Are Asimov's laws enough to stop AI stomping humanity?

Blade Runner, the film inspired by Philip K Dick's book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, is 35 years old this year. Set in a dystopian Los Angeles, the story centres on the tracking down and killing of a renegade group of artificial humans – replicants – escaped from space and trying to extend their lifespans beyond the built-in four years. The story is set in 2019. Surprise, we aren't exactly there in terms of the future Hollywood envisioned in 1982 so it's seized the opportunity to hurl the idea even further into the future, 2049, with a new telling. Opportunism, sure, but while we are a million miles away from flying police cars and sushi bars, the stirrings of AI are evident.