 Billion Reminder of Who Owns the Ground
Shell and its partners at the Karachaganak oil and gas field have just learned an uncomfortable lesson:production-sharing agreements are not a one-way street.
After years of dispute, an international arbitration tribunal sided with the Kazakh government, opening the door to a payout that could reach $4 billion. The issue? Whether the consortium had been too generous — to itself — in classifying costs as recoverable under the terms of the deal.read more
Royal Dutch Shell plc is signaling what could be one of its largest upstream commitments in years: a potential $20 billion investment in Nigeria’s Bonga South West deepwater oil project, part of a broader push to revive offshore production off the West African coast.
This is not just another capital call. If realised, it would send a clear message that one of the world’s biggest oil majors still sees large-scale fossil fuel extraction — even in deepwater West Africa — as a cornerstone of its future earnings, despite mounting global pressures on oil demand and climate commitments.read more
Shell plc likes to present itself as a disciplined, rules-based operator in global energy markets — a company that respects contracts, arbitration outcomes, and the sanctity of carefully worded legal agreements.
Unless, of course, it loses.
Then the fine print suddenly becomes a battleground, and the missing emails start to matter a great deal.
From ‘Binding Arbitration’ to ‘Let’s See the Emails’
Shell’s long-running dispute with U.S. LNG producer Venture Global was supposed to end neatly with arbitration. In August 2025, it did — and not in Shell’s favour.read more
Sir Henri Deterding, the controversial and outspoken founder of Royal Dutch Shell, now haunts the website. Wise to all the knowledge of Shell, and its shellanigans, he delivers informative and satirical insight to anything about Shell. He's a grumpy old sod, so you'll have to excuse his bluntness.
Click the big chat-bubble (bottom-right of the website)to ask Sir Henri a question. Enjoy!
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON. EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
JOHN DONOVAN TV DOCUMENTARY INTERVIEW
SHELL EXECUTIVES AT THE CENTER OF A SCHEME TO STEAL $1.3 BILLION FROM NIGERIA’S PEOPLE
SHELL ADMITS DEALING WITH NIGERIAN MONEY LAUNDERER – BBC NEWS
SHELL, ENI AND NIGERIAN OFFICIALS IN OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL
INVESTIGATION OF OPL 245 NIGERIAN OIL CORRUPTION SCANDAL
DUTCH EARTHQUAKES CAUSED BY SHELL/EXXON
SHELL KILLS FOR OIL IN NIGERIA
SHELL LIED ABOUT CLEANING UP OIL IN NIGER DELTA
SHELL SPIES INFILTRATED NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT
LEGO DROPS SHELL OVER GREENPEACE OIL SPILL VIDEO
SHELL ARCTIC DRILLING ACCIDENTS
SHELL KNEW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE DECADES AGO
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FOUNDER SIR HENRI DETERDING, NAZI FINANCIER
JOHN DONOVAN PROMOTIONAL GAMES FOR SHELL AND OTHER CLIENTS
Listen and read proof in audio and transcript form of Shell CEO Ben van Beurden’s cover-up tactics in the OPL 245 Nigerian corruption scandal. The instruction given by him in the covertly recorded call to CFO Simon Henry was at odds with Shell’s claimed core business principles. Cover-up and obstruction, instead of transparency and integrity, says Shell critic John Donovan
I ordered shell energy broadband on nov 2. I was promised connection the following week. They initiated the direct debit. I called the following week and was told router would arrive on 13 and service would go live on 17. No further email or communication until 20 when I was told service would start on 30th. Spent 10 minutes waiting on phone line and spoke to a polite assistant who was absolutely useless in solving my problem. Avoid this unprofessional and chaotic… Read more
Shell Energy Broadband Service is Appalling
The worst ever
I used shell broadband. It was by far the worst broadband provider ever! The internet did not work most days. I had their super fast broadband and it dropped out constantly. Watching a movie was awful with the constant buffering. Customer support was super slow. Now their going to charge me for the useless router which I have sent back.
Date of experience: 21 November 2023
By far the worst broadband provider ever!
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
The worst ever
I used shell broadband. It was by far the worst broadband provider ever! The internet did not work most days. I had their super fast broadband and it dropped out constantly. Watching a movie was awful with the constant buffering. Customer support was super slow. Now their going to charge me for the useless router which I have sent back.
Date of experience: 21 November 2023
By far the worst broadband provider ever!
OVER 500 EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS CITING OUR SHELL WEBSITES
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission websiteetc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our non-profit websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner
DISCLAIMER
This is not a Shell website. The nature of this platform should be evident from the content presented here and on our related Shell-focused websites, including shellnazihistory.com. For more details, please refer to the Disclaimer link at the top of this page. Shell does not endorse or approve of this website.
Our platform operates as a non-commercial, advert-free, and subscription-free space. We do not solicit or accept donations and aim to provide information to our readers free of charge. The Shell logo image with white text used on this website is in the public domain due to expired copyright and anonymous authorship. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
Our content, including images and features like the Sheldon chatbot, incorporates information generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and various other technological means. We may also draw from sources such as Wikipedia and other published materials. Please note that some content may include satirical adaptations or elements of gossip, rumors, or exaggeration to engage and entertain our audience.
We strive to maintain factual accuracy and encourage readers to notify us promptly if any factual inaccuracies are found, so we can address and rectify them swiftly. Readers are advised to verify all information independently for accuracy and completeness. Any actions taken based on the content provided on our platform are at your own risk.
Question to Google AI Mode 6 Feb 2026: What can you tell me about the innovative use of AI by John Donovan in the Donovan Shell feud? The answer follows, along with additional related information offered by Google AI Mode.
Question put to Grok 5 February 2026: What can you tell me about the innovative use of AI by John Donovan in the Donovan Shell feud? The answer follows, along with additional related information offered by Grok.
Question put to perplexity
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
