What you need to know about artificial intelligence, and the imminent robot future

"The immediate threat, experts warn, comes in the form of autonomous weapons -- military machines capable of killing without permission from a human. From unmanned planes to missile defence systems to sentry robots, we've already got military hardware that functions with very little input from a human mind.

Groups such as the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots say we're inching ever closer to closing the loop, and letting machines handle our killing for us -- a scenario that's legally, pragmatically, and of course ethically, problematic.

The less sensationally named Future of Life Institute only days agopublished an open letter signed by hundreds of AI researchers and famous tech personalities, warning, "If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is virtually inevitable, and the endpoint of this technological trajectory is obvious: autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow."