Forget killer robots - it's humans you should be worrying about instead

When it comes to understanding artificial intelligence, is science fiction just a pesky distraction from the real dangers out there? Microsoft's authority on all things AI seems to think so, reports Jihee Junn. "With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon," declared Elon Musk back in 2014. "In all those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it's like – yeah, he's sure he can control the demon. Over the years, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive has regularly come out to express his concerns over the future of AI. He's even warned of a possible Terminator-style robot uprising, telling a group of US governors earlier this year: "I keep sounding the alarm bell, but until people see robots going down the street killing people, they don't know how to react, because it seems so ethereal." Could the world really be terrorised by artificially sentient beings? Are we on the verge of creating our own existential threat? Does this mean we have to endure another resurrection of Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting career? For Eric Horvitz, technical fellow and director of Microsoft Research, the likelihood of such a scenario occurring remains resoundingly low. "I think there's a much higher probability that humanity could wipe out humanity.