Artificial Intelligence is greater concern than climate change or terrorism, says new head of British Science Association

Dubbed the Fourth Industrial Revolution, artificial intelligence and robotics have improved exponentially in recent years with British companies like DeepMind leading the way in developing intricate neural networks previously thought impossible. However last week the Bank of England warned that'large swathes' of Britain's workforce is now under threat of unemployment as robots and algorithms take over jobs. Even industries previously thought immune, such as creative writing, are now being replaced by artificially intelligent programmes and earlier this month M&S announced it was replacing call centre staff with AI. Prof Al-Khalili added: "Many people are becoming increasingly nervous about what they see as unchecked progress in AI. "There are valid concerns about the widespread implementation of AI leading to an increase in inequality. Robotics and autonomous systems are predicted to bring about job losses, primarily affecting workers in low-skilled roles, and there is still little research on how the future effects of automation might vary across the UK. "We are now seeing an unprecedented level of interest, investment and technological progress in the field, which many people, including myself, feel is happening too fast."