It’s an issue that worries some of the biggest minds in the world right now, from Bill Gates to Elon Musk.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, described AI as our ‘biggest verbal threat’ and viewed his development as ‘calling the devil’.
He believes that very intelligent devices could be used by humans as pets.
Dr Stephen Hawking said it was ‘almost certain’ that a technological catastrophe would threaten humanity in the next 1,000 to 10,000 years.
They could steal jobs
More than 60 percent of people fear that robots will mean fewer jobs in the next decade, according to a YouGov survey in 2016.
And 27 percent predict it will reduce the number of ‘lot’ jobs with previous research showing administrative and service department workers being the hardest hit.
As well as being a threat to our operations, other experts believe that AI could become ‘deceptive’ and overly complex for scientists to understand.
A quarter of respondents expected robots to become part of everyday life in just 11 to 20 years, with 18 per cent predicting this will happen within the next decade.
They could ‘go wrong’
Computer expert Professor Michael Wooldridge said AI tools can be so complex that engineers do not understand how they work.
If experts do not understand how AI algorithms work, they will not be able to predict when they will fail.
This means that driverless cars or intelligent robots could make invisible ‘out of character’ decisions at times of emergency, which could put people at risk.
For example, the AI behind a driverless car might choose to move into pedestrians or fall into obstacles instead of deciding to drive sensibly.
They could destroy humanity
Some people think that AI will eliminate people completely.
‘Finally, I think human extinction is going to happen, and technology is likely to play a part in this,’ said Deepeind ‘s Shane Legg in a recent interview.
He cited artificial intelligence, or AI, as the ‘main threat for this century’.
Musk warned that AI poses a greater threat to North Korean humanity.
‘If you’re not concerned about the safety of AI, you should be. Significantly more dangerous than North Korea, ‘the 46-year-old wrote on Twitter.
‘No one likes to be regulated, but everything (cars, planes, food, drugs, etc.) that is dangerous to the public is regulated. AI should be too. ‘
Musk has consistently advocated for governments and private institutions to impose rules on AI technology.
He has argued that controls are needed to protect machines from falling out of human control